What Lack I Yet?

Q: What does the Bible say about eternal life?

Eternal life is granted not through works or morality, but by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Bible teaches that eternal life cannot be earned through good deeds or adherence to the law. Jesus emphasizes in Matthew 19 that true fulfillment of the law leads to an understanding of our complete inability to achieve righteousness ourselves. Only through surrendering to Christ and trusting in His sacrificial work can one attain eternal life. This is aligned with the teaching found in Ephesians 2:8-9, which states that we are saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Q: How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Salvation is by grace alone, not by works, as it is a gift from God, ensuring that no one can boast. The assurance of salvation by grace alone is grounded in the Scriptures, particularly in Ephesians 2:8-9, which reveals that it is through grace that we are saved, and this grace is not based on our actions or merit. The Gospels and Epistles consistently affirm that our works cannot earn God's favor, demonstrating our utter dependence on Christ’s righteousness. The case of the rich young ruler illustrates this principle, as Jesus exposes the futility of self-righteousness and points to the necessity of surrendering to Him as Lord. God’s election and calling emphasize that it's not our efforts but His sovereign grace that saves.

Q: Why is self-righteousness dangerous for a Christian?

Self-righteousness is dangerous because it can blind individuals to their need for Christ and lead them away from true salvation. Self-righteousness stems from a false sense of morality and pride, leading individuals to believe they can earn God’s approval through their actions or behavior. This mindset was exemplified by the rich young ruler, who believed he had kept all the commandments and lacked nothing. However, Jesus exposed his self-righteousness by challenging him to sell all he had, demonstrating that true faith requires total surrender and dependence on Christ. As Paul noted in Galatians, reliance on works results in living under a curse, while understanding our failings leads us to embrace God’s grace. Therefore, self-righteousness is perilous as it fosters spiritual blindness and prevents genuine acknowledgement of one’s need for Christ's redemptive work.

Q: What does it mean to truly follow Christ?

Following Christ means surrendering all aspects of life to His lordship and living in obedience to His commands. To genuinely follow Christ involves more than mere belief in His existence; it requires a total surrender of one's life to His authority. Jesus makes this clear in His interaction with the rich young ruler, commanding him to sell all he had and follow Him. This illustrates that true faith is demonstrated through submission, trust, and obedience to Christ. It is indicative of recognizing Him as Lord, where one’s allegiance and life priorities align with His Word. This necessary discipleship is marked by an ongoing commitment to obey His teachings, as reflected in Matthew 16:24, where Jesus calls His followers to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Him.

Q: Who can be saved according to the Bible?

Anyone who comes to Christ in faith and repentance can be saved, as salvation is a work of God, not man. The Bible clearly declares that salvation is accessible to all who are called by God's grace. In Matthew 19:25-26, after Jesus identifies the difficulty for a rich man to enter the kingdom, He assures His disciples that what is impossible for man is possible for God. This emphasizes God's sovereign authority and ability to save even the most unlikely individuals. The call to salvation via faith in Christ is made clear throughout Scripture, particularly when it states that all who believe in Him will be saved (Romans 10:9-13). This reinforces that God's grace invites everyone to turn from their self-reliance and trust in Jesus as their sole hope for redemption.

I want us to begin reading this evening at verse 16. Matthew 19 and verse 16. Behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? He said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him which, Jesus said thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Now I encourage you, tonight or tomorrow, sometime while this message is fresh on your minds, to read Mark chapter 10 and Luke chapter 18. where Mark and Luke give us their accounts of this same incident, they will give you a little different information, not contradictory information, but additional information concerning this event.

Now here is a man who is anxious about his soul and concerned about eternal life. Such men are rare. Such men are rare. Men who are anxious about their souls, concerned about eternal life. Such men, especially among the young, are rare. This man was rich, but he was concerned for his soul. He was young, but he was interested in eternity.

He was a ruler among men, but he was He was made by the providence of God to come into contact with the Son of God, and he came here to be taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. This ruler among men, like Nicodemus, one who was himself a teacher of men, comes to be taught by the God-man, Jesus Christ. This rich young ruler comes running up to the Lord Jesus, and he kneeled down. Mark tells us that, kneeling down, worshiping him. He said, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now our Lord knows the man's heart. He knew that this man was thoroughly familiar with the law of Moses.

And he knew that this young man thought, like most people think, that he had eternal life on the basis of something he did. He thought somehow that eternal life could be gained or given to men because of outward morality. As we were coming into town last night, I was flipping through the channels on the radio and I was listening to some lady talk show host who was talking about people and she said, I just have to believe that good people will certainly be in heaven if there is a heaven. And most people imagine that if folks are good enough, if they just love each other, and they're kind, and they're moral, at least according to their standard of morality, then certainly God will accept that. And that's the idea that most people have.

This young man came with the notion that somehow, by his obedience to God, by something he does in obedience and compliance with the law of God, he would certainly be accepted of God. And therefore our Lord answered his question on the basis that he asked it. He answered according to the law. He said to this young man, keep the commandments. Now this rich young ruler responded, all these things have I kept from my youth up. That's some statement. Well I've done all that. I've obeyed the Ten Commandments all my life.

And then he asked a question, what lack I yet? Now, that is my subject this evening. What lack I yet? You see it in verse 20? That's the question I want to answer. This young man came saying, now I've kept the commandments, I've done what you told me to do, I've done what Moses and the law requires, I've done what I thought I should do, but what lack I yet? What's yet missing that I don't have eternal life? Now, it may be that some of you are in his condition or not. I don't know.

I am convinced that Barnard was right when he said we ought to preach every once in a while like everybody in the church including the pastors going to hell right now. And I want you to consider earnestly this passage of scripture. We've come to it as we go through the book of Matthew. We've come to it tonight on this occasion because God ordains an eternity that you hear it tonight on this occasion. And so I ask you to give consideration.

It may be that you're very moral, quite respectable in the eyes of men. It may be that your family, your friends look upon you as an example of what Christianity is. You believe God, you believe the Bible to be the word of God, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense that you recognize he is God. You have no argument with that. I always believed that. When I was just a child, long before I believed Christ, I believed in Christ. I recognized that he was God. You believe in his death, burial, resurrection as the sinner's substitute. You even know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sinner's only hope of salvation before God. And yet for all that, in your innermost soul, you know that you're not a child of God. You're not saved. You're not an heir to eternal life.

Knowing these things, the question of great concern to your soul is just this, what lack I get? Richard, I believe everything you say. I believe all that I read in the word of God. But what's missing? What am I yet lacking? Why is it that I yet have no peace before God in my soul? Many very lovely folks who look upon, or looked upon bylaws as moral examples, and even examples of what we would consider to be spirituality, lack this one thing that's essential to eternal life.

Now as we read through these verses of scripture, you may have noticed that there are several questions in the passage. Actually there are four questions in this passage, but I'm going to address them under the three questions that stand out most prominent.

In verse 16, this young man asked the Lord Jesus, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Then in verse 20 he asked, what might I get? And then down in verse 25, the Lord's disciples asked, who then can be saved? Who can be saved? If this young man is not saved, who then can be saved? Now the first question raised by this rich young ruler is in verse 16, when he says, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Looking at the question by itself, it may appear to be a very noble question.

There are others in the scriptures who ask the question, who were themselves born of God's spirit. You remember on the day of Pentecost, there were 3,000 souls who cried to the apostles as they heard Peter preach, men and brethren, what shall we do? And when the apostle commanded them to repent, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they obeyed the command. Being born of God, they believed on Christ and confessed to him in believers baptism. When the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 cried out to the Apostle Paul, Sir, what must I do to be saved? Paul answered him, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

And so the Apostle answered according to the question that was given, and that man believed, and he was converted by God's free grace. But there was a great difference between this rich young ruler, and these on the day of Pentecost, or the Philippian jailer, and others in the scriptures who asked the same question.

This rich young ruler was not broken. His soul was not tumbled within him. He was proud and self-righteous. He thought that he was sufficient in himself. Now listen. He felt that he was sufficient in himself to do anything God required of him. That was his problem. That was exactly his problem. When he says, what lack I yet? In essence, this is what he's saying.

He said, Lord, you tell me what God requires, and I'll do it. You just tell me what else is. You told me to keep the commandments. Well, I've done that. What else is it that's lacking? What else does God demand of me? Whatever it is, I'll take care of that.

And so the Lord Jesus deals with this man on the basis of his ignorance. He has zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish his own righteousness, he had not and he would not submit himself under the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

Now, how many there are like this rich young ruler? How many there are like this man? Perhaps some of you, as I suggested, very moral, very proud, and very lost, utterly without God. Now there's much about this young man which is commendable. He was not a base, vile, propagant, wicked person. He was not an outward rebel. He was not a drunkard. He was not an adulterer, fornicator. He was a very upright young man. He wasn't the kind of fellow whose parents were embarrassed by him.

His parents looked at him and said, he's just the kind of son a man would want. He's just the kind of son that a man would love. He's just the kind of son any woman would want for her daughter. This young man was what Someone might say, this was every mother's dream for her daughter. He's just, oh, he was upright. He was upright, just a fine, fine young man, as far as men could say. He was a good neighbor, a respected community man.

In a day of abandonment and belief, he comes to Christ of his own accord. Now recognize he did not come seeking to see some miracle. He did not come because he had a child that was diseased or a friend that was dying. He came to the Lord Jesus concerned about his soul and concerned about eternal life.

There's much about the young man that's commendable. He was earnest and sincere. Mark tells us he came running to the Savior as though the Lord Jesus were passing by, and he recognized, this is my chance, this is my opportunity to come to the Master and ask Him what I've been wanting to ask Him. He says, good Master, what good things shall I do?

He was orthodox in his creed. This young man was a religious leader. He believed God. He believed the Holy Scriptures. He believed in the reality of eternal life. He was picked and divided his practice of religion from the days of his youth as touching the law. He could say with Paul, I was blameless. As regards the outward duties of the law, I've done these things from my youth up. And this young man worshipped the Lord Jesus. He came kneeling down to him. Mark tells us that. Kneeling down, recognizing him to be what he claimed to be.

Now listen to this carefully. When the Lord Jesus rebuked him, remember he called him good master in verse 16? Down in verse 17, the Lord Jesus said to him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that's God. And this young man stands by his statement. He doesn't take it back at all. He says, I recognize that you're God. I recognize who you are. So the Lord Jesus confronts him and he stands by his confession. He sings even to acknowledge, to have acknowledged his deity when most folks question or even deny his deity.

And yet this young man demonstrated two very sorrowful characteristics. Two things about this rich young ruler in his character demonstrate that he was a lost, ruined, unregenerate man. Religious, yes. Religious, yes, but lost. I don't know how to stress this sufficiently. I have folks come to me several times this week, young and old. They come and say, but this person is so zealous, this person is so good, this person is so nice, this person is so interested in the Bible, this person speaks the truth about God in so far as he knows it. And I've seen his life change radically. He's got to be saved.

Oh no! Oh no! Salvation is not in what you do. Salvation is not in what you experience. Salvation is not in morality. Salvation is not in doing. Salvation is in knowing Christ. This is the problem. This young man was utterly ignorant of all spiritual truths.

He knew much in an actual sense, but spiritually, regarding spiritual things, he was as ignorant as a man who had never heard of God. He was ignorant of God's holy character, or he was sure, talked about God's holiness. But any man who imagines that he as a man can present himself acceptably before God is ignorant of God's holy character. Now listen to me, listen carefully, God will help you to hear me. If you dare presume that you can stand before God, and God somehow is going to accept you because of what you are, you are utterly ignorant of God's character. Totally ignorant. I listened to that lady last night for just a minute, and I thought, poor deluded soul. Smart as a whip about other things, but totally ignorant of who God is. Totally ignorant.

To imagine that all the goodness experienced there is goodness. While God's calling, this man was not only ignorant of God's character, he was ignorant of his own character. He didn't know anything about his own sinfulness. Now I have no question, I have no question at all.

You might think I'm reading this into the passage, but I'm not reading it into it at all. If the Lord Jesus had pressed the man a little further and said, you mean to tell me that you've loved your father perfectly all your life? Oh, he'd say, oh, well, not perfectly. No, no, that's not possible. After all, none of us is perfect. What a refuse that is. What a refuse. None of us is perfect. None of us does anything perfect.

But this man thought in the tenor of his life he was an upright, righteous man and did not understand that in the tenor of his life, at heart, he was a base, profligate, vile sinner. You see, it is not what you do that determines what you are. It's what you are that determines what you do. At heart, he was a sinful wretch. More than that, he was ignorant of the law's spiritual nature.

He thought that all the law required was outward conduct and behavior. Outward holiness. He thought that as long as he honored his father with his lips, that was the same thing as honoring his father. He thought that as long as he said, I love my neighbor, and he didn't really do anything to do great harm to his neighbor, that was loving his neighbor. He thought that as long as he referenced God with his words, that was referencing God.

He didn't understand that the law is spiritual. The law of God demands that you be perfect in your heart. Do you understand that? The Lord demands that you love God perfectly in your heart. That you love your neighbor perfectly in your heart. That you be righteous perfectly in your heart.

It will not excite any evil inward or outward. And this young man was altogether ignorant of the gospel of Christ. The Lord Jesus came and preached truth. He came and proclaimed the gospel. He declared what Paul really said, by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And this young man comes up to him and says, what shall I do? What shall I do? That's the first question that all people by nature ask when they're concerned about their souls. What shall I do? Go to church? Read my Bible? Start praying? Start giving? Start doing this, that, or the other thing?

Oh no! Oh no! So Lord Jesus tells us plainly salvation is not by what you do. Salvation is by grace. And this rich young ruler was dreadfully self-righteous. I warn you, I warn myself, beware of self-righteousness. This fellow was moral, very moral, but lost, very lost. And you who are moral in your conduct, you behave in a respectable manner. We raise our sons and daughters, and to my knowledge, for the most part, in the tenor of their lives, our sons and daughters behave in an upright manner. They behave morally in the tenor of their lives. I hear and see very little in them that would reflect otherwise.

But morality is not righteousness. Did you hear me? Morality is not righteousness. Being good in your conduct is not being good before God. God demands righteousness. No sin is more deadly and no sin is more likely to keep you from Christ than the sin of self-righteousness. And yet none is more common to man.

Our Lord assures, or answers this young man, and he answers this question plainly. He says, what good thing shall I do? Now remember, the man asked what he could do to win God's favor, and Christ told him exactly what he could do. If you want to know how a man can be saved by doing, if you want to know what it will take for a man to do something to inherit his own life, the Lord says, keep the commandments.

That's all it takes. It takes protection. It takes perfection from the coming forth into this world to going out of this world with never of law. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. Hold your hands here and turn to Galatians chapter 3. The Apostle Paul is writing to the Galatians by divine inspiration. And he says in verse 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueeth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." The law of God must be kept perfectly. It must be kept at all points. It must be kept at all times. It must be kept outwardly, and it must be kept inwardly.

Such requirements no man can meet because the start of the sentence. It's impossible but for those three boys of yours, sweet as they are now, to keep God's law. They came into the world as sinners. They came into the world with a corrupt heart, so that the very first behavior of children demonstrates their utter depravity and sinfulness.

So it's impossible for anyone to keep God's law. Now those statements are given in the scripture so that men would understand the utter impossibility of self salvation. It was never God's intention to save sinners by obedience to the law. It was never God's intention to save sinners by something they do. But the law was given to expunge our sin, to expunge our corruption, and to show us the necessity of a substitute, someone to obey and satisfy the law on our behalf. Now, this young man, self-righteous as he was, pressed this question a little bit further. He not only says what good things shall I do, he asks later, what lack I yet? What lack I yet?

When I read that I think, who would dare be so bold? Who would dare be so bold? And yet I've met many just as bold. I have met many in the course of preaching the gospel. I've met many in the course of conversation with folks when the preaching is gone and they say, but I've done everything you said.

What do I lack? What lack I have? The man must either be blind as a bat or he must be terribly, terribly proud. In this man's case, both were true. He was utterly blind spiritually and terribly proud by nature. Like many young men, he seems to be saying, well, if there's any deficiency in me, if there's anything in me that is contrary to this requirement of perfection and righteousness, anything in me that's contrary to this requirement of obedience to God's law, I sure don't know what it is.

I don't know what's missing. The Lord knows my heart. Now, truly, he did appear to be lacking very little. He wasn't lacking modality. He wasn't lacking in religious duty. He wasn't lacking in orthodoxy, and so far as the Old Testament scriptures were concerned, he believed what was written. He wasn't lacking in sincerity as well. He came seeking to know what he must do.

If one of our modern soul winners had a fellow come up to him like this, he would have him in the water, baptized, and soon got off and in the pulpit preaching somewhere, and he would make him a good, good church member. But our Lord Jesus was not a nose counter. He wasn't interested in building up his statistics. He was dealing with men's souls, as we must faithfully deal with men's souls.

And he speaks to the man in utter honesty. He says, you're still lacking something. You're still lacking something. He was lacking one essential thing. He was lacking faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. In Mark 10.21 we read, Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest.

The young man boasted that he loved his neighbor as himself, and so therefore the Lord Jesus put the test to him right where he spoke. He said unto him in verse 21, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Now you look at that and you think to yourself, Brother Don, that looks to me like the Lord Jesus told him some things to do. The Lord Jesus was continuing to demonstrate his legality and continuing to show him the necessity that he have a substitute. When our Lord speaks these things to him, he is giving him the very essence of what it is to believe on Christ.

Let me explain. This command is a four-fold command. The Savior says to him, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor. Now the essence of that is this. Surrender to me. Surrender to me. You come now, bow to me as your Lord. Bow to me as your Lord.

Now this is what it is to believe on Christ. I'm going to give it to you as plainly as I can. It is to surrender your life to the rule of the Son of God. Mark, that's what it is to believe in. That's what it is. The believer doesn't just trust Jesus to keep him out of hell. He surrenders his life to the rule of Christ. You mean money and property and family and kids and everything? Everything is surrendered to him. Surrender to him. This incident with Brother Pudge's son.

God takes that four-year-old boy home. What does faith do? Faith says the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, lest he do the name of the Lord. And belief says, God, why did you do that to me? Rebellion says, that's not right, God has taken my son. But faith surrenders, even down to the life of a child. Faith surrenders.

You understand that? So when our Lord says, go sell what you have, He's not saying, you go do something, then you'll have eternal life. He's saying to this young man, this is what it is to believe me. Surrender to me. He that saveth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall find it. And then our Lord commands the man to trust Him.

He said, come. That's a word that's constantly used in the scriptures for faith. Coming to Christ is faith in Christ. He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And then Mark adds these words. The Lord Jesus said, take up thy cross. That is to say, our Lord commanded the man to confess it. He commands him to surrender to it. He commands him to trust it. He commands him to confess it. He says, you confess me before me, I'll confess you before my Father, which is in heaven. If you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my Father which is in heaven.

Faith does that. Faith openly acknowledges and confesses Jesus Christ their Lord. With the heart men believe that under righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So that faith in Christ, confession in Jesus Christ is my Lord and does so continually. And then fourthly, our Lord commanded this young man to obey Him.

You see it here? He says in verse 21, follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Sometimes I have folks say to me, we ought to sing that song trust and obey for there's no other way. Because we ought to just say trust. Oh no. Oh no. Now listen to me. Listen to me.

Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, but faith in Christ obeys God. That's plain enough isn't it, buddy? That's nothing contradictory to salvation by grace. When we declare that a man is saved by grace, that man saved by grace believes Christ because of grace. And he obeys Christ because of grace. And if you and I are not in the tenor of our lives in obedience to Christ, we don't know Christ.

I don't mean obeys him particularly, not by any means, but I mean he follows him. In the course of his life, in the direction of his life, in the depth of his work, he follows the Son of God. These are those that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These are the things that our Lord requires of all of us. Submission, faith, confession, and obedience.

Now the Lord had a good reason. for giving this particular command to this particular man. He was probing the young man's heart. He wanted to expose his point of rebellion. He was determined to show this young man exactly what it was like. Our Lord always does that. He crosses sinners at their point of rebellion.

I recall some time ago hearing of an incident that happened with Brother Ralph Martin. He was such a wise fellow in so many ways. Maybe when I get older, I'll be wise. He went to have dinner with a lady. She always had the preacher in for dinner, and her husband didn't object. He wasn't a believer. And Ralph was preaching a meeting, and he went to have dinner at this lady's house.

And he sat down, and the man said to Ralph, he said, well, I won't be at church tonight. He said, I don't want to tap her. And the preachers all tell me if I'm going to get saved, I've got to sell my tavern. And I'm not going to sell my tavern. And Ross said, oh no, you don't have to sell your tavern. He said, you mean I don't have to sell my tavern? And a week or two later, he sold his tavern.

You understand that? You can't do anything to take grace. But I'm going to tell you, grace will meet you at your point of rebellion, and you'll surrender to Christ. You'll surrender to it. I've had folks say, well, I would come to Christ, but I don't want to be baptized again. It'd be an embarrassment. I've made so many possessions. Well, you're going to have to be baptized. You're going to have to do it. Christ is going to meet you at your point of rebellion. That Naaman came and he wanted to be healed of his leprosy. And Elijah came out and he swore, go to the river Jordan and dip seven times. Go dip in that dirty river? What's that going to do to me? I thought. That's our problem. We think, and we interject our thoughts into God's revelation, and God won't have it.

Well, could that man be healed any other way? Any way God would have it. But he was rebellious against God's revelation, and he could not be healed of his leprosy until he dipped one, two, three, four, five, six, seven times in the River Jordan. Not because of any cleansing virtue in that river, but his obedience demonstrates faith. And our Lord here demands of this young man that he surrender to his rule. You see, this man's God was his pocketbook. His God was his venture camp. His God was his riches. His God was his possessions. His God was his wealth.

This command was designed of Christ to expose the evil of his heart. It was designed to destroy Israel's confidence in God. It was designed to show the impossibility of salvation by the works of the law. It was designed to show the necessity of the gospel and the salvation by free grace. By this one pointed command, our Lord stripped away the celestial beliefs. He stripped them away. Yeah, I believe God. I believe God. I will obey God. Whatever it is, you tell me what God requires and I'll do it.

Our Lord just takes his hand and strips off the fig leaves and shows this man his nakedness and his corruption. Next minute back in the office, all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. This rich young ruler is one fatal deficiency. was a deficiency of heart. Like Simon Magus, his heart was not right inside of God. Like Ananias and Sapphira, his heart was yet attached to this world. He would not surrender to Christ as Lord. He would not come to Christ alone, trusting him alone for salvation. He would not confess Christ, and he would not obey Christ in all points. He would hold back. when it got time to deal with his riches.

Are you like this rich young ruler? Might I say these words properly be addressed to you, one thing thou lackest? Do you not have this one fatal deficiency of heart? If you say, your heart's got to be broken. And the only way your heart will be broken is if Christ makes himself known to you and reveals himself to you by his grace. You must be born again by God's almighty grace or you must perish. And then when the disciples saw these things and this rich young ruler went away sorrowful because he had great riches.

He said no I can't surrender everything. No, I can't trust you to provide for me if I give up everything. I can't trust you to care for my family if I give up everything. I can't trust you to take care of my needs when I get to be an old man if I give everything to your rule. And our Lord's disciples said, who then can be saved? You see that in verse 25? Who then can be saved?

Our Lord answers plainly, with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Salvation is not the work of man, it's the work of God. Only God can save sinners. Only God can give you a new heart. Only God, through the merits of Christ's righteousness and shed blood, can make you accepted before his holiness and before his law. Only God can give you faith in the Lord Jesus. And this salvation is God's effectual work.

Who can be saved? All who are redeemed by Christ's blood shall be saved. All who are chosen by God's grace shall be saved. All who are called by God's Spirit shall be saved. All who are born again by Almighty Grace shall be saved. And all who believe on the Son of God shall be saved. All. Now I'll finish by trying to answer the question I started with in the beginning. This young man asked, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

You must bow to the claims of Christ. Give up your idols. Sell all that you have. Consecrate everything to Christ. Bring it all to Him. Bring it all to Him. Everything. You must believe on the Son of God. Confess Him as Lord and Savior. And follow Him. You begin with Believer's Baptism and you go on from there. The believer comes to Christ acknowledging him as Lord. That's what he demands. That's what he demands. I've said to you so often, and I say it again, when God began to deal with my soul in some measure of conviction, I don't know, legal conviction or what you want to call it, but I began to recognize the claims of Christ upon me.

The issue between me and God was not whether or not I wanted to go to hell. I didn't want to go to hell. I've known that all my life just now. The issue was not, do you want to go to heaven when you die? I've always known I wanted to go to heaven, haven't you? I always wanted to go to heaven.

The issue was, I knew that Jesus Christ insists, he demands, that he be Lord. He's going to be Lord. He's going to rule your life. He's going to rule your life, or he won't have you. He's going to be Lord. You say, well preacher, I thought it was just say I believe in Jesus. The devils believe like that. They trick you. Faith in Christ is surrender to Christ as Lord. Now take these things home with you. Beware of the deceitfulness of riches.

Our Lord says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And I've read lots of commentaries trying to explain that away. But I'll tell you exactly what our Lord meant. He meant exactly what he said. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. With man it's impossible. God can change him. God can change him.

But all the deceitfulness of riches. How many, how many, how many have been destroyed by the deceitfulness of riches? Getting a little more. I met a young man, a fairly young man, a little younger than I am, who had made a lot of money in his youth this week. Made a bunch of money. And before he got to the old lion, he'd already lost it all. And God's been gracious to him. He's been merciful to him. And I quoted something to him that I read a long, long time ago from Matthew Hendry, just happened to come to my mind. He said there are two things, two great cares about riches. He said there's the care of getting them, And that young man said to me, he said, I'm so glad God taught me those things. Beware of the deceitfulness of the church. Beware of self-righteousness. Beware of that horrible, horrible pride that makes you presume that you are worthy of God's approval. You're not.

Neither am I. behold the love of Christ for sinners. The scripture says Jesus beholding loved him. I'll let theologians argue about that, but I'll tell you this. The Son of God loves sinners. All who love sinners. He delights to be merciful to sinners. If you're not saved, it is not because there's no loving Christ for sinners. It is not because Christ is not able, willing, and ready to save the guilty. If you're not saved, it's because you will not come to Christ that you might have life. If you do come, you're saved, and saved entirely by God's good grace. So I bid you now, don't hear this word and go away. Oh, God help you, don't hear this word and go away. But hearing this word, come now to the Son of God.

What Lack I Yet?

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is self-righteousness dangerous for a Christian?

What does it mean to truly follow Christ?

Who can be saved according to the Bible?

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What Lack I Yet?

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is self-righteousness dangerous for a Christian?

What does it mean to truly follow Christ?

Who can be saved according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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