Good morning. Even though Craig has already
said good morning, I have to do mine. How about turning in
your Bibles while I get some things straightened out in mine,
to the gospel of Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Now, we have been in chapter 18 of Luke many times,
sometimes having to do with verses 9 through 14, the parable of
the Pharisee and the publican. But this morning, we're going
back to the rich young ruler, which comprises verses 18 through
30. Luke 18, verses 18 through 30. Now, my title this morning is,
What Must I Do To Be Saved? And I understand that's too long
to go on the internet, so you can look for it in a, like, What
Must I Do?, which leaves a lot, you know. But anyway, we'll Accept
it and go with it. Let's bow for prayer. Lord, thank you for letting us
meet together this morning. Thank you for giving us this
comfortable place, a place that's conducive to divine and spiritual
things. Without the rat race of modern
religion, we'd go back many centuries when the worship of Christ was
far simpler than it is in our day. Oh, thank you, bless your
name, that this place is even possible. We give it all to you. It is
your doing, not ours. As we come to this particular
passage, we come one more time to one of the most obvious statements
in the whole of our Bibles, to answer this one question, what
must I do to be saved? Our minds go in many directions
upon hearing such a question. But these directions are for
the most part missing the mark, yea, in the opposite direction
from which it should flow. We beg for your mercy as we consider the statements that make up these
verses that we're about to read, that you would open our eyes Have mercy on our poor souls
and give us an understanding of what these things mean. We beg for your presence. We
ask for your blessing. And we thank you in our Savior's
name. Amen. Most of you should know what
I'm about to read in regard to this question, what must I do
to be saved? We have a hymn that is precisely
titled in such a way. It comes out of Spurgeon's hymnal. Spurgeon died in 1893, I think
it was, and this hymn book was in existence a good while before
that, somewhere in the 50s or 60s in the 1800s. But the writer, a fellow named
James Proctor, wrote the words to this hymn in 1858. And I hope you love what I'm
about to read you. What must I do? Nothing either
great or small. Nothing. Nothing. Center? No. Jesus did it, did
it all, long, long ago. When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, everything was fully done. Hearken to his
cry. Here's that cry. It is finished. Yes, indeed. What is finished? That's not in the song now. Salvation
is finished. What we must do to be saved is
finished. Over 2,000 years ago it was finished. My soul, it was finished in eternity. It was decided upon then. It
was as sure then as it ever could be. It is finished, yes indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need,
tell me. Is it not? You think there's
something that we can add that will make it better? Nope. The moment we add anything of
our own, we poison it, and it's damnation to our soul. Now, I
know today's religion doesn't speak quite that bluntly, but
I lay that charge at their door. I'm not interested in going back.
I lived too many years in that system. And I don't ever want
to go back. Not ever. Weary, working, plodding one,
wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing. All was done long, long ago. Till to Jesus Christ you cling
by a simple faith, doing is a deadly thing. doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down at
Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, gloriously
complete. I can't get over those words.
How articulate, how pointed, how many different ways it can
be said. is glorious indeed. Well, we're
about to meet a fellow, if you've not ever met him before, in Luke
chapter 18 and verse 18. This young man comes to our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, what we aren't told is,
I believe it's Mark's gospel that tells us this, that this
young man ran to where Christ is and fell on his knees. And then began to say what we
have in this passage. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And that's what we've been asking.
What must I do to be saved? What must I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord Jesus said in verse
19, Why do you call me good? If you look back in verse 18,
he addressed him as good master. Now why would our Lord complain
at that? Because the word good belongs
to God, and master belongs to men. And there ain't no good
men. There's only been one good man
on the face of this earth since creation, and that is our Lord
Jesus Christ. And if you think otherwise, I
don't care what kind of religion you profess, you're lost. And
so am I. You cannot pretend when it comes
to the God of the Bible So the Lord Jesus said, why do you call
me good? There's none good but God. Now
if he had addressed our Lord as good God, we wouldn't be having
this discussion. But he didn't. And by the time
we reach verse 30, you ought to be pretty certain this man
is Just as lost as he was when he came to Christ. Just as lost. Now in verse 20, our Lord is responding to this
man, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Our Lord is answering
that. You know the commandments. Most
everybody in here knows the Ten Commandments. You don't keep
them, of course, and neither do I. We ain't never been able
to keep them, but our Lord Jesus certainly kept them and honored
them, and he kept them for us, those who are in him. You know
the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not
steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother.
And he said, all of these have I kept from my youth. These things
are nothing. I've already kept all of them. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he's fixing to expose this guy to himself. To let him see what
kind of person he is. One who hates God and loves himself. And the world is full of them.
And we've been a part of them. And could, in fact, in some cases,
be still there. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lack you one little thing. Just one thing. Sell everything you have and
distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven,
and come follow me." This man's God is his money, and he's got plenty of company. And if that's not true of me
or you, we have God to thank. It is his blessing us in Christ. Verse 23, And when he heard this,
he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when
Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly, how difficult
it is for those who have riches to enter into the kingdom of
God. Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. He says, not many. He didn't
say not any. 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. Well, is our Lord saying it's
impossible for a person who is wealthy to enter heaven? Oh,
no. But his wealth is not what is
being used. It is to come to Christ as a
poor sinner that has nothing to offer to God. And without
that, We shall never find him. Let's look at it again. When
our Lord saw in verse 24 that he was very sorrowful, he said,
How hardly, with what great difficulty shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God? 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. And they that heard it said,
Who then can be saved? And our Lord said, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. Then Peter said, sometimes when
Peter spoke up, he should have kept his mouth shut, and this
is one of those. But obviously, God purposed for
this statement to appear in this book, the Bible. Therefore, it
is right, though it was wrong. You understand what I'm saying? Then Peter said, Lo, we have
left all and followed you. And our Lord said unto Peter,
Verily I say unto you, there is no man that has left house
or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of
God's sake who shall not receive manifold, many more in the present
time and in the world to come, life everlasting." You reckon Peter wishes he hadn't
have spoken, don't you? Well, I'm glad he did. I'm glad
he did. We would have done the same,
I fear. Is anyone in this place in doubt
as to where this rich young ruler is now? And there's no place in our Bibles
that he appears again. But unless God in Christ has
saved this man by his sovereign grace and mercy, this man is
in hell this morning. And he's got a lot of company.
A whole lot of company. Alright, we've got a couple of
verses more. No we don't. I read all the way
to verse 30. Boy, my brain is really in gear
this morning. Wow! The next thing that I wish to
do is to walk you through a part of the
book of Acts. Let's go to Romans, and then
Acts will be on the left-hand side of Romans. Right now it's
on our right side. Romans chapter 15, just to pick
up a verse of Scripture to help us in regard to what we're about
to consider. Romans chapter 15, and the verse
is verse 4. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And the other
verse, if I can quote it, we won't have to turn to it, is
1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. These are the words of Paul,
and he said, and I am chief. I'm chief. Unlike the use of those terms
in regular human conversation today, there are not many people
that would call themselves the chief of sinners. But people
who are saved by pure, free, sovereign, unmerited, undeserved
grace think differently than the rest of this human race.
We know, in fact, if God doesn't do it, we're gone. Gone for good. Gone forever.
Alright, so now we back up into the book of Acts and we start
in Acts chapter 8. Now, I won't read all of this. I'll
just read a few verses, maybe in some of the cases, not necessarily
all. But beginning at verse 26 in
Acts chapter 8, The angel of the Lord spoke to
Philip, and he said to Philip, Arise, and go toward the south
into the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is
desert. And Philip arose and went, and
behold, a man of Ethiopia." This is the Ethiopian eunuch. He's
in charge of all the queen's treasure. And he's going down from Jerusalem,
and he arose and went, and verse 27, Behold, a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority, under Chandis, the queen of the
Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had
come to Jerusalem to worship. Now remember, Christ has just
recently been crucified. And in Acts chapter 8, the first
martyr in regard to the people of God in Christ took place. You're well familiar with that.
So here is this man, having come hundreds of miles
by chariot, He comes to Jerusalem to worship. And the Jewish religion is now
dead. Totally, completely dead. And it still is to this day.
Oh, preacher, you ought not be so judgmental. I'm just telling
you what this book says. This man had been made at some
time in the past a Jewish proselyte, a convert. And he comes hundreds
of miles. How many weeks? I don't know,
but he had to travel counting back and forth. And he came to
worship God, he thought. But God is not there. The temple
is still standing. The sacrifices are still being
offered. But God is not in them. How come? Because when our Lord Jesus on
the cross, John 19 verse 30 I think, when he said, It is finished,
what happened? That thick veil in front of the
Holy of Holies could only be entered one time a year by the
high priest with a sacrifice to put on the mercy seat. When
our Lord Jesus says, it is finished, that curtain split from top to
bottom, and the Jewish religion is now no more. It's just a name. It's just a pretense. It isn't
real. And that's the case, my friend,
of Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, it doesn't matter
whatever you want to call them. If the God they're worshiping
is not the God of Holy Scripture, they don't have a God. They've
got an idol. I know, I've been there, I've
done that. Thank God I'm not there now. So this man in verse 28 is returning
and sitting in his chariot, and yet he's reading Isaiah the
prophet out of Isaiah 53. Then the Spirit said to Philip,
Go near and join yourself to this chariot. Verse 30. And Philip
ran there to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah. And
he said to the eunuch, Do you understand what you're reading?
And the man said, How can I except some man should guide me? And
he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The
place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led
as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearers, so opened he not his mouth. That's a quotation from
Isaiah 53. These are words that are put
on the tongue of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation?
For his life was taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray you, of whom speaks the prophet? Of
himself or some other person, some other man. Then Philip opened
his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him
Jesus Christ in him crucified. And subsequently the man requests,
when they spot enough water to do so in desert country, to be
baptized, and Philip baptized him. All right, the second time
in the book of Acts, we go now to chapter 9. This has to do
with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. This man was He killed
more Christians than you and I can possibly imagine. Surely God wouldn't save a person
who did this. Oh yes he did. Even calling him
a pattern conversion. This is the pattern of all conversions. What does that mean, the pattern?
It means that there are no good people in this world like the
rich young ruler. They're no good people. We're
all like solid tarsus, bloodthirsty. We want what we want and to hell
with the rest. But it's just, it's incredible
how widespread this is. And how short a time it took
for it to conquer this entire nation in which we live. Everybody's worried about ISIS.
I tell you what, you better worry about standing before God. ISIS can do only what God lets
him do. Preacher, you're crazy. Well,
I've been accused of that before. That doesn't bother me. But I
know it's the truth. I know it's the truth. The devil is God's devil. He's
on a leash. He does exactly what God lets
him do. So Paul is on his way to put
more Christians into prison and to death, if he can get permission
from the higher-ups. And our Lord met him on this
Damascus road in Acts chapter 9. and struck Saul of Parsis
with blindness, and subsequently he winds up in Damascus, unable
to see, scared half to death. And God sends him a messenger, a fellow by the name of Ananias.
And Ananias goes to where Paul is in Damascus, and he tells
him the Lord has sent him And he speaks to him. It's hard to imagine what state Saul
of Tarsus is in, but this man speaks to him. Jump over to verse
17 in Acts chapter 9. And Ananias went his way and
entered into the house, and putting his hands on Saul, he said, Brother
Saul. Wow, that's a biggie. Brother! How was he his brother in Christ? You don't use that term loosely.
You know, some people, everybody they meet, brother or sister
or whatever. Not so if you're a Christian. You can't cheapen
words by giving it to wrong people and in wrong ways. Brother Saul,
the Lord, even Jesus, has appeared unto you in the way as you came
and has sent me, that you might receive your sight and be filled
with the Holy Ghost." Now, when this man comes to see Saul, is
he born again or not? He's born again. His first reference to him is,
Brother Saul. And God fills him with the Holy
Ghost. Verse 18, And immediately there
fell from his eyes, as if it had been scales, and he received
sight forthwith immediately, and arose, and was baptized.
And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was
Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus." And
he turns out to be one of the greatest preachers, probably
the greatest preacher of all time. I imagine he was beaten,
imprisoned. And every kind of dishonor that
people could convey upon him, he certainly received it. Let's
go to Acts chapter 10. I call this eight divine conversions,
just this part of it. Here's the third one. In Acts
chapter 10, we meet a fellow by the name of Cornelius. He
is a Roman officer. And Rome has Palestine under
their feet. They are their conquerors, and
they will ultimately destroy the temple completely, and it's
never been rebuilt. That will be in 70 A.D., which
took place a long time ago. And it's some years after these
events that we just read about in regard to Saul of Tarsus. So this man, Cornelius, a centurion,
that means, I think, that he's an officer over a hundred soldiers. A centurion of the band called
the Italian Band. Now this ain't clarinets and
trombones and stuff. You know, that's not what this
is about. A devout man. This man, I think,
has adopted the Jewish religion just like the Ethiopian eunuch.
Verse 2, a devout man and one that feared God with all his
house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God
always. He saw in a vision, evidently
about the ninth hour, of the day, an angel of God coming in
to him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he
was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him,
Your prayer and your alms are come up for a memorial before
God. And now send men to Joppa and
call for one Simon, that Simon Peter, whose surname is Peter.
He lodges with one Simon of Tanner, which is a house by the seaside. He shall tell you what you ought
to do." And so he immediately sends people to get up with this
fellow by the name of Peter. Some people tell us that this
man is already saved. I tell you, that is not the case.
I can prove it to you, but I don't want to go searching for that
verse. You tell me after service, and
I'll certainly do so. Don't mind it a bit. Verse 7,
When the angel which spoke to Cornelius was departed, He called
two of his household servants and a devout soldier, of them
that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all
these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa." So they go and
retrieve Peter, and Peter comes back. And beginning at verse
23 and taking us all the way through verse 33, Peter preaches
the gospel at Cornelius' house. And it tells us that they were
converted. to the true religion of our Lord
Jesus Christ and to none other. The next chapter, this man was
an army officer as well as a Gentile, but in Acts chapter 16, we run into a person by the name
of Lydia. It seems like I've heard that
name around these parts somewhere. She's not here this morning,
thankfully. Verse 14, chapter 16, And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, I take that to be purple
material, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us,
that's Paul and Timothy, who heard us, whose heart the Lord
opened. You mean Paul didn't open it?
Paul couldn't even open his own heart, let alone hers. Preachers are just like everybody
else. They can't do that for you. They
can't do it for themselves. "...whose heart the Lord opened,
and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And
when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying,
If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house
and abide there." And she constrained us. Now the next one. I can't spend
much time on these. I spent too much on the others.
Let's go to the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16, beginning
at verse 25. Paul. Let's see. Who's Paul and Silas? are imprisoned
in Philippi, and the jailer who is in charge of their being
securely imprisoned until they can come before the judge or
whomever it is. At any rate, By the next morning,
Paul and Silas are no longer in chains. Verse 35, And when it was day,
the magistrates sent the sergeant, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison
told this, saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let
you go. Now therefore depart, and go
in peace. But Paul said unto them, They
have beaten us. That's not where I wanted to
be. I wanted to be at verse 25. I'm sorry. I should have marked
it in my Bible. At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed
and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the
prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and
everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he
called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell
down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? You see how much that first word
that we talked about, what must I do to be saved? It is the natural thing for the
human heart and mind. We're all born thinking that
if we're ever to be saved, we must save ourselves. And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved
in your house. And they spoke unto him the word
of the Lord, And to all that were in his house, and he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized, he in all his straight way. And when he had brought
them into the house, he set food before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all of his house." All right, we go now to chapter
18. A fellow by the name of Crispus, in verse 8 I believe it is, Now this old boy is in for a
surprise. His name is Crispus. He's the
chief ruler of the Jewish synagogue. I once knew a guy that called
that a synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Then spoke the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your
peace, for I am with you, and no man shall set on you to hurt
you, for I have much people in this city. Now, this is the first
time this city has ever heard the gospel, and God says to Paul,
I have much people in this city. Now, how is that? Because we're
his before this world is ever made. We're his before we ever
hear his name, or who he is, or what he's done. Paul continued there a year and
six months, teaching the Word of God among them. We come now to chapter 18 and
verse 24. We meet a fellow by the name
of Apollos. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria,
an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent
in the Spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the
Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak
boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had
heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way
of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass
into Achaia, The brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive
him, who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed
through grace. For he mightily convinced the
Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus
was Christ, that is, the promised Messiah. He is the Messiah. Now there is one other place
I must take you. And I done went by it, but I
moved it to the end because of what it has to say. I'm going
back to chapter 13. This is nothing new, but I have
to cover this. Beginning at verse 44, Acts chapter
13. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and
spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken unto you, but seeing you put it from you and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life? Lo, we turn to the Gentiles,
for so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you to
be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto
the ends of the earth." And when the Gentiles heard this, they
were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. Now let me tell you something,
in case you don't know this. That is still the rule. Who believes the gospel? People
that were ordained to life in Christ before time ever was. Now you can sure expose the free
willer with this statement. He ain't got no room for it in
his religion. His religion is what he does
for himself. God rewards him. Oh my goodness,
he ought to talk to the rich young ruler. If he waits until after he's
dead, he can meet him in hell. As many, some people tell me,
Spurgeon among them, as many as were predestinated to eternal
life, believed. Modern religion hates predestination. Well, I say it just depends on
who does the predestinating. And that's the God of the Bible.
And it's one of His attributes. It belongs to Him. You can't rob God and claim something
for yourself that you took from Him. But you can always count on this,
in verse 50, the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women
and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against
Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coast. But
they shook off the dust of their feet against him and came unto
Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the
Holy Spirit. Alright, I only got one more
page, but I can't deal with it this morning, so we're going to let that suffice.