A Certain Ruler

Q: What does the Bible say about eternal life?

The Bible teaches that eternal life is given through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. Eternal life, as depicted in scripture, is not something we achieve through our good works or moral behavior, but is a gift granted to those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 17:3, Jesus states, 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.' This signifies that true eternal life is rooted in a personal relationship with God through Christ. Salvation is fully dependent on God's grace, as affirmed in Ephesians 2:8-9, where it declares that by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Q: How do we know that we are truly saved?

Assurance of salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and recognizing our identity in Him. True assurance of salvation is rooted in understanding the grace given through Jesus Christ. The Bible assures believers in 1 John 5:13, which states, 'These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.' This indicates that our assurance is found in the promises of God and our trust in His Son, not our own works. Additionally, realizing that one’s righteousness is in Christ alone is crucial. Philippians 3:9 reminds us of the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, not our attempts at keeping the law or moral perfection. Thus, to be assured of your salvation, one must trust in Christ's finished work and have a personal relationship with Him.

Q: Why is it important to forsake all to follow Jesus?

Forsaking all to follow Jesus signifies total commitment and prioritizing Him above all else. Forsaking all to follow Jesus is vital because it demonstrates our understanding that true discipleship requires complete allegiance to Him. In Luke 14:33, Jesus teaches, 'So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' This stark statement highlights that attachment to worldly possessions or idols distances us from a genuine relationship with Christ. When we cling to what we possess or prioritize our security in wealth, we follow the path of the rich young ruler who turned away from Jesus due to his love for riches. True discipleship means recognizing that everything pales in comparison to the value of Christ, as Paul said in Philippians 3:8: 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.' Thus, forsaking all is not merely about giving up, but about gaining everything in Christ.

Q: How does self-righteousness affect our relationship with God?

Self-righteousness creates a barrier between us and God, preventing us from recognizing our need for grace. Self-righteousness is a deception that leads individuals to believe they can earn God's favor through their own efforts or moral behavior. This attitude can blind us to our true condition as sinners in need of grace. Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler illustrates this, as the man claimed to have kept all the commandments, demonstrating a self-deceptive confidence in his own goodness. However, Romans 3:10 reminds us that 'there is none righteous, no, not one.' Our own righteousness cannot commend us to God; instead, it is our acknowledgment of sin and helplessness that brings us to His grace. The gospel reminds us that we are saved not by works but through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), which leads to genuine repentance and trust in the righteousness provided by Him.

I want to begin reading this
morning with verse 18. Read a few verses down through
here. And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good master, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him,
Why callest thou me good? None is good save one that is
God. 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 he said, All these have I
kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell all that
thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. 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 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 he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God, because God is a sovereign
God, and he can save whom he will, when he will, and save
them through the power of the gospel. So there is possible
with God that men can be saved, impossible with men. No man can
save himself. Then Peter said, Lo, we have
left all and followed Thee. Verse 28. The effort of this pulpit is
to the end that every knee should bow and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. The name of Jesus is that name
which is above every name. And we know that there are some
who have bowed, others are bowing, but all shall finally bow and
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Those that will bow in eternity
will bow too late, too late. And so our effort today is that
you might bow now and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. I want to try this morning to
bring a message, I hope it'll be short, on this passage of
scripture that we have read to you today. I know the Christian
Christians everywhere throughout the years have heard countless
number of sermons in which this young religious leader, because
I do believe that he was a religious leader, has been portrayed as
a Sir Galahad, if you please, of his time, whose strength was
as the strength of ten because his heart was pure. Now this
morning we want to try to defrock or to debunk, as the expression
is, that means to remove false opinions about this young fellow. There are those that have heard
that he was an outstanding moral man, and that he was a seeker
after God, a seeker after truth, and that he was alright. But we know better, and we know
that the Lord Jesus Christ Here, as we said, defrocked him, he
debunked him, and he shows us the truth about this young, rich
ruler. Now, almost everyone, and I've
heard many and read after many who go over to the side of this
young man in accepting his word, his valid testimony, when he
said, the commandments, all these, I have kept from my youth up. I have kept them, he said. So
there's a great chorus of moral applause goes up that this nameless
man, he has been preached and praised as a paragon of morality
and a sincere seeker after the truth. Now there are several
things for us to review here I think at the outset this morning
which would help us maybe to understand this story a little
better. Perhaps the most common misunderstanding about this rich
young ruler is the presumption of many that he was a political
or government leader. But the gospel records seem to
indicate to me that that is not the case, that he was a religious
leader. It simply means the word ruler
here means that the man was a chairman or president or a leader of a
local worshiping group. He had a position in the synagogue
and was a religious man, a very religious man. Another thing
we notice here is that He was still trying to satisfy the uncertainties
of his own inner life, even though he was religious. Even though
he was religious as all get-out, as the expression is, he was
still trying to satisfy the uncertainties of his inner life. What can be
wrong when religious leaders are uncertain, when they're shaken,
and when they are miserable? What could possibly be wrong?
Could it be that they have not received anything out of their
religion, even though they have professed faith? Could it be that they have been
brought into even the Christian faith without any confrontation
with their sin, without facing up to the reality that they themselves
are lawbreakers They have broken God's holy law. They've sinned
against Him and are worthy of the judgment of God. Is it that
they have made no commitment, no total commitment really, to
Jesus Christ the Lord? Is it that they have never really
surrendered entirely and that they have forsaken all? Is it
that they've forsaken none of their sin and certainly none
of their way of life, their self-righteousness in this world? My friend, there
must be an abandonment of ourself to the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this young Jewish leader
came to Jesus asking, good master, What good thing shall I do that
I may inherit eternal life? What good thing might I do? Now Jesus asked, why do you call
me good? Now, there's only one that's
truly good, and that is God. But if you will enter into life,
keep the commandments. Which commandments the man would
say? Are you teaching some commandments
that I don't know anything about? Are you teaching some new commandments,
something that I've never heard?" And the Lord Jesus said, no,
I'm talking about the commandments of God in the Decalogue, with
which you're familiar as a religious Jew. God's commands, thou shalt
do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery. You know them
all, young man. It was then that the young man
looking into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, he
made this statement, all these things I have kept from my youth,
what lack I yet? I have kept all these commandments.
He says, now I believe that he was not lying, but I do believe
that he was deceived, greatly deceived, and I'll show you that
in a few moments. Let us notice a great truth here,
that religious life and religious practice have never provided
the assurance for which the heart of man longs. You're here this
morning, I believe it would be in your heart to know whether
or not you have a relationship with God, whether or not that
relationship is one that will stand the test of the judgment,
whether when you meet God, when you stand before God, whether
or not you really have that which God demands of you, that is a
perfect righteousness that righteousness can only be found in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe this man, even
though he was in a position of religious leadership, he came
to Jesus to discuss with Him the void in his own being. He
was sorrowful when he finally had to go away. He suspected
that the Lord Jesus Christ had the answer to his soul's need. He was undoubtedly groping for
knowledge in His own heart that He might enter into a state of
hope, into a state of blessedness in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now we talk about assurance of
eternal life. I don't know this morning whether
you have assurance or whether you don't. I know the Lord Jesus
Christ has given eternal life to His sheep. As many as the
Father has given to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ has brought
He saved them and He has given to them eternal life, and they
shall never perish. If you're in Christ this morning,
you can have assurance. You know if you're in union with
Him, sacred union with the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can know
that you are His, that you belong to Him. The Bible says, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are His. This man was not one of his. And his question to Jesus was,
what good thing must I do? What good thing must I do? Now
you must remember that our Lord Jesus Christ was not educated
in the schools of this earth. But he was a master in dealing
with people. He was a master psychologist
as somebody might say. But he knew the ways of men.
and he knew how the minds of men work. And Jesus heard what
this young man said and was immediately able to size him up. The Bible
says that Jesus does not need that anybody should testify of
man because he knows what is in man. He knew what was in this
man. All things are naked and open
unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And so the eye
of God is upon you this morning, and the Lord knows you, and He
knows where you stand, He knows your condition, He knows exactly
this morning where you are. And so Jesus knew that this man,
that he read the scriptures and that he lifted up his hands to
God and led the people in their ancient prayers in this synagogue.
Yet Jesus knew that this man was not, that he was not a true
believer. He knew that he was an idolater.
He knew that he was a rebel against Almighty God, Jehovah God, and
that this man was miserable. because of that great need that
he had, the same need that you have this morning if you're not
in Christ. And that is you need a relationship
with the Son of God. Your sins need to be pardoned,
put away, and you need to receive that righteousness which is of
God by faith. Jesus would say, you've come
to talk to me, and you've come to lay before me. this matter
of your relationship to Jehovah God, and you come to talk to
me about eternal life, of the foundation of eternal life, just
how good, he said, what good thing might I do to obtain eternal
life? Well, just how good would that
good thing have to be? How good would that good thing
have to be if you're going to do something good to earn eternal
life? If you're going to be able to
pay for your eternal life, then how good must that thing be that
you're going to do? You do know that there's only
one good, that is God, one that is truly good, and that is God,
and you call me good, you call me good, good master and good
teacher, all in the same breath, and you don't believe in me,
you don't believe that I'm God, and so what are you going to
do? What good thing is it? How good must your action be
in order to satisfy God, in order to please God, in order that
you might be declared to be righteous just before Him, not having any
sin to your account? How are you going to be good
enough? Can a leopard change his spot? Can the Ethiopian change
the color of his skin? No. He that is accustomed to
do evil cannot do good. There is no good thing in this
man. All men at their very best state
is vanity. Vanity. There is none good, saith
the word of God. None good. None good. No, not
one. None righteous. No, not one. So young man, if you insist on
buying your way in, to heaven, then I have the answer for you,
Jesus said. Keep the commandments. That is
the way that you'll have to do it. If you're going to enter
into heaven, you're going to have to keep the commandments,
every one of them. Every one of them. You're going
to have to not only keep the letter of the law outwardly,
you're going to have to keep the spirit of the law. You're
going to have to have the spirit of the law embedded in your heart.
All of the commandments. Now this young man, I'm sure
that you'll agree that he kept certain of the commandments from
his youth up. I doubt that this man ever murdered
anyone. He probably never committed adultery,
and I suppose that he probably never did steal, probably was
never necessary for him to steal, and probably he had honored his
father and mother, for the Jews did this as a rule. But this
young man has been praised so often in sermons because he was
what we call a moral man. He was what we call a moral man. Well, what is a moral man? We learn the lesson here that
a moral man, he is good enough to deceive himself and he's bad
enough to damn himself. Now that's what a moral man really
is. This man was good enough to deceive
himself, but bad enough to damn himself. This young man did not
realize the danger of being a moral man. He was self-deceived, and
because his goodness prevented him from knowing his badness,
he turned his back on God and walked away. His goodness prevented
him from knowing His badness. My friend, it is our sin that
commends us unto God. Your righteousness will never
commend you unto God. Your sin, if you are a believer,
will not keep you out of heaven, but your righteousness will send
you to hell. Your righteousness will keep
you out of heaven. You cannot go to heaven with
your own righteousness. You must go with the God-man's
righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
man was self-deceived. I believe that there are many
in the religious world today that just like this young man,
just exactly like this young man, deceived, they're self-righteous. And they think they're not like
other men. They thank God every day they're
not like other men. But they don't realize that they
are exactly like other men, cut out of the same piece of cloth,
along with all others, and that they're all sinners. All women
are fallen women, and all men are fallen men. And everyone
needs to be born of the Spirit of God. Needs to be translated
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's own
dear Son. Everybody needs an experience
of grace. Everybody needs to be transformed
by God's power. Well, then let's look at this.
My friends, I think sometimes having anything
is worse than having nothing. You know, there's a lot of people
that they hold on a little bit. They got something. They got
a little something. Well, the preacher, he's been
trying to strip me of all that I've had and all that I've been
counting on and all that I've been banking on. The preacher's
been trying to talk me out of it and getting me to abandon
it and throw it away, but I'm holding on to it. I tell you,
beloved, sometimes I think that having anything is worse than
having nothing. Now you think about it. If what
little bit you've got is going to keep you out of heaven, Don't
you think you'd be better off if you didn't have anything so
you could come as a bankrupt sinner and receive eternal life? Frankly, I would much rather
have no religion at all than just to have enough to deceive
me. I don't want to be deceived, do you? I don't want to die and
go to hell. Life is short, death is certain,
eternity is long. And we need not, we must not
be deceived. And we must not deceive ourselves.
I'm telling you, I'd rather have no religion at all than just
enough to deceive me. This was the downfall, my friend,
of this rich young ruler. This was his downfall. He had
just enough religion to delude himself. and to deceive himself. He was just good enough to make
himself think that he was alright. Just good enough to make him
feel like that he was alright, and so he answered that he had
kept God's law. Well, I'm going to leave it up
to you, whether you can decide whether you think he did or not,
or whether he was or not. Well, the Bible says in Exodus
chapter 20 and verse 3, Thou shalt have no other gods before
me. God said, thou shalt have no
other gods before me. And I believe that Jew, Catholic,
Protestant, Baptist, all would agree that whatever comes before
God in the life is God to that person. And that whatever shuts
out God and stands between the soul and God is an idol. It's
a little God. Now this young man knew very
well that the command that God give first, that God must have
first place in our lives. That's what that verse means.
Thou shalt have no other God before me. Yet he was very rich,
and when our Lord put to him on his own terms, The questions
of selling everything and giving it away, making God first in
his life, becoming a disciple, he turned his back on it. He
turned his back on God because he had another God. That's the
reason why. He was an idolater. That's the
reason why that he turned his back on God. Although he would
not admit it, he was able to lead the people in the synagogue,
in worship, and in prayer, and in the songs of Zion. But unknown
to them, he had a God, he had an idol tucked away, and that
was his riches. When the chips were down, he
chose the God of gold instead of the God of his fathers. because
he was not a worshipper of the true God. I say that the rich
young ruler was not, was not a keeper of the law. He had broken
the first commandment and he had shattered that commandment
and smashed it like a glass that you would throw down on the pavement. He was an idolater is what he
was. He was a covetous man and an
idolater. Now when the God of his fathers
had instructed him and Jesus was the God of his fathers, Jesus
was the I am. Jesus was the God of heaven. He was God in human flesh, the
incarnate God. And he instructed him to sell
what he had, sell everything and follow me. When he told him
to do that, he turned his back, walked away. And so our Lord
summed up all the commandments in his word. Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart. When this young man came
to face to face with a vital question of his love for God
or for his love for wealth, he went away because he had these
great possessions. Jesus also coupled with love
of God the commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
I want you to notice this now, even as this young man talked
with Jesus, the poor and the beggars and the crippled and
the starving were all around him. Old men and women in poverty,
little children without enough food to eat, lepers trying to
find roots, grasshoppers, anything, snails. anything to keep their
alien bodies from falling apart. And when Jesus suggested that
as a condition of following him this man would distribute his
earthly goods, the young man flatly could not do it. He flatly
refused to do it. But in his own eyes he was a
noble keeper of the law. I want you to get that screen.
In his own eyes There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death. In his own eyes, this
man was a noble keeper of the law. I, as I said earlier, do
not believe he was lying, but I believe he was terribly deceived.
Now the last commandment in the Decalogue says this in Exodus
20 and 17, Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. That's what the Word of God says.
That's what God says. Now this is the commandment that
slew Saul of Tarsus. This is the commandment that
brought him to repentance. In Romans chapter 7, we read
these words. What shall we say then in verse
7? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. And so this
is the law, or this is the commandment that slew the Apostle Paul. Now this means a great many things,
but in both the Old and New Testament, I think the clear meaning is
anything that we want with an inordinate desire. I think that's
the meaning, basically, of the word covenant. Now, distribute
thy goods, Jesus said. Come and follow me. like Peter
and the rest had done. You know, over in the 28th verse,
and this is interesting to me, then Peter said, after this discourse,
he said, lo, we've left all and followed thee. Somebody might
say, well, Peter didn't have much to begin with. No, he didn't
have much to begin with. And sometimes that's a blessing.
Sometimes that's a great blessing. You didn't have much to begin
with. And this man had a whole lot. But what this man would
have received would have far outweighed what he lost. He just
didn't realize where the true riches really were. He did not
know where the true riches were. But this man refused. He was
unable to leave his bank accounts, unable to leave his properties,
so he was a covetous man. You say, is covetousness really
a bad thing? Well, I would invite you to quickly
turn with me to the book of Ephesians. chapter 5 and look at verse 5
if you will. Ephesians 5 and verse 5 says,
For this we know, that no whoremonger, no unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ, and of God. Notice that a covetous man is
placed alongside the whoremonger and the unclean person. And the
scripture plainly spells out that he worships another God
besides the one true and living God. I would remind you that
life eternal is to know the living, the true God and Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. And if you do not know God, then
you have not eternal life. In Colossians chapter 3 and verse
5, another verse says, mortify therefore your members which
are upon the earth. This is one of the members that
he mentions here that were to put to death in our lives as
Christians. Mortify! Kill all! Therefore
your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,
kill it all. And it's not to be once named
among us as become a saint. Now in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 5, and if you would turn back there with me, I'll show
you a little further here how important this really is. In
1 Corinthians chapter 5, in this dissertation here about the Lord's
Supper, we read in verse 9 and 10 of chapter 5, 1 Corinthians,
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators,
yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous
or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must ye needs go out
of the world. But now I have written unto you,
in verse 11, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother
be a fornicator or covetous Or an idolater, a railer, a drunkard,
or an extortioner with such a wand, don't sit down to the Lord's
table with him. Don't eat the Lord's supper with a man who
is like this. Do not. A covetous man. then
is one who worships another God. He is an idolater. So this is why that I'm pointing
out to you this morning, Jesus said, beware of covetousness. Beware of it. So he was a covetous
man. He was a lover of self. Instead
of loving his neighbor, he was a lover of his own wealth rather
than loving God with his innermost being. The living God was not
first in his life and in his love, and so the commandments
of God were set aside by him and they were unfulfilled. This
man was a lawbreaker. He was not a keeper of the law,
and he was not somebody that we ought to praise as being a
good moral man and upright man. He was a covetous man and he
was an idolater. Now this is very important for
us to see this because it's entirely possible this morning that there's
some covetous people right here under the sound of our voice.
And you may imagine yourself to be all right when you're not
all right. My friend, one of the most sobering
things, one of the things that haunts me is the last verse of
1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, when the scripture
says, little children, keep yourself from idols. Keep yourself from
idols. Little children, little children,
children of God, keep yourself from these idols. Now there may
be those here this morning that have idols. You may have them
tucked away. You may be idolatrous. You may
be able to sing the songs of Zion, the hymns of the faith.
You may be able to talk intelligently about the things of God. You
may be able to ask all the right questions. You may be able to
stand on your own two feet when it comes to discoursing about
the various theological truths of the Bible. But my friend,
if you have a God, a little G-O-D, a little idol in your life, maybe
it's a big one, but my friend, if you do, you're no believer,
you're no child of God. You're no child of God if it
persists, if you don't get that idol out of your life. Now, it is well to note that our Lord
plainly faced this man with the truth. Plainly faced him with
the truth. Now this man ought to have acknowledged
his sin, that he was a lawbreaker. Instead, he was defensive. He was very defensive. Well,
I've kept all of these from my youth up. This defensive attitude
of moral men and women. Listen to me, my friend. I want
you to understand that when this man made the statement, I have
kept all these from my youth up, it's evident that he had
never, ever come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God. He
never had come under the conviction of the Spirit of God. If he had
of, he would not have been talking about the sins that he had not
committed. His heart would have been broken
and crushed like eggshells because of the sin that he had committed. And my friend, what about the
sins you have committed? We don't want to talk about what
you haven't done. It's what you have done. It's
your sins, my friend, that you're talking about. But this man,
he's just talking about what he had done. And it showed that
he had no partner lot in forgiveness and pardon. Now, when one is
truly convicted of their sin, they're overcome with guilt. of the commandments that they've
broken, and they will fall down before the God of grace, before
God Almighty, trembling and crying out, Oh God, I'm an unclean man. Oh God, I'm a sinful man. Oh
God, have mercy upon me and pardon me of my sin. Remember that the
outlaw Jesse James did not break every law in the state of Missouri,
probably only broke a couple of them, and that was thou shalt
not kill and thou shalt not steal. But he was a notorious outlaw,
and he had a price on his head, and they would have hung him
if they had caught him. But there were thousands of laws
on the books that he had never broke. And I say to you this
morning, there may be many of the commandments that you haven't
broken, but if you broke one of them, you're guilty of all
of them. And God's going to hold you accountable
for having broken His holy law. Brethren, when I come before
my God as an outlaw, and we all must come as outlaws, do we not?
We all must come as sinners, those that have broken the law
of God. And when we return home as the prodigal return from the
pig pen, we must not be dickering and bartering with God about
the sins that we did not commit. Well, we must not be conscious
of those for the fact that I broke in any of God's law or committed
any sins must and it will under the conviction of the Spirit
of God overwhelm us and make us to declare that we're one
of the worst sinners in the world. It made the Apostle Paul, you
remember that the Apostle Paul He said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Well, where'd he
get that at? Did he read that in some book
someplace? No. My friend, it was when the
Spirit of God had come upon him and had broken his heart that
he knew that he was the chief. of sinners. And Paul saw himself
as the worst man in the world, the chief of sinners. How have
you seen yourself? Well, it's an amazing thing,
the difference it makes when Jesus Christ comes into our life
and when the light of the gospel comes in. How amazing! We know
then that we never had enough light to know our death before
Christ came and revealed himself to us. But we know that the Apostle
Paul, that he said later, he said, I am what I am by the grace
of God. I was a sinner, and I still am
a sinner, Paul would say, but I am what I am by the grace of
God. God's grace has made a great difference in me. I've labored
in the Lord's vineyard more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God that was in me. The Apostle Paul, this man
who became a great sinner in his own eyes, became a messenger
of the grace of God and spread the gospel throughout the Gentile
world in his day. Well, so we must and will own
our own sin and our own unworthiness, and we dare not stand before
Jesus Christ and inquire the way of eternal life and defend
ourselves. Because if we do, it shows that
we're not what we ought to be, that the Spirit of God has not
prepared our heart. I'm no heathen, somebody said.
I'm no heathen. Well, this man would say the
same thing, but he was wrong. And I say to you this morning,
that a man is not where he ought to be until God breaks his heart
and plows his heart with His holy law and brings him to where
he knows himself to be a guilty sinner and one who deserves the
judgment and the wrath of God. Now beloved, the salvation of
the sinner has to do with complete trust in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. No man has any hope for eternal
salvation apart from trusting completely in Jesus Christ and
His atonement. Where we are this morning, all
of us lawbreakers, all of us having failed, all of us struck
out, all of us stand before God deserving of eternal judgment,
salvation in one place, Christ and Christ only. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the lifeboat, as it were, and we must be fully committed
to that lifeboat. Our Savior is the rope by which
it is possible to escape from the burning building. There's
no doubt about it. Either we trust the rope or we
perish. Now the Lord Jesus is that bridge
from hell to heaven. And we take the bridge and we
cross over by His grace or we stay in hell. We stay in hell. Now, we must absolutely trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I wonder how many people
there are in our day, even in this building this morning, that
really do, sure enough, trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Fully,
only trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many who will
not let go, as we talked a little bit about a while ago. They want
to hold on to something. To them, it's Jesus Christ, if
they have Him. Plus, something, but I'm here
to tell you this morning that Jesus Christ will never stand
either to the right or to the left of any plus. He will never
will. The Lord Jesus Christ will be
Savior entirely, for He will not be Savior at all. If you
insist on adding some plus to your faith, He'll walk away. You have offended Him in His
holy dignity. The Lord Jesus Christ is Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. It's His work
from the beginning to the end. If your trust is in the plus,
something added, then you do not possess Jesus Christ at all. Now, do not keep anything in
your life. Let me say to you this morning,
when you're considering trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, you must
not keep anything in your life that's more important than God
himself. Come and follow me, Jesus would
say in complete trust and abandonment. Well, have you trusted Jesus
Christ? That seems to be the only word
that this generation of professing Christians seemingly have heard
is accept Christ. Accept Christ. Now, what they
want is a painless acceptance of Christ. They want a slick
pill that they can swallow without any effort that's going to give
them eternal life. Now, they don't have any hint
as to what's really involved in becoming a Christian. To become
a Christian, listen to what Jesus said back here in the 13th chapter
of the book of Luke. Back in the 14th chapter it is
in verse 33. Listen to this. So likewise,
whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, He cannot
be my disciple. Somebody said, well that's discipleship. Brother, sister, you cannot divide
Christ. You cannot divide Him. If you're
going to be a disciple, all believers are disciples of Christ. And
if a man is not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, then he's
no Christian. He's no Christian. And so if
a man does not forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Now somebody says, well, does
that mean I gotta sell out too and give away everything that
I have? Doesn't mean that. It doesn't
mean that unless that thing that you have comes between you and
God. Unless that thing that you have
makes you an idolater. Unless that's your little God,
don't you see? And that you would not submit
that or abandon that into the hands of the Lord. Lord, do as
thou wilt, whatever thou wilt. Blessed Lord, it's in your hands. Now my friend, I realize that
O'Neill was a Syrian. He had to be dipped in that muddy
river. And somebody says, well, to be
healed of his leprosy, he had to be dipped. He had to go down
into that muddy ditch and be dipped. He didn't want to do
that. He didn't want to come down in his pride. And somebody
said, well, did he have to do that in order to be healed of
his leprosy? Absolutely he had to. Absolutely. Because he would have been rebelling
against God if he hadn't have done it. Somebody said preacher
do I have to be baptized to be saved all depends all depends
I know that there have been many that's been saved and went to
heaven without it. But if you make that an issue
with God, and you rebel against God over that point, you'll go
to hell, my friend, unless you bow to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ in your life, and submit yourself to the Lordship of Christ. Sooner or later, God is going
to cross your path with something, and you're going to have to say,
yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, I bow to your Lordship. I submit myself
to your Lordship. Sooner or later, God's going
to ask you to do something. And when He does, it happened
to me. It happened to me, and it happens to believers. God
asks them to do something. Does everybody have to do it
this way? No. Everybody doesn't have to
do it the same way. But whenever God says something,
you submit yourself to it. You submit yourself. Now somebody
says, well that sounds like a hard way to be saved to me. You must
completely and utterly abandon to Jesus Christ our Lord and
Savior. Now, I think it's a good sign
if people are restless and dissatisfied concerning their own spiritual
state. Some people say, well, I don't know, I don't think that's
healthy. Well, if you have gods in your life, little gods, little
G-O-Ds, I think it's a good sign if you're dissatisfied and miserable
because that's what's matter. There's no spiritual victory
because you've got these little gods. You're committing the sin
of idolatry. And the plain truth is that eternal
salvation comes by the acknowledgment of sin and complete trust and
complete abandonment of ourself into the hands of the Lord. And
so at this point this rich young ruler was not interested. And
so he went back. Now some of you may go back.
You may hear the truth this morning that you need to submit yourself
to the Lordship of Christ, that you're a lawbreaker, and you
say, well, I don't know whether I can go along with all that
or not. Well, I want you to know this. I suppose that there are
many virtues that a preacher ought to have that I don't have, but there's one thing about it,
that those that turn their back on God, and not sell out lock,
stock and barrel to the Lord, get no sympathy from me. And
they'll not find any excuse for me, and they'll not hear me.
While I might stand at the door as you're going away, like this
rich young ruler did, and weep when you go away from the Lord,
you'll not hear it from me that it's all right. It's okay. It's all right for you to turn
your back on the Lord. It's all right for you to love
the world. Listen to me. A hypocrite can
love the world. He can. And you can be a deceived
religious person and love the world. You can be a cheap, snobbish,
modern, what they call a modern Christian and love the world. But you cannot be a genuine Bible
believer and love the world. And so beloved it would grieve
any true pastor to see people walk away as this young man did,
but we're not going to tell you it's going to be alright, because
it's not going to be alright. Now you say, well now listen
to me preacher, you know this is 2001. 2001 is a different day now. Well, I'm still going to tell
you that true believers, it cost them something to be saved. Somebody said, well, Jesus paid
the price. He did. He paid all the debt. All the debt I owed, He paid
it. He did indeed. But it costs something to be
a believer in this world. What has it cost you to be a
believer? The Bible says, Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that's
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, not of the Father, but is of the world.
The world passeth away in the lust thereof, but they that will
do the will of God They that will do the will of God, those
that will bow their knee to the Lordship of Christ, those that
will be dictated to by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God,
those will live forever. And so I say to you this morning,
what does it cost you to be a Christian? It's going to cost you something
sooner or later. It's going to cost you something. You say,
well, I think I've tried to be a person of faith. Well, that's
good. That's good. You all look dressed
well, and you look well-fed, well-nourished. But what does
it really cost you to be a Christian? It costs these that follow the
Lord Jesus. Peter, he left all. Jesus said
to this young man, come follow me, sell all that you got, distribute
it to the poor. Come follow me. I owe nothing.
I have nothing. Foxes have holes, birds of the
air have nests. The son of man has not a place
to lay his head. Come follow me. And the man went
away. Now, this man was a money lover. He was a breaker
of the law. He was a sinner and he was Christless. He had to pay a great price to
keep what he loved most. What he loved most. He had to sell Jesus, didn't he?
Even as Judas Iscariot did. Judas sold him for 30 pieces
of silver and I don't have any idea in terms of money and land
and possessions. how much this rich young ruler
paid in his refusal to follow Jesus. I don't know how much. But I do know this, he lost his
soul. And I know this, that what does it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? What's going to profit
him? This man is going to hell. Well, what about you? If you're
a seeker after the Lord Jesus in truth, he's saying to you
this morning, It's not enough for you to inquire, but give
up, he would say, what is the dearest thing you hold in life,
and come and follow me. He'd say, take your hands off
of all of it. Take your hands off of all of
it, and abandon yourself into my hands. Follow me. Follow me. Be a disciple of mine. My friend,
you'll never really be happy until you worship God. Oh God,
in the words of the song, tear the dearest idol from my heart
and let me worship only Thee, only Thee. May that which is
holding you back from being what you ought to be in the kingdom
of God, may it be taken away. May you commit it to the Lord.
May you bow your knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and
be willing to pay whatever price. I was back east for about three
weeks, preached there in the church, grieved to some degree
as I looked upon and as I could see people trying to worship, trying
to worship God. Some sincere souls, dear souls,
hard-working people. Others having this world's goods
You know, so full, so full. I remind you that the Lord sent
those that were full empty away. He sent them empty away, those
that were full. And you know if you got a glass
and you fill it with water, I defy you to get any milk in the glass.
Nope, it's got to be emptied out first. Excuse me, if you're full of
the world, the things of this world, the things of time and
chance. If you're full of the world,
my friend, it's no wonder you don't have the joy of the Spirit,
the power of the Spirit, the unction of the Spirit, the nearness,
fellowship with the Lord. No wonder. You're full of the
world. You're full of all these things that are going to pass
away with time. May God help you to take the
dearest idol and tear it from your heart. and worship only
Him. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we commit these stammering remarks to You. Pray, Lord, pray, Lord,
that victories will be won here today. There be a self-righteous
man or woman here who believes that them and Jesus got a good
thing going. I pray, Lord, that You'll smash
their heart, break their heart, help them to see that they're
actually infringing upon the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
by entertaining the idea that they've made a contribution to
their salvation. Oh, God, strip this congregation.
Lord, Thou knowest how needy we are. Oh, that we be filled
with the Spirit, that we be full of God, filled with the Lord,
filled, filled to run.

A Certain Ruler

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know that we are truly saved?

Why is it important to forsake all to follow Jesus?

How does self-righteousness affect our relationship with God?

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A Certain Ruler

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know that we are truly saved?

Why is it important to forsake all to follow Jesus?

How does self-righteousness affect our relationship with God?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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