THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Mark 10:17-22
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: CAUSE AND EFFECT
1. A surgeon, an architect, and a politician were arguing over whose profession is oldest. The surgeon said, “Eve was made from Adam’s rib, and that surely was a surgical operation.”
2. The architect said, “But prior to that, order was created out of chaos, and that was an architectural job.”
3. “But,” interrupted the politician boastfully, pointing to himself, “who do you think created the chaos?”
B. TEXT
17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
C. THESIS
1. Jesus came not only for those in sin – (the drug users, the immoral, the thieves & drunkards) – but also for the best people of society.
2. Thankfully God also calls people of high moral integrity, who are good fathers & mothers, who go to work every day, and who try to obey the laws – not only of man, but also of their conscience.
3. Many in this congregation fit this description and you are all appreciated. Today, this message is for you. You may see many similarities between this man and yourselves.
4. The title is “The Point of No Return.”
I. HE WAS AN AMAZINGLY GOOD PERSON
A. HE’S THE MAN WHO NEVER MESSED UP
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy” (Vs. 20), and the Lord did not deny this was true. He must have been a model son growing up.
1. Never Smoked a Cigarette.
2. Never tried marijuana (forget the “not-inhaling” group).
3. Never tasted Alcohol.
4. Never rebelled against his parents.
5. Always drove his car responsibly.
6. Treated his Dates with courtesy and respect (he’s the guy all you mothers wish your daughters would marry).
7. I congratulate you men/women who’ve lived like this.
B. HE’S THE ONE WHO ALWAYS WENT TO CHURCH
1. “A Ruler” (Luke 18:18) – it is most commonly believed he was a ruler of a synagogue, the Sanhedrin requiring more age. Becoming a ruler of a synagogue was unusual, so he must have been exemplary.
2. HE HAD FAITH. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He was a believer! despite the doctrine of the Sadducees.
3. HAD RESPECT for God and God’s ministers. Note his awe at the presence of Christ – he “knelt,” and said “Good Master.”
4. WAS SINCERE, when many Jews were hypocritical.
5. We’d love to have a church full of men/women like him – God bless all of you who are!
C. HE WASN’T SATISFIED WITH AVERAGE RELIGION
1. ZEALOUS (anxious/earnest). He came running and fell down before Christ, “What must I do…”
2. He had studied the Law and carefully kept it. He had heard the teaching at the Temple but wanted more! Today he’d attend seminars, retreats, prayer meetings, etc. Matthew 19:20 “What do I still lack?” He was making sure he didn’t miss something.
3. Summary: He had a Seeking heart. His head told him he’d kept the Law, but is heart told him there was more.
4. Thank God for people who are not satisfied.
D. HE’S THE PERSON WILLING TO CHANGE, or at least thought he was.
1. Many people are so set in their ways it would take dynamite to loosen them up.
2. That’s why it’s so refreshing to meet people who are open to change.
3. This man believed himself willing to:
a. DO anything
b. To GIVE UP anything
c. To SUFFER anything, in order to gain eternal life.
4. And so are most of you. Congratulations!
II. ONE OVERLOOKED ITEM
A. IT’S JUST “ONE THING” – SO WHAT?
1. The gaze of Jesus pierced through all his accomplishments and shown upon a sin (a heart problem – greed) which must be conquered or he could not possess eternal life.
2. “ONE THING YOU LACK.” WHY WOULD GOD CARE IF THERE WAS JUST ONE THING WRONG? The Lord wasn’t trying to be nitpicking; this was serious! One bad link breaks a chain. If the brakes on your car don’t work even one time, it’s still serious!
3. If I made you an omelet with three good eggs and one really rotten egg, would you want to eat it? Neither does God! If Jesus is not Lord ‘of all’ then He’s not Lord ‘at all.’ God wants ALL of you, or NONE of you!
4. Imagine a husband at his wedding promising his bride he’ll be faithful to her – except for one day a year! No! His love for her wouldn’t be genuine! Love must be whole-hearted! God also won’t allow rivals. I don’t care how good you are – you still have at least one idol in your heart.
B. EXAMPLES OF IDOLS OF THE HEART
1. BEING IN CONTROL. Sometimes our idol is “being in control.” We don’t want to turn the control of our lives over to God and trust that He knows best.
2. REASONING. We may have the idol of “rationality.” If what God asks us to do doesn’t seem to line up with what the average person would think is reasonable, then we prefer the advice of the human wisdom idol & do what it says over God. Examples:
a. God telling Noah to build a huge ship when it had never rained.
b. God telling Abraham to go to a country he’d never seen. Imagine Abraham explaining to his wife: “Where are we going?” “I don’t know.” “How far is it?” “I don’t know!” “What does it look like?” “Who will be our neighbors?” “What will we live in?” A: “I don’t know.”
c. God telling Gideon to fight a massive army with 300 men, etc. That didn’t make sense.
3. PEOPLE IDOLS, that we don’t want to disappoint. They can be parents, boy or girl-friends, or a spouse. They can also be friends or a social group. We won’t obey God out of fear of being rejected by our peers or family.
4. IDOLS OF OUR PLANS/ CAREERS. Many people have already made their plans and don’t want them messed up. We want all the details; we don’t want to walk by faith. Some people’s career is more important than God.
5. IDOLS OF KIDS. People make idols out of their kids when they adopt their society’s expectations for what makes a good parent. Society says, “A good parent puts their kids in baseball.” For these parents, if God/church get in the way, then church gets cut. They justify their ‘giving God the back seat’ because they are being ‘good parents.’ What does God think?
6. THE IDOL OF MONEY, material possessions, or standard of living. Americans work 2 or 3 jobs in order to achieve and maintain the American standard of living. The idol of the Rich Young Ruler was his standard of living and material possessions. If we aren’t willing to give them up, then they’re more important to us than God, and are an idol.
C. HUMOR: It’s Good to Make Resolutions
1. On New Year’s day, one young boy asked his father what his resolution was; “I’m going to do everything possible this year to make your mother happy!”
2. The boy asked his mother what her resolution was, and she said, “To make sure your father keeps his resolution.”
III. CHRIST WILL TEST YOUR IDOLS
WHAT WAS THE RICH YOUNG RULER’S PROBLEM? HE WAS FACED WITH THE “POINT OF NO RETURN.”
A. THE POINT OF NO RETURN
1. “POINT OF NO RETURN” DEFINED: “The moment in an airplane flight when there is no longer enough fuel to return to the starting point.” Or the point in a journey at which supplies will be insufficient for the return to the starting point. IT’S WHEN IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GO BACK!
2. EXAMPLES OF POINT OF NO RETURN
a. Like when CORTEZ arrived at Veracruz in 1519 with 800 soldiers to defeat the entire Aztec nation! To ensure his men wouldn’t turn back, he had the ships burned before their eyes. There was no going back.
b. At the ALAMO, Col. Travis drew a line in the sand to commit his men to die for the liberty of Texas. By the next day it was impossible for them to go back.
c. In the movie “Horse Soldiers” (with John Wayne), an army unit crossed a bridge. The commander, to ensure his troops wouldn’t retreat, blew up the bridge after they crossed it. They either had to win victory or die.
d. Elisha the farmer, when called to be a prophet, slaughtered his oxen and burned his plows. He did this to ensure he couldn’t go back to farming.
3. Jesus asked the Rich Young Ruler to “cut the cables” (jettison) to his old life and walk with Him into the unknown. Jesus said, "Go, sell everything you have and GIVE IT TO THE POOR… Then come, follow me." Once he gave it away, there was no going back. The young man wouldn’t give up his idol.
4. SAD TRUTH: as good as he was, HE DIDN’T ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD! Jesus said of him, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” Mark 10:23,25. We must be willing to let them go.
B. BECOMING WILLING: THE LAST KEY
1. Famous Christian author, Frederic Meyer, once had a dream. Jesus came to him and asked him for all the keys to his life. Fred took his ring of keys and gave them to Jesus. “Are these ALL the keys?” Meyer answered, “No, I have only one small key left to a very tiny room. Surely you wouldn’t want that key.”
2. Jesus handed ALL the keys back to him, “No, I must have all the keys or none of them at all.” Fred Meyer awoke with a start; hot tears were coursing down his cheeks.
3. He rolled off his bed onto his knees and surrendered every part of his life to the Lord and from that hour there came a new power in his life.
4. If you got 90% of the strychnine (poison) out, would it be ok to drink the other 10% strychnine? If a deer is caught in a trap and gets all of its feet free but one, isn’t it still bound? If you want to experience the delivering power of Jesus, you have to surrender all the keys to Him.
C. IS THERE EVIDENCE OF HIS LORDSHIP?
1. If Jesus is Lord, there should be some self-denial in your life. If you’re not having to sacrifice for the kingdom,
“ “ “ alter your plans,
“ “ “ curtail the places you go,
“ “ “ restrain what you say,
2. Then you better make sure God is in your life, because the best of us still have “one thing.”
3. When God speaks to you – whether you obey or not – something is going to die in you. If you obey, part of your self-will will die; if you ignore the Holy Spirit, then His voice will die out of your life.
4. Since you face a sort-of death either way, why not choose to please God? Don’t follow the example of the Rich Young Ruler; do the opposite!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: FORGETTING THE MOST IMPORTANT
1. In April, 1988, a cameraman was hired to video a group of friends as they skydived. They all leaped from the plane and began with a prolonged freefall.
2. The photographer got some exciting footage of each participant as they did summersaults, body-surfed, formed stars, and other formations.
3. Each did his/her signature move and then pulled their ripcord, and rose out of camera view. The last segment of the film is one of total chaos.
4. The cameraman made the horrifying discovery that, in all his efforts to help the others have a great experience, he had forgotten to put on his own parachute! He didn’t know until he reached for his ripcord his terrible mistake.
5. His jump was an eventful and exhilarating trip for a few fleeting moments. That’s what many well-meaning people are doing, living their lives to please others and ignoring the One they must ultimately answer to. Let’s give God His proper place! [The Best of ‘In Other Words,’ Raymond McHenry, #788]
B. ALTAR CALL
1. The Rich Young Ruler asked a good question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Are you asking that question today? Slip up your hand.
2. Next the Lord told him there was one thing in his life that wasn’t right. Has God shown you something you need to give to Him? Raise hand.
3. How many of you have ignored God but today you’re willing to surrender all to God? Will you stand up? Please come and stand in the altar area. Social distance please. LET’S PRAY.
