Turning Sadness at Losing Money to Gladness at Gaining Jesus

0:11 that you would do because you said you could, and that you would deliver us from the heart condition of being sad when we must give our money in order to have Jesus rather make us glad for that exchange. I'm going to ask this in his name. Amen.

0:43 So I'm going to tell you the main point of the text as I see it, right out of the chute, so that as we walk through the text, you can test it, because that's your job. Luke is inspired. I'm not. You have Bibles and you have the Holy Spirit, I hope. And as we walk through the text, you should be asking, has Piper got it? Or is he importing his ideas into the text instead of getting Luke's inspired ideas out of the text. That's your job for the next 30 minutes or so.

1:34 Which is a big deal. Okay. Main point. God does the humanly impossible to save sinners by turning sadness at losing money into gladness at gaining Jesus. I'll say it again. I think that's the main point of this entire text. God does the humanly impossible to save sinners by turning sadness at losing money into gladness at gaining Jesus. Verses 26 and 27 are the climax of the text where we see this. Those who heard it said, this is verse 26, then who can be saved. But Jesus said, what is impossible with man is possible with God.

2:49 So, in verse 26, these folks that are listening in on this conversation with the rich man, they conclude from what Jesus had just said, well, nobody can get saved then. Who can be saved? To which Jesus did not respond by saying, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. don't that's not what I meant to communicate you over interpreted what I said that's not what he said they got it He indeed meant to communicate impossible. I mean somebody just prayed in the prayer meeting about somebody they knew that said getting through the eye of a needle is like a gate in Jerusalem's wall that if you get down on your knees you can get through. That's a sheer, I want to use a bad word, baloney. There is no such gate and it misses the point of the text.

3:54 Impossible. That's exactly what he meant to communicate. It's right there in the verse. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Or if you prefer, you can switch out the word saved in verse 26 and replace it with enter the kingdom at the end of verse 25. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, which he can't, Amen. than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So in this story, being saved, that language, is the same as entering the kingdom of God.

4:43 Because when you enter the kingdom of God, you are saved from the consequences of not being in the kingdom, namely bearing your own sin and penalty, which means hell. So saved is a good word, a really good word. Don't mock the word saved. It is a precious, precious word. And there are other words here, like eternal life and entering the kingdom and treasure in heaven. Lots of words here about this good, good, good news. So, main point, God does the humanly impossible to save sinners by turning sadness at losing money into gladness at gaining Jesus. To which somebody might respond, then why are we here?

5:38 I mean, and why are you talking? I mean, if there's nothing we can do to get into the kingdom, if it's impossible for you to do anything to get into the kingdom, why are you telling us this?

5:59 What good is it to tell us this? I used to think that way 57 years ago. 58, 59, I used to think that way. I have very precious people in my life who think that way. Here's the answer to that question. And it's so simple. Isn't it wonderful that great things are often simple? The answer is God has planned, chosen, decreed, ordained, decided that he would make the preaching of his word the means of doing the impossible. That's why you're here. That's why I'm talking. You know, if I thought that every single one of you was dead.

7:09 blind, spiritually, deaf, spiritually, I'd go on preaching. why they're dead you don't go to a cemetery and preach you remember what God said to Ezekiel yes you do a lot of you do son of man can these bones live now he's standing in a field full of skeletons dead dry white skeletons lying all over the field I love this story. Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel answered, O Lord, you know. Then God said to Ezekiel, prophesy over these bones. Preach to Bethlehem. I know you're not dead. Most of you are gloriously alive. That's why you're here. A few of you are still dead. Thank God you're here.

8:12 Prophesy over these bones and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. And God said to those bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you will live. It is not pointless for a preacher to look a dead person in the eye and say, live! That's what Jesus said to Lazarus, and it happened, and God does it through his word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Let's walk through the text and you test whether that main point is really here as we take all of the text into account. God does the humanly impossible to save sinners by turning sadness at losing money into gladness at gaining Jesus.

9:33 That's conversion. That's the miracle that has to happen for some of you this morning. And be refreshed for all of us. Verse 18, a ruler asked Jesus, good teacher. He's not young in this text. He's a rich young ruler. I'll probably slip and say that somewhere along this sermon because he is young, but Luke doesn't care about that for some reason. You should maybe ask why that is. Luke doesn't say he's young. He's just a rich ruler. He's somebody. I don't know what he rules, synagogue. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And blows me away that Jesus picks up on this word good in verse 19 and says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

10:36 Now, there are three reasons why that's a very puzzling thing to say. Number one, it doesn't seem like it's called for. I mean, I can imagine this man saying, I was just trying to be nice. Come on, Jesus, good grief. I wasn't making any big theological statement. lay off. That's the first problem. He just said good teacher. Number two problem, Jesus calls people good a lot. Luke 6.45, good person out of his good treasure brings forth good. Luke 19.17, well done, good servant.

11:30 Jesus knows perfectly well there's just an ordinary way to use the word good to talk to somebody without making any kind of big theological mistake. Jesus knows this. He didn't slip. that's the second problem surprising thing here's the third surprising thing he doesn't give the guy a chance to answer like you asked the question and now you just kept going let me answer if you I don't want your answer this isn't a question oh well if it's not what is it what is verse 19 Thank you. Here's what I think is going on in verse 19. You see that little phrase at the end of the verse, accept God alone.

12:27 Nobody's good, accept God alone. I did a little search on that little Greek phrase. It occurs two other times in the New Testament. One is the parallel to this text in Mark, so that's not surprising. And the other one is when those friends brought the lame man to Jesus, and Jesus looks at him and says, son, your sins are forgiven. And the scribes, they say, whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody forgives sins except God alone. That's his phrase, exact phrase, only other place it's used outside the story. So here's what I'm taking. This is my clue to solve this peculiar verse. At that point, everybody gets the point. I, Jesus Christ, standing before a sinful, lame man, am taking a divine prerogative, and I am forgiving him.

13:31 that got him crucified he knew it would he's planning the whole thing I, a mere man, who's not a mere man, take to myself divine prerogatives because I'm the Son of God. So I come back here, and I think out of the blue, in verse 19, Jesus is taking an occasion from this little word good, just innocent word good and blowing it up to make a point.

14:16 As we get this conversation started, rich man, I want you to consider a possibility that when you weigh what's really good and valuable and beautiful in your life, you're standing before absolute goodness. That's me. Nobody is good except God, but I am good. Get it? I think that's the point. And he doesn't give any chance for a response. He's just on to the question because it's not a question, it's a statement. And it's a statement to jar the man. It's just like, whoa. He's gonna ask me to follow him in a few minutes, and he just set this up about as high as it could possibly be. Verse 20.

15:12 He's back to the issue of verse 18. Verse 18, how do I inherit eternal life? And Jesus simply says, here's four commandments. Commandment number seven, commandment number six, commandment number eight, commandment number five, all jumbled up.

15:34 Seven, six, eight, five. no order, no interpretation, no explanation, just dumps them on the man and waits. He doesn't say this is how you get eternal life. He doesn't say this is how you show that you have eternal life. He just says, here's some commandments. What are you going to make of them? Verse 21, all these I have kept from my youth.

16:00 Now why didn't Jesus at that point say, then why are you asking me the question? Because you already know the answer. Why didn't he say that? He didn't say that because it's not true. this man did not believe that commandment keeping gets him into the kingdom. He didn't believe that. He didn't believe that law keeping gets him into eternal life. And we know he didn't believe that because he says right here, he's a good law keeper. And yet he asked the question, how to get in? If he thought that you get in by law-keeping, he wouldn't come to Jesus when he's such a good law-keeper. He doesn't believe that. There's a reason he doesn't believe it. It's not taught in the Old Testament.

16:52 He's a good Old Testament guy. I mean, you do know that, don't you? The Old Testament did not teach that law-keeping gets you into heaven. The Old Testament did not teach that commandment-keeping gets you into eternal life. We know that because Genesis 15, 6 says we're justified by faith. Genesis, that's in the Bible. And 430 years later, the law coming in doesn't change it. Paul said that. Galatians 3, 17. And the law itself says, of course you can't keep these commandments. That's why I have bulls and goats being slaughtered every day at this temple, because you've got to put your hand on these goats and have them represent your substitute so that God will take away your sins, because they symbolically just went onto the head of the animal and they got killed. You have to have blood to get forgiveness. That's what Hebrews says, there is no forgiveness of blood. It's forgiveness of sins without shedding of blood.

17:58 They knew that. It's all over the Bible. It's all over the Old Testament. And every thoughtful Old Testament saint knew the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. That's why you've got Isaiah 53.

18:21 Glorious chapter right there in the Old Testament. We've got to have a Messiah who will be pierced for our iniquities, who will be bruised for our transgressions. We've got to have this. Thoughtful Old Testament saints knew you don't get into the kingdom of heaven by law-keeping.

18:43 The Pharisees got this all wrong, of course. But there were godly Old Testament saints who got it right and were waiting hungrily, eagerly for Messiah Jesus to come. This rich man had done his best, moral, law-keeping, follower of God, making his sacrifices at the temple, presumably, there's no reason to think not. He just wants to know, how does it get finished? How can I have it? Because I know this isn't enough. This is not enough. Tell me, Jesus. What's the way in? And Jesus is very happy to give him the answer. He's not scolding him.

19:38 He's just answering him. Verse 22. And Jesus heard this. He said to him, one thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come, follow me. Now, don't get sidetracked here by the question whether you have to give all your money away to be saved. You don't. Maybe. And he did. And you might be like him, but probably not. And the reason I say that, and you might say, whoa,

20:28 why are you saying that? I'm saying it just because the next chapter is about Zacchaeus. Thank you. Zacchaeus is rich, really rich, and he's rich illegally. And he's up in a tree, hungry to see this teacher, and Jesus takes the initiative and says, you come down here, I'm going to your house, and we'll see what happens. Here's what happens. Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, this is Luke 19, 8.

21:02 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

21:33 So rich young man, see, there I did it. Rich man, everything. Zacchaeus, half. That's a lot. So be careful. What Jesus has to say to you about your money, he's going to say in just a minute. Right now, you should just be concluding, that's a big deal. One had to give away everything to follow Jesus. One gave away half to follow Jesus. That's a big deal. Wonder what he wants from me. Money matters. It's huge. Jesus talks about money more than any other problem.

22:18 Sex doesn't even hold a candle. Money keeps people out of heaven. Sex is way down on the list. Alcohol, way down on the list. Money, way up at the top of the list that keeps people out of heaven. It's a big deal. That's what you should be thinking right now. So it'll be plain in just a moment what he says about your money. But for now, it's a big deal.

22:46 Now, in verse 22, Why does Jesus say one thing you still lack and then tell him three things that he should do? Number one, sell all you have. Number two, distribute to the poor. And don't worry, you'll have treasure in heaven. Three, follow me. How's that one thing?

23:24 One thing you still lack. Here's three things you need to do. So here's, I have a picture in my head that helps me see it as one. And what's really at the heart of the one. So I have a picture. So picture my fist as the rich man's heart. They say your heart is about the size of your fist. Now it looks pretty small for what the heart does.

23:54 This is his heart. And his heart is firmly grasping a lot of money. It says he is exceedingly rich, verse 23. Exceedingly rich. So in this heart is a lot of money. And Jesus says, where your heart is there, will your treasure be? That's exactly where it is, right there. This is his heart, his money is in there. and Jesus says, now, I want you to replace your money with me. That's my interpretation of follow me. Follow me. I'm going to be your treasure from now on. I'm going to be more valuable to you than money from now on. He says, come on, follow me. Now for that to happen, he's got to do this. and when he does that the money falls out and Jesus says let it fall on the poor not in the river don't let it fall in the river I mean for the money to bless somebody I mean for the money that just falls out of your hands testify to people that I'm more important than money in your life that falling of money onto poor people is supposed to witness loud and clear He's got a new treasure. Jesus must be awesome. That's a lot of money he just let go. And then Jesus comes in and the one thing is treasure me more than your money and all kinds of good things will happen. You'll have treasure in heaven, poor people will have their needs met and you get saved.

25:40 Now comes the response of the man to this proposal, this one thing. Verse 23, when he heard these things, he became very sad. That's where I got the word sad in the main point of the text. he became very sad. Jesus, Luke is going to repeat this word in the next verse.

26:15 Notice something. It doesn't say, and he went away sad. Both Matthew and Mark say that this rich man went away. He went away. Luke doesn't say that. Luke just chose to leave that out. Why would he do that? Well, the effect it has is to throw all of the emphasis on the man's heart condition. He's sad. His sadness is going to lead him away. It does. But that's not what Luke is focusing on. Luke is focusing on your heart right now. Not whether you get up and walk out because you don't like to sermon. That's a physical thing. Muscles don't matter. The movement of muscles don't matter in the end. heart making muscles move matters, right? So that's what he's focusing on. This man is very, notice that, not just a little bit, but very sad. That's shocking. That's supposed to be shocking. He's standing in front of infinite goodness.

27:27 who says to him, look, if you follow me, you'll have treasure in heaven forever. I mean, the moths are going to corrupt, the thieves are going to break and steal. It's going to be there for you forever. And you're going to have eternal life. Verse 18, you're going to have the kingdom of God. You're going to be in it. And you're going to have me, king, friend, treasure. And all you lose is money. All you lose is your money, and you get me. And that made him sad. That's shocking.

28:23 And that's happening in this room. That would make me very sad if Jesus said, you've got to give up all your money, and what you get is me forever, King Jesus, treasures in heaven, eternal life. And it makes you sad. That's tragic. That's damnation.

28:50 And you can't do anything to change it except listen to this message. See what happens. And now Jesus interprets what just happened. Verse 24, Jesus seeing that he had become sad said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier, this shows how difficult it is. It's difficult, here's how difficult it is. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Now notice he doesn't say it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for those who love money. He doesn't say that. He just says, have money. That's everybody in this room. By world standards, I'm looking around now, I could be wrong, I'll just say everybody in front of me is rich.

30:09 You've got electricity and lights just like that. You've got heat just like that. You've got air conditioning. You've got refrigeration. You've got indoor plumbing. You've got 911. My grandson Liam just had open-heart surgery on Friday. What a miracle! They rebuilt his heart. We're rich. You're rich. Okay? So just settle it. If I don't say that, I just feel so inauthentic talking about this when the whole world around me and the whole world across the oceans, 90% of them don't have anything like what you have. So we're rich. We cannot, with that money it says enter the kingdom of heaven.

31:08 Be devastated, you should be. So how difficult those who have wealth, that's all of us in this room, I think, to enter the kingdom. How difficult, as difficult as a camel going through the eye of a needle. Verse 26, these smart listeners say, then nobody can be saved. When they hear that this rich man can't be saved, they say, well then nobody can be saved. It's impossible. Now why would they say that? Why would they say, why would they conclude that? This man is a moral man.

31:57 He's kept the commandments, going to the temple, making the sacrifices, follower of Moses, has God's blessing on him because he's rich, right? That's what riches mean, God's blessing. if he can't get in, I sure can't get in, they would say. Nobody can get in. And Jesus didn't say, that's a bad interpretation of what I just said. He said, that's exactly what I mean. He said that. What is impossible with man, impossible, is possible with God. I tell you, brothers and sisters, that's one of my favorite sentences in the Bible, because I've got a lot of impossible things in my life I want to happen. Don't you? You do. And there's no hope that they're going to happen unless God is God.

32:58 And you're not, right? That's our only hope. This sentence is our hope. It's our life. what humans cannot do that we love, God can do. Don't stop knocking. Don't stop pleading. There's no hope if that sentence isn't gloriously true. What is impossible with man is possible with God. I go there over and over again to give myself hope. So you can't make yourself alive. You can't make yourself see if you're blind. You can't make yourself glad in Jesus when you're glad in money. You can't turn your emotions on and off like that. We are hopelessly undone.

33:54 So the issue in this text boils down to the presence of sadness at losing money and the absence of gladness at gaining Jesus. That's the problem. and the sadness at losing money and no gladness at gaining Jesus is the camel that can't get through the eye of the needle. God has to work a miracle for you, me. I think winding up our walkthrough, verses 28 to 30, I think Luke adds this little interchange between Peter and Jesus to drive home the point that when God works that impossibility, which he did for Peter. Peter left everything.

34:51 He worked it. He worked the miracle. Follow me. And they just walked away from their boats. Just like, whoa, what just happened? You're crazy. No, they're not. They're objects of a miracle. So it happened. And Peter's saying, It happened to us, right? And Jesus, I think, is saying, yes, it did. And believe me, you won't regret it. Right? I don't care what, whatever you have left behind,

35:28 it's going to go better now and eternal life forever. Now, better now. Look at that verse 30. Who will not receive many times more in this life and in the age to come, eternal life.

35:55 If you... Take that verse to mean, ah, I finally get it. He had a $5 million portfolio. And Jesus says, you just got to give that away.

36:20 And give it to the poor and follow me. And you get a $50 million portfolio. Thank you. It says so. Many times more in this time. Case closed for the prosperity gospel.

36:42 This is so real to me right now because I had an Uber driver on Friday who is a Nigerian. And he seemed lonely. And I said, do you have a church? Because I'd love you to come to my church because you can find a lot of friends and really good news about Jesus. He says, I got a church, and I won't name the church. I go to the blank. I said, where's that? Brooklyn Center. I go home. I tune it up. It's part of a worldwide prosperity gospel church. I watched an entire service, and my heart broke. We think prosperity gospel's in Africa, India. It's right in Brooklyn Center with 1,000 people there. and every single text that I love because of its promise of blessing had a dollar sign over it and the promise this Friday, if your expectation is good enough, it'll come.

37:39 and there is only profit, P-R-O-F-I-T, and no expectation of loss in the Christian life. That's just a paraphrase of the sermon that I was watching. If you take this text like that, you will turn it upside down. The point of this text is to show that his treasure was in the wrong place. And the prosperity gospel is constantly encouraging people to make that their treasure, to make Jesus into a good banker. It's tragic. So I feel big deal. I really don't like the prosperity gospel. And it is, I mean, any place I go overseas and I ask, what's your biggest issue? Almost always prosperity gospel. So I think what Jesus meant when he said in verse 30 that you will have much more in this time and then eternal life is that you can't even compete with walking with Jesus in this life on the hard road that leads to eternal life.

38:59 It is more blessed to give than to receive. There are blessings abundant in the Christian life. I wouldn't trade the life in Christ for anything. Have much or have little. It doesn't matter. Walking with Jesus on the hard road that leads to life is a far greater blessing than walking without Jesus on the easy road that leads to destruction. That's what this verse means, I think. So main point of the text, God does the humanly impossible to save sinners by turning sadness at losing money into gladness at gaining Jesus as your supreme treasure, which implies these four things in closing. Number one, if you're a Christian in this room, if Jesus is more precious to you than anything, you're a walking miracle. You are a walking impossibility. Are you giving credit to the miracle worker. Every morning when you get up treasuring Jesus. You didn't do that.

40:16 God did that. Praise him. Praise him for that. That's number one. Number two, money is dangerous. Period. Not love of money. Money is dangerous. Set governors on your spending early on, young people, and as your competency will bring more money in your life, give more, don't necessarily spend more. Seth, the governors, Noel and I have spent all our lives trying to figure this out, because I can make a lot of money with books and speaking, and we've had to set governors over and over again. We don't want to be rich. We're all rich, but we don't want to be rich. You know what I mean? We're scared of money. Are you? It says you should be. Those who have wealth find it difficult, that is impossible, to get into the kingdom. Money is dangerous. Set some governors and make your day by giving and giving and giving. I can't, and the Bible doesn't tell you where to set the governor. I wish I could. No, I don't, because we'd all be legalists if we did that. I don't know. I don't know where you should live, how many cars you should have, you should have a cabin on the lake.

41:36 Three, don't fall for the prosperity gospel, which puts a dollar sign over every promise of blessing in the Bible and preaches that the only thing you should expect in life is profit, not loss. Just read 2 Corinthians and weep. I love the Apostle Paul. In all our afflictions, we are overflowing with joy. Finally, number four,

42:12 let Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us, which we will now mark with this table. This is a drama of the greatest act that was ever performed in the history of the world for the sake of enabling you to experience the impossible work of Christ. Let Jesus show you that he's a greater treasure than anything in the universe, which is what this sermon is intended to do. Let's pray.

42:46 Father in heaven, now as we close with this precious, precious emblem of your great love. Would you work the impossible, save sinners, strengthen saints by causing us to turn away from sadness and losing money to gladness?