The temple is introduced in verse 11, and as ordinary as it seems, Mark is setting the stage because it's about to go down in the temple -- the final showdown between Jesus and the religious leaders. Here in this verse, after the making the 17 mile journey from Jericho to Jerusalem, it's late, they're tired, and Mark says that Jesus walks into the temple and looks around. I wonder if Jesus' mind traveled back to when he was 12 years old in the temple, astonishing the teachers with his wisdom, telling Joseph and Mary who were frantically looking for him, -Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house-- -Luke 2-49- Now 20 or so years later, he knows full well these will be his last trips to his father's house. That sacred place that was so central to the life of the people of God would now be central to the death of the Son of God.

This pitiful man at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder that no one else would give the time of day arrested the attention of the Son of God. Jesus stopped and said, -Call him.- This was a veiled rebuke of those who told the man to be quiet - Jesus is like, -No, I have time for him. Bring him to me.- And so verse 49 goes on - And they called the blind man, saying to him, -Take heart. Get up- he is calling you.- -Amazing how quickly the crowd changed their tune, right- They went from -be silent- to -take heart, he is calling for you.- And friends, you may feel as if Jesus is passing by and you can't get to him. You may think he can't hear your cry for mercy among a million other voices crying out for help. There may be people in your life telling you to give up, people who don't have time for you, but I've got good news for you- Jesus is passing by this morning. Take heart, he's calling today-

Jesus says to his disciples, -You guys want greatness- You want to sit beside me in glory- Watch what I'm about to go do in Jerusalem- -- where the only two on his right and left were the criminals crucified with him. Friends there is no greater humiliation than to see the divine Creator and Lord of the universe, the Son of God and Son of Man hang naked and bloody on a cross bearing the sins of all who would believe on him. Jesus is the ultimate model of sacrifice, but he far more than our model, he is our substitute. You see, no amount of personal sacrifice or serving can atone for sin. That infinite price has to be paid by an infinitely valuable substitute - that's what it means for him to be our ransom. His life was the price paid to free us from the just penalty of our sin.

Jesus loved this young man to tell him the truth. I wonder, do we love people enough to tell them the truth, or do we just stay silent because we don't want controversy. Friends, that not love - not the way Jesus loves. Love demands truth, and Jesus loved this young man enough to cut past his external righteousness and get to the true idol of his heart- money. This young man had -great possessions,- and his wealth was his true god. Jesus called him to give it up, not because it was sinful for him to be wealthy, but because it was sinful for him to value his earthly treasure above obedience to Jesus, who called him to give it all away and follow him, but he was unwilling.

We need to walk away from this text this morning feeling the sacred gravitas of marriage. Friends it is not ok to leave just because you are unhappy. The world might tell you that. After all, you only live once so why should you have to spend it in an unhappy marriage, right- We've all heard that one before. But we live under the lordship of Christ, who calls us to a deeper way of living, and whose love for his bride the church should be reflected in our marriages. You see marriage is a living breathing witness to the gospel -- a Savior who gave his life for a chosen bride and who loves his people even in their sin and unfaithfulness. No, our marriages don't measure up to Christ's sacrificial love for his people, but friends make no mistake- good, bad, or somewhere in between, they all point to that reality. Marriage points us to Christ.

We need to understand that sin is at war with us and Jesus is calling us to take an aggressive attitude toward it. He's not saying we should literally mutilate ourselves if we sin, but to get on the front lines and do whatever it takes to win these daily battles with temptation, which are uniquely different for every person. If internet pornography is a temptation for you - and it is for at least 94- of American men who admit to having looked at porn within the last 6 months - if porn is a problem for you, put a filter on your computer and phone, confess your sin and get accountable to someone. If drunkenness is a problem for you, stay away from alcohol and the people who entice you to drink it. If it's pride, envy, self-righteousness, anger, unforgiveness, disobedience to parents, out of control lust, greed - whatever your particular temptation is, we need to get serious about it because sin's singular objective is our eternal ruin in hell.

Notice the tragic irony here- while Jesus was teaching his disciples about his own suffering and death, they were busy arguing about who among them was the greatest. I imagine Jesus may have thought, -did they not hear anything I just said- I'm telling them about my suffering and they're worried about their greatness-- You see friends, the fundamental human sin is pride. We are a self-absorbed people. We live to please ourselves and advance our own agendas. How often do we get offended because we don't get the recognition we feel like we deserve- That's pride. How often do we get upset when things don't go our way- That's pride. It's in our homes, our churches, our workplaces. It's everywhere because every one of us has a natural fallen predisposition to pride, but we must die to ourselves, our own ambitions and agendas, because humility is the path to true greatness.

You see, even believers can have unbelief, and I wonder, how often does the Lord just look at us and shake his head because no matter how many times he's shown himself faithful and true, our faith is still so off target. It's time to repent of our unbelief friends. But, thanks be to God, Jesus is merciful, and he steps into our messes and brings hope. Look at the end of verse 19. This episode is about to take a dramatic turn with these four hope-filled words- -Bring him to me.- Friends it doesn't matter what situation you're in this morning, bring it to Jesus. Feel the healing sting of his rebuke for your unbelief and then run to him with your mess. Run to him with your marriage. Run to him with your heartache. Run to him with your children. Run to him with your sin. He's saying to us this morning- -Bring it to me.-

With the Father's affirmation of the Son, the transfiguration event ends, and verse 8 says, -suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.- Let's camp here for a moment and consider those two words- Jesus only. 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, who once preached an entire sermon on those two words, says, -This was the last sight the disciples had upon the mountain, and it seems to me to have been the best. They saw Jesus only.- After the dazzling splendor of the Lord's transformation was over, the thrill of seeing Moses and Elijah had passed, and the terror of Christ's majesty had subsided, Peter, James, and John were left with Jesus only. There is a convicting truth for us here, because friends I wonder, when all the excitement of whatever spiritual mountaintop we've been on has faded, is it enough that we are left with Jesus only- Yes it's awesome to experience the sweet presence of Jesus in tangible ways that move our emotions, but friends, that buzz doesn't last forever. Is it enough that we have Jesus only-

This is a lesson in spiritual economics. Jesus says all the things that we invest our lives in-comfort, pleasure, personal success and happiness-none of that is worth the ultimate price of our souls. If we gain all that this world has to offer, but at the expense of our soul, then we have gained nothing and lost everything, and embedded in this verse is the truth that we can't pursue both Christ and the world at the same time. They are mutually exclusive, so we need to make sure that what we are spending our lives on is going to follow us into eternity. That means we need to be making spiritual investments - like the priority of Lord's Day worship, the priority of daily Scripture and prayer, the priority of sharing the gospel with others. These are the investments that will yield an eternal return. Nothing else will.