7. Michael Shultz | Calvinism and the Love of God | Open Air Theology Conference 2024

The Love of God and the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10

Amen, it's an honor and a privilege to have been invited back again. I thank you haps and Jeff and Braden for allowing me to somebody like me to preach with guys like you. It's a blessing. If you'd like I invite you to open your Bibles today To the gospel of Mark the New Testament gospel of Mark, and I will be speaking today from Mark chapter 10 verses 17 through 27 mark 10 17 Through 27.

I imagine this passage is going to be a familiar one to you. Although maybe not the most familiar. There's certainly a detail in this that you might have passed over before and not taken much recognition of.

I'm going to make great emphasis.

Of it today.

Because I truly believe that it's important. There's no greater authority than the scripture. And so my intention is to present a scripture that I wholeheartedly believe corrects an error. That many Christians both on the conservative and liberal wings of our spectrum have missed When it comes to their understanding and their teaching about the love of God.

The cliff that American Christians have long fallen off of when discussing the love of God is we have for many years taught that God loves everyone the exact same way and That way is by not asking them to change whatsoever.

That's how God loves everyone is the way that most American Christians have been taught about the love of God for many years. Now most of us in this room would immediately say that's an error but in correcting that error I believe we have swung to the opposite end of the spectrum the opposite end of the pendulum and many of us have unfortunately fallen into an error of our own that has yet to be acknowledged and Seeking to correct the error that the American Church has long fallen into we have in many ways become like the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.

That church if you're not familiar with it was fervent for upholding proper doctrine. Christ acknowledged. They had good doctrine. They were adamant for calling out false teachers. Christ commended them for refusing to have false teachers.

They engaged their culture for the cause of Christ. But they neglected love in many ways. We embody the church at Ephesus because we have become so obsessed with correcting the error of reckless Love that we have entirely neglected love.

It's not just that we don't believe that God recklessly loves sinners. Many of us either believe or teach that God doesn't love sinners at all. Although we have doctrinal fidelity and faithful endurance through cultural debasement and proper apologetics.

We neglect love and Jesus Christ says of a church like that. I would rather you close. I Would rather a church close. Than to have it operate entirely biblically and with entire doctrinal fidelity than to do so whilst lacking love.

It's not enough. All of our confessions in our street evangelism and our apologetics and our ministries and our seminaries if we operate them without love. That's not enough. Jesus Christ would rather have it close.

So as we read and preach this passage I want to do something that I don't normally do which is I'm going to take it a little bit out of order. This will be certainly an expository message. But I'm going to focus first of all in verses 17 through 20 and ask a question, which is who is this man?

This man we're going to be reading about today. Who is he? What kind of person would we consider him to be if we met him? And then I'm going to skip to verses 23 through 27 and ask the question. Who are we?

How are we different from him? And then we'll return to the middle in verses 21 and 2. I'm going to ask the question. Who is God? Who's the man who are we who is God and As we answer those questions, I want you to have two things in mind two questions of your own.

Number one, how does God love? Number two, does God love everyone? How does God love and does God love everyone? So hopefully you've had time to find your place in Mark 10. We're going to read verses 17 through 27 and if you're able I would want to ask you to stand and honor and reverence for the reading of the Word of God as We read Mark chapter 10 verses 17 through 27 the Word of God says and As he was setting out on his journey a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him Good teacher.

What must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus said to him. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.

Do not defraud honor your father and mother and he said to him teacher all these I've kept from my youth and.

Jesus.

Looking at him loved him and Said to him you lack one thing. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Disheartened by the saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And. The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again children how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God.

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. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him then who can be saved. And Jesus looked at them and said with man it is impossible.

But not with God. For all things are possible with God. You can be seated as we pray our God in heaven you are high and lifted up and you are so very good and you are holy and The chasm that we have opened up between ourselves and you is so deep and wide that no one could possibly span it.

But we know that you and your great love and by your great strength have spanned the chasm. You sent your son to be the Savior of the world and we can never lift our chins in pride because you did it purely out of your goodwill.

We earned nothing and your love has provided everything. So we pray today that you would reveal the depth of your love which reached into the dregs for us in Jesus name. Amen. To provide a bit of context as to where we are at this point in Christ's ministry.

He's well near the end of his life. In fact, he is traveling south. He has left Capernaum in the north. He has come into an area called Perea on the eastern side of the Jordan River traveling south to Jerusalem for the last time.

He will soon come into the city of Jericho where he will heal a blind a blind man named Bartimaeus in Route to what we now call the triumphal entry. We must imagine that Jesus has a lot on his mind. I thank brother Kevin for so thoroughly elucidating the undiluted wrath of God that Christ bore on the cross for us and We are often prone to make much of the wrath of God that he endured and make little of the physical excruciation that he endured.

But it wasn't nothing. The physical pain that he endured wasn't nothing. Being whipped and lashed and flogged and spat on and having his beard and hair ripped out and wearing a crown of thorns. It wasn't nothing.

Being nailed to a cross to hang midair for several hours while being ridiculed wasn't nothing. We know that the greater torment came from Christ enduring the undiluted wrath of God on our behalf. But the physical torment wasn't nothing.

He was just as much a man as he was God. How could it not be on his mind as he walked to Jerusalem for the last time? He must have pondered not only the physical and the spiritual excruciation that he would soon endure.

But as he's walking along and here's Judas humming a happy little song right beside him and he knows good and well. It's you that will betray me. He walks along and certainly Peters first in line and he knows it's Peter who will deny him three times.

He walks along and all the rest of his merry little band of disciples are just Chipper as they walk to the Passover in Jerusalem, and he knows all of you will abandon me in my most solemn and needful hour.

What must have been on our Savior's mind as he walked to Jerusalem for the last time? Not only this going on inwardly. But we must recognize that we have just concluded in chapter 10 a rather lengthy discussion of divorce which we all know are always just so fun and Then in verses 13 through 16.

He has to reprimand his disciples for not yet understanding how to even handle children they've been with him for three years, and they don't know how to handle kids a.

Thousand days.

These who will in Ephesians 2 20 be called the foundation upon which the church is built. Don't know how to handle kids. A Thousand days of listening to him preach a thousand days of waking up and hearing the morning prayers a Thousand days of watching him keep the law and perform miracles a thousand days of hearing him preach and then being called aside to get A private commentary where he explained everything to them.

A thousand days of evening prayers a thousand days, and you don't get it.

Where have you been? What have you been doing?

I'd be indignant too. That's what it says in verse 14. He was indignant with them. What is going on in our Savior's head in this moment, and it is in that moment this aggravated certainly angry moment that our burdened Savior in verse 17 throws his Bag over his shoulder and latches his sandals and sets out to leave and a man ran up and knelt before him.

Now Mark doesn't tell us much about this man other than what we gather in verse 22 that he was rich. He had great possessions, but this story appears in each of the synoptic Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke.

It's a very important story. We gather more about this man from Matthew and Luke's retelling of the story. Matthew tells us in Matthew 1920 that he was a young man. He uses a Greek word that generally denotes somebody under the age of 40.

He's hardly what we would call middle-aged. He's probably not as old as Jesus. And Luke tells us that he was a ruler. Using a Greek word that always asserted some level of authority whether religious or governmental.

I believe the man was a religious leader based on the fact that he thinks that he's kept the law. So I'm going to operate under that presumption that he's a religious ruler something like gyrus if you've read mark 5 a ruler of the synagogue.

But in either case he's a man who's advanced in position well beyond his years. Whether a government or a religious official he's quite young to be in the position that he's in and beyond being in the position.

He's quite successful at it because he's wealthy. The man has everything that a person could want. He has money and prestige and youth and usually you only get two of those at a time. You can get money and prestige, but it's gonna take you your whole life to earn it or you can get money and youth.

But you're gonna have to rob people to get it. It's not gonna be prestigious. He's got everything though. He has money and prestige and youth and beyond that he seems to have a degree of religious humility.

He runs up. He kneels at the foot of Jesus. He calls Jesus good teacher a term that was reserved for the most revered and respected rabbis of his age. He asked Jesus a good question. It's not a dumb question.

Jesus has been asked really dumb questions, okay. You remember this one the Sadducees come up and you can see these dunces just okay. We got him now. Yeah, okay. Hey, Jesus, we got you one. All right, you ready for this stumper?

So there's a woman right and she marries this guy then he dies then she marries his younger brother. Then he dies then she marries his younger brother. Then he dies then she marries his younger brother.

Then he dies then she marries his younger brother and you know Jesus sitting there like man I know there's a question here somewhere there has to be a question. Somewhere in the and she marries his younger brother and then he dies and then she dies.

So here's the question whose husband will she be at the resurrection? And the disciples must have gone, are you kidding me with this? That's the, he's God, and you're asking that? This is the kind of thing that he spent his three years in ministry doing.

But this guy asks a pretty good question. In fact, I would stand 10 toes down and say, this is the best question anybody ever asked Jesus. What's the question? The question is relayed in Mark 10 as well as Luke 18, is what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Now, if you're somebody who writes in or highlights in your Bible, this would be a good place to put some emphasis, the words, what must I do? Because this man isn't asking, how do I get to heaven? That's a different question.

He's not asking that, he's asking a different question. In Matthew 19, 16, Matthew reports that as he had said, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life? This young man flat out believes in works-based salvation.

There's no getting around it. He flat out believes he can earn his way to heaven. There must be some thing I can do to earn God's favor and enough of it to get me into heaven. And what that means is that this man has just identified himself as what we today would call a heretic.

He preaches a false gospel. He's a false teacher. And Jesus responds in a way that does provide us with a perfect template for how to discuss the doctrine of total depravity. Verse 18, why do you call me good?

No one's good except God alone. Now, it's not entirely clear what precisely Jesus is offended by. Some people say that he's trying to teach this man about his own divinity, some sort of a modus ponens type rationality.

If you say that I'm good, but we know the only people who are good are God, and therefore I am God, that might be what he's getting at. Other commentators believe that he's reprimanding this man for using a title like good to describe somebody he's never met before because that title refers to someone who's very admirable, very respectable.

You can't just apply that to anybody. It's even used to describe God in the Old Testament. So you're either gonna lift man way too high or you're gonna bring God way too low. You can't just go around flippantly using that language.

Either way, it's perfectly reasonable. But before we move on, I want to emphasize here that Jesus, in either case, taught that no person on Earth was a good person.

Nobody.

He says no less. No one is good except God alone. He levels the entire human race as being in one category, not good people. Without exception, he universally categorizes everyone as not good. And this is something that we need to remember because here in a few minutes, the disciples are gonna have a panic attack and it's largely because they understood what that meant and what it's gonna mean as we move forward.

In verse 19, Jesus tells the guy what he would need to do in order to get to heaven on the basis of his own works. You know the commandments. Now something that Mark doesn't tell us that Matthew does, Matthew 19, 17, and 18, Jesus says to enter life, keep the commandments, and the man interrupts Jesus and he says, which ones?

Which specific ones? As if he's formulating a grocery list that he's gonna go down and check the boxes. I've done that, I've done that, I'm sure now I'm going to heaven on the basis of my own goodness and works.

We must admit, it's kind of odd Jesus is even engaging in this conversation for one. You walk up to Jesus and say, Jesus, how do I get to heaven on the basis of my own goodness and works? And he actually answers the question.

That's not how we would respond to that question. We wouldn't say, we'll do this, this, and this. No, we would say, you can't. But with that in mind, it's perfectly normal that Jesus is answering the question because of how he answers it.

His answer is this, perfectly keep the law. That's how you get to heaven on the basis of your own works. Perfectly keep the law. The only way you can enter into the kingdom of God by your own works is by standing perfectly justified before God, having entirely kept his commandments, and the only person to ever do that is Jesus Christ.

Now we know that we're granted admission through him as by faith we receive his imputed righteousness by which we stand justified before God as if we ourselves lived the perfect life that he lived, but this man, he doesn't think that's the case.

In fact, he actually thinks he's got a pretty good shot. This man is so proud, so self-righteous, he really thinks he's got a good chance at it. I might just be able to do this. I can earn my own salvation.

So Jesus gives them the list. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And all of us, just like everyone standing around in that day, of course, understand Jesus has just taken the man to the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments.

But what we probably didn't notice and what they definitely don't notice here is that Jesus has done something very cool, very odd, that shows his anthropological understanding that he knows how people work.

First of all, he named them out of order. You might not have noticed that. He starts with number five, he finishes with number six. Kind of odd. Why did he do that? Then you read the list again and you'll notice, hey, wait a second.

As a kid, I watched Sesame Street. You guys remember one of these things just doesn't belong here. One of those isn't in the Ten Commandments. You didn't notice it and neither did they. Let's go through the list.

Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal. These are in the Decalogue. Do not bear false witness, that's there. Honor your father and mother, that's there. What's he done? Do not defraud. That's not in the Decalogue, Jesus.

And I guarantee you, it wasn't an accident. It didn't slip his mind. He put that there on purpose. I'm trying to figure this out. Why did he put that one there and why did he say them out of order? And I start thinking about this and the best thing I can come up with is that Jesus understood that when you say things out of order, you can slip something in and people might not notice.

If I asked you, for example, to give me all of the letters in the English alphabet following the letter P in your head, where'd you start?

L, you started with L.

Because it doesn't work with the rhythm. We can't go P-Q-R-S, it doesn't work that way. We go L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S, we can't go there. It's not the way we learned it. So you wanna slip something in on somebody and them not notice?

Mix up the order. And before they realize what's happened, you're way down the road. He goes six, seven, eight, nine, five and then he slips one in that doesn't belong. So the question then becomes, well why did he do that?

Why did he want people off his trail? Why did he put one in that doesn't belong there? And I remember the story of the woman at the well. John four. Jesus comes to the well, give me something to drink.

You don't even have a cup. Why are you talking to me anyway? I'm a Samaritan, you're a Jew. Soon enough they're talking about mountains. Is it Gerizim or Sinai? And Jesus is talking to her and she says, oh you know, give me this water.

And what does he say? Go get your husband. And she says, well actually I'm not married. And he goes, true, you are not married. You have been married five times and you are living with a man that you're not married to right now.

But, no lie, you're not married. Why did he do that? Jesus made a habit of subtly pointing out the very sin that a person was committing in such a way that it left room for them not to be publicly humiliated and embarrassed.

He wanted them to be convicted without shaming them in the presence of others. To put it in modern vernacular, Jesus wasn't a jerk. He has every reason to be. He's not a pushover. He's direct when people are rude with him, but even though this guy is a pompous, self-righteous wretch, and Jesus is already in a plenty bad mood, he's not a jerk.

Some of us should be taking notes. He's not a jerk. I don't care what your favorite YouTuber told you. Jesus is not a jerk. The reason Jesus put this command on the list, I believe, is because that man was using his position as a ruler to extort from people and defraud them, to make himself wealthier and more powerful.

I believe that. I think that's why he put that there. I think he mixed them up so that other people wouldn't notice that he was pointing directly to the sin that this man committed and telling him, you wanna get to heaven on the basis of your own works?

Keep all the commandments, including this one, that you and I both know you don't keep. And he would say the same thing to you and I. You know what you're doing. You wanna get to heaven on the basis of your own works?

Just do everything right, including the thing that you're doing wrong. How does the man respond to Jesus's loving subtlety? Well, teacher, all these I've kept from my youth. No conviction. No conviction at all.

It's as if he says to Jesus, well, yeah, of course, be perfect in every way. I've been doing that since I was a kid.

Completely a joke.

The undiluted, shameless pride on this guy. He looks God in the flesh, right in the eyes, and stands 10 toes down and says, I'm perfect. Despite Jesus pointing directly at the sin he commits, no problem with any of that.

What an awful person. Can you imagine if this guy came to your church? Hi, I'm perfect. I don't lie or steal or commit adultery or murder or wrong other people. I perfectly honor my father and mother.

Ray Comfort couldn't help this guy. He'd be halfway down the way of the master, you know, say or buy or not. I can't do the impression. By your own admission, you're a lying, thieving, murdering, and then he'd go, wait a second, did you say no?

Did you say you don't do any of those things? You really think you're perfect?

If he came in our church, we'd be on Twitter or Facebook in a heartbeat. There's some wackadoo came in here today telling us he's perfect. When John MacArthur preached this passage, he labeled this guy the blasphemous, rich, young ruler.

He's terrible. This guy's awful. His doctrine's all wrong. He's a false teacher and a heretic, but that kind of pales in comparison to the fact that he thinks he's perfect.

He's awful.

This guy's a monster. That's who he is. Now, I want you to look with me at verses 23 through 27. That's who the man is. Let's look at who we are. Because with this unthinkably horrible person described, it says in Luke 18, 24, Jesus noticed how the guy reacted to what he just said, and he starts describing this guy to the disciples, but what we should notice is that he doesn't treat this guy as if he's unique.

That guy's not, he's not abnormal. Now, he starts out in verse 24, excuse me, verse 23, by saying, yeah, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. He's more or less saying anybody like that guy is gonna have a hard time.

And the disciples in verse 24, they're amazed that he's just said that. And so it's almost like he's surprised that they're surprised. You think it's, you can't believe that guy can't get in?

So he doubles down.

Verse 25, no, excuse me, 24. I should learn my passage before I stand up to preach. Verse 24, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's not just for the wealthy guys.

It's difficult anyway.

Not just for guys like that, but for anybody.

It's difficult.

The disciples are struggling to realize something that I believe many of us have failed to realize, which is that that guy represents us. And he doesn't just represent us. That guy represents everything good about us.

He represents the very best of us. He has reached the pinnacle of human accomplishment. He's financially successful, he has many possessions, he's culturally successful, he's in a position of prestige and leadership.

He's temporally successful, he's accomplished all this in a very short life. Here he seems to have some degree of ethical and religious and moral success. He's convinced at least most people that he keeps the commandments.

Certainly he's convinced himself. He's done everything right. And here he is running to Jesus, kneeling at his feet, desiring to go to heaven. This guy is the synergist dream of his own free will. Despite all the world's trinkets and doles, this guy has come to the point where he understands that he has a God-sized hole in his heart that he simply cannot fill on his own.

And so he runs to Jesus of his own free will and asks, how do I get to heaven? He's done everything a human can do. This is the closest any person has ever come to being saved without God drawing them.

This is it.

And at the end of the story, he walks away lost. That's as close as we've ever gotten. Because no man can come to me unless my father draws him. This is the best we've got. And the disciples have realized that.

And in verse 26, it says they're exceedingly astonished. The Greek term actually might be translated panicked. They don't know what to do now. Because this is a terrifying realization. This guy has done everything right.

By human standards, he's got money, prestige, time, ethics, morals, religiousness. He's come to Jesus, he wants to go to heaven. If that guy can't make it, if he can't make it, Jesus, you're saying it's hard for anybody like him?

If he can't make it, good grief, who? He's clearly better than some Galilean fisherman. He's clearly better than poor Michael Schultz sitting down working at Home Depot.

This guy is everything. He's the best of us.

If he can't make it, who can possibly be saved?

If not him, then who?

And Jesus answers that question in verse 27. Who can possibly be saved? Jesus' response. With man, it's impossible. Do you see how he's built into this? First it was difficult for the rich. Then it was difficult for everybody.

Then it was so difficult, it's like a camel going through the eye of a needle. Now he just flat out says it.

It's impossible.

It's not just hard, it's not just difficult, it's not just that it won't happen. How possible is it?

It's not.

It's not possible at all that anybody would be saved by the basis of their own goodness and works. It's impossible. It is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. That when God intervenes, then and only then can and will anyone be saved.

It's impossible with man. If there's anything we have to put in, if there's any work that we have to contribute, if there's anything in us that's required, it's impossible. It's absolutely impossible.

Not a little bit possible, not highly unlikely. Impossible. Can't happen. But with God, all things are possible. And I need you to see this and understand this because this man, this rich young ruler, this nameless, faceless man was you.

He was me.

We don't get his name, but his name might as well have been Michael Schultz.

He's us.

He knows there's something more to this life than silver and gold. He's trying, it seems, to be an ethical and decent guy in his culture and age. He recognizes the value of the teachings of Jesus. He's got a bit of a pride problem, yes.

He lacks an ability to see his own insufficiencies and failures. By a biblical standard, yeah, he's an awful person,.

But so were all of us.

This man represents every single one of us in our lost and unregenerate state. Who are we? We're him. With all of our work and all of our will, with all of our efforts and our money, with all of our success, with all of our intellectual comprehension, it just leaves us walking away from Jesus damned to hell.

That's where it leaves us.

It's not enough. The poet writes, though I could live for all to lift them higher or spend the centuries seeking light within, though I indulge my every dark desire exhausting every avenue of sin, it's not enough.

It's not enough. I could walk the world forever until my shoes were filled with blood. It's not enough. I could right all wrongs or ravage everything beneath the sun. It's not enough. Though all the world could bow to me and I could drink my fill of fear and love, it's not enough.

It won't wake my soul. It won't make me whole. It's not enough. It never was. We cannot do it. Jesus knows this. Jesus taught this. The man's lost. He's trying to get to God on the basis of his own goodness and works.

He's a horrible man, just like us. Now in all of this, we're very good at talking about how unrighteous we are. We're very good at talking about how unholy we are. And especially when we talk about the lost and unregenerate, we're very good at talking about the evil of man.

As Brother Claude said, it's up, up, up with God and down, down, down with man. But the unfortunate part is I believe we forgot that first half. Most of us simply have a doctrine that says down, down, down with man.

And we have forgotten the highness of our God. Because how does Jesus Christ look at a man like that? What does Jesus feel for a man like that? What does he express to a man like that? Verse 21. Right in the midst, by the way, of this man's gross self-righteousness, he has just looked God in the flesh right in the eyes and said, I am perfect.

And the only perfect man to ever live is standing in front of him and he looks the man right in the eyes and loves him. We would expect Jesus to be enraged. He has every reason to. He's disappointed in his disciples.

He's dealing with the undeniable stress of preparing to be tortured and murdered while enduring the undiluted wrath of God in just a few days. He has every reason and justification and motivation to go off on this man and hate him.

But in verse 21, Jesus, looking at him, loved him. This is a disaster for most people in the Calvinist camp's understanding of how God loves and who he loves.

This is a disaster.

That's not how we expected the story to go. If a Calvinist had written the book of Mark, we wouldn't have put that in, but God wanted it in. We would expect him to respond to this hypocrite and heretic and false teacher the way he responds to some in Mark 3 .5.

Mark is keen to point out how Jesus responds to people. He says there, he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, but he didn't do that. It says Jesus, looking at him, loved him.

The Greek term is emblemsos. It's a meaningful look, a fixed gaze, a moment of direct eye contact. The man looks at Jesus right in the eyes and says, I'm perfect, and Jesus looks him right in the eyes and loves him.

Does this man fit into your concept of who and how God loves? I'll tell you what one of my teachers used to tell me. Sonny, you better get this right. You better get this right. Jesus loved him. It doesn't say he felt pity for him.

It doesn't say anger. It doesn't say grief. It doesn't say compassion. The Greek word that's used is agapason. You don't have to be a Greek scholar to know the root of agapason.

Agape.

It means nothing less than love. The word that's used, it describes how Jesus felt about this lost, sinful, unregenerate, likely unelect man, and it's the exact same Greek word that's used in John 3 .16 to describe how God loved the world.

It's the exact same word that's used in John 13 .1 to describe how Jesus loved his disciples. It's the exact same word that's used in John 15 .9 to describe how the Father loves the Son. It's the exact same word that's used in Ephesians 5 .25 to describe how Christ loved the church.

And before you burn me, I recognize that there are different kinds of love in God, but what I'm pointing to is the fact that you cannot get around this. There's no other meaning to the word. He loved him.

He loved him. Does this man fit into who you believe God loves? God loved this sinful, lost, unelect man. It wasn't a fake love. Romans 12 .9 tells us to let love be genuine. Jesus certainly never loved hypocritically.