What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?
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The Rich Young Ruler
The Rich Young Ruler
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Our passage today invites us to consider the following:
The way of salvation
The mercy and compassion of Jesus towards sinners
The spiritual and moral blindness that is common to all mankind apart from the working of the Holy Spirit
Jesus’s warnings about wealth and possessions
The glory of God in salvation
First I think we need to talk about this man, named the Rich Young Ruler. Why is he called that? Well Matthew’s gospel tells us the man was young (matt 19:20), Luke’s gospel tells us that he was a ruler (Luke 18:18) and all three gospels testify that he was wealthy. It’s likely that this man was a ruler of a synagogue, a position almost exclusively held by older men. Some think that maybe this young mans great wealth was what put him in that position.
But I think we need to do a bit of redemptive work on behalf of the RYR. He’s gotten a bad rap from many biblical commentators and preachers over the years; He has been called arrogant, dishonest, disingenuous and greedy. Though there may be some truth to those statements I also think we have to give this guy some credit - if nothing else he seems to be genuinely hungry to learn from Jesus.
He runs to him - not customery or seemly for a ruler to do
He kneels before him - showing deference
And his question seems to be a sincere one, unlike the scribes and pharisees
Many church goers aren’t as keen as the RYR to kneel at Jesus’s feet. Many don’t want to ask the hard questions of scripture - questions of salvation and eternal life. They’d prefer to keep a hands off, distanced association with Christ, putting their hope and faith in some vague notion of God’s love, thinking that they can go on living for themselves with impunity.
The question he asks Jesus reveals something of his heart; Good Teacher - what must I DO, to INHERIT eternal life. Here’s man who’s understanding of salvation is wholly works based.
Jesus responds not to his question at first but to the way the man addressed Him - Why do you call me good? No one is good except God. Now some read this as Jesus making an indirect allusion to His deity, muslims and other Bible sceptics believe the opposite is what’s being said - that Jesus is saying, ‘don’t call me good, I’m not God.’ However it makes more sense that what Jesus says here is aimed at unsettling the man’s own sense of self righteousness.
He rather wants to show the man that “no one is good except God alone” so that the man may realize that all his works do not make him good and that he is not capable of earning eternal life. - Spurgeon
Jesus isn’t bringing into question His divinity, he certainly isn’t denying it.
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 19:16–22; Mark 10:17–22; Luke 18:18–23
“Thou falsely callest me a good Master, unless thou acknowledgest that I have come from God.”
Of course the Bible certainly does talk about certain men being ‘righteous’ or being ‘good.’ So was Jesus contradicting the Bible? And if people can truly be righteous without the righteousness of Christ then where’s the need for the cross?
Well - one thing the Bible is always very careful to do is to record the sin and failures of every man apart from Jesus. David was an adulterer, Abraham was a liar, Moses was a murderer - yet each of these men were good in a comparative sense, they were good for men. But they weren’t good like God is good, they were righteous in a comparative sense, compared with others, but their righteousness wasn’t enough to save them.
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Jesus then says
mark 10:19
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
Why doesn’t Jesus just tell him straight that he just needs to have faith in Him? Why point him back to the law? Well - firstly, the young man’s question was a question about works. So Jesus points Him to the 10 commandments, interestingly not the first table (those commandments related to God) but to the second (those in relation to others), and he slightly rewords one instead of saying do not covet, he says do not defraud. Perhaps because the man clearly had great wealth, defrauding others was more likely to be a vice for him that coveting other’s possessions? Or maybe Jesus knew something that we don’t about this man’s financial dealings? Either way He invites the man to measure himself against the standard of the 10 commandments. Sometimes this is what we need to do first in our witnessing to non believers - if we don’t present them with God’s holy standards for living how will they know that they fall short of them?! Very often in town when we offer people a new testament or a tract they will say, ‘no thank you, I’m good!’ now we know they don’t necessarily mean morally good, but probably more in the American sense of ‘I’m fine’. But the point is - most people do think they’re pretty much good, they don’t identify as being a sinful person because they think in a comparative sense - Well I’m not like that awful lying politician, or that violent drunkard I saw on crimewatch. Unless they are presented with God’s standard of goodness, how can they see their need of a saviour! That’s what Jesus is doing here.
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 19:16–22; Mark 10:17–22; Luke 18:18–23
we infer, that this reply of Christ is legal, because it was proper that the young man who inquired about the righteousness of works should first be taught that no man is accounted righteous before God unless he has fulfilled the law, (which is impossible,) that, convinced of his weakness, he might betake himself to the assistance of faith
The young man responds - , “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
I don’t think the man is lying here, I don’t think he’s trying to be disingenuous, he genuinely thinks he is guiltless. This wasn’t arrogance per se, but more spiritual blindness. This man knows the old testament laws and he says, yep - I measure up. Paul also as a pharisee considered himself blameless concerning obedience to the law (phil 3:6). The rich young ruler we can guess hadn’t been at the sermon on the mount:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
We are spiritually blind to our own sinfulness until the Holy Spirit brings conviction - John 16:8
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
So we can do as Jesus does and hold up the holy standards of God, preach the law and then the gospel. But it’s the Holy Spirit alone who can make blind eyes see, only He can bring conviction of sin, only He can bring about repentance, only He can make someone born again.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
So this gospel that we preach is a gospel that requires supernatural intervention - it’s the gospel of the new birth. Just as no one has ever caused themselves to be born, no one can cause themselves or anyone else to be born again. That is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The new birth is what causes someone to ‘see’ the Kingdom, Jesus says - until you’re born again you’re blind to it. This young ruler was staring the King in the face but didn’t recognise Him. This young man was clearly a moral man, a man who we can certainly say was good in a comparative sense, but crucially he wasn’t born again.
So someone can be very morally upstanding, very eager to do right and have even a good knowledge of the scriptures, be very religious but actually not be born again. The bottom line is - they are content with their own righteousness, they don’t see a need for someone to die on a cross for their sins, repentance isn’t something they feel they need to be doing, and so the gospel, the message of the cross isn’t particularly exciting for them.
"Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes? I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - Donald Trump
I love what Mark records for us next - after this young man has heard Jesus say - ‘there’s no one good but God’ he’s gone ‘me too!’ But instead of excoriating this poor chap, the Bible says that Jesus looked at him, and loved him. Jesus loves this man, this man who thinks he’s worthy of eternal life, who thinks he doesn’t need Jesus, Jesus loves him. Jesus loves you today, in the middle of your mess, in the middle of your muddle, He looks at you, takes it all in, and loves you. He even loves those who choose to walk away from Him.
How might we love like Jesus? How can we look right at people’s foolishness, their pride, their misconceptions and do as Jesus did - love them. Be patient with them, be kind to them. That’s how He loves you.
Jesus tells the man - “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
One thing you lack - What was it that this man lacked? He had wealth, He had influence, He had outstanding moral quality, He had a hunger for truth - He lacked the most crucial thing of all; Jesus! The man wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life - Jesus showed him that salvation ultimately comes down to who you have rather than what you do - Good works are commendable, but they aren’t how we earn salvation.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Do you have the one thing that is needful? Christ?
Notice He doesn’t say - sell all you have and come follow me. He says sell all you have and give it to the poor. Now this is important - if Jesus was making a statement here about money being bad in and of itself, surely he wouldn’t tell the guy to give it to the poor! The money was good for them to have. It’s not that having money is bad, it’s needful, it’s bad when money has you.
Watch this - neither does Jesus say, sell all you have and give it to me!! Jesus doesn’t ask him to sow a seed into his ministry, he doesn’t ask for a tenth. He doesn’t bring him in as a senior pledge partner to help grow the ministry. It’s funny because it’s true! The way Jesus handles this really shows the tragedy of the prosperity gospel - these pastors who are obsessed with money, with possessions, with wealth. They’d have had the rich young ruler replace Peter in a heartbeat!
What Jesus is pinpointing here is where the man’s heart truly was - Though he clearly wanted to know the way to eternal life, he wanted his possessions more.
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
riches do not, in their own nature, hinder us from following God; but, in consequence of the depravity of the human mind, it is scarcely possible for those who have a great abundance to avoid being intoxicated by them. - Calvin
We must ask ourselves the same question - is there anything that we would not be willing to let go of in order to follow Christ? What would be too high a price?
The disciples were confused by all this - they understood wealth to be a sign of God’s blessing on someones life - why would Jesus say that it will be difficult for a wealthy person to enter God’s kingdom?! Jesus says it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! So - essentially impossible.
Lest we let this challenge pass over our heads it’s worth mentioning that most of us here today have a wealthier quality of life that 99% of all who have ever lived - so before we go thinking that Jesus isn’t talking about you here - yes he is!
The disciples are astonished - they’re saying, well if it’s impossible for the best of us to be saved then who can be saved?! Jesus replies - “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Salvation is of God, or it is no salvation at all! We can take no credit for our own salvation - since on a human level it’s about as possible as a camel passing through the eye of a needle for you to save yourself, you must rely wholly on the grace of God alone. This is what the reformers called Sola Gratia - we are saved by the grace of God alone - no mixture with our own works or righteousness - all grace. And because of this - we can truly say that God alone must get all the glory for saving you - which is why the reformers cried Soli Deo Gloria - salvation is to the glory of God alone.
“Not on your good days, or bad days or worst of days was salvation up to you; it was always up to Jesus alone.” - Chad Bird
Peter begins to say to Jesus -
28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
Though we might lose a lot to follow Christ, we stand to gain a hundredfold even now in this time. Nabeel Qureshi was a Muslim who turned to Christ and became a Christian apologist, his beloved mother and father disowned him and shunned him, causing him great pain. Simultaneously Nabeel gained a new family of his own, he married a Christian wife, had children of his own and had many deep and fulfilling friendships with brothers and sisters in Christ before he passed away in 2017.
Ruth’s picture of the teddy.
Note here that he says though we leave brothers, sisters, mother or father or children for his sake, we may receive houses, brothers, sisters and mothers and children but not fathers. And this isn’t an accident, Jesus didn’t just forget to mention fathers - he leaves them out on purpose.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Jesus was very clear that we are to all have one father - who is in heaven, and that no one is to take the name Father for himself.
So this call of discipleship is a call to leave all for Jesus - but it’s not (as some think) a call to poverty, since Jesus promises that whatever we leave, will will gain, even 100 fold. Equally - this call isn’t a GET RICH QUICK scheme - we’re also promised persecutions!
31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.[a]” - NLT
Don’t be ashamed to pray for what you need, whether finances, or a house for your family, and don’t feel ashamed if you have wealth. But always test that these possessions don’t have a hold on you, be open handed with all you have, ready to give away whatever the Lord might call you to.
Finally - last time we were in Mark we read of those little children who could offer Jesus nothing but left with His blessing, today we read of a man who offered much but left without. Let’s remember that it’s the empty hand of faith that receives a blessing from the Lord. If you’re hands a full of something else, then you can’t receive anything from Christ until you lay it down.
Pray