Turn with me to Luke chapter 18. Luke 18, we're going to be picking up in verse 18, where we look at the rich young ruler. And this man clearly had a concern for his eternal soul. Mark's gospel tells us that this man came running, running. and kneeled before Christ and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? This is actually a rare thing. This is a rich man who is concerned for his eternal soul. He's a man that's young, but he's already thinking about eternal things. He's a man who Luke tells us was a certain ruler, but he is willing and wants to be taught by Christ. And as you can imagine, in religion this is a very exciting thing, to see someone so interested to be taught of Christ and to hear of Christ.

It's a very interesting thing and it's so exciting because it's rare. It's rare. There's a lot of things that seem very promising about this man who comes running after Christ. But he's lacking one thing, one vital thing. He's lacking Christ. He yet stands in need of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so as we read this thing, will he bow to Christ or no? And really what we're examining in our own hearts is will I bow to Christ or no? Will I submit to the righteousness of Christ? Or am I yet trusting in myself? This text serves us as a critical warning Am I just religious? Am I just moral? Am I just a good and decent person as far as good and decent people are, as far as people go in this world? Am I willing to hear God's salvation, to hear the word of God speak to me? Will He speak to me? Is there a real concern? Do you need Christ, or are you satisfied with the external things of religion?

And so Luke tells us that in verse 18, 18, 18, a certain ruler asked him, saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This man asks a good question of the Lord. It's a good question. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? It's not a bad question. In fact, it's a question that has been asked many times throughout history, and it's recorded for us in the scriptures many times.

When Bildad the Shuhite was speaking with Job in Job 25.4, he asked, how then can a man be justified with God? How can a man who is a sinner be justified with God? Because the reality is, we all must be justified by God.

If we're to inherit eternal life, it's God who is the judge. It's not me the judge of you, or you the judge of me, or yourselves even. We don't judge ourselves. God must justify us. He's the one that determines whether or not we have an inheritance with him in eternal life or an inheritance in hell, in eternal death. And so we must stand before God.

And this young ruler, this rich young ruler, appears to know something of that, unless he has some concern for himself. Again, he was a moral man. likely a very decent man in society, respected among the people, and certainly his riches would have made him no doubt an influential person in his circle of acquaintances. But he needed to know one thing yet not settled in his heart was, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? How is this going to happen?

And so Many have had this question throughout history. Many still have this question. We read of at the time when John the Baptist was come to pave the way for our Lord, before his public ministry began, John the Baptist came first. And we're told that many Jews and many publicans and many soldiers came to him asking this very question. The Jews, the common Jews, for example, came and asked, what shall we do then? And John the Baptist answered and saith unto them, he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none.

And he that hath meat, let him do likewise. In other words, show mercy, show compassion to others. That's what he's saying. Be merciful. and compassionate and be tender to others. The publicans asked, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, exact no more than that which is appointed you. Be understanding, be honest with others. This world is not your inheritance. This world has a very brief, short lifespan in this world. Do business, exact your business with understanding. Be honest. And the soldiers demanded of him, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely. They wielded great power. They could wreck your life if they accused you. You could go to jail. You could be bankrupt. You could suffer greatly if they wanted to just despite you.

And be content with your wages. In other words, be gentle, be kind, be patient. Be content. Do these things while you wait for the light of Christ to shine on you. While you're seeking the Lord, understand, here are these things. While you're seeking the Lord for him to shine upon you, do these things. But it's Christ alone that forgives sin. It's the Christ of God whom he sent that is going to deliver you from your bondage of sin. Not in doing these things, it's Christ that delivers us. And so men want to know how they can inherit eternal life. And some we know who asked this question, who were moved to ask this question, were indeed blessed of God and received the grace of God given to them in answer to that question.

For example, when Peter was preaching the gospel, when he declared Christ crucified to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. He was declaring Christ. He was declaring how that Christ came and suffered and died. On that cross, he died for the sins of his people, was buried, but God raised him from the dead. He declared the glory of Christ crucified and how that the Jews rejected him and put him to death.

And them hearing that, when they heard that question, it says that they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What are we gonna do about this now? What can we do? And they were told, confess Christ, be baptized and follow him. They were told these things. The Philippian jailer, having no doubt, They made aware that these two men, Paul and Silas, were given to his care to be thrown in jail so they could be prosecuted properly. And he knew their crimes to some degree.

And he hears them singing and praising God in the night. And he falls asleep to that. And an earthquake happens. And he looks, and the door of the jail is broken off. And surely these men could have or did already run out, as far as he knew. He was asleep. And he was about to take his own life, which, had he done that, would have actually reflected on Paul and Silas. Then they would have been criminals for the murder of a man, as far as the authorities would know. And so they stopped him. And he came trembling and falling down before them. They didn't try to escape.

And he asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? It's a question that every one of us should ask. It's a question that every one of us should not rest until that question is settled for us by God, by the living God. by him who alone justifies the sinner. Only he can justify us. Only he can convince us that we are his and he is mine. Only God can do that.

And so it's a question we all should ask. It's a question that every heaven-born soul asks. We're given an interest. Lord, I need to know. Lord, please have mercy upon me. It's not a bad question. It's the question that we should ask, and it's the question that every child of God, whether they know it yet or not, asks. Lord, what can I do? What can be done that I can inherit eternal life?

And the answer to that question is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. you and all your household. And on a personal sense, what that means is your soul and your body shall be redeemed and purchased. You shall live again in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall live today in the new man and you shall rise again when this corrupt body shall be raised anew and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ the same way you believe in the inner man, by his grace and power in that day when he returns. So first, our Lord addresses this rich young ruler about calling him good, good master. He asks, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? In verse 19, Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good?

None is good save one, that is God. It's as if this man were coming to Christ, ran to Christ, in very much the same spirit or manner that Nicodemus came to him by night, saying, Rabbi, we know that thou art sent of God, because no man could do the things that you're doing. No man could do these miracles except God were with him.

And so he came, and the Lord answers him, therefore, as God. And the way he begins is dealing with him in the manner in which he came. This man was coming to Christ on the grounds of the law. He was coming on the grounds of what he had done, what he could do, what he was doing, and he was hoping to be justified for these things. He came to our Lord in the law. And so this is how Christ addressed him. This is how Christ began to deal with him and address him, was in that law.

And notice that we hear nothing about this man seeking for mercy. We hear nothing about this man being broken and a contrite sinner. We don't hear anything of him being an offender of God's righteousness. We don't hear anything of him needing God's mercy and grace. Rather, he comes as one who deserves God's favor. And he's just looking for some help and some guidance. He just needed a little help.

And many people, that's how they come to the Lord, thinking, I'm all right. I'm better than my neighbor. I'm better than my brother or my sister. I just need a little help here. And what it all boils down to is this man was coming to Christ in his own righteousness. just needing to dot some I's and cross some T's and just kind of tidy it up, but he was coming in his own righteousness.

But what the Lord is showing all his people is that, no, you and I need a full salvation. We need to be saved from beginning to end. We don't need just a little help. We need all help. We need everything that the Lord does for his people. There's not anything that we have done or can do ourselves. We need Christ.

And so this young man wasn't humbled by his sin. He's actually proud, and he's confident that he's going to be sufficient to do or answer for whatever is going to come out of the Lord's mouth here. He thinks, I can do this. I'm ready. I'm ready to take that next step. And he wanted to show Christ his willingness and that he could hear and obey. Therefore, in order to bring this man to see the corruption of his own heart, to see what he needed, our Lord first answers him according to the law upon that ground upon which he was coming. Look at verse 20 and 21. Our Lord says, thou knowest the commandments.

Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. And Matthew adds, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And he said, all these things have I kept from my youth up. Obviously, he didn't hear our Lord preaching on the mount. The Sermon on the Mount, when he said, if you look on a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery in your heart.

If you hate someone, you've murdered them in your heart. If you could, you'd be done with them. You'd disappear them forever. And it exposes this heart is the fountain of sin. It's out of our own hearts. Just because we don't do it in practice doesn't mean we don't do it in heart, in thought, word, and deed. Every one of us were guilty of breaking the law of God, and it's clear that this man believed God. He did believe God.

He gladly would go to the synagogue, I'm sure, on the Sabbath day, and hear the scriptures read, and hear Moses. He would go, he knew these were, this is the inspired word of God. He believed that. He was a moral man, a religious man, and he diligently tried to do what he believed and thought was right to do to other men before God. And he even recognized something was different about Christ. He knew something.

He saw something of the miracles or heard of him and wanted to go and hear Christ. hear what Christ would say, and he ran after him. He probably was patting and huffing and puffing. Lord catches up to him. What must I do to inherit eternal life? He's getting that out there.

And there's many churches right now, many in churches right now who are like this rich young ruler. True churches and false churches. There's a lot of people like this rich young ruler sitting in the pews, maybe even in the pulpit. Elders and deacons and people sitting in the pew and supporting it.

There's a lot of people like this in the world. We're all to hear this. Every one of us by nature is exactly like this rich young ruler here. Every one of us. And what we see is that just like this rich young ruler, by nature, we're all ignorant of spiritual things. We're all ignorant of spiritual things. Many who have never been convicted of the sin in their own heart, and the constancy of that sin in our own heart.

It's not just a few things, or one and done, and now I don't do that anymore. That sin is yet present in this flesh, in my nature, it's what I am. That's what I am by nature. And many believe themselves to be a keeper of the law for righteousness, that they're pretty good at it, but the reality is many, many know nothing of the depravity of their own heart. That's something that the Lord teaches his children, is just how depraved, how defiled, how ruined I am.

I am, me, even as your pastor. There's nothing good about me in this flesh. There dwelleth no good thing. That's not my righteousness. That's not my hope. And by God's grace, that's not your righteousness and your hope either. It's not our goodness that saves us. We need a savior. We need a savior. Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. That's what we are in Adam. carnal and sold under sin, in bondage to that sin. And though I might labor and strive to keep the law for righteousness, I'm not going to do it. I can't do it.

It's actually a gracious thing that the Lord makes you to know you can't do it, so that you would know your need, and we would know our need of the Savior. Additionally, not only was this man deceived into thinking he was keeping the law, But this false notion made him proud and thinking he was something when he was nothing. He was a self-righteous man. And I've heard it said by some faithful pastors that no sin is more deadly than the sin and more likely to keep you from Christ and trusting Christ for all your righteousness than the sin of self-righteousness. Because it's the thing that blinds us from seeing just how wrecked we are, how ruined we are, how corrupt we are, how far our sins have separated us from God. It's a self-deceiving thing that makes us think, I'm all right. I'm OK. God will surely receive me in that day. And all we're doing is trusting ourselves. It's blinding. Self-righteousness is blinding.

If you will come to God in the law, you must keep that law perfectly from the very beginning of your conception to your death. Every time, without fault, no excuses, no gaps, no justification to say, well, it's because they did something. No, you broke the law. It's as simple as that. You broke the law.

Galatians 3, 10 through 12 tells us, As a result, as many as are of the works of the law, as many as will come to God in the law, are under the curse of it. You have bound yourself to a curse in coming to God in the law. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. there's a gap, a fraction, a hair, a moment in which you didn't keep the law, you've now bound yourself to that curse.

But that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. That's what we need to hear. That's what the Lord is telling us this for, to drive us from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, to drive us from Moses to Christ. That's why he's telling us this, because those who are justified of God live by faith, trusting, believing that God has provided my righteousness. He's provided the Savior, and he has come and accomplished perfect righteousness for me and all his people under the covenant of grace established by the shedding of his blood and his suffering and his faithfulness and his righteousness and all who trust him, that he alone is righteous and perfect, you have eternal life in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Follow him, stay upon him, continue in him because he's our righteousness. And the law is not a faith, Paul said, But the man that doeth them shall live in them continually without fail. And James adds, whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all.

You're guilty of breaking every law and commandment before God, and you will not be justified. God will not justify you. He cannot endorse sin. He cannot bear it. He hates it. and he will reject you and cast you off forever, coming to him in the law.

But in Christ, there is forgiveness of sins, there is life, there is light, there is fellowship and reconciliation forevermore. And when we're looking at sin and we're looking at our works, we're thinking, I fell. I hope that you see how far short you fall. It's by grace that you do. And don't then turn back to the law to try and keep it. Turn to Christ and beg him for his spirit and his grace and his life in you, to walk in that faith and hope, to walk in Christ, trusting him.

Our God never intended for us to be justified by keeping the law. The law wasn't given for that purpose. The law was given to show us our sin, to show us what sinners we are. As painful as it is, we're sinners. We're not just. We're not righteous in ourselves. The law was given to show us our sin, and this man coming to Christ right here is not getting that message from his acquaintances, and from whenever he's here, and he ain't hearing it.

The scriptures say in Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's why the law was given, to give you a knowledge of just how sinful you and I are. In response to the young ruler saying, I've kept all these things for my youth up, Our Lord tells us back in verse 22, when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that thou hast, count everything you have acquired up to this point dung, part with it, count it as dung, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. and come follow me.

Our Lord is showing this man what he lacks. And what he lacked is the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, recognize this is a moral man. This is a religious man. This is a decent man. This is a man who is sincere and tries to please God. I'm sure that before the law of Moses, he appeared, like Paul, blameless. Blameless in the law. But he had no faith or trust and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That wasn't his confidence. His confidence was in him.

Just tell me what I gotta do, and I'll do it. And the Lord said, oh, will you do it? Count everything you've done up to this point, and all the riches you've collected, and count them as done. And come, follow me. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

David confessed in Psalm 51.6, behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

And our Lord was teaching this young man, and what he's teaching us through the scriptures by his grace and by his power is that we lack, by nature, we lack truth in the inward parts. But God's going to have it. If you're his, he's going to have it. He's going to make you to know, I'm the sinner. Stand in need of all the grace, all your grace given in Christ.

That's me, Lord. That's what he's making us to know. And so our Lord is teaching him that. And we see four things in his response to this man when he said, yet lackest thou one thing. So all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.

He's saying that he himself, Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ of God, and that he and he alone is eternal life. He's the eternal life of God. He's the Savior. He's the one by whom all sinners are justified before God, and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says that because we must submit to Christ. We're submitting to Christ, to his righteousness.

We're not coming in our own righteousness. We're not coming in our works. We're not coming in what we've changed, what we've stopped doing and started doing. That's not what we're coming in. We're coming in Christ. That's our confidence. We're submitting to him. We believe, we submit, we believe also on the Lord Jesus Christ. giving up all those vain confidences in the flesh. He's the righteousness by whom God will justify me. That's our hope. We confess in faith and in believer's baptism Christ. We confess him.

We're confessing that I'm saved because he came down to this earth in the flesh, the son of God. faithfully kept the will of God in all things, fulfilled the law in all things in perfect righteousness. And he went to the cross as the suffering sacrificial lamb and offered himself up as our high priest unto the father to atone, to put away our sins forever. to obtain eternal forgiveness for us in Him. And our baptism is a public confession that I am not righteous of myself, that He is my righteousness, that I died with Him on the cross, that I was buried with Him, and that as He rose from the dead, I rose in Him.

And we first see that in believers in them being made new creatures. who walk not in their own confidences, in their own works, but in Christ. As newborn creatures, born again of his incorruptible seed. And that's our hope. And then, just as he did that, we then are raised again when he comes again.

And so we submit, we believe, we confess, and we obey him who said to us, come and follow me. Follow me. And faith in Christ, that is obedience to God's command. Faith in Christ is obedience to God's command. That's what he's saying. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him, believe him. Now look at what Paul tells us over in Romans 9. Over in Romans 9,

31. But Israel, excuse me, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness. They didn't fulfill it. They didn't achieve what they were going after.

Wherefore, how come? Because they sought it, they sought righteousness not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. They were working for it. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. They were trying to work a righteousness by the deeds of the law, rather than trusting Christ for their righteousness.

Rather than trusting the promise of God that the seed should come and fulfill all things, crush the head of the serpent, destroy all his works, and deliver you from it. That's what Christ came and accomplished. They stumbled over that, and so they refused him, and in doing so, they rejected their own righteousness. They rejected the righteousness of God. As it's written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. In other words, this is exactly what God did in laying him down on the earth and sending him to the earth. It exposes our vain self-righteousness. It exposes our sin. All right, look at Romans 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Just like this rich young man running after Christ. He has a zeal. What must I do to inherit eternal life? But not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. And so in telling this man to sell all, to give it all away, and to follow Christ, our Lord exposed his pride, his self-confidences, his self-righteousness, his boast in himself, And showing this man his confidence isn't in God.

It's in himself. He's trusting himself. And this is why Paul wrote, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit taught him. And so he's saying it for us. He said, we are the circumcision. We're fulfilling the righteousness of the law, not by our works, but in Christ, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, in other words, the truth, worshiping God in spirit and in truth, and have no confidence in the flesh. He's our confidence.

So this rich young ruler didn't want to let his self-righteousness confidence and confidence go, he would not bow to Christ. He would not submit to Christ. He didn't obey Christ. He didn't come to Christ. He didn't commit everything to Christ. It says in verse 23, when he heard this, he was very sorrowful for he was very rich. His confidence was in his own works. And so in that confidence, he stumbled over the stumbling stone that God had laid upon the earth. He stumbled right over Christ and fell. Now, in closing, let us examine our hearts. Do we yet lack this one thing? Do we yet lack Christ? Or is He our love, our hope, our faith, our confidence, that in and by Him, alone, that I shall be, that I am justified by God? He's our justification.

It's the Lord Jesus Christ, that's it. If you're looking to anything that you've done, anything you once did or are doing, nothing else is gonna save you. Nothing else justifies. It's Christ alone. The Lord gives that faith in the heart to look to Him, to trust Him, to commit everything to Him. Lord, save me or else I cannot be saved. That's what He works in us. Is He our all or do we yet lack that one thing, that one thing needful? Psalm 51, 17 says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

That's the work of God, that he works in his saints, so that we have no confidence in ourselves, but every confidence in Christ to save to the uttermost. He makes us to see our need of his grace, and so that we are emptied of everything else that we might have.

It's all done. as far as the saints of God are taught to see it, by his grace. Everything I bring is done, everything he is and has done, that's my righteousness. Lord, receive me in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. I pray he does that for every one of us here, by his grace and mercy, amen.

Our gracious Lord, we do thank you for the many repetitions of this truth in your scripture, in your gospel, how you show us over and over again that if we have not Christ, we lack everything. We don't have even half or partial. It's either all of him and nothing of us, or we have nothing. And Lord, we pray that you would settle that question For every soul here, for every soul that hears this message, that you would be gracious and merciful to us, in and by the grace which you have freely, sovereignly, abundantly given in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and give thanks. Amen.