Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): It's going to get real today on Light on the Hill.

I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you, because all I need is you.

Today on Light on the Hill, we're going to talk about a series of statements that, if understood as intended, will rapidly change the way you live your life. Here's a hint: now is not the time to slow down. It's time to run hard. Here's Pastor James Kaddis to explain from Mark Chapter 10.

James Kaddis: This has been a very interesting time as we've been going through this section of Mark and it's been very—for me, very inspiring because there's been so many things that have been manifesting over the last few months, perhaps over the last few years that has really motivated me to be better at what I do, specifically speaking concerning Bible teaching. To become more excellent at it, to spend more time studying and understanding it and explaining it and recognizing concepts, principles, truths, and teaching you to do the same.

And the reason why I'm saying that is because the time that we're in right now, we have been watching people—a group of people making a series of assertions that are predicated upon their ridiculous opinions and have absolutely nothing to do with the Bible. Now, this is not anything that's new to us in that over the years we've seen people make the craziest and most insane statements that you can think of regarding a whole subject matter, series of subject matters.

But what's interesting is the advent and the continuation of the growth of these people who are social media stars who have allowed themselves to become subject matter experts by virtue of the fact that lots of people watch them. And so the general assumption is, "Because I have the trust of a massive audience, then anything I say makes me the subject matter expert," and they end up saying the most insane, ridiculous things.

And within the propagation of a lot of those ridiculous comments, the people that listen to them trust them, take it as law, run like crazy with it, and end up making complete donkeys of themselves, not recognizing the kind of lies that they're buying and the falsehoods that they continue to stipulate to. And this is the problem that we're seeing with all these things.

Now, I can just tell you this right now: as bad as that sounds, it's a lot better than the lies we're hearing right now in the mainstream media and what has been the traditional constructs provided to us by news providers and information providers. But it's not that much better because it's becoming its own mainstream in and of itself because of all the things that we've been watching and seeing.

Now, with all of that said, let me make a statement that I believe is founded in fact, that is grounded and rooted in fact, and it's one that I want to sink into you. And it's this: the overwhelming majority of people who are making statements regarding issues that relate to the Bible—which is pretty much all of life—are making statements that are not biblically founded.

And in their assertions that are not biblical, they make those statements because they themselves have not been taught well. Because they themselves have never been educated the way that they ought to be educated, and it's unfortunate because the overwhelming majority of people that I meet that make the assertions that they make are making them because their pastors are lazy.

Their pastors don't spend time understanding what the scriptures teach and recognizing the principles and the concepts and the truth and not only the letter but the spirit of the communication that's being given that people walk away with a deep-rooted confusion that is fundamentally predicated upon the idea that what has been taught traditionally has always been the right way to go, when in reality, in many cases, it's been a lie.

Now, we've revealed many of these. We've talked about many of these assertions that people make that absolutely are not founded in any kind of truth. And we've talked about them. When we were in the book of Revelation, I got hate mail, guys, hate mail when I told everybody that lukewarm is the only bad thing when we talk about hot and cold.

Everybody thinks that cold means you hate God, hot means you love God, and God would rather that you hate him or love him. But that's not what the Bible says. Actually, hot is a wonderful thing, cold is a wonderful thing, right? And it's funny because the only thing hot and cold represent are specific personalities, specific lifestyles.

Like you might see Wayne come up here and lead worship. Wayne is not what I would consider to be hot, he's ice-cold, okay? If you see Jane leading worship, Jane is hot. That's just the bottom line. If you were to look at me teaching the Bible, I would be considered lit up, okay? Not high, not lit up that way, but you know what I mean. Like hot, like literally super hot, okay?

But if you were to listen to Pastor Chuck teaching the Bible, you would consider him to be so cold that you could freeze a side of beef with his level of cold. Why? Because we have different extremes that represent refreshment, okay? By the way, interesting, the only other time that that word cold is used in the New Testament, which is associated with cold in the church of Laodicea, that letter, is it's used when Jesus says, "When you give to one of these a cold cup of drink, such is the kingdom," right?

And it's interesting because that is the metaphorical illustration being provided by the author of Revelation. He's saying you've got a hot cup of coffee on a cold day, there's nothing like it. It's wonderful. If you drink a cold cup of whatever it may be—let's just say water, a cold cup of water on a hot day, extremely refreshing.

But if you see the condensation on this cup, you see it, it looks ice-cold, even kind of feels cold to the touch, and you drink it and it's lukewarm, what are you going to do? You're going to spew it out of your mouth. Same thing that happens with coffee or whatever it is that you're drinking, hot chocolate, whatever.

The point behind it is God would rather that you be extreme in his love for him. He would rather that you be the type of person that makes this very well-defined, very outgoing expression of your love for him instead of being the person that doesn't care. He doesn't want you to be apathetic, and apathy is what's being condemned in the letter to the church of Laodicea.

But oh man, I got lots of hate mail over that. Why? Because it's never been what they've been taught. That's what they always say, "My whole life I've been studying the Bible and every single person I've ever heard has said that." Well, guess what? Every single person that's probably taught you that probably didn't really study it.

They just heard somebody that they really appreciate saying it or they read some book, some traditional commentary, but they never took the time to analyze it. That's what happens, okay? That's what happens with this story. You see, this story is also not understood.

The greatest mistake that gets made with the story that we're about to read is they treat it separately from the previous story. When people read the first words that Peter shares that we're going to read today, which of course, verse 28, it says, "Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all and have followed thee."

When Peter makes that statement, everybody thinks he just says it out of nowhere. Let me give you the context of Peter making that statement. And if you don't understand Elizabethan English, you won't understand the statement that Peter made anyway. But Peter makes a statement that in essence, if you read it in the original language, actually appears to be a rhetorical question, but it's translated as something that is declarative in nature because it makes more sense to the more modern reader.

But this is what happens. You ready? You've got a rich young ruler. At least that's what everybody calls him. He's the rich young ruler. He goes to the Lord and he asks what must be done in order to obtain eternal life. God goes to him and says, "Well, you've got to obey the commands." He says, "Well, I've obeyed the commands from the very beginning."

So then there's another exchange. And he says, "Okay, go sell everything you have and then follow me." And the Bible tells us that he walked away sad. Now, by the way, I just want you to know: him walking away sad doesn't mean that he actually rejects the tenets of what Christ represented to him. I don't know what that means. It could be sad because he was burdened knowing that he had to pay a hefty price. I don't know.

But what I do know is that it was clearly understood by everybody that was watching that it was a very difficult circumstance that they were facing in the moment. That this guy was not happy, he was very heartbroken over what he knew he needed to do in order to obtain salvation. And then Jesus says something that's even more wild.

And Jesus turns to them and he says, "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is to enter into the kingdom of God," which by the way, the eye of a needle, contrary to popular belief and contrary to common traditional bad teaching, has absolutely nothing to do with a gate that existed in Jerusalem at the time. The eye of a needle is literally the eye of a sewing needle. And yes, they existed back then, okay?

He says it's easier for a camel literally to go through the eye of a needle than it is to enter into the kingdom of God. Now, this was very troubling for the disciples. The disciples had an extraordinarily difficult time with that statement. Why did they have an extraordinarily difficult time with that statement?

Because what that meant is it is impossible to go to heaven. And they went to the Lord and they said, "Well, then who can go to heaven?" And what did Jesus say at the very end? This is where we left off. He made this statement, and this is an important one. He says, "With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God, what? All things are possible."

Why? Because what Jesus was trying to explain to them is only perfect fulfillment of the law could get you to heaven. Nothing else could get you to heaven except obeying God's law perfectly. And guess what? Everybody just realized it's impossible. You cannot obey God's law perfectly in and of yourself. It's impossible.

But God made it possible to actually fulfill the law of God perfectly through you taking credit for Christ's fulfillment of the law perfectly. Now, this is where the whole ignorance thing begins to come in. And that's the fact that people say that the law of God is no longer valid, that the Old Testament is no longer valid because we have a new covenant.

And what they don't realize is that the new covenant is what? It is predicated upon the perfect fulfillment of the old covenant. The new covenant is worthless if the old covenant is not completed. If the old covenant is not fulfilled, the new covenant doesn't mean anything.

John even told us that in the very beginning of John. He actually said, "Grace and truth," or, "The law was given to us by Moses. Grace and truth," here's how it should translate: "realized in the law through Jesus Christ." So the idea here is we're not dealing with a comparison. The law is over here and the new covenant is over here, grace and truth is over here, and they're antithetically opposed to one another as though it produces some Hegelian synthesis. That's not what he's saying here.

He's saying that the law was presented to us by Moses. Grace and truth, which was already in the law, was made known to us. It was realized in the law through the perfect life of Christ. So you're not throwing one out for the other. This is where major problems come when people don't understand the passage.

This is where major errors happen. This is where people come to really bad conclusions like this one: Israel's no good. God's done with Israel. Christians are spiritual Israel. No. If you say that, then what you're saying is God lied all throughout the Old Testament.

And if God lied all throughout the Old Testament, you might as well just live your life like a nutjob because you're going to hell. Because what makes you to think you can trust the promise of God? What makes you think you're going to heaven if God didn't keep his promise to his own people?

If we're grafted in, if as Gentiles we're grafted into the tree, how in the world can we trust God if God pretty much lied to his people? These are all very important things to be thinking about.

So this guy counts the cost of everything. He leaves very sad. He's upset because obviously he's a very wealthy man. Jesus said it's easier to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter into the kingdom of God. And these guys were like—well, this guy—these disciples were like, "This guy was absolutely perfect. I mean, everything about him is perfect. If he can't enter into the kingdom of heaven, then what about us? We're a—what a mess."

And that's when Jesus said it's all possible with Christ because all things are possible with the Lord himself. But then look at the stunt that the disciples pull here. I think it's hilarious. Peter, of course, being the perfect representative of all the disciples, this is what he says. And I'll read the verse again. I just read it again before. I'll read it again.

"Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all and have followed thee." In other words, "Well, look at us, Lord. We've left everybody. Unlike the rich young ruler, we've left everybody and we've followed you." Now, you would think the response for Christ—from Christ would be, "You know what? That's a huge sacrifice and I see it, I recognize it, and I'm so thankful for it. Thank you so much." That's not what God does.

Look at what Jesus says in response to Peter's pretty cocky, arrogant statement, right? He says in verse 29: "And Jesus answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time: houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life."

Okay, look at this. This is so heavy, okay? Because what he's basically saying as Peter says, "Look at us. Look at all we've done. Look at everything that's happened to us." Jesus said there's not a single person who has left any of the things that you're bragging about leaving. There's not a single person who's left mother, father, children—hey, there's not a single person that's left family, material gain, material goods, nothing that has not received it back a hundredfold.

Now here's the error that people make when they read this, right? They immediately will teach you that if you give to the Lord a hundred dollars, you will get a hundred dollars times a hundred. If you give to God a thousand dollars, then you will get a hundred thousand dollars because God promises it in his word. That's not what it's saying.

What God is saying here, and it's a critical thing to be understood, is that whatever sacrifice you are making in the moment, whatever it is you think you're giving up for the Lord in this moment will never return empty. It is always going to be the worthwhile sacrifice because the gain that you will get out of it will be consequential. It will be significant.

I'm going to argue that financial gain is the least consequential of all of it. I would argue that money is the least important gain that you could ever consider when you talk about gains that are being made. I'm a pastor. I've been a pastor for over 30 years, longer than many of you have been alive.

And here's the thing that I want to point out in understanding this. As a pastor, I've lost count how many times I have sat by wealthy men or wealthy women who were breathing their last breath. I've lost count how many times I've been by people who were dying and in many cases watching them leave this earth.

Do you know one thing I have never, ever heard come out of the mouths of any of them when they can actually speak? I've never heard them say things like, "I wish I made more money." I've never heard them say things like, "I wish I made a few extra dollars. I could have worked overtime and made more money."

You know what they all tell me? They all tell me things like, "I wish I spent more time with my children." This is tragic, but I've heard many of them tell me, "I wish my family were around me right now." "I wish I could say as I'm dying that I lived a better life."

I wish I was able to say that I made more of a mark. You know what they also all tell me? They all tell me things like, "I would give every dollar to my name," and in one case, that's 10 million dollars. "I'd give every dollar to my name to be able to spend an extra month with my children."

Or the one that I hear even more commonly than that: "I would give every dollar to my name to go back to living in the days where my children were little and I didn't blow them off as much as I did." That's what they tell me.

Why? Because it goes back to the same principle that Jesus is talking about here. When you make the investment to walk away from what you perceive as being valuable and you learn God's value system by valuing him and valuing the things that he values, and you give up everything for that, the gains are so consequential that the multiplication in what you receive is far beyond anything you could ever calculate or ever hope for.

And I'm here to tell you that money is the smallest part of that. Money is the least consequential aspect of that. But there's a general principle involved in this because our perception that is related to our own possessions oftentimes is the very thing that keeps us from gaining more than we've ever gained or more than we've ever done.

Because we have this thing where we like to hold onto the things that cause us to have security, and we don't put ourselves out there to take a step into the next arena to be able to experience whatever victory God wants us to have. And that oftentimes all goes back to the same closed, unaware mindset that we give ourselves to when we choose to walk in inebriation. When you are not sober, you can't think clearly. By the way, fastest way to lose sobriety is what? Sin.

If you don't think clearly, you're not going to be able to understand it. You're not going to be able to recognize it. You're not going to be able to see it. You're not going to be able to understand or think clearly. It's funny how so much of what is spiritual is oftentimes not understood, is oftentimes not recognized, is oftentimes put in a predicament and in a situation where there is blindness.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Light on the Hill. What you just heard is one part of a study in Mark's Gospel from Pastor James Kaddis. You can hear it again at lightonthehillradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Not long ago, Pastor James released his new book on the first half of Revelation. It's entitled "The Last Book." He points out that Revelation isn't a book of fear but rather a book of hope. Pastor James will help you understand the world we live in and current events through a biblical lens, preparing your heart for what lies ahead. Get a copy by going to lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon.

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While you're there, you can also send us an email. It would be great to hear from you and have you share the station you listen to as well. Just visit lightonthehillradio.com and then click on contact. Now let's finish up today's message. Pastor James is in Mark Chapter 10.

James Kaddis: Look how this goes. This is heavy. This last verse that he gives: "But many that are first shall be last and the last first." Why? What does he mean when he says that? Many are first will be last, the last will be first. Why? It is a condemnation to the arrogant.

Listen, when he says the first will be last and the last will be first—you know, even when we were kids, we used to say, "I'm going to get to the end of the line because I want to be first." You know, we used to do that a lot. That's not what Jesus is saying here.

Jesus is in essence making the statement that the person who sees themselves in the front will always be the person that ends up at the last. And the person who recognizes that they're willing to take a backseat in the very last in order to accomplish what God's will for them is, are always the people that will be at the front because they recognize the value in what they're doing and they embraced it instead of allowing the enemy to take it away.

I talk about this all the time to young people. They come to me and they tell me about all the things that they value. They value their value system, and oftentimes I remind them, it's broken. Do not try to climb this ladder because what you don't realize is by climbing this ladder you'll end up in the backseat. You'll never have the ability to do what you need to do in the most important way possible if you give yourself to this.

Oftentimes it's not thought of, it's not thought through, it's not even recognized or realized, but that's what God wants us to do. God says, "I want you to allow yourself to get to the place where you will grasp what I can do in your life, the impossible, that you may allow yourself to take advantage of the very things that mean the most so that you can obtain the hundredfold, right?"

Now, how does that happen? Practically, what takes place? Remember this phrase. You ready? Remember this phrase: "My life is about to change rapidly." Say that to yourself every single time you think about this: "My life is about to rapidly change."

What do you mean? I'll tell you what everybody thinks when I say that. Everybody thinks when I make that statement, it means that something is going to happen within the next three days. Or it's going to happen within the next 10 days, or it's going to happen within the next 100 days or 400 days or 500 days or 1,000 days.

What people don't recognize is when I say your life is about to rapidly change, there's a principle that is spiritual that's involved here. If you continue in the status quo, things are just going to buzz along. They're going to buzz along, they're going to buzz along, they're going to buzz along.

One year goes by, five years go by, 10 years go by, 40 years go by—it doesn't matter, it's all going to go by and then something's going to hit you. And when it does, it's going to hit you so fast that you have no idea where it came from. You have no idea where it is, what it is. You are so discombobulated that you don't know what to do next.

And you know what in essence happens? All the king's horses and all the king's men will never be able to put Humpty back together again. Isn't it funny how that works?

The way that you accelerate that destruction in your life is by going out of your way to do the very things that you want and to do the very things that please you in the moment. But the person who says, "I'm going to deny myself gratification in this moment because I understand that doing this is me walking in obedience," when the fast happens in your life, it will translate to something completely different. It will translate to something that you never thought you could possibly ever deal with because you were being prepared for that moment in your submission to the Lord.

Guest (Male): Remember, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you, because all I need is you.