The Rich Young Ruler

[betchevy]

Three gospels, one story, the rich young ruler...its found in Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18.. we probably all have heard it.. A young ruler comes to Christ desiring to "follow" Him... This guy is described pretty well, as said before , he's rich, and young and is called a ruler... the tribal princes are the rulers of the Bible, not necessarily a ruler in the governmental sense, but the ruler of much stuff, he had things to take care of which included slaves and land, vinyards, and cattle, his family probably had been busy for years accumulating these things of wealth ... In this section of the Gospels these parables told by Christ in this section all deal with a place in Jerusalem.. it is a place of judgement, where the old men gathered to make deals, to find judgement in disagreements between one another, and in this small series the real subject dealt with is pride...I will use the section in LUKE 18... you will see 5 main patterns of discussion, but I tell you they all are dealing with the same thing for those who have eyes to see... I think this night Father gave me these eyes to share with all of you here... will you have ears to hear? To let the Word do its work in you? These stories all take place at the city wall.... for the wall contained gates... the wall is there for protection, but it has become much more... at the gates men would gather... and yes judgements would be given, people would set up their "offices" here to see the comings and goings, so one could come to them for a decision on what to do and so they could keep up with the Jones... see what your neighbor was up to..We begin with Christ telling about the old woman who came to the ruler and he gave in to her pretty quick rather than be hassled. Then He moves on to the Pharasee and the publican... the Pharasee is righteous and prays outloud he's a pious proud man whom God rejects, and the couterpart is the publican a humble man whom God accepts and loves...Then come the children to Christ and even His desciples are given an upbraiding here... Let the children come... And finally the rich young ruler who went away sad because he had much wealth and in order to follow Christ he would have to dispose of much...the ending of the story in the are the words of Christ,in Luke 18:35 "For it is easier for a camel to go through a needles eye than for a rich man to enter into heavan..Men who do not study history have misinterpretted this line for centuries imagining a huge camel passing through a sewing needle...impossible, right? Well the needles eye is an opening in the wall ,a gate.. it is configured in such a way that is is small enough to be easily guarded, but can afford a man to cross through after dark when the main gates are closed... and even a camel can enter, but in order to do so, you must completely unload this camel and make him bend to his knees and scooch.. through... He cannot take the baggage he has accumulated in his journey through and he must humble himself into a position very vulnerable...its possble, it happened..maybe not every day, but it had been done...What do you have in and about you that will keep you from heaven... the biggest thing Christ is teaching here is to get rid of self, your pride... what you think you know... your position in the commmunity. Are you so unwilling to humble yourself to learn something you've never heard before that you refuse to hear the most amazing mystery God could tell you? Are you so prideful that you desire others to look up to you so much that when they don't you instead desire to hurt and harm them? Losing friendship and fellowship and their respect? Are you so filed with your own importance you will miss the kingdom intirely by refusing to get rid of these bundles of self respect and preservation and like the camel remaining outside the gate during the long night of the Lord... never being let into the safe prescious place of the kingdom?All the parables and the happenings of this section of Luke are about Pride how to humble oneself to become the person God requires... the judge seems to humble himslf to the old woman when in fact, he is saving himself a lot of trouble... the publican is truly humble and the Pharasee truly vain and then we come the the children and here I do believe is the gist of the whole" Suffer the little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heavan.."(paraphrased) for until we become as children willing to be wiped clean of the many wise learned things we have come to know in this life, we cannot truly learn the things which God desires us to know... For when it is said that Gods ways are not our ways ;a deep truth is revealed that Gods teaching may be very much opposed those taught by men. I had to unlearn almost all I had learned at the hands of the Baptiist Chruch in order to recieve the real truth from Father... starting with the Rapture and on to the sin in the Garden, what the 3rd heavan really is and who the elect are...why we are chosen and how God knew us before the womb... for in each I had been taught an untrue explaination formed by men... and taught by men... when I was willing to become as a child and unlearn these things.. God gave the real truth to me...for a child is a blank slate willing to learn what ever God will bring.The rich young ruler lacked one thing... charity, a willingness to give to others. but even more, an unwillingness to unload himself of all he had gathered in the journey... . and then Paul says to Christ that he has done so... what does Christ tell him shall be given?... yes and you shall be given manifold now and in the everlasting... in my own life, I have lost my family and my home, but in its place have received a home and family of those of like mind... Christ further tells the disciples of the persecution to come, but they do not understand... even today the "church" is persecuting us... those who do really know truth and tell it... I have been told to repent of these lies and false hermeneutics as have others here, by the representatives of the "church"... we are in a way persecuted , certainly made uncomfortable and lied about . our words twisted . There will be further times of persecution when the head of the "false church" shall arrive... for these have been serving a lie, and living a lie, they believe a lie. Whose fault is this,? Its their own for they refuse to humble themselves as little children to turn away from what they KNOW...to unburden themselves of all gathered in their journey... and so.. they must pay the price... and they will... for God will not be mocked...