Build on the True Foundation

~ The Rich Young Ruler ~

I am placing this above another message I wrote a few years ago, called the Rich Man. These two messages should go together, for they concern the same thing.

Mt 19:13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 19:15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.

Mt 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Mt 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mt 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Mt 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Mt 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Mt 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Mt 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mt 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Mt 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all thin

Now let me point out something important about this young man and his approach to Jesus. This young man is never actually named in Scripture. Now when this occurs, it is showing something important, spiritually, with the event. The reason this is mentioned without naming this man is because we are to learn an important lesson from this event. It is not for the purpose of telling about the man himself. This is why he is not named. Now in order to know what or who this is about, we must see what it is connected with in other Scriptures.

Some have thought that this man is Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. But this is not true and I will show you why I know it is not Nicodemus, or Joseph or any of the others named in Scripture. This man is representing something here much larger than the man himself. He is representing a very large group of people or organization. But what or who? The answer is very clear from the wording of this Scripture. This account is mentioned two other times in the Word, and I will show you both of them. But first, let me explain this passage, so you will see this truth as it is laid out.

The reason I typed the first two verses, dealing with Jesus blessing children, is to prove this is the same incident in Mark and Luke. All three Books tell this event, starting with the passage about the children, tying them together as the same event.

This young man asked Jesus what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life. So he was concerned about spiritual matters. But watch what follows: first Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. Now why did Jesus go to this? Because he knew this man was a devout law keeper. Jesus was going to attempt to lead this man out from law and into grace, or the New Testament, which is the only means of having eternal life. It is not possible to keep the commandments and obtain eternal life in this manner.

Jesus then named six of the commandments. This man said I have kept all of these things from my youth up. See, this man had been a devout law keeper of the ten commandments all of his life! Yet he feels something is missing from his life and he knows in his soul he does not have eternal life.

He then asked Jesus what lack I yet? Did Jesus then name the other four of the ten? No. Did he tell this man to keep the sabbath? He had not named this one. No. This man is interested in finding out how to have eternal life. Jesus knows it does not come that way. So he then takes the man into the New Testament way of life. Mt 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

In the New Testament Church, they sold their possessions and had all things common = they loved their neighbor as their own selves. The love of money is the root of all evil. Jesus said IF thou wilt be perfect sell your stuff and GIVE to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come and follow me. Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth but lay up treasure in heaven. Here is how to do that.

Could or did this young man accept Jesus�?council? Did he obey this admonition to come into the New Testament? No. Mt 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Notice, it said HE WENT AWAY. He left Jesus right then and there, never to return. He went away SORROWFUL. When one is filled with the NT salvation, they are filled with joy unspeakable and glory. This man walked away sorrowful. He had great possessions of earthly stuff, and he let the love of this earthly stuff stop him from taking that step out of law and into grace, to have eternal life. For by grace are ye saved, not of works - = law-keeping.

Now since this is last time this young man is ever mentioned in Scripture again, this is where and how he left this world. This is the last time he encountered Jesus. This is where and how God leaves him. He is not mentioned again, so this is his end. If things had ever changed for this man, it would not have ended with this account of him. I will prove to you that Nicodemus, another ruler of the Jews, did indeed accept NT salvation and come to Jesus in faith. But this rich young man never did receive eternal life, because he loved the things of this life more than eternal life. He went away from Jesus sorrowful. He went away, back into death, which is law and ends in eternal death.

Mr 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 10:16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Mr 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

Mr 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Mr 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. Mr 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Mr 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. Mr 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Here again the man was sad at that saying and went away grieved. He loved this world more than eternal life. See Jesus verified here that this man knew the COMMANDMENTS. But he said you are lacking one thing and it is keeping you from having life. That is true love; sell your possessions and give to the poor, and follow me. He could not make this move. So he was lost. That law had him bound.

Now I am going to absolutely prove to you this man was lost, by something God just revealed to me.

Lu 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Lu 18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Lu 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Lu 18:20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. Lu 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Lu 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

Lu 18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. Lu 18:24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! Lu 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Now God said in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be ESTABLISHED. God just showed this to me. This event is recorded three times in the Word of God, by three different NT writers, thus confirming and establishing that this is the way the young man ended up. He never changed this situation right here. It ends here, just as it is recorded in the mouth of these three witnesses.

It is recorded here for more than just telling us about this young man. It is for the purpose of showing ever after that keeping those ten commandments will NEVER GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE. You absolutely must come over into Grace, the New Testament. You absolutely must obey the plan of salvation laid out in the Book of Acts. It is recorded nowhere else.

Also, this is the case with most rich people. This is made clear here also. But Jesus showed that with God it is possible for the rich to be saved........but they must be willing to obey Jesus and give it to the poor. If they hold onto their earthly treasure, they will miss eternal life. Salvation is shown by having all things common = equality. This is the heart of Christianity, equality.

You cannot love your neighbor as yourself and hold onto more than you need and see him in need. It is impossible.

But this rich man, keeping the commandments, is showing something much bigger than himself. So we must explore this entire lesson to receive what is being shown here. Notice, he had kept the commandments all his life, so he was a law-keeper. We know this shows he was an Israelite. But what does the ‘rich man�?show in the Word of God? Luke 16:19-There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Now what or who is shown in the Word of God to be clothed in purple and fine linen? I have a long message in here called the mother of harlots. In this message I went back into Exodus and showed many, many Scriptures proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the tabernacle which Moses and that law nation of Israelites built, representing this law covenant, was the thing clothed in purple, gold, fine linen and decked with all manner of precious stones. It was the most rich, lavish thing ever made by man. It was paralleled exactly by the lavish, rich temple Solomon had built. They both show the same thing = this rich man = law = the OT Covenant of law-keeping. Yes, people, the OT Law Covenant is this mother of harlots. She is this whore against God.

Nothing else in all of history fits the description in Revelation of the Babylon Whore. Nothing else in all of history fits the description in Exodus of that tabernacle. They are one and the SAME. They are this rich man. But now, they have a twin, or copy in the NT Scriptures. The false church made an image of this first beast. They went right back to law and rich, lavish temples. They are the old Covenant revived. It is death now, just as it has always been. Adam is the father of this stuff. He set all of this same rich stuff up on the other side of the flood. Nothing is new on this side of the flood. All that is now has been back then. So Adam, as the first head of mankind, is this rich man. All who do not obey Jesus�?words to this young man and come into the Grace Covenant are part of Adam, and headed to hell fire, as the rich man in Luke 16 shows. They are all one and the same, old naked Laodecian Church.

Now I will show you how I know Nicodemus was not this young man. I also want to show you a secret here. John 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

I want to show you the difference in the attitude of Nicodemus and the other man. The young man had called Jesus Good Master. He was calling Jesus God. I know this is true, because Jesus took the time and words to CORRECT that ERROR. Jesus had asked him, why are you calling me good? Only one is good and that is God. So see here that Jesus was NOT claiming to be God, nor was he allowing this young man to make this mistake of calling him God. Now see that Nicodemus did NOT attempt to call Jesus God. He said we know you are a teacher COME FROM God. For no man can do these miracles you do, except God BE WITH HIM.

Now Jesus accepts this greeting. It is the right revelation. Nicodemus is on the right track.

Notice that Jesus himself starts this conversation in the direction of being born again, not Nicodemus. The rich young ruler had started it himself, concerned with himself. Jesus starts this spiritual talk as he did with the woman at the well. See, Jesus is giving Nicodemus a revelation which he had not given to anyone else yet, which is this thing of being born again. Jesus never gave any revelation to the rich young ruler, for he was not a child of the kingdom of God. Jesus is here feeding the Sheep of God the bread from Heaven. Jesus is giving this man a chance to respond by asking questions, just as the woman at the well had done. See that the rich man had NOT responded with further questions, when Jesus told him a bit of NT salvation. He left off talking with Jesus at that point. This is how Jesus knew this man did not desire eternal life, if he had to come in the NT way. But see that Nicodemus and the woman at the well continued to ask questions, showing that they are deeply interested in the things of God. [Seek and ye shall find; Nicodemus and the woman at the well were seeking; the young ruler was not seeking.]

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

In John 7, we see Nicodemus taking up for Jesus before the Pharisees and showing them they are wrong to judge him when they have not heard him.

Now for the third and last time Nicodemus is mentioned in Scripture: John 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. John19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

Notice how it is careful to point out that this is the same Nicodemus which came to Jesus by night. This is proving that Nicodemus did indeed become a disciple of Jesus. He is not the rich young man who went AWAY from Jesus in sorrow and sadness, never to be heard of again. That is where God left him. Here taking care of the body of Jesus is where God leaves off talking about Nicodemus. He was a child of God. The other man represents this lost and wicked Church of Laodicea which is the Old Law Covenant revived into the church. It is that revived head which had the wound by the sword there at Calvary. It is LAW still as Death riding that fourth horse or fourth kingdom in Daniel. It was LAW. It is DEATH and Hell. This young man was lost so he could represent this rich man who wakes up in hell fire in torment.

By: Jo Smith

~ The Rich Man ~

James 5:1-Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

V2-Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

V3-Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Rev.3:14-to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans...

v15-I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

V16-So then because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

V17-Because thou sayest, I am RICH, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

V18-I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Romans 2:5-But after thy hardness and impenitent heart TREASUREST up unto thyself WRATH against the day of WRATH and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

V6-Who will render to every man according to his deeds.

Luke 16:19-There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

V20-And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

V22-And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom�?: the rich man also died, and was buried;

V23-And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments.

Luke 12:16-And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

V17-And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

V18-And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

V19-And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

V20-But God said unto him, Thou FOOL, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

V21-So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

This ‘certain rich man�?of course is the seventh or Laodicean Church. They thought themselves to be rich and increased with ‘goods�?and had need of nothing. See, their riches were of ‘goods�?= worldly things. They had the big fancy ‘barns�?or church buildings; they had the laid up ‘treasure�?= big bank accounts; but they were poor in the things of God.

The rich man said he would tear down his ‘barns�?and build greater. This is the spirit of the ‘churches�?today; they are not satisfied with the one they have , so they work the people to death selling all kinds of things to get a bigger, better one. They shame and disgrace God with all this mess. But they are oblivious to this; for all they care about is getting a bigger barn to bestow their ‘goods�?in.

Do they ever consider helping the poor? No. Do they ever help the ‘beggar�? No. Do they care about his sores? No. They badger him to give to them. Do they help the widow? No. They badger her to give to them. They think they do God a service to take from these people so they can build a bigger barn.

Now, back to James 5. Now that you know who is being spoken about consider this: Miseries are headed their way.(v1)

Their riches are corrupted, their ‘garments are moth-eaten. Garments means their spiritual clothing; moth-eaten means worms have devoured it; worms were those four worms in Joel one = the four stages of the whore church. These worms ate down Jesus�?vine. This was the rich man = the rich church.

Their gold and silver were not the gold of God; it was cankered = full of cancer. It devoured the soul. It is rusted = laid up and no good; in other words, they laid it up in barns = storehouses. This is OT style; it is a cancer if done in the NT. This NT. Church was to be a RIVER; not a storehouse.

Their riches will eat their flesh as it were fire. This fits Rev. where the 10 horns on the beast eat her flesh and burn her with fire. This is the 10 commandments of the OT. To go back to the OT is idolatry; it will destroy your soul in the fire of hell; for it means you rejected Jesus�?Grace.

V3-Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. This shows they have done as Romans 2:5 said = they ‘treasured�?up wrath against the day of wrath. See their riches witnesses against them; for their riches is of the world; not the riches of God. So, it will bring the wrath of God upon them.

V4- they hired laborers to reap down their ‘fields�? This is the churches hiring ‘pastors�? They are hirelings. They reap down the fields = get the number to growing; but it is rotten ‘fruit�? They do not really convert people to truth; if so, they would not have been wretched, naked, blind, and poor etc.

So these hirelings are the hired laborers. We are to labour for God of a free will and for the love of him; not for money. This paying for the labourer to do his work is ‘filthy lucre�?

V6-Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

This is the false church always coming against the true Christians; always trying to discredit them; and in many cases, literally killing them.

Read Ez. 28- This shows that the fallen cherub ran after riches. This was his down fall.

Jesus condemned the temple leaders of his day for doing ‘merchandising�?in the house of God. He said make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.

James 4:13-Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and BUY AND SELL, and get gain:

This is preachers going to stay for a period of time at a certain church; which has hired him to teach them lies. He is there to get gain; he is there to buy and sell. This is the mark of the beast. For he said you cannot buy and sell except you have the mark. Now many have supposed this means that unless they let someone put a certain number or mark on their skin, that they will not be able to go buy some food or cloths, etc.

But this is not the answer at all. He is saying, you cannot do this business of ‘buying and selling�?the labour for the Lord; you cannot try to buy or sell salvation, UNLESS you have the mark of the beast. A person with the ‘mark�?of God just cannot and will not do this.

The true ‘mark�?of God is GIVING. Everything connected with the true work of God and his church is ‘Given�?freely. [And it is speaking of the ministers freely giving their messages and labour for the Lord. It is not speaking of the people freely giving money to preachers and churches. They did NOT freely receive their money, they worked for it. God does not deal with money, Satan does.

Satan’s church engages in this ‘buying and selling�? It is his ‘mark�? He went after ‘riches�?from the start.

When old Simon the sorcerer saw the power to lay hands on people and they received the Holy Ghost, he tried to ‘buy�?this gift. Peter told him his money perish with him. He reverted right back to that evil spirit of connecting the things of God with buying and selling. He lost his conversion.

Nahum 2:9-(speaking of ‘Nineveh of old) = the false church-- take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

V10-She is empty, and void, and waste...

See, another witness-- that she had plenty of material goods; of gold and silver (same as Laodiceans) yet she was empty and void. See nothing of God was there in her.

V13-Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke.. And I will cut off thy prey from the earth.

See once again, the connection made of ‘burning�?her. So it is the same one being spoken of.

So, come out of her my people that ye partake not of her sins; that ye receive not of her plagues.

By: Jo Smith

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