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[0:00] If you have your Bibles, look with me to Mark chapter 10, and we're going to read verses 17 through 22. And I'm going to preach about the attitude of a true believer.

[0:11] Before we get into that, let me just say next Sunday, I hope you'll be here. I think you'll want to be here. I'm going to preach on heaven, and I always love doing that. It's just one of those messages that leaves you feeling great.

[0:23] And so I hope you'll come and be with us as we think about heaven next Sunday morning. And while you're thinking about that, next Sunday is Friend Day. We're going to invite our friends this week.

[0:35] We've had an emphasis every week for the last four weeks. And this coming week, the emphasis is on calling a friend, phoning a friend, and asking them to come to be with you. That can be a family member, a neighbor, somebody you work with.

[0:46] But just try to bring someone with you to church next week. I don't have a lot of friends in this area that I know, you know, other than you folk who are already coming here. And so it's going to be hard for me, but I'm going to try to bring a friend next week as well.

[1:01] So I hope you'll get on the phone and call some folk, and we'll have a good crowd next week as we come to think about heaven. I want to talk this morning about the attitude of a true believer. And let me tell you what I mean by that.

[1:14] I'm thinking about when a person comes to know Christ, what does their attitude regarding the gospel have to be in order for them to truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

[1:27] I see folks who have this notion in mind, well, you know what? This is just totally on me. And so I can understand the gospels. I hear the gospels. I kind of believe them.

[1:38] I believe there was a Jesus. I believe he came and he died on the cross and he rose from the dead. Don't have any problem with that. And I kind of believe that there's life after death. Not altogether sure, but I kind of think there is.

[1:49] But, you know, right now I'm in the middle of life and I'm having a great time. And I'm just not ready to settle down and become a believer. So what I'm going to do is this. I'm going to file all that stuff away in the back of my mind.

[2:01] And then when I get closer to the end, when I get out of that time where I'm going to sow my wild oats and I'm ready to settle down, I've got kids and grandkids maybe, and maybe I'm even near death.

[2:12] I'll just at that point when it's more convenient and more in keeping what I want to do in my life, I'll give my life to Jesus. But I'm not ready to do it today. I'm just going to put all that stuff on the back burner.

[2:23] And they kind of have this notion, I can just come to Christ anytime I jolly well feel like coming to Christ. So, man, if they tell me I've got cancer and I've got two months to live, that'll be a good time to get saved, right?

[2:35] I want you to know I think there are folk who genuinely, genuinely, I'm not just saying this, genuinely come to Christ in the last moments of their life on their deathbed. They come to the Lord Jesus and they're sincerely saved.

[2:49] But I want to tell you something. I've got a problem with a person who knows about Jesus all their life and thinks, you know, I can just put this off until it's convenient time.

[2:59] I don't think that's the kind of attitude someone has who genuinely trusts Jesus. And I want to show you that. It's not a matter of what I think, what my feelings are, what my opinion is.

[3:12] It's a matter of what the Scripture tells us. And so I'm going to show you two stories this morning. One of these stories, everybody, virtually everybody here, unless you've not had a chance to read the Scripture much, virtually everybody here knows this one story, the story we're going to begin with.

[3:28] The second story is just a single verse. It's a story wrapped up in just one verse. It's a parable that Jesus gives. And to be honest with you, it's one of those parables that preachers often overlook.

[3:39] We don't often turn to that and say, I'm going to preach a whole message on this. We usually just throw it in at some point in a sermon, okay? But this morning, I want you to know, it's the real focus of our message today.

[3:52] So go with me to Mark chapter 10, and let's begin our reading in verse 17. And I'm just going to read this story and then make some comments, and then we'll look at that other one, and we'll be done.

[4:05] Look with me to verse 17. Now, you may or may not know this story right off the get-go.

[4:28] If you look down at the heading above where we just read, probably your Bible has something like this, the rich young ruler. And you don't read that he's a ruler in this particular passage, but if you look at all the synoptic Gospels, you'll find that one Gospel writer says he was a ruler, and then Luke says he had great wealth, and here we're going to see he had great possessions as well.

[4:53] So here's what we know about this guy right out of the gate. He's a young fellow. He's a guy who's a ruler, which means he enjoyed a certain fair amount of popularity. He has some status in the community, no doubt.

[5:05] And he's a guy who's got a lot of money. So when you think of all those things, and you picture this guy coming running up to Jesus, here's Jesus and his disciples, and they're going on this journey, and right in the middle of their leaving to go on this journey, this guy comes running up out of the crowd, and he just kneels right there at Jesus' feet, and he looks up and he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

[5:33] You've got to kind of say, man, didn't see that coming. It's not the kind of person you typically even read about in the Gospels who comes running up to Jesus and kneels and asks such a question, especially as directly as this man asked it.

[5:49] You find on another occasion a guy by the name of Jairus, he's a big shot. He's the leader of the synagogue in Capernaum. He comes up, he runs, he kneels, does the same thing, but you find out there he's an older guy who has a daughter who's at death's door.

[6:05] And so he's, I get it. I understand why. He'd come and beg Jesus for a miracle. We see of others who come, and they ask Jesus, but always they've got in the back of their mind, there's something they need.

[6:18] This man's not asking for any kind of physical miracle. He's not asking for any kind of help in the physical realm. He's got that covered. You understand?

[6:30] He doesn't need financial help. He doesn't need a physical miracle. He doesn't need anything from anybody else. He's wanting spiritual help. So it makes it all the more unusual.

[6:42] And look at the question he asked Jesus. Master, tell me, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, that's a great question, right?

[6:54] Can I tell you, for years and years and years, in fact, even to this day, but especially when I pastored, every day I'd pray. When I'd get in my office, I'd begin the day, and I'd ask the Lord.

[7:04] I'd look over my calendar and say, Lord, would you help me with this and this and this? And I'd always say, Lord, would you lead somebody here today just right off the streets? They'll just pass by our buildings, and they'll just see our sign out front, and they'll just come in here, and they'll just want to know how can they be saved?

[7:20] Would you just lead somebody to me today who's looking to know Christ? I'm sure lots of you in this room have prayed that kind of prayer as well. Lord, just lead me to somebody who's looking to be saved.

[7:31] I want to tell you, in the evangelical world, this guy lobs Jesus a softball, right? I mean, it's the evangelical softball of the year. Could you tell me, Son of God, who better?

[7:45] Could you tell me, how could I inherit the kingdom of God? What can I do? So you know what you would expect, don't you? That Jesus just kind of goes in the wind up and all right and pow, knocks it right out of the stadium.

[8:01] That's what you would anticipate. But that's not what Jesus does. I mean, I'd have been on him, to be honest, like ugly on an ape. If he had said that to me, I'd have just jumped in, gone right to the Roman road, or I'm not going to get him lost again because he already knows he's lost.

[8:17] He wants to be saved. He wouldn't have come to me unless he knew something was lacking in his life. He would have never raised that kind of question. So I'm just going to go jump right in and say, here's how you can come to know God.

[8:31] But that's not what Jesus does. I've got to be honest with you. If you didn't already read this story, you'd never guess what he says. Look at Jesus' response, if you will, to that question.

[8:44] Verse 18. Why do you call me good? Why? I mean, if I'd been one of his disciples, and I'd been standing there, and I'd heard that.

[8:55] I mean, this is what we've been looking for all the time, somebody to come, and they want to have their hearts right, and they want to go to heaven. They want to inherit the kingdom of God. And he says, good teacher, good master. It's not an insult. It's a good thing, right?

[9:07] And Jesus says, well, now, tell me. Why do you call me good? I'd be going, huh? What? What are you doing, Jesus? Don't let him get away.

[9:17] I mean, give him the gospel. Jesus says, why do you call me good? Can I tell you? It was a wonderful thing to say, because Jesus knew what's going on in this guy's mind, and in his heart, and how he's thinking.

[9:31] Did he think that Jesus was God? Absolutely not. There's not a question in my mind. He believed that this man, Jesus, was God.

[9:43] He thought just what he said. He was a good teacher. He was a good man. And Jesus wants to capitalize on that and send him a message about what's going on in his own life, in the man's life.

[9:59] We all use that expression, don't we? We say, he's a good guy. She's a good guy. You go to a funeral, you always hear the preacher say, he was a good man.

[10:09] She was a good woman. And they're not lying about that. They mean that compared to a lot of folk, they're really a good, good, good person. Or even if you look at them individually, he treated his family well, she treated her family well.

[10:23] They were good citizens. They were good members of First Baptist Church. They're good people. But notice what Jesus says in response to that.

[10:35] Why do you call me good, Jesus asked him. No one is good but one, and that is God. No one is good but God.

[10:47] And you may be wondering, well, why did Jesus pick that apart? Why did Jesus make a point of that? Because he knows what this guy's thinking, not about him, Jesus, but about himself.

[11:04] When he calls Jesus good, he's not saying you're good as in perfect, as in God. He's saying you're good as in I'm good. You're good.

[11:15] You're good. We're all pretty good. We have our good moments. But Jesus is going to show this man something about himself from this point going forward that he's not prepared to see, and I don't know that he ever saw.

[11:29] I don't know that he got it, to be honest. I think he walked off, and he never understood what Jesus was saying. And here's the point Jesus is making. Look at what he says next. You know the commandments.

[11:43] Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and your mother. You know what he's done?

[11:54] Jesus has now skipped to the Ten Commandments. He's gone to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 12 and following. And he cited six of the Ten Commandments.

[12:07] And get this now. These six he cited are the six that theologians call commandments on the horizontal plane. He's omitted the first four, which are commandments on the vertical plane.

[12:19] And by vertical plane, I mean this. They're the ones that relate to our relationship with God. Keep the Sabbath day and keep it holy. He says, Worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

[12:32] Don't have any graven. He skipped all those. And he's gone to these that are on the horizontal plane that deal with man's relationship with other men. And so Jesus says, Well, you call me good.

[12:44] There's no one good but God. You know what you need to do. You need to keep the Ten Commandments. And he says, How you relate to men. Is that okay?

[12:55] Have you been keeping those about how you relate to men? And you know what the man says? Look at his response. The man says, Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.

[13:12] Well, yes, Master. Of course. I'm a good Jewish boy. I've maintained all these commandments. Now, I want to just show you something.

[13:22] Most of us in this room, if you say to them, say to folk, You been keeping the Ten Commandments? What do you think?

[13:33] We think to ourselves. Well, sure. Yeah. Right. Right. But have you? Have you? You ever gossiped?

[13:46] You broke that one. Ever lied? Ever lied? Ever failed to report some cash you got? On your income tax?

[14:00] Nobody knew about? Ever hurt somebody? Ever stole anything? And on and on and on.

[14:12] You see, we think, Well, if I just don't break it all the time, I'm not guilty of breaking it. But you know what James says? James says, If you break it in one point, you're guilty of breaking it all. You get that?

[14:25] If you're guilty at one point, you're guilty of breaking all of them. And Jesus knew, and that's the reason he makes such a big deal about this thing of being good. Buddy, you're delusional.

[14:40] You're not as good as you think you are. Right? And none of us are. We convince ourselves, try to convince ourselves that we really are great, good people, and we just, we're not that bad.

[14:53] I mean, I'm not, I'm not the worst guy in the world, and so I'm pretty good, right? Jesus says, No, truth is, you're not. You're a sinner, just like everybody else.

[15:06] And so, you're not that good. Well, Jesus is going to tell him what he needs to do. Look at what he tells him he needs to do. Look at the very next verse.

[15:16] This is going to shock some of you. Then looking at him, Jesus loved him. He's not angry with him. He's not put out with him. He loves him. You lack one thing.

[15:28] Go sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure. Look at that word. Treasure. I want you just to remember it for a minute. You will have treasure in heaven.

[15:40] Then come follow me. Now, this guy wants eternal life. He wants eternal life.

[15:51] You know why he's coming to Jesus? Because he knows he doesn't have it. He knows deep in his heart when he looks at his life, he's got a lot of stuff. He's got material things. He's got popularity. He's got status.

[16:03] He's got the respect of the community. But what I don't have is God. And I believe this all over my heart. God has given us an ability when we'll get real honest with ourselves and stop being delusional and look inward, we know if we're right with God or not.

[16:19] Doesn't matter what our parents think, what our pastor thinks, what our deacons think, what our wife or husband thinks, we know if we're really right with God. I think most every one of you, if not every one of you, right now under the sound of my voice, you know today, regardless what anybody else in this room thinks, you know whether or not you are really right with God, whether or not you're really ready to die and stand before God in judgment this very moment.

[16:45] And that young man took inventory of his life and even though he says, I'm keeping all these commandments and I want you to know, I think he is a moral guy. And I think for the most part, he did keep all those commandments.

[16:57] I'm not saying he, you know, he was a rotten sinner. I'm just saying, he was a sinner. But I believe this, when he looked at his life, he knew this, there's something missing or he would never have come and knelt before Jesus and said, tell me, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

[17:12] And I want to tell you, that's where some of you in this room today, even though your name's on the roll of this church, that's where you are. You're perfectly honest, you know that's where, because I'm not ready to meet God.

[17:24] When I was a young man, living in Anderson, another young guy who was my age at that time and good friend, he went on to be a pastor of church here in South Carolina, a large church and just a good, good guy.

[17:37] But he looked at me one day, we were in a locker room and he said, Ralph, do you think we're ready to meet God? And it shocked me when he said, and I turned to him and I said, I know I'm not. I was in church every Sunday.

[17:50] I'd been baptized. My name was on the roll. I was a leader among the youth. And I knew I wasn't ready to meet God. I knew I'm not right with God. And I just knew that.

[18:01] Innately, I knew that. And I think this young man, he knows that I'm not right with God. So Jesus wants him to see where he really, but he don't think he's that bad.

[18:12] He's just not right with God. So Jesus says, here's what I want you to do. If you want to be right with me, go sell everything. Every last thing.

[18:24] And give it to the poor and come take up the cross and follow me. And you will find treasure in heaven. The young man's thinking to himself, I got treasure right now. I got lots of treasure.

[18:37] I'm not hurting for money. And this is what I know. And that thing you talk about, eternal life that I've asked you about, I'm wanting to hedge my bets in case it really is so, but I'm not certain it's so.

[18:52] And you see, that's the problem with some of us in this room again today. We're never going to say that out loud in church. We're just all going to say, yeah, we believe that the heaven's out there after this life is over. But the truth of the matter is, we're not so sure.

[19:05] And that's why we hedge our bets by making sure we keep holding on to this life. Because we know this, I know what I got here. I can see my car, I can see my house, I can see my family, I can see my relationships, my friends, I can see my money in the bank account, and I can breathe, I'm alive now.

[19:24] But once I breathe my last and the doctor says he's dead, and he put me in the cash, I don't know if I'm going to live then or not. I hope so. I think so. Maybe so. But that's uncertain.

[19:38] So Jesus wanted to point out how uncertain it is to him, and he says, here's what you do. You go sell everything you have and come take up the cross, and you'll find treasure in heaven, and you follow me, and you'll get eternal life.

[19:50] Now, we're just going to get eternal life because he sold what he had? No. Because it doesn't come to us by works. But by his selling everything, he was indicating Jesus, I have complete confidence in you and in God, and I believe there's life after death, and I want that.

[20:08] And that was the importance of his selling everything. Now, I want to tell you, I've heard some preachers and lay people get this all mixed up and all wrong. I've heard preachers even say, well, you see, he really didn't have to sell everything.

[20:19] Jesus just wanted to see if he was willing to sell everything. There's not a shred of evidence to hold to that idea. I believe Jesus meant go sell everything and come take up the cross and follow me, and you'll have life in heaven.

[20:35] And I'm going to show you why I believe that because of what Jesus said on yet another occasion. Before we see that, though, look at the man's reaction. Look at verse 22. But he was stunned at this demand.

[20:48] I love how the Holman translates that. I don't know what your translation says, but the Holman says, but he was stunned at that demand. You know what it is to be stunned, right?

[21:00] You're not anticipating something. It takes you back. It takes your breath away. You just, what? I mean, usually when we're stunned, what? We're stunned by news.

[21:10] We're stunned by something that happens in our life. It's not what we thought was going to happen. This young man, what was he thinking when he said, tell me, how can I have eternal life?

[21:21] I'll tell you what I think he was thinking. He was saying, Jesus would say, get more faithful to the Son of God. You got to stop doing those few bad things you're doing. You got to give some money.

[21:32] You got to give 10%, 20%, 25%. Got to make a huge donation. Got to start a ministry. Got to get involved in something. And I believe with all my heart that man would have done that.

[21:43] Whatever Jesus asked him that seemed reasonable to him, okay, that's what I'll do. But when Jesus said, sell everything, everything. What did you say?

[21:59] Huh? Everything? That's stunning. Just as stunning as it would be to any of you in this room. If Jesus looked at you and said, you want eternal life?

[22:10] Here's what? Give it all up. Your house, your cars, your family, your job, your 401k, give it all away.

[22:25] He's stunned by it. And so here's what he does. Look at the last verse in this passage. He was stunned at this demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions.

[22:40] Simply say, here's what he does. He just looked at the ledger sheet and says, here's all I got and here's what Jesus is offering. I wanted that as a backup plan but I got this and this is real.

[22:55] I know it's real because I'm seeing it right now. I'm living this. Yeah, can't give up this for that. I wanted it. I don't want it that bad. You follow what I'm saying?

[23:07] Now go with me to one other verse and work through. Look with me to Matthew chapter 13 and verse 44. And here's what it says and I'm going to read it just a phrase at a time so just hang with me.

[23:20] Don't jump ahead too much. The kingdom of heaven. Jesus is going to give us a parable. The kingdom of heaven.

[23:31] And then he's going to say here's what it's like because he does that a lot in the Gospel of Matthew. Now look up and listen. This is really important. You'll get this if you don't hear what I'm saying. The kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of Matthew is not talking about a physical kingdom.

[23:47] Geographical barriers and limitations and boundaries. He's not talking about that kind of kingdom. When he says the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of Matthew or the kingdom of God you'll read that as well.

[24:00] He's saying to us here's the manner in which God rules. Here's how God rules. That's what he's saying to us. Here's how God operates. Here's how God rules.

[24:10] Here's how God reigns. He says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. You like that word?

[24:23] Like a treasure. Jesus told this other man this same man in the story we just read you go sell everything and come take up the cross and follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven.

[24:37] So now he talks about treasure. He says the kingdom of heaven the way God rules is like a treasure. You ever wonder what it'd be like to find a treasure? Don't you like movies where they're searching for a treasure?

[24:53] I like this. Indiana Jones. Didn't y'all see Indiana Jones 100 years ago when it came out? Didn't you love that movie? I mean he's searching so hard for the Ark of the Covenant in one of those movies.

[25:05] I mean he's willing to go through anything through fire and snakes and near death experiences to put his life on the line because he wants that treasure that no one else has found.

[25:18] Well that's what treasure is. It's what floats your boat. It's whatever you prize more than anything else in the world. And Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a treasure.

[25:32] Then he says buried in a field. You see that movie The Pirates of the Caribbean? They're looking for treasure and it's buried out in the Caribbean and they're searching for it.

[25:45] Well this treasure is buried in a field. Let me just take the time out and tell you about my little nephew. My nephew David my sister's boy she's got two boys they're both preachers Daniel and David one of them's in Texas at Waco one of them's in Wichita, Kansas David's in Wichita, Kansas he's the younger when he was always short for his age and just full of energy wild imagination brilliant brilliant kid and when he was in that five, six and seven year old stage he went through about three years of living in a fantasy world where he was this character at one time and this character another time he went through about six characters I'm not kidding my wife could tell you my whole family could tell you this story and not one word I'm going to tell you is made up this is all truth okay he would stay in character 24 hours a day seven days a week until he got out of that character he did it for months on end he was Clint Eastwood at one time got him in some trouble he used a little profanity one time his mom about killed him over it but he became he became Clint Eastwood he'd wear the guns he'd have the hat he'd talk like him he'd look like him he'd put the straw in his mouth like him right yeah he was Clint Eastwood in his mind he was a farmer at one time wore bib overalls straw hat he went through a farmer phase he was a military officer at one time went through all that he had a bunch of these different characters one of his characters was a pirate he had a little patch over his eye had a pirate's hat and he'd just do this

[27:21] I mean they couldn't get him out of it he'd go to school he was a pirate at school he was just wherever he was wherever he was that's how he was you know well when he was in the pirate phase my dad lived across the street from my sister and so my dad just loves adores this boy because he's so much like my dad and so my dad would at night draw up these little maps he'd get out in the yard in the dark my dad would and he'd count off so many steps to the back of the house and then he'd turn right and go so many steps then he'd come to this tree and he'd see something about the tree and he'd go in another direction toward a neighbor's house and then he would come to a doghouse and turn left there and then he'd dig a hole about a foot and a half deep and he'd get a shoebox and put my mama's costume jewelry in that shoebox and he'd bury it then he'd go across the street to my nephew's house and he'd put a thing on the door like a pirate we'd expect to find and he'd come out the next morning and there'd be a map with hidden treasure in it the promise of hidden treasure so my nephew would spend the whole morning or afternoon out there traipsing through these different steps and he'd find that shoebox and he'd dig holes he'd miss it sometimes and he'd dig a hole and then he'd just leave that and go dig another hole somewhere right until he'd find that shoebox it was the coolest thing you ever saw so

[28:38] Jesus says the way God rules is like this it's like a treasure that is buried in a field that a man has found that really gets intriguing I mean he's found this treasure he spent all this time looking for it and finally he's found it and then he says a startling thing and reburied it what who goes looking for a treasure and once they find it they rebury it's like the pirates of the Caribbean they come up with this gold and silver and rings and all this and they say okay we found it and they throw it back in the ocean can't imagine that right or in Raiders of the Lost Ark that they find the ark and suddenly say well we found it let's just leave they don't do that but that's what Jesus says this guy does he looks and looks and looks for this treasure and he finds it and when he finds it he reburies it wait a second story's not over then in his joy he's so tickled he goes and sells everything he has well that's weird too isn't it he's found this treasure he reburies the treasure now he says

[29:55] I need to go home and sell everything I've got and he goes home and he gets out the deeds to his house and the deeds to his land and if he'd had a title to his car in those days he'd have got his title to his car and he sells everything he has so that he's liquidated his entire estate what in the world is he thinking well next verse tells us and he goes and buys that field boy now I get it now I get it you see he knows if he takes this treasure and he goes and talks about it somebody's going to come and say where'd you find that treasure well it's out here on highway 9 and wait a second you don't own any land on highway 9 that belongs to so and so and so what he does he knows he wants that field he sells everything he has so he'll be prepared to pay the ultimate price and he goes to this man who owns the field and he says what would you take for your piece of property and the guy says

[31:03] I don't know what you got he says well I got this much he says that's what I'll sell it for and he buys this field it cost him everything when he's through he doesn't own a thing except the treasure but he's so elated over his purchase it doesn't matter because he's found his treasure he's gotten what he wants you get that?

[31:35] do you get that? the apostle Paul says this in Philippians 3 8 what is more I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you something folks a lot of evangelists and preachers and people got this notion of how you come to Jesus all wrong we almost act like you're doing God a favor would you please come and receive Christ well what do I have to do well just pray this prayer okay I can do that I'll pray would you be baptized yeah I'll be baptized maybe and you've got eternal life and Jesus tells about this man who comes and he's kind of like he says

[32:43] I want eternal life but I want it on my terms he walks away sad because he's not willing to pay the price but here's this guy Jesus tells this parable he says here's how it really is when somebody comes to the kingdom of God and how God expects it to be it's like a guy who wanders into a field and he finds this treasure and when he finds it he's so enthralled by this treasure he so wants what this treasure is that everything else is of no consequence he doesn't care about anything he doesn't care about his cars doesn't care about his money in the bank he doesn't care about his house he doesn't care about I want that I want that above everything else and so what does he do to get it means he has to rid himself of everything else and he takes his money from that which he's liquidated he goes he buys that field because that's all that matters anymore to him you see I'm telling you coming to Christ doesn't do God a favor it gives you the gift of eternal life and you should be so enthralled by that that nothing else matters just nothing else matters but that I'll live eternally with God when this is over that's what's real this is illusionary illusionary this just is here today but it may be gone tomorrow it could be gone before we get out of this service today but that's what's real when I was 14 years old

[34:11] I was in Varenas Heights Baptist Church my name was on the roll of the church I was leader among the youth but I knew I wasn't right with God I knew that all along I knew I wasn't a real believer I'd pray the prayer the preacher led me to pray when I was nine years old he'd baptize me dunk me but I knew some folk who had a relationship with him and I knew I didn't have that and at 14 I sat on the next last row of Varenas Heights Baptist Church and heard a gospel message and I knew that God wanted to save me and I was resistant because you see I want to tell you I'm unusual I know this about myself unusual in this sense nothing special about me but all my life I've known what I wanted to do all my life from the time I was eight nine years old I had a plan and that plan was I was going to West Point my dad was a career soldier and that's all

[35:13] I ever talked about anything about West Point I read I just wanted to go to West Point I just wanted to be a soldier I just wanted to be an officer in the army that was going to be my life and so what held me back was this and I can't explain this but I just knew I somehow knew this that if I ever got truly right with God he would call me to preach I just knew that and I didn't want to do that this is the last thing I wanted to do I didn't even particularly like preachers to be honest with you even as a kid I thought they were a bunch of sissies the last thing I wanted to do was be a preacher and so I can remember sitting right back at the very next last row and just struggling and all I could think about was I want this but I want my life too I want to fulfill this dream and I knew I can't have both I'm either going to take the one or lose the other or lose the one and take the other and at 14 years of age

[36:15] I did exactly what that man in the parable did I sold everything I had and took that treasure and embraced that treasure because it in the moment was all that mattered and that's how you come to Jesus you don't come on your terms you come on his terms that's why some of you never had it because you've you've tried to come on your terms okay God I'll give you this much of my life if I can have it it won't cost me too much it'll cost you everything everything there's no other way to get it than to give everything you just got to recognize I'm going to put all my chips in that pot I'm going to believe that that's the only thing that matters and that's what I want do you want it like that this morning have you ever had it if not

[37:18]  I want to tell you it's the treasure to end all treasures would you take it this morning would you just receive it this morning let's see Salz Werk�� doing another thing to die Bei l have you to say to die entrée megaphone