64 Luke 18.18-30
Luke 18:18-30
Close But No Cigar
v Illustration: The Danbury Fair
Ø I love to go to Fairs
§ Perhaps it is because of the memory of going to the Danbury Fair every years as a boy
· My family always took a day off from school to go to the Danbury Fair
¨ I remember one year as a boy of 10 or 11 raiding my piggy bank and bringing $9 in rolling the pennies
Ø Heavy, bulging pockets
§ Ready to play the carnival games
Ø I loved the carnival games area
§ Everyone has a favorite and the games never seem to change
· The squirt gun in the clowns mouth
· Darts and balloons
· Ring Toss
·
¨ And there is always the hammer and bell
Ø As a boy I used to stand and watch because I was too small to lift the wooden mallet
Ø Men would pay to swing again and again
Ø Their girlfriends watching
v On the way up to the bell there was a scale with various insulting remarks
Ø Dud, Try Again, Weakling, Almost a man,
§ But right next to the top was a saying that has become an idiom in our culture
· Close but no Cigar
¨ Years earlier, cigars were given out as prizes for this and other carnival games
v In our text today, a man approaches Jesus asking a very good question
Ø What must I do to inherit eternal life?
§ He is asking about salvation
· But as we see…
¨ He gets close, but no Cigar
READ 18:18-25
v I think we all know people like this rich ruler
Ø People who have a sincere desire for salvation…
Ø Who might find the Christian life attractive…
Ø Who might even do all the things that we as Christians do…
§ Yet will always fall short because of various reasons
· Just like this young ruler
v One way they fall short is
A Poor View of Christ
v In v. 18-19, there is an interesting initial interchange between the rich ruler and Jesus
Ø The rich ruler approaches and asks a really good question
§ ‘Good teacher, how do I get to heaven?’
· Jesus, as we have come to expect, responds with a question
¨ A rather enigmatic question
Ø “Why do you call me good?”
§ In effect, Jesus is saying to the rich ruler…
· Do you know what you are saying?
v You see…
Ø There is a deep, foundational, OT Scriptural truth that no one is good except God alone
§ 1 Chron 16:34
· Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever
§ Ps 34:8
· Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him
§ Nahum 1:7
· The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him
Ø The Bible teaches that God alone has an exclusive claim on goodness
§ No one else is good!
· God is the only one who is “good”
¨ Some of us might think that we are good
Ø But even a cursory reading of the Bible teaches that that is not true
§ It teaches that man is depraved, sinful, prone to wander, idolatrous,
· Only God is good
v So Jesus challenges that man to think through what he has just
Ø He actually wants him to complete the Syllogism
§ A syllogism is a simple logic framework in which there are two premises and a logical conclusion
· Example:
¨ All men are mortal.
¨ Socrates is a man.
¨ Socrates is mortal.
§ He wanted to man to complete the syllogism
· If Jesus is good
· And God alone is good, then…
· Jesus is God
v And herein lies the irony…
Ø Believing that truth is what answers to the ruler’s question…
§ How do you inherit eternal life?
· Believing in Jesus Christ the incarnate God alone for your salvation
¨ John 3:16
Ø For God so loved…
¨ Acts 4:12
Ø There is only one name on earth by which men shall be saved
¨ Rom 10:13
Ø for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”
¨ John 3:36
Ø Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life
¨ 1 Thes 5:9
Ø For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
¨ Acts 2:21
Ø And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
v Many people approach Jesus
Ø Many people step up and swing the mallet
§ But If they do not believe that Jesus was the son of God…
§ That he was the second person of the Godhead incarnate…
· They are close, but no cigar
v The second way that the rich ruler fell short was in his view of sin
Ø He had…
A Reduced View of Sin
v Jesus goes on to list some of the ten commandments
Ø Adultery, Murder, stealing, lying, honoring your parents
§ What is Jesus doing here?
· Is he saying the rich ruler that the Law can save?
· Is he saying…
¨ “Just keep the law”
· Is he saying…
¨ “just do this and you will be saved”
v No, not at all
Ø That is a common misconception of the OT Law
§ That it was put in place to save people
§ That the Old Covenant was intrinsically different from the New Covenant in this regard
· That by following the Law, one could attain eternal life
v But that is not it at all!
Ø Jesus is using the Law on this young man just as it was meant to be used
§ As a mirror to show sin
· Rom 3:20
¨ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
v By listing off some of the 10 Commandments, Jesus is hoping to the ruler will realize his sinfulness
Ø But look at what the ruler says…
· V. 21 ~ “all of these I have kept since I was a boy”
¨ REALLY?!
v I think we all have a little R.Y.R. syndrome
v There a part of each and every heart that feels this same way?
Ø I’m pretty good
Ø I do pretty well
Ø I don’t sin too much
§ Maybe in your heart of hearts…
· In the recesses of your mind…
¨ In places never spoke, but oft thought we say…
Ø “I keep several of the 10 commandments perfectly”
Ø “I sometimes go several days, even a week without sinning”
Ø “And even when I do sin, it is small, no big red letter sins”
v 2 weeks ago we read as the confession of faith from the Savoy Declaration 15:5 the following:
Ø That there is no sin so great that God can’t forgive…
§ That sounds right…Good so far
· But it went on and said…
Ø Yet there is no sin too small that it does not deserve damnation
§ Whoa! Hold on! That is pretty harsh
· One sin, however minute, is cause enough to send me to hell!
¨ That is what James is talking about when he says in 2:10
Ø For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it
Ø So it doesn’t matter how good you are
§ It doesn’t matter how few sins you commit
· It is not about being “Pretty Good”
¨ It is about realizing your sinfulness
¨ Realizing your inability to save yourself
¨ And running the feet of Jesus for forgiveness
Ø And that is what Jesus tries to show this young man
v So in his divinity, Jesus looks into the man’s heart and finds the Chink in his armor
Ø The one weakness that will bring his whole house of cards toppling down
§ The one area in his life that was not surrendered to God
· His wealth
¨ READ v. 22
Ø The ruler was incredibly covetous
v What is the chink in your armor?
v What is the area in your life that is not surrendered to God?
v What is it that will bring the house of cards called self-righteousness toppling down?
Ø For that is what needs to happen in each one of our lives
v You see…
Ø When the Word of God comes in contact with a life it does one of two things:
§ It softens or it hardens
· Do we allow it to soften our self-righteousnesses
¨ Our unsurrendered areas
¨ Our pride
· Or do we harden our hearts
¨ Like this young man
Ø Look at verse 23
An Inability to take the Final Step
v The parallel story in Mark and Matthew both say at this point…
Ø When the man heard this, he “went away sad”
§ The Message puts it this way
· That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away
v On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong descended a ladder and stood inches away from stepping foot on the moon
Ø This moment was the culmination of years and years of work to get a man to the moon
§ This was THE defining moment
§ This was it
· Can you imagine if Armstrong had descended the ladder and then never took that final step onto the moon?
v Spiritually speaking…
Ø That is what we have here!
§ The ruler is brought to the decision point
· And he turns away
¨ And that is what makes this story one of the saddest in all of Scripture
Ø The rich ruler did not take that final step
v You know…
Ø In all my years of going to carnivals
§ I have never played that carnival game that I watched for so long
· I have always been a spectator
v In the same way…
Ø There are people who know who Jesus is
Ø Who realize how sinful they are and in need of a savior
§ Yet never step up and give their lives to Jesus Christ
· They never take that final step!
v If you are here today and have never taken that final step
Ø I invite you to do that today
v Notes:
§ Ps 25:8
· Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways
¨ And that is exactly what Jesus does next
Ø He instructs the rich Ruler on his sin
§ James 3:2
· We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check
· Rom 7:7
¨ Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet”
Ø The Bible teaches that this is simply not true
§ We sin in word, thought and deed one minute by minute basis
· James 3:2 tells us that we “stumble in many ways”
· Jer 17:9 that the heart is deceitful
· Rom 7 that we ‘don’t do what we should do and do what we should not’
Ø Eventually, the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings us all to a decision point
§ To a point in our lives that we have to go forward or turn away
v Jesus presented him with a choice…
Ø Surrender and live
v The Christian walk can be defined with one word…
Ø Sacrifice
All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.
v Romans 10:9 says that to inherit eternal life you must…
Ø Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead
Ø V. 23
§ Mark and Matthew tell us that the man turned and went away
v Can you imagine