Kingdom Instructions Pt 4

Good morning. I want to welcome all of you to Calvary Chapel this morning. And those online who have joined us, we welcome you. Would you all stand and join me in prayer? Father, we want to thank you for another Sunday morning, Lord's Day, that we can come and worship you in song and study your word, Lord. Father, with all the things that are going on around us,

along with the climate, the hot weather. Father, we ask that we would be able to focus this morning, looking to you, Lord, trusting you. Whatever may be on our hearts, Lord, we know that you are able to bring us through whatever it may be as we rejoice, as we may be feeling heavy in the heart about something. We know that we can look to you, Lord, the author and finisher of our faith. So, would you help us this morning just to

rest in you and trust you this morning, Lord? We give you thanks, Lord.

Oh, Father, we praise you this morning. Hearts, tired eyes, Lord, we praise you. Jesus Christ, sending your Son, Lord Jesus, on the cross for us, Lord. We thank you for that unfailing love, Lord, that agape love, that divine love that loves us in spite of us, Lord, and through what we go through. And you love us so much, Lord, we know that you allow us to go through certain things to build

character in our life, to draw us closer to you. We know you're working in us both to will and do of your good pleasure this morning. And as we come this morning, no matter how we feel, you are God and you never change. No matter what goes, no matter what happens on this world, you are God, and nothing is taking you by surprise, and we thank you, Lord. We give you praise this morning for knowing God's unfailing love that He has

for each of us. He knows what we are going to do and what we need to do before we ever think of thoughts. So, Lord, we know that we can thank you for your unfailing love and your goodness, Lord. And we give you praise. I've been here.... I've been here... It's a shout. Yeah. Lord, with your direction, your anointing. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. Glad you could be here this morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. We've set up what I like to call a cozy situation in here this morning. It feels so small. But as you can see, great things are going on back there. I'm very excited about the direction that things are going with this. So continue to be patient with us and bear with us with the construction over the next two or three more weeks. Good things are going on.

So on the left-hand side of your bulletin, the things are going on this week. So find some of those spots to get plugged into. Great things are going on. Great things happening here. In the middle section of your bulletin, a couple of things to pay attention to. First of all is the Pastors and Leaders Conference coming up August 4th through the 6th up at Calvary Chapel of Johnson County. And then also, I failed to have her with the

busyness of the week. I failed to have her correct the fact that that for the baptism should say August 14th, not August the 11th. So we have a baptism and family swim night and picnic coming up August. August 14th out at Camp Horizon. Bring a cover dish to share. Might not hurt for you to bring a chair as well because in the past we have noticed, hey, it's really fun to have a chair

with you. So might want to bring one of those as well. And if you've not been baptized, please come talk to me because I'd like to talk to you about doing that. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced, because trust me, the smaller this room gets, the more we'll hear it. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced,

for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 24. Psalm 24. I tried to get as many Bibles scattered out amongst especially these long rows as I could. We'll be looking at the New American Standard so that we all sound the same. So grab one in a row if you need it. And as you're turning to Psalm 24, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 24. A Psalm of David.

This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Selah.

And Father, we do thank you that you are the King. Lord, that as we are looking at this Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of the King, Lord, we just thank you that that's who you are. Lord, that you are sovereign in the affairs of man, sovereign in the affairs of this earth, and that we can rest in the fact that you as the King are going to return to rule and reign as you see fit. And so, Father, as we now spend time in your word, I pray that the distractions of the week, Lord, the things that have occupied our minds this week would be laid aside for this short time as we spend time hopefully hearing from you and your Holy Spirit. And so, Lord, speak to us now by

the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles. To the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19. Matthew, chapter 19. We've been in a series over the past few weeks and for probably a week or so after this called Kingdom Instructions. And so, this is Kingdom Instructions, part four. And the particular thing that we're looking at this

morning, the subject of the Kingdom Instructions that we're looking at this morning is who is the King of your heart? And so, it's just entitled the King of your heart. Every kingdom has a throne, and on every throne sits a king. And that king, as we just read about in Psalm 24, is sovereign over that particular kingdom. Well, our lives are no different. Who is the one that is sovereign? Who

is the one that is ultimately in control of the kingdom of your heart? Well, that's what we'll discuss this morning as Jesus has a rich young ruler approach him to ask him a question. And so, we pick up in verse 16, and it says this.

Now, as we look at this subject of the King of your heart, we're going to see three things. We read one of them already. We're going to see the question, we're going to see the response, and then we're going to see the reaction. But let's first look at this question that this young man asks him. In Matthew's gospel, we read that it was someone who came to him. We will soon

learn that this man had a great deal of possessions. And so, we learned that this someone and the gospel of Mark, it tells us that he was a young man. And in the gospel of Luke, it tells us that he was a ruler, probably a religious ruler of the day. So, probably there's a title over this section in your Bible, if you have any sort of a study Bible that says the rich young ruler. And that's where we get this idea from. And so, this rich young ruler,

you can imagine who he is. He's a successful man, somewhat skilled in God's word. We're going to find understanding of God's word and has a desire for God's word. And so, we're going to look at this for the truth of God. Comes to Jesus, who has been teaching with authority, who has been healing and doing all sorts of amazing things. And he sees as a representative of God. And he comes to him

with a question. This successful, godly, rich young man has a question for Jesus. And the question that he asks Jesus is this. He starts off by saying, teacher. Now, that's a really good way for him to start because it's a term of respect. It's a term of understanding that this Jesus is not just any other guy. He is a teacher. He would have referred to him in the Hebrew

language. He would have called him rabbi. That's a term of respect at that point in time. And so, he refers to him as this teacher. What good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life? Now, there's a couple of phrases that are important for us to pay attention to there. The first phrase is that he says, what good thing must I do? This guy was interested in doing good things, but he was also interested in earning his salvation

because he wants to know what he may do. What act can he perform? And what's he interested in with his act that he performs? Well, he wants to do something good so that he may obtain eternal life. So, we know that he cared about the things of God. We know that he was focused on eternity because he's looking for eternal life. But we also know that he had a works-based

mentality. And so, we know that he was focused on eternity because he's looking for eternal life. It's not unlike a lot of people that decide that they're going to attend a church. They begin to think, I know that there's an eternity out there. I know that there's something going on in the world. I know that there's things happening in the world. And so, I know that there

is things of God that I should be caring about. And I want to care about those things of God. So, what kind of things do I need to do to make sure that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all go to heaven? Because all of us, in our current life, we're going to have a lot of things that we have a works-based mentality. It's a part of the fall. It's a part of the fall of man is that we

start thinking, how can I earn eternal life? And so, Jesus is going to begin to respond to him by showing him that you can't earn eternal life. As a matter of fact, he's going to show him how impossible that is and ultimately show him that there's an idol on the throne of his heart that had to be dealt with. And so, the second thing that we look at is we see the response.

Notice what it says in verse 17. And he said to him, why are you asking me about what's good? There's only one who is good. But if you wish to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not commit adultery, or excuse me, you shall not commit murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear

false witness. Honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Young man said, all these things I've kept, what am I still lacking? And Jesus said to him, if you wish to be complete, go, sell your possessions to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Now, as he asks him this question, the first thing that

Jesus does is actually respond with a question. Jesus is sort of the master of that, right? He's the master of turning the tables back on the person. Because the first thing that he asks him is, why are you asking me about what is good? There's only one that's good. Now, we can ask ourselves the question, why did Jesus respond this way? He could have immediately just jumped into

what his response was going to be, but he didn't. He started off with a question. He said, why are you asking me about what's good? Why is that question on your mind? Because after all, there's only one that's good, and in the other gospel accounts, it says, and that is God. I believe the reason why Jesus does this is because he wants to establish a relationship with God. He wants to

establish a baseline with him. Because what we're going to find is that this guy's going to somewhat justify himself by talking about the good things that he's done. Essentially, he's not asking for a real answer. He's asking to be confirmed in what he has already done. I've already been a pretty good person. Can I be guaranteed that because I'm a good person, I can have eternal life? And Jesus

turns the tables on him and says, actually, there's not really anybody that's good. Paul put this in a little bit of a different statement in the book of Romans. He says, there is none who does good. No, not one. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's essentially what Jesus does with this rich young ruler. And then Jesus begins to address him in the way that anybody

should be addressed if they want to know what it takes to be right in God's eyes. Jesus says, you must keep the commandments. Now, before I get to the part where there's no way you can earn salvation, I think that we need to be reminded of something. And the thing that we need to be reminded of is that God has a righteous standard. Oftentimes in this age of grace that we live in,

we soft pedal the righteous standard that God has, and we immediately go to grace. God has so much grace for you, has so much love for you, has so much forgiveness for you. And that's true. But the problem is most people don't know they need that. It would be like if we were on a ship and I handed you a life preserver and was like, you know what's going to make this ship ride a whole lot better

for you? Life preserver. And you're going. Why? The ship's not sinking. Right. Just hold on to it. You're going to love it. Right. But if I tell you, hey, listen, the ship is sinking. And if you don't take this life preserver, you're going to die. You know what the first thing I do is? Right. Because after all, we've all watched Titanic. B.T. Dubs, there was room for him on the boat. Right. We all saw that. If the ship's going down,

you want the life preserver. And so Jesus tells him, keep the commandments. You see, the righteous standard of God that God has for you is to keep the commandments. And so Jesus tells him, keep the He has for everyone is perfection. Be holy as my father is holy. Now, this is where grace comes in because you and I come to the place pretty quickly of realizing I can't meet the standard

of perfection. I can't keep the commandments. And that's where grace comes in because Jesus already took care of it for you. And now God can bestow his unmerited favor on you because Jesus paid the price for my imperfection. But he starts off with the standard and says, keep the commandments. Now, again, if he's a thinking man at this point in time, he goes,

that's really hard. I probably can't do that. What if I can't keep the commandments? And I think at that point in time, Jesus would have told him, well, then confess your sins and I'll forgive you of your sins because that's what's about to take place at the cross. But he doesn't. He goes, I love it because he asked the questions you and I would ask. He says, which ones, right?

Like, give me some details here. Okay. Keep the commandments. All right. Let's get more specific. Which ones? Now, if you look at the old covenant, the old Testament, the 10 commandments, there's what's referred to as the two tables of commandments. The one table of commandments, numbers one through four are man's relationship with God. The second set of commandments, numbers five through

the man's relationship with man. And so Jesus now talks to him about man's relationship with man. And so this is what he does. He goes from the second table of commandments and he gives him the, the, uh, the idea. He says, first of all, you should not commit murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal, bear false witness. You shall honor your father and mother,

and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, if you were here for our discussion on the Sermon on the Mount, we would all be here for you. We would all be here for you. We would all be here for you. all at this point in time have to say, I haven't done any of those. I've failed in every single one of those ways because I've maybe never actually committed murder, but I've thought

hateful thoughts in my heart towards individuals that were unwarranted. And so I've killed them in my heart. I may have never actually committed adultery, but I've looked with lust upon another. And because of that, I've already committed adultery in my heart. I may have never, or I definitely have told a lie. All of those things I've done, I've done so many of these

issues. I've definitely dishonored my father and mother. Trust me, he's on the front row. He can tell you. There's been times where all of those things have happened. And yet I want you to notice how this guy responds because Jesus just laid down the righteous standard of man's relationship to man. And notice what he says, all these things I have kept. What am I still lacking?

This is what we as human beings, apart from God's righteous standard being shined on our lives, have a tendency to do, is it not? Is we say, but I've done all that. I'm not that bad of a person. And usually again, the standard everybody uses is I've never actually murdered anyone, right? That's usually the standard we all lay upon ourselves. I'm a pretty good person because I've

never murdered anyone. Interesting yardstick to use, but that's usually what we all use. He says, I've done all of these things. So what am I still lacking? In this, there's an interesting point that's to be made because if you will, this guy has an interest in the things of God and he's trying to be a pretty good person. And yet, even though he has an interest in God, a view of eternity and wants to be a pretty good person, he still is

under the understanding that he lacks something. Something in his life is still missing. And may I say, there are a good many people living in the world right now that are doing the best they can to be pretty good people. They're doing the best they can to be pretty moral people, maybe even do the right thing when the right thing is kind of hard to do. And they still find that something

in their life is lacking. Something still is just not right. I still am empty on the inside. Ecclesiastes tells us that God has set eternity in the heart of man. In other words, there is always an eternal longing in us that until, until we are ultimately right with God, there will always be part of us that is looking for what is that next thing. That's why so many people fill themselves with all of the things of this

world. I always need the next new hobby. I always need the next new toy. I always need the next new thing. I always need the next new philosophy, whatever it is. We always need that because I've done all of these things and yet I still lack something. And so he comes to Jesus, and he says, I've done all these things. So what am I still lacking? Jesus said to him,

if you wish to be complete, go sell your possessions and give them to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Now, this next part that he, that he hits him with is, is pretty important because he looks at him. He says, there's, there's still one thing that you're lacking. Here's, here's the thing that you need to do. You need to go and sell everything that you own,

give that money to the poor, and then notice the next part of it. Come and follow me. If you do that, you'll have eternal life. Now, I think that we need to pay attention to something here because we need to understand that this was not all about money. David Guzik made a really good point in his commentary when he said, there's two mistakes oftentimes that we make

with what Jesus says here. Number one, this command is not for everyone. This does not mean that if you have money, which by the way, all of us that live in the Western culture, United States of America, compared to the society that Jesus was in right now, that would qualify all of us as being rich, right? Because we had so much more than, than the people at that time did.

It doesn't mean that anybody that has money has to go and sell everything that they have, get rid of all their possessions and give all of their money to the poor. God oftentimes uses people with money to help support, ministries, to help do the work of God, to help other people out. So that's not necessarily what it means. This is not for everybody. But the second mistake that we often make is that this

is for somebody because there is someone out there who has the problem that this man has, that the best thing that they could do is free themselves from the bondage of their riches, free themselves from the bondage of their idolatry, get rid of everything that they've got. And all of a sudden you'll find that the right person is in charge of your heart. Well, why does Jesus tell him to do this? Well, first of all, Jesus points out the fact that this man's actually violating two of the commandments. Commandment number one is you shall have no other

gods before me. And this man just revealed the fact that he had an idol. The greatest idol he had in his life were his possessions. The things that he owned were the idol that he had in his life. Therefore, in order for Jesus to be on the throne, which is what it means to live in the kingdom, which is what it means to have eternal life, in order for Jesus to be on the throne,

he had to dethrone the idol that he had, all of his money and possessions, and firmly put Jesus on the throne, which is why Jesus finished with, go sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and then what? Come follow me. Because now your possessions will not be on the throne of your heart. I will be on the throne of your heart. But not only was he violating the first

commandment by putting an idol before the Lord, but ultimately he was violating the heart of all the commandments because he was not loving his neighbor as himself. Because if he was not loving his neighbor as himself, if he saw those who were in need and wasn't helping out, well, then he really wasn't being loving towards those that were around him. But again, I'll point out to you that we misunderstand this if we think that it's all about money, because it's not. It's all about what's on the throne of your heart. And we'll talk more about that at the end. Well, so we've

seen the question. We've seen the response. But now we see the reaction. Verse 22. When the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a

needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And when the disciples heard this, they were astonished. They were astonished. They were astonished. They were astonished. They were astonished. And said, then who can be saved? And looking at them, Jesus said to them, with people, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Now, I find the reaction here of this

rich young man, because there's several reactions that we see. And the first is that of the young man. This reaction is maybe the most heartbreaking reaction Jesus could have had at this point in time. I think we need to understand that I think that this hurt the heart of Jesus to see this. This wasn't one of those, see, I told you so. I think that there was heartbreak on the part of

Jesus based on how Jesus is going to react. But take note of what this rich young man did. It says, he went away. Did you take note of the word? Because it's a strong word. He went away grieving, right? He went away grieving. Why is that word used there? Because he knew that he had just gone away grieving. He went away grieving. He went away grieving. He went away grieving.

He just made a choice. You ever see those little memes that go around? And right next to the Oreos, there's like a pack of bananas there. And there's a pack of bananas and Oreos have been taken. And it says, someone made a life decision here, right? That's kind of the idea behind what this rich young man did, is he just made a life decision. And the life decision that he made is that his

possessions were so important to him that it would actually grieve his heart to let them go. It would be like losing a loved one. It would be like losing a loved one. It would be like losing a loved one. For him to let them go. So he left Jesus. He left eternal life. He left godliness and went back and pursued all of his riches and all of his possessions. Why is the word grieving used

there? Because it was a grief for him to think of losing his possessions, but his heart grieved because he knew he had just made a life decision. A life decision that potentially he could not go back on. Now, I always wondered, what happened to this rich man? What happened to him? What happened to this rich young man? Now, at this point in time, I'd love to be like Paul Harvey. Well, this is the

rest of the story. I don't know the rest of the story. I don't know what ended up happening to him. I remember a couple of my teachers in Bible college suggesting the potential that this could have been Paul. This could have been Paul the apostle at that time, Saul the Pharisee. And this was the beginning of him kicking against the goads. I cannot prove that. Nobody can prove that. But it

is a thought that's out there. But what happened to this rich young man? What happened to this rich young man? I don't know what happened to him down the road, but I know that right here, this is one of the only times, if not the only time in Scripture, that you see somebody walked away from Jesus without being saved. And that's a heartbreaking thing for someone to do, for someone to say, I'd rather have my idol

than Jesus. Because, brothers and sisters, that has long-term eternal implications to it. It says, He was one who owned much property. In other words, on this side of eternity, he had a lot to lose. So perhaps his view on eternity wasn't quite as good as it looked in the beginning. The second reaction that we see is the reaction of Jesus. Notice what it says.

It's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus makes a very hard statement right now. And again, I think that this was a broken heart. With a broken heart that Jesus made this statement, he says, it is so hard for a rich man to enter the

kingdom of heaven. Why? Why is it so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Why is it so hard for those with so much to enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, I felt like what John Corson had to say was the perfect explanation. And he put it in two ways. He said, there's two reasons why it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Number one, when you're rich,

it's easy for you to be independent from God. It's really easy to say, I kind of have what I need right now. I don't really need to trust God for anything because I've pretty well earned everything. I'm a self-made man. I've lived the experience. I've lived the experience. I've lived the experience. It's the American dream. I built the business. I have the money. I built the house. I built the

life. Do you notice how many times I use one particular word in there? What word was that? That word was I. Because they've lived independent from God. They didn't really live independent from God because God was the one that blessed them with all that ability to do those things. But in their mind, they're independent from any kind of trust in God. But the second reason that

John Corson suggested of why it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven is not only because they're independent of God, but oftentimes very intolerant of others. Listen, I'm not one of these haves and have nots sort of a guy like, oh, the rich people are the mean people and all that kind of stuff because I've been around plenty of people with money that are incredibly loving and generous and you'd have no idea what they have. But the fact of the matter is there are many people with money that are very intolerant of those that don't have anything. And they're just plain mean about it sometimes. So Jesus says,

hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He goes on to give a little bit more explanation. Did you pay attention to this? He says, again, I say to you, which means this is something that should be paid attention to. Again, I say to you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, Jesus just presented what

we would call hyperbole because that can't actually happen. But he's saying that that would be an easier thing to take into account. And he says, again, I say to you, which means this is something Why does Jesus choose those two images to be used? Because the largest domesticated animal at that point in time that lived amongst the people was a camel. Now, I don't know if y'all ever stood next

to a camel or not. I've gotten to ride these a couple of times with my daughters, but you know that they're big until you stand next to them and you're like, dude, that is a huge animal, right? And then there's those humps, right? How are you going to get that past the eye of the needle? And then you think about a needle and listen, the older I get, I still have pretty decent vision.

I don't need the glasses just yet. Somewhere in the 40s, they say it's the magic time when that happens. But when you go to start threading that thing through there, you're like, right, you got to hold your tongue in the right position. Can you imagine taking a camel that stands about as tall as this ceiling and going, come on, big fella, we can do this, right? That's impossible. Why does Jesus say this? Some people

are like, oh, it's because it's just got to try really hard to get through the eye of the needle. No, it's because it's impossible. It's because that's a really hard thing to do. And Jesus will explain that in just a moment. Just a minute. And I think it hurts Jesus's heart so much to see people that live independent from him because he knows while they can have something good now, they're still missing out on God's best

because they're not completely dependent upon Jesus as their savior. And then there's the reaction of the disciples. And I love the reaction of the disciples because they're just so real and they're just so raw and they're just so honest. When the disciples heard this, they were astonished and said, then who can be saved? Right? Who can be saved then? Why are they

so astonished? Why are they shocking? Why are they so astonished at this point in time? Well, because the disciples at that point in time are kind of like us today. When somebody has money, they're like, hashtag blessed, right? They are blessed by God. God in the old covenant said, if you follow me, if you keep my commandment, then you'll always be blessed. I will take care of you. And so for them, the more money someone

had, the more blessing was on their life. Clearly the closer they are to God, therefore money equals holiness. And so when he looked at them and said, it's really hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact, it would be easier for you to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle, even on hump day, than it is for a rich man to go to the kingdom of heaven.

Their gourds were absolutely blown because you may not realize this, but as little money as there was in Israel at that point in time, the ones that did have the money lived a very materialistic life and everybody loves material things. And so Jesus absolutely blows their mind. And so these disciples are going, I don't understand. If that's the case, how can anyone ever be saved?

And so they're like, well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And before we get to what Jesus says, can we all just every now and then dwell on the fact that I sometimes think to myself, how can anyone ever get saved? Because when I see the lost people of the world, when I see who I was before Jesus, when I see who some of the other people that I know

that love Jesus now, who they were before they came to know Jesus, I just go, how can the lost ever get saved? Because it seems like the most impossible thing in the world. So what does Jesus say? Jesus gives us a little glimpse of hope in this time. And looking at them, Jesus said to them, with people, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. With people, this is impossible. I'm reminded of a couple of things

when I read that phrase that with people, this is impossible. Number one, I'm reminded of the fact that I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I could not bring myself to a place of salvation. I can't keep myself saved. I can't deal with the idols I still struggle with in my life. I can't do that. With me, it's impossible.

But you know what else I'm reminded of? I can't save you either. I can't. I work with people for a living. It's what I do all day long. I talk to people. I work with people. I counsel people. And I am continually on a moment by moment basis reminded of the fact that I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I can't save myself. I can't save

anyone. I can't save anyone. And it is a hopeless feeling every now and then until I'm reminded of this next point, that with God, all things are possible. Because I'm reminded, first of all, in my own life, that if I want to overcome the idols in my life, if I want to overcome the issues that I face in my life, it's because of the work of God in my life. And though it may

feel like a hopeless impossibility, when I look at it through the lens of God, I feel like I'm of Ryan's eyes. It is an absolute hopeful possibility through the eyes of a loving and good father. And it gives me hope that when I work with people and I counsel people and I talk with people and I just keep pointing them to Jesus and they get tired of me saying the exact same thing over and over again, saying, I think only Jesus can take care of that for you. I have the hopeful understanding that with God, all things are possible. And so

there's some mixed reviews of the reaction that goes here. You have a brokenhearted rich young ruler. You have a brokenhearted Jesus. You have a discouraged set of disciples, and yet there's still hope because of Jesus. Now, I have a question for you, and we'll spend the last about 20 or so minutes going through these things of this question. What's on the throne of your

heart? You say, Ryan, I've been saved for a long time now. I'm pretty well taken care of. No, you haven't. Because there's always something that wants to occupy your heart. What's on the throne of your heart? For this rich young ruler, there was something there, and Jesus had to reveal it through a gentle way of pointing out an area that he was unwilling to

let go of. And so as Jesus presented him with the question of what's on the throne of your heart, I have that same question for you. And as I was thinking about this over the past few days and running some things through my mind, I came up with five things that tend to occupy the throne of our heart, and I think five categories that the things that we deal with can fit into. And so I want to present each of these to you, and I want you to allow the Holy Spirit to do only the work that he can do to reveal to you what's on the throne of your heart. The first idol that we can sometimes deal with is the idol of

money. The idol of money. The best things in life are free. You can give them to the birds and the bees because I want money. I want to give them to the birds and the bees because I want money. Right? That's the world that we live in right now. That's the philosophy of many people in our world right now is how can I make more money? Many people work multiple jobs so that they can make

more money. Many people are sacrificing time with their families because they can make more money. Many people sacrifice their time with the Lord because they can make more money. It's what they go to bed thinking about at night. It's what they go to bed thinking about at night. It's what they wake up thinking about in the morning, and it's what occupies their minds all throughout the day.

Some of those people are successful in the making of that money, and they have a lot of it. And because they have a lot of it, you know what they worry about all the time? All of their money, right? It's all that they think about. And they want to tell you about all of the money that they have in stocks. They want to tell you about all of the money that they

have in bonds. They want to tell you about all of the work that they do to make money. And they want to earn all of the money. And you're going, I don't care how much money you have. That was the great thing about being little kids, was it not? Is you did not care how much money your friends had. All you cared about was whether or not they could come out and play, right? And if they didn't

have all the cool toys, that's okay, because after all, they're sticks, and we can pretend. And yet, when we grow up, we think that we need to earn a little bit of money, and then maybe we can make a little bit of money. And we don't. And we don't. And we don't. And we a little bit more. Is money on the throne of your heart? Is it the most important thing to you in

your life? Is it what drives every bit of you? I tell young people all the time, you were not made to make money. And that's usually a shocker to them. Like, you should not choose a job based on how much money it pays. But my mom and dad said, I know, listen, respect your mom and dad. Mom and dad may not be 100% right on this one. Because we got to go with what the

Bible says. You were created to serve God. And if you choose to make money, you'll probably do it. But you won't serve God. But if you serve God, you might make money. But when it comes down to it, you'll lay up treasures for eternity. Money is one of those idols that can sometimes occupy the throne of our heart. Number two, possessions. Ryan, isn't that the same thing? It is not the same thing.

Sometimes those possessions have great monetary value to them. And I see it happen all the time. I see it happen with me. You get that new thing, right? You get that new thing and it becomes the most important thing in the world to you. And when I get that new thing, I don't park that new thing near anything else. Because after all, somebody made door ding that new thing, right? And if I

get too close to where the shopping carts are, I know that there are all kinds of yahoos and knuckleheads in the world that do this when they put their shopping cart away. I legit pulled into a Home Depot parking lot one time and I am driving through the parking lot and all of a sudden I get sideswiped by a basket. I am not making this up. A shopping cart hits me.

It didn't have insurance either. It hits me right in the side of my truck. And I was like, what are you doing? This is my... Never mind, right? We get those new things and we don't want anybody to come near them. Though that's the TV, right? I remember when my parents moved to Kansas City. When I was in high school and we're loading up the truck and we're getting ready to put the TV

in and somebody goes, oh, be careful. That's the TV, right? And as soon as they said it, they were like, that kind of sounds like it's a God, doesn't it? And we're all like, no, I mean a little bit, but you know, whatever, right? There's those things that we do with those monetary-based possessions. They become the most important thing to us and that's all we can think about

and pay attention to. And if something were to happen to it, our lives would be crushed. If your home burned down today, as long as your pets and everything were out and your kids and all that kind of good stuff, would your world be destroyed? Would your world be over? Or would it just be another thing? What the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

But you know, sometimes those possessions aren't monetary things. Sometimes those possessions live and breathe and have a heartbeat. You know that sometimes we can make idols of our kids. They can be put in a place where only God belongs and they become the most important things in our lives. Now, I don't think that you should now go and sell your child and then give the proceeds to the poor. Okay, don't do that to me.

I don't think that's the right thing to do. But I do think sometimes with our kids, we need to make sure that they are not the ones that rule our lives. God does. Because it's really, easy for our kids to be the ones that are in charge of everything. Meanwhile, we've stopped teaching them the truth of God's word because after all, I don't want to hurt their feelings.

It's okay. Hurt their feelings as long as it's with the truth of God's word. Do you know that sometimes those possessions are relationships with other people? Husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends. It can all be something that takes the throne of our heart. There's a perfect picture given to us in the Old Testament and it has to do with Abraham. The last test Abraham faced

before God had to do with his only son, Isaac. Isaac was about 40 years old and God had promised for years and years and years that Abraham would have a son. It was the one promise that Abraham held on to and then God gave him a son. And oh, he was so overjoyed. Named him Isaac. Name Isaac means laughter. There was so much joy in the home. And he was... He was everything to Abraham. Abraham raised him. Abraham taught him the trade of being a shepherd,

told him about the promise. And then one day when Isaac was about 40 years old, God said, I want you to take your son. Excuse me, he was probably closer to 30. So I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, and I want you to go up on Mount Moriah and I want you to sacrifice him to me. Now, God's not real into human sacrifice. If you know anything about the Old Testament,

you know, he's pretty well opposed to it. So Abraham had to have known one of two things was going to happen. Either one, God was going to stop him or two, God would restore Isaac's life. But because God was on the throne of Abraham's heart, he took Isaac and they traveled to Mount Moriah. When they got to the base of Mount Moriah, he told all of his friends, he said,

you guys stay here. The boy and I are going to go up on the mountain and we'll return to you. He goes up on the mountain, lays the wood on Isaac's back and he has the fire and he has the knife. And Isaac, being a man, looked at his dad and said, I see the wood, I see the fire and I see the knife, but I don't see a sacrifice. And he said, God will provide. So he took him up on the

mountain and he laid him down on the altar. Now understand, Abraham's in his hundreds by this point in time. And Isaac's a man, 30, 35 years old. If he'd have wanted to fight against Abraham, I'm thinking he could have at least held him off. But he strapped Isaac down to that altar. He held up the knife and right as he was holding up the knife to slay his son, God stopped him and said, I see now that

you withhold nothing from me. Let me put that a little different way. I see now that Isaac's not on the throne of your heart. I am. No possession. That's where I belong. You know, sometimes God gives us those tests in life. Does he not? When we've put a possession in a place where only God belongs, is he not good at removing that possession from us? Is he not good at allowing that to go away? I've told this story

lots of times, but it's my favorite story in the world. I heard it on the radio here a few years ago. And a guy was talking about the fact that he had to learn, he owned a business and he had to learn to give his business to the Lord. He had to learn to give his business to the Lord. He had to learn to give his business to the Lord because it possessed him for a long time. He would stay up

all night worried about it. This, that, and the other thing caused him stress, high blood pressure, everything else. He said, one day I was in church and I felt like the Lord said, you have not given me your business. It's in a place where only I belong. So he said, that night I prayed and with all the sincerity of my heart, I said, Lord, it's yours. I can't hold onto this any longer. It's

destroying me. You have to be in charge of me. You have to be in charge of me. You have to be in charge of this. I want you to be on the throne of my heart. He said, in the middle of the night, I got a phone call. And in the middle of the night, when I got this phone call, they said, sir, we're sorry to report to you. Your business just burned down. And he said, I just started

laughing. And the guy thought clearly that I was in shock. And he said, I'm sorry, sir. I know you're in shock. And he goes, I'm not in shock. That's not my business. I gave it to God last night. That's his problem. He said, I hung up the phone and I went back to bed. God was on the throne of his heart. And he wasn't possessed by his business. Because when God's on the throne of our heart and not our

possessions, then we don't hold them like that. But when our possessions are there and something happens to them, our world is done. Everything comes crashing in. And so our money can sometimes sit on the throne of our heart. Our possessions can sometimes sit on the throne of our heart. Number three, pleasure. Pleasure, I think, is one of the great idols that my generation and

younger worships in the world that we live in today. We worship pleasure, through oftentimes the sins that we commit. There are sins of pleasure when it comes to sexuality because that seems to be the sin that most dominates our culture right now. Because ultimately what's taking place is that pleasure is being worshiped. Because they say what I want to do,

what feels good to me is so important that I don't care what form it takes. As long as it feels good, I'm going to do it. Nike helped popularize this with their slogan. Most of you know Nike's slogan is just do it. But do you know that it's not just about doing it? It's about doing it. It's about how Nike's slogan started off. If it feels good, do it. And then they shortened it to just do it.

And that has been the battle cry for my generation and younger is if it feels good, do it. After all, what are we dealing with right now with this whole abortion issue? Listen, people can give their feigned arguments all that they want to about how they're concerned about the health of the mother and this, that, and the other thing. But that's not why people are fighting for abortion right now. People are fighting for abortion right now because they want to be able to have sex with

whoever they want to and not face any consequence or responsibility. Because ultimately, when it comes right down to it, when you meet every other argument, they finally get down to the core of their being. And you realize that is what's at the core of the argument for choice. I want to be able to do what I want to do and not face any responsibility that goes along with it. And

listen, it's something we all face. It's something we all deal with because, all of us as human beings can have a tendency to bow down at the altar of pleasure. Because I'm not talking to the rest of the world right now. I'm talking to you right now. How do you, if that's the case for you, how does pleasure take over the throne of your heart? Where that becomes more important than you obeying the Lord. Do you know how else pleasure can take the throne

of our heart? Through the forms of entertainment. I think the God of entertainment is big in our world right now. After all, if I'm not being entertained, then what's the point of being here? Right? So oftentimes this God of pleasure can sit on the throne of our heart. Number four, reputation. Oh man. Again, in the social media world that we're living in right now, reputation is important to us. What are people

saying about me? What do people think of me? I want to make sure that my clothes look the right way. I want to make sure that I look the right way. I want to make sure that I, say the right things, that I do the right things, that I put myself off in such a way that everybody looks at me and has a really good opinion of me. I'll just be honest with you. This is an idol I

struggle with. Part of the reason I never wanted to go online with church services is because I knew I said things that were very unpopular and that at some point in time I was probably going to get in trouble for it. And so I'm like, well, that's not blasted for all of the interwebs to watch, right? Let's not blast it for all of humanity. And then everything happened with COVID and God said, you're still got to get the word out.

Okay, let's go online. And then one thing led to another. I don't care anymore. I just say what's there and it is what it is. But it can be something that I struggle with because I still want people to think good of me. And when that reputation is the God of our hearts, then we always put our best face on in front of people. And when that reputation is the God of our hearts, then we

never let them see the real us. Never let them see you sweat, except I'm a really big sweater, right? Never let them see what's reality. You know what's behind the idol of reputation? At its core is pride. And it destroys us. It keeps us as Christians from ever confiding in each other with the struggles that we have. It keeps us from ever owning up to who I really am on the inside.

And I would venture to say, there are some people who have lived the lie of their reputation for so long that they don't even know who they are on the inside anymore. And God needs to begin to unravel those layers and get rid of all that pride so that they can finally start being authentic again. Well, not only is it money and possessions and pleasure and reputation. Number five, self-righteousness.

Oh, I was fine until you got to that one, Ryan. And I think that this one hits the church really hard. Because self-righteousness is what causes me to say, but I've kept all of these from my youth. What do I lack? But I'm doing pretty good. I'm a pretty good person. After all, look at how righteous I am. I know all of the answers. As a matter of fact, if people would just come and talk to me, I could help them solve the problems in their life

because I know. And through it, I know all the answers. And self-righteousness keeps us from going to seek the Lord because we don't think that we need to. And it causes us to look down on others because we think they do. You know how you know if you struggle with self-righteousness? If you think this sermon is for someone else. If you have thought about all of the other people that need

to hear this sermon, you probably battle with self-righteousness. As a matter of fact, you know every sermon should be heard by somebody else. Then you probably battle with self-righteousness. Because when it starts to come to these idols in our heart, listen, we all struggle with them. We all battle with them. And we have to continually fight the good fight of dethroning them. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I begin to

read through these things and God begins to shine his righteous light in my heart and I start going, I don't know how I can ever overcome these because this feels hopeless. It feels hopeless. Like I'm always going to have this battle. Like I'm always going to have this struggle. So I want to close with this. Nothing is impossible with God. Listen, all of these sins

are things that we deal with. All of these sins are things that we struggle with. All of us as human beings, there is no temptation which has overtaken you except that which is common to man. But nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible with God. Take those idols to him and say, Lord, this is what's on the throne of my heart. And you've got to destroy it because I keep trying and I keep failing. I keep continuing

to pursue pleasure through lust and through alcohol and through drugs. I continue to pursue my reputation and I'm never authentic with the people around me. Money is the most important thing in the world to me. If anything happens to my car, just look at the danger. Ranger, when you go out there, okay? Just anyway, God has totally removed that part of that idol from

my life because it looks tore up from the floor up. If anything happens to my house, my life will be destroyed. I sure think everybody else needs to hear this. Oh, I don't want to be self-righteous. How could any of these things be removed from my life? Nothing's impossible with God. Take them to the Lord and ask him to do the surgery that only he can do. Let's all stand. Good to see everyone's faces this morning. Thank you for putting up with

things being a little bit different. God is good in the midst of all of it. And I'm so glad to see all these faces here this morning. Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, we come before you and Lord, I just ask that you would continue the work that you have begun this morning through your word. Lord, continue your work in my heart that always needs so much changing. And Lord, continue

the work that you've begun in the hearts of each person that's here this morning. Lord, may we be drawn close to you. May we continue to hear from your Holy Spirit and may you transform us into the men and women that you've called for us to be by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Have a great week, y'all.