Join Cherry Campbell in this compelling episode of Victorious Faith, where she dissects the conversation between Jesus and the rich young ruler. Discover how Jesus’s selective listing of the commandments highlights the ruler’s struggle with wealth, teaching us invaluable lessons about the hierarchy of love in our lives. Through vivid illustration, Cherry elucidates how loving God above all else brings true prosperity, casting a spotlight on the unparalleled returns of spiritual investments.
Welcome to Victorious Faith. We believe you will be blessed, encouraged, and receive fresh faith to begin your day as you listen to today’s message with international missionary and Bible teacher, Cherri Campbell.
Cherri Campbell (Host) :
Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This morning we are going to continue our study in lesson number 10 in a class that I taught called The Kingdom of God. And this lesson number 10 is called Understanding the Rich Young Ruler. So join me now in our live class for the continuation of lesson number 10, Understanding the Rich Young Ruler. You 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. I want us to notice these very carefully. Have you ever thought about the fact that, first of all, he did not list all ten commandments? We know there are ten commandments from the book of Exodus, chapter 20. And Jesus did not list all ten. And he did not list them in the order that they’re given in Exodus chapter 20. As a matter of fact, I want you to hold your finger there and go to Exodus 20 and see what did God say about the commandments. Exodus chapter 20. And look at verse 3. This is the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. That’s the first command. No other gods. The second command is verse 4. You shall not make for yourself an idol. And verse 5 says you shall not bow down to them. So it’s no idols before. Then number three is in verse seven. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, or the King James says, take the name of the Lord in vain. That’s number three. And then verse eight is number four. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. And number five now in verse 12. Verse 12 is the fifth commandment. Honor your father and your mother. Then verse 13 is commandment number 6. You shall not murder. Verse 14 is number 7. You shall not commit adultery. Verse 15 is number 8. You shall not steal. Verse 16 is number 9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor or that means lie. And verse 17 is number 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or anything that belongs to your neighbor. These are the Ten Commandments. Now, what did Jesus name to the rich young ruler? He started by saying, do not murder. Well, that’s verse 13. That’s commandment number 6. And then he said, do not commit adultery. That’s verse 14, commandment number 7. And then he said, do not steal, that’s commandment number eight. And he said, do not give false testimony, that’s commandment number nine. And then it says, do not defraud, and that would probably be the same as number ten, do not covet. And then he said, honor your father and mother, and that he jumped back up to number five. So the way he named these commandments, Jesus named them in Mark 10, he named commandment number six, then seven, then eight, then nine, then ten, and then he named number five. What about number 1, 2, 3, and 4? Well, what Jesus is doing, you would understand it better if you change this word. In verse 19, you know the commandments. Change the word the to these. These. You know these commandments. These. In other words, Jesus is telling him, these are the commandments that you know or that you are obeying. Because then the rich young ruler said, yep, I’m doing those all since I was a child. I’ve been doing them. And so Jesus is saying, these are the ones that you know. And Jesus named them in the order that this man was keeping them. And obviously then honor your father and mother was kind of down on the list. What was Jesus doing? Jesus was putting his finger right on the spot that the man was missing. You see, actually the first four commands all have to do with honoring God first. Have no other God before me, no idol, don’t misuse the name, and honor my Sabbath day. It’s honoring God first. And Jesus left that out. In other words, what he’s saying is, this is the area you’re lacking. And the very first command is, have no other gods before me. A God is anything that I’ve said before, you look to when you have a need. A God is anything that you put before worshiping our Heavenly Father. Jesus put his finger right on the spot where the man was missing it. And the man was missing it in loving his money more than God. And in Matthew 6, we’ve read already before, you cannot serve both God and money. See, this man was having a problem putting God first. He was doing good, not stealing, not lying, not cheating, not adultery. I mean, I’m doing really good. I’m not the sins of the flesh. I’m not doing them. I’m keeping the flesh under. Guess what? A lot of Christians are like that today. You know, a lot of Christians will say, well, I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t commit adultery. I don’t swear. But they are not loving God first either. They’re loving their family first or they’re loving their money first. How do you know what you love the most? It’s what are you willing to give up for something else? You compare two things. Which one do you love more? You can know by which one are you willing to give up to get the other one. And Jesus was telling this man, if you keep reading, Jesus named the last six commandments, which all have to do with the sins of the flesh, not the heart. And the man said, I’ve done these. And the Lord said, I know. Those are the ones you’ve done. But one thing you’re lacking. Sell everything you have, give to the poor, and follow me. In other words, get your love off of the money. And put your love on God. And make Him first. And in order to break the connection of the love of money, you’ve got to start giving it. How do you know when you love money? If it’s hard for you to give it away. Oh, ouch. You know, I can say this to people all over the world and people that don’t even have money. Oh, I don’t love money because I don’t have any money. Having money and loving money are not the same. You know, so many times it’s the poor who think it’s the rich who have the love of money. And that’s not true. Loving money and having money are not the same. You can have money and not love it when you’re willing to give it. But on the other hand, you might not have any money and still love it. And you’re pursuing your whole life to get it. And when you get some, you don’t give it. You want to keep it for yourself. And so I’ve seen a lot of poor people around the world that think they don’t have the love of money, but when I challenge them, how easy is it when you get $5 to give it away? And then they’d all have to confess, well, I guess it’s kind of hard to give it. The way you know if you love money or not is how easy is it to give it away. And so Jesus is challenging him, get your love off the money, get your love on God, be willing to give the money away and sow it as a seed so that you’re putting God first place in your life. Break this connection with the love of money. Jesus put his finger right on the spot where the man was missing it. And the man, it was true. Jesus diagnosed the problem correctly because the man went away sad. He could not do it because he had great wealth. That’s what the Bible says. But it’s not just because he had great wealth, but because he loved his great wealth. Not because he had it. There’s nothing wrong with having it. It’s because he loved it. And it was hard for him to give it away. And then Jesus said how hard it is for the rich. Those who have made their bucks, made their money in the world system by toiling, especially when you toil to get it, you don’t want to let it go. Boy, I worked hard for that dollar. I don’t want anybody to have it. I’m keeping it. If you work through toil to get it, it’s much harder to give it away. That’s true. Because when you get it by the blessing of God and by sowing and reaping, it wasn’t hard to get this time. Sure, give it away and get more. It’s not hard. There’s no toil. So it is harder for the rich to enter, the rich in the world system, to give and receive, to operate by the laws of the kingdom of God. So that’s what Jesus is talking about, entering the kingdom of God. And we know Jesus is not telling the man to be poor. Anybody who would read verse 21… Give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in heaven. Anybody who reads that and thinks that Jesus is saying you’ve got to be poor did not finish reading the story. Because all you have to do is go on down to verse 29. And it says, I tell you the truth, Jesus replied. Well, actually back up to verse 28. Peter said to him, we have left everything to follow you. We’ve left everything to follow you. We’ve done what you said to do. What you told that man to do, he didn’t do it, but we’ve done it. What is there for us? We did that. What is there for us? What do we get for doing that? And Jesus said in verse 29, I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age. Not after you go to heaven, in this present age. This time here and now on earth. He will receive a hundred times as much in this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, and mothers, children, and fields, and with them persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. So it’s eternal life in the age to come, but it’s a hundred-fold increase in this life. Jesus is saying, if you would do what I tell you to do and sow it, you don’t stay poor, you get a hundred times more. He’s not wanting the man to be poor. He’s wanting the man to increase a hundred times more. Get a hundred times more than what he already has. If you would just follow the system of God. And that’s where we’ve been talking for these last few classes. Is that the system of God is so much greater than the system of the world. The kingdom of God is greater than the kingdom of the world. The world’s kingdom can never give you a hundredfold. Never. There is no investment that can give you a hundredfold, but in the kingdom of God, you can get a hundredfold. Amen. What you just heard was the continuation of lesson number 10 that I taught in a class called the kingdom of God. And this lesson number 10 is called understanding the rich young ruler. And we will continue and conclude this lesson tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow and remember God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
Announcer (Host) :
We’re glad you joined us today for Victorious Faith with Cherri Campbell. We invite you to visit our website at victoriousfaith.co where you can listen to the Victorious Faith radio broadcast, find biblical study helps, contact Cherri, and make donations. You can also write to us at P.O. Box 509 East Lake, Colorado 80614. Victorious Faith is a God and Partners supported ministry. As you sow seed and partner with this ministry, we believe God with you for the full harvest of victory you need in your life. Please join us again Monday through Friday at the same time to begin your day with fresh faith. And remember, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
