This TV show debuted nine years ago and it has fascinated millions in America for years. It is called “The Biggest Loser.” If you have never seen the show it is simply about people who are trying to win a grand prize of a quarter of a million dollars by losing the highest percentage of body weight relative to their initial weight in a certain period of time. Those of you who have watched the show may know this name, Michael Ventrella. If you don’t, he is the biggest loser on the Biggest Loser. This 30-year-old Chicago D.J. set several records in his quest to lose weight.

He is the heaviest ever contestant who weighed in at a record 526 lbs. By the end of his contest he had lost a record 264 lbs. to a weight of 262 lbs. He lost 50.19% of his body weight. In other words, at the end of the show he was literally half the man he used to be.

Today, we are going to study the biggest loser of all time. We are in a series called “On the Fringe.” We have been looking at some fascinating encounters that Jesus had with people that nobody else wanted to encounter. It is fascinating to see the kind of people society normally rejects that Jesus easily received. We all know the failures, the rejects, the desperate, and the loser. Today, we are going to study a man who literally and spiritually could have had it all, but wound up with nothing. It may be the saddest story in all of the Bible. [Turn to Mark 10]

This young man came to the right person at the right time, asked the right question, got the right answer and did the wrong thing and in essence wound up committing spiritual suicide.

We know him as the rich young ruler although he is never really called that in the Bible. All three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) call him “wealthy.” Matthew calls him young and Luke tells us he was a ruler. Hence - the rich, young ruler.

He was rich. If he lived today he would be wearing Italian shoes, a tailored suit, and money invested in blue-chip stocks. He would carry only platinum credit cards and fly his own jet.

He is young. I hate to break the news to you, but biblically speaking young in the Bible is a reference to someone under 40. So if you are over 40, you really can no longer call yourself “young” and if you do you are being unbiblical. He had his whole life ahead of him. He works out daily, is in great shape and perfect health.

He is a ruler. He was either a magistrate or he worked in the office of the high priest, but you get the picture. He was rich. He was respected and as you are going to see in a few moments at least outwardly he was righteous. How did he wind up becoming the biggest loser? The most important thing you will ever have in life was the one thing he could not buy with his money, could not get with his influence and he could not achieve on his own. He failed to realize this central truth about having a relationship with God.

Key Take Away: To go up you have to give up.

The sad thing is this biggest loser could have been the biggest winner. When it comes to the game of life, nobody has to lose. Everybody can be a winner, but to do that you must take certain steps to get there. The rich young ruler took the first two, but he failed to take the last one and came up the biggest loser. What must we do to ensure that we don’t become the biggest loser in life, but indeed the biggest winner?

I. Desire the Gift Of Eternal Life

“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17, ESV)

This doesn’t seem unusual to you unless you lived 2000 years ago. Back in that day, it was considered undignified for a man to be running anywhere, particularly a man of stature like this person. Not only does he run up to Jesus, but also he comes to him in broad daylight. Unlike Nicodemus who came by night. He is not ashamed for anybody to hear his conversation. There was probably a crowd around Jesus and this guy literally shoves his way through the crowd to get face-to-face with this man he had to talk to.

Then he does something that was astonishing. He kneels before Jesus. Here is a ruler kneeling at the feet of a carpenter. Here is management kneeling at the feet of labor. This crowd knew who this man was and they were shocked that he would be kneeling before anybody.

Why was he so adamant? So forceful, so desperate? Because, there was this burning question in his heart that he had to have answered.

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17, ESV)

This man wanted eternal life. He realized there had to be more to life than what he was experiencing. Even though on the outside this man had everything on the inside this man was empty. When he looked at his life he realized there was a piece of the puzzle missing. “I am not firing on all eight cylinders.” This man enjoyed a tremendous social life, but he didn’t have eternal life.

This was a very heavy question he is laying on Jesus. He didn’t just think this question up. I imagine that ever since he had heard about Jesus - perhaps he had heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom of God. Maybe being a Pharisee like Nicodemus, maybe they were buddies and maybe Nicodemus had told him how Jesus told him he must be born again. Whatever it was this man realized of all the things he had the one thing he didn’t have was eternal life.

Daniel Webster, the brilliant statesman and lawyer was once asked the question, “What is the greatest thought that has ever passed through your mind?” Webster replied, “The greatest thought that has ever passed through my mind is the thought that one day I’m going to have to stand before God. I am going to have to give an account of my life before God.” This young man had realized that one day he was going to meet God. He was going to spend eternity somewhere and he wanted to make sure he was ready.

As Jesus often did, he doesn’t answer the man’s question, he asks his own question.

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” (Mark 10:18, ESV)

That certainly wasn’t the response this man was expecting. Normally, when a teacher or a preacher for that matter is called “good” you usually respond by saying something like “Thank you I appreciate the complement”, but this man got a totally different response. That happens.

Yogi Berra tells the story one time of how on a very hot and humid day he was receiving the key to New York City. The mayor’s wife was sitting next to him up on the stage and she looked at him and said, “Yogi, you look really cool today.” He looked at her and said, “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

Why does Jesus ask the man this question? Because if only God is good then that leaves only one of two conclusions: either Jesus is not good or Jesus is God. That is going to crucial, because of what is about to happen next. Jesus now proceeds to answer the man’s question.

“You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ 20And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’” (Mark 10:19-20, ESV)

This man gets exactly the answer he was looking for. To him, the commandments were like a list of merit badges that he had accumulated. He had kept the commandments. He was not just a Boy Scout; he was an Eagle Scout. He was the rich young righteous ruler.

At this point, he was expecting bells and whistles to go off. He was looking for Jesus to give him a standing ovation, put a gold medal around his neck and congratulate him for his magnificent achievement, but Jesus was only getting him ready for step two on how not to be the biggest loser. He had taken the first step, which is to desire the gift of eternal life. Now step 2 –

II. Determine the Cost of Eternal Life

Some of you may be thinking that Jesus is contradicting the principle that we are saved by grace through faith, because He just basically told this man you can have eternal life by keeping the commandments. That is true. If anybody could keep all of the commandments perfectly all of their life and never commit one single sin, they would be sinless, they would be perfect and they would have eternal life. Except for Jesus no one ever has done that and no one ever will. How do we know that – the cross of Jesus Christ.

Think about this. If even one person could perfectly keep all of the commandments then other people could too, but the only man who did keep all the commandments died for those of us who can’t. This young man is about to learn he had broken the greatest commandment of all.

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” (Mark 10:21, ESV)

I just love that verse. The word “love” can be translated “fall in love.” Jesus fell in love with this young man. This man was serious and this man was sincere and Jesus loved him enough to tell him the truth.

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21, ESV)

This verse has been more troublesome and more bothersome to more people than maybe any other thing that Jesus ever said. Was Jesus teaching that philanthropy and generosity was the way to God? Was Jesus teaching that all of us must sell everything we have and give it all away if we want to follow Him?

The easiest way to understand this is very simple. We will get to the heart of the issue by doing what Jesus did by getting at the issue of the heart. This man thought he had kept the commandments, but he really hadn’t. When Jesus talked about the commandments he mentioned the last six. He didn’t mention the first four. The last six commandments are what I call the “horizontal” commandments. They deal with our relationships with each other. The first four are what I call the “vertical” commandments. They deal with our relationship to God. Do you remember the very first commandment?

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3, ESV)

This is the only time this demand is ever made of anyone anywhere in the Bible. This was not standard operating procedure for Jesus. This was a particular word for a particular individual. Do you remember when Zacchaeus decided to give half of everything he had to the poor. Jesus didn’t tell him he had to give it all, so why does He make this demand of this man? Why did Jesus look at this man and say, “What’s in your wallet?” The issue was not what was in this man’s wallet. The issue was what was in his heart.

Remember, the reason why this man came to Jesus in the first place was even though he had kept the law on the outside he knew something was wrong on the inside. He had religion, but he didn’t have a relationship. Religion can make you feel good on the outside, but only a relationship can satisfy you on the inside. This man now came face-to-face with the fact that his money was his master. Gold was his god. Silver was his savior.

What Jesus was saying was, “If you want the Lord in your heart you’ve got to give your heart to the Lord.” This man did not have a financial problem; he had a spiritual problem. That is why Jesus told this man he would have “treasure in heaven.” This man thought Jesus was trying to take something from him. Instead, Jesus was trying to give something to him.

When Jesus asks you to give Him your entire life, He is not trying to take anything away from you; He is trying to give everything to you that really matters. When you follow Jesus you just get on the road that takes you to the greatest riches of all, the greatest wealth of all, the greatest possession of all, which is eternal life. In a way there is a cost to eternal life. You’ve got to give all that you are to all that Jesus is.

Now, this young man is at a crossroads. What is he going to do? What happens in the end is why he is the biggest loser.

III. Decide To Pay the Price For Eternal Life

“Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22, ESV)

At first that verse is hard to understand. Why did he go away disheartened? This guy is rich. You don’t go away sad because you are rich. You go away sad, because you are driving a 17 year old, 3 cylinder Kia! Why would walking away with all these riches make him sad?

Here is the reason. This man was forced to come face-to-face with the realization that what he owned, owned him. What he possessed, possessed him. What he had had him.

Do we literally have to give away or sell everything we have to follow Jesus? No, but we have to surrender everything to Him and be willing to walk away from everything for Him and be willing to give up everything for Him. Jesus put it this way.

“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:33, NIV)

No, Jesus didn’t say you have to give away everything, but He did say you have to “give up” everything.

There is a timeless principle here we all need to be reminded of. There is an unbelievably powerful relationship between your spiritual condition and your attitude toward money. The number one competitor for your heart with God is money. If you want to go up you have to give up. On this demand, Jesus will not back up.

The only One sadder in this story than the man who walked away is the Man he walked away from. It broke Jesus’ heart. In fact, this is the only time in all four Gospels where Jesus invited someone to follow Him and they refused. Every time Jesus says, “Follow me” in all four Gospels, people dropped their nets, left their boats, abandoned their tables and followed Jesus except here. People could leave their work, but this man could not leave his wealth.

Every time we pass the bucket in this church, do you understand what we are doing? We are not just asking for money. We are actually asking you two questions:

(1) Who is your Master? (2) Where is your treasure? We are just reminding you that if you want to go up you have to give up.

This man walked away from Jesus, but Jesus didn’t chase him down and say, “How about selling half?” “How about making installments?” Jesus doesn’t negotiate, equivocate, or hesitate. He wants absolute surrender.

After Christian fighters captured Jerusalem during the first crusade, pilgrims from all over Western Europe began visiting the Holy Land. Around 1100 A.D. a French knight formed an organization called “The Knights Templar.” Their job was to protect these pilgrims during their visit. When these knights were baptized by the church it was done in a strange way. They would be baptized with their sword, but they wouldn’t take their swords under water with them. Instead, they would hold their swords up out of the water while all the rest of them would be immersed.

It was this way of saying to Jesus, “You can have control of all of me, except this one part. I am all yours, except when I am on the battlefield. All that I have is yours, except this sword.”

I’ve got a feeling that many people today when they get baptized they don’t hold up a sword, but they hold up their wallet. They hold up their laptop. They hold up the title deed to their house. They hold up their 401K. They hold up their pride and their ego.

You must determine the cost of eternal life and that cost is simple. It is complete, absolute, unequivocal, unconditional, total surrender and it is only when you say to Jesus, “I surrender all” that you not only never become the biggest loser, but you really do become the biggest winner.