Luke 18:18-30 - The Rich Young Ruler
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Writer Ralph B. Smith once made an observation that children ask roughly 125 questions per day. For some of you parents with young children, you can amen that! And some of you parents might be feeling pretty good about your child right now because you see that your child is probably hitting around the 99th percentile in questions per day as they are totally eclipsing that 125 average number!
Yet as adults, Smith observed that the average adult asks only around 6 questions per day. According to his research, as we become adults, we lose around 119 questions per day!
Now, we all know that not all questions are equal. Can I skip my dinner vegetable provides much less eternal knowledge than what is the Trinity?
At the heart of this is the following:
As we grow older and are asking many less questions in quantity, is the quality of our questions increasing?
In other words...
Are we asking the right questions?
Today we are going to see a rich young ruler ask the most important question anyone could ever ask.
However, although it is important for us to ask the right questions, it is even more important for us to accept the right answer.
Let’s jump into our Scripture for today…
Read Full Scripture
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
For 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.”
Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Prayer
Today we will see four important factors for us to understand how to obtain eternal life.
The first is… in order to have eternal life…
I. You Must Have an Accurate View of the Savior (18-19)
I. You Must Have an Accurate View of the Savior (18-19)
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
We are not told what kind of ruler that this man was. The word can mean authority, official, magistrate, religious leader, or important man. Speculation on what kind of ruler is not warranted or necessary. What is important to understand is that this man is wealthy and powerful.
Mark and Matthew have parallel accounts to Luke and the three go together well to give the whole picture clearly.
We are also told that this ruler is young in Matthew 19:20 - hence the phrase rich young ruler that we hear attributed to this man.
As this rich young ruler approaches Jesus we are told that he approaches in a very humble way in Mark 10:17:
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?”
This man kneels before Jesus in a state of incredible humility. As a wealthy man of power, this was not a typical way that one would address a rabbi. The Jews were a respect culture and men would not typically address someone with such broken humility.
In his address to Jesus, he calls Him Good Teacher. We will see Jesus challenge the ruler calling him good in a moment. However, this was also very atypical. In the rabbinical writings of the Talmud which contains teachings and commentary about the Law written a couple of centuries after Christ died, there are no instances in which a rabbi is called good. Good was an adjective only given to God Himself (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 34:8, Nahum 1:7).
This was quite a statement. It was very respectful and reverential. And this ruler humbles himself likely in the presence of many witnesses as well.
We started off the sermon talking about asking questions. There is a whole continuum regarding the quality of questions that can be asked. Some are unimportant questions, others are bad questions, and some might be more neutral questions. Moving higher, some might be good questions, others better questions, and then there are the best questions.
This rich young ruler asks the most excellent question anyone could ever ask.
He asks:
What must I do to inherit eternal life? - The BEST Question
Let’s move forward to see Jesus begin answering this amazing question…
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Jesus has a habit of probing toward motives before ever answering a person’s question. Jesus is more concerned about our heart than anything else. Sometimes people ask a question - yet their heart is far from the actual question being asked.
Many times our questions are asked moreso to justify ourselves than to actually understand the answer to them.
Jesus challenges this man be asserting that only God is good.
In essence, He is asking this man...
Do you truly revere me as God?
Jesus was not denying His deity here. He certainly claimed to be God many times throughout the Scriptures. I have included a selection of these from the Gospels in your handout. I won’t overwhelm you with them all right now, but I would suggest going through them this week. Note the amazing amount of claims that Jesus made regarding His deity throughout the Gospels. Despite what many of the false religions in our world claim including the cults that exist, Jesus unapologetically claimed to be God-made-flesh.
Jesus claimed to be God on many occasions. Here are a few of them:
John 8:58 – Jesus claims to be the “I Am” (See Exodus 3:14).
John 10:30 – Jesus claims to be one with the Father.
John 1:1 – Jesus is called the Word Who is God.
John 10:33 – Jesus does not correct the Jews who state that He is making himself God.
John 1:14 – The glory of the Son from the Father.
John 5:18 – Equal with God.
John 3:16 – He is the Savior of the world – Son of God.
John 1:3 – Jesus as Creator God.
Matthew 18:20 – He claims to be transcendent – He is with two or more gathered in His name.
Matthew 28:18 – all authority is given to Him.
Matthew 28:19 – The Great Commission – Trinity given here as equally God.
Matthew 28:9 – Jesus accepts worship.
Matthew 1:23 – His name means God with us (Immanuel).
John 17:5 – claims to have been with God before the world existed.
John 14:9 – Philip asks Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus says whoever has seen Him has seen the Father.
John 8:24 – the forgiver of sins – which must be God.
John 20:27-29 – Thomas putting his fingers in the nail pierces hands claims – My Lord and my God! Jesus does not correct this but acknowledges Thomas’s belief.
(These are not including the countless times the letters of Paul and others assert the deity of Christ)
Jesus is challenging this man’s statement. He is testing what he has just said. Jesus knows his heart and knows that this rich young ruler doesn’t actually mean what he has just said.
Brothers and sisters, in order for us to have eternal life, we must have an accurate view of the Savior. We must understand that Jesus is God-made-flesh. We must understand that He is the only way to God.
Unfortunately, many people fail to have an accurate view of the Savior because they don’t think they need saving. Which brings us to our next point… in order to have eternal life…
Scripture References: Matthew 19:20, Mark 10:17, (God as good: 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 34:8, Nahum 1:7)
II. You Must Have an Accurate View of the Self (20-21)
II. You Must Have an Accurate View of the Self (20-21)
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
Jesus then reminds him of a few of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20.
He addresses commandments 5-9 in the following order:
Do not commit adultery (7), do not murder (6), do not steal (8), do not bear false witness (9), honor your father and mother (5).
Although all of the commandments are in important in our relationship with God, the first four commandments are vertically directed –
1) No other gods before Him
2) No graven image or idols
3) Do not take the name of the Lord in vain
4) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy
These vertically directed commandments are summed up in the greatest commandment that Jesus gave (Matthew 22:37-38).
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
The final six commandments, which are horizontally directed, are summarized by the next verse in Matthew (Matthew 22:39).
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
In addressing these final commandments, Jesus leaves out the final commandment which is: Do not covet. We will get to that in our next point.
Moving forward, we see the reply from the rich young ruler…
And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
Interestingly, Jesus had given five of the commandments that this man felt the best about. In a self-righteous response, this young man stated that he had kept all of these since his youth.
We have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the man’s response. It appears that he truly did think he had kept the Law to the letter.
The Apostle Paul had a similar understanding of himself before encountering Christ. Listen to his boast in Philippians 3:6:
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet, we must understand that something was whispering to this rich young ruler that his works weren’t enough. If he was so assured that he was seen as blameless and righteous before God, why did he fall at Jesus’s feet in the first place? Why would he ask Jesus about eternal life?
Paul eventually understood the Law’s work in one’s heart. He learned that the Law doesn’t save, but it reveals the inadequacy of man and man’s need for a Savior. Listen to Paul expound on this in Romans 7:7-11:
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
The Law works as a mirror, showing the sinfulness of our hearts. Matthew Henry in his commentary states:
“Had he been acquainted with the extent and spiritual nature of the divine law, and with the workings of his own heart,—had he been but Christ’s disciples awhile, and learned of him, he would have said quite the contrary: “All these have I broken from my youth up, in thought, word, and deed.”
- Matthew Henry
Brothers and sisters, do you have an accurate view of yourself?
Do you see the sinfulness that lies deep within you? Do you see your need for a Savior or do you see yourself as good?
We must understand the sinfulness of ourselves before we can understand our next point which is… in order to have eternal life…
Scripture References: Exodus 20, Matthew 22:37-39, Philippians 3:6, Romans 7:7-11
III. You Must Have an Accurate View of Salvation (22-27)
III. You Must Have an Accurate View of Salvation (22-27)
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
It is important to note that Jesus is not teaching a works-based righteousness here. Jesus is testing this man’s heart. Is this man all in for the Gospel? Is there something that this man loves more than God? Jesus left out 5 of the commandments when He listed them to the rich young ruler. The first four were the vertical ones and he also left out of the 10th commandment… namely do not covet.
Jesus’s command to this man is to charge him to go all in. He had obeyed what was easier for him to obey - albeit not perfectly contrary to what he had asserted. But his heart was far from God. His heart was set on his money which we see in the next verse. Instead of storing up treasures in heaven, he had stored up plenty of treasure on earth. Sadly, this treasure will not last…
But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
This man had a superabundance. He was living the American dream as many say today. He had everything one could ever want. But there was one glaring problem.
Unfortunately, his possessions possessed him.
We must be sure that our possessions do not possess us. We must count the cost of the things that we buy. I know that sounds very elementary. Of course, we have to count the cost before we buy something. We need to make sure we can afford it. However, even more importantly, we need to know whether this possession will possess us. Consider the purchase of a really nice car. In buying that car, it may possess you as you seek to keep it clean and spotless - as you fret about a possible scratch that might occur - as you spend time worrying about whether it's OK in the parking lot or not. Instead of you owning the car, it may instead own you.
Or maybe it's another piece of equipment or a rare collectible. Whatever it is, we can know that it is possessing us when we think about it and care about it more than we think about the Lord. How quickly things, money, and even people can become idols to us.
Jesus tells us that everything else must fall to the wayside in order for us to follow Him. Nothing can be placed in front of Him.
Is there something in your life that is keeping you from following the Lord? Is there something in your life that is preventing you from being closer to Him?
My friends, do not store up treasure on this earth. It will decay. You will not be able to take it with you. Store up treasure in heaven. Follow Christ before everything else. Put Him first.
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For 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.”
Jesus saw that the man's countenance had changed abruptly. He saw the sadness and the man's eyes, thinking about parting with his stuff and great wealth.
Jesus then states that it is difficult for those with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God. As R. Kent Hughes asserts, instead of being a blessing, Jesus is saying that wealth is a handicap! We refer to the wealthy as privileged and yet Jesus claims that they are underprivileged.
The danger and handicap of wealth is that one can rely on their money instead of the Lord. They can quickly see that their daily bread comes from their bank account instead of from their gracious Heavenly Father.
They can become arrogant and put their hope in wealth as we see in 1 Timothy 6:17.
Money can be used to attempt to cover up all kinds of inadequacies. Bad marriages, distant children, unhappy lives - many wealthy persons try to fix these things through buying things, going on trips and vacations, and going to exclusive entertainment venues in order to try to fix their problems. All the while, like Revelation 3:17 says:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Because of the handicap of wealth, Jesus says that 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.
Sadly, some liberal theologians have tried to explain this with a made up story of a certain gate that was difficult for camels to get through. This is nowhere in ancient documents and is nowhere in archeology.
What Jesus is saying is what Jesus is saying.
It is impossible for one who is wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God apart from the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit.
Be sure you hear that again. And also be sure that you put yourself in that category as well. We are all rich in today’s world. If you were able to eat most meals this past week, you are rich beyond most in the history of our world and even in today’s world.
We must understand that, frankly, it is impossible for any of us to enter the Kingdom of God apart from the drawing of God and the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
However, Jesus says that it is even harder for those with wealth because they have a great temptation to worship the false god of money. They have a false provider in their finances.
Those in the crowd are extremely confused at this point…
Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
The crowd that hears this is at their wits end. Then who can be saved they ask. You see, the Jews had an errant view of wealth. As we have mentioned before, they viewed those who had wealth as those who had favor with God. So in their eyes, the most wealthy were the most righteous. With seeing this rich young ruler walk away from Jesus, and hearing Jesus’s teaching on the seemingly impossible salvation of the wealthy, they are confused. If this rich ruler doesn't have a shot at salvation, how in the world do they have one?
It would be like someone saying a few years back that Billy Graham didn’t have a shot at salvation. Many of us would say, if he can't make it in how in the world can we make it in?
Jesus then teaches the impossible possibilities of God. What is impossible with man is still possible with God. There is nothing too hard for God. There is no one too far from God for him to save.
We must understand that salvation is not by our own works. We need to remember that Jesus taught that salvation required the drawing of God and the repentant and humble response of man (John 6:44, James 4:10). Salvation is found in Christ alone through faith alone through grace alone (John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9).
We can be saved because of Christ’s finished work on the cross. He lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose three days later. And by repenting and humbling ourselves before Him, submitting completely to His Lordship, and placing our faith in Him alone, we can be saved.
How amazing is our Savior who offers us salvation!
Before finishing today, we have one final teaching. In order to have eternal life…
Scripture References: 1 Timothy 6:17, Revelation 3:17, John 6:44, John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9
IV. You Must Have an Accurate View of Sacrifice (28-30)
IV. You Must Have an Accurate View of Sacrifice (28-30)
And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”
If you were to guess which disciple would be the first one to speak in this awkward interchange, you would be right if you guessed Peter.
Peter reminds Jesus of the sacrifices that the disciples have made in following Him. It doesn’t appear that Peter is insincere in his comments. He speaks the truth. They had given up so much to follow Jesus. They had, in essence, become nomads for quite some time as they followed Jesus for the past 3+ years.
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Jesus lovingly answers Peter and all those who would follow Him that their sacrifice will not be in vain.
Our work does not earn us salvation. But following Christ will require a complete sacrifice of your life for Him. He doesn’t take the back seat in any area. You must entrust to Him your finances, your time, namely your entire life.
Sadly, this rich young ruler didn’t trust Christ with his wealth. He didn’t trust that Christ would provide for Him. Instead, he trusted in his own wealth and riches.
Unfortunately, this young man made the worst transaction anyone can make. He held on to what he couldn’t keep.
His wealth would pass away. He would be unable to take his wealth with him into eternity. Yet, the free gift of eternal life was offered to him, and he rejected it.
I pray that you don’t reject this free gift today. I pray that you don’t try to give God lip service with obeying some of the commandments and relying on your own goodness and righteousness to get you into heaven. That’s not how it works, friends. Jesus requires you to go all in. He is the Lord over all of your life, or He isn’t your Lord at all.
Those who choose Christ over the things of this world and even over the people of this world will be blessed in this life and even more in the age to come.
In our culture, we can't understand having to give up family on behalf of Christ. Very few people who convert to Christianity are outcasts from their families. However, in Muslim dominated countries, this is a very common issue. We also see this in Hindu cultures such as India. When one becomes a Christian, one may be disowned by their spouse, their children, their parents, and their community. They may be fired from their job. They may be destitute.
Yet no matter what, Jesus promises a blessing for those people. That does not mean that they will be wealthy on this side of eternity. It doesn’t mean that life will be easy. But He does state that they will have treasure in heaven that will far surpass anything on this earth, and they will be given peace and fellowship with their loving Father on earth and into eternity.
It is necessary to clarify one false teaching from these last two verses that can be seen among pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and others. Some use this Scripture to justify shirking one’s responsibility as a husband and a father. The whole of Scripture - including Ephesians 5-6 especially, teaches the importance of marriage and God’s high view of marriage. Christ compares marriage to the Gospel - namely Christ’s relationship to His bride, the Church. We do not preach an adequate Gospel when we do not love our wives as Christ loved the Church.
It is not a virtue to leave your children without a father at home for much of their lives in order to chase your ministry dreams. It is not a virtue to neglect your responsibilities as a husband for what you want to do. God will not call you to do things contrary to His Word. Allow Him to clearly show you how you can minister unto the Gospel and fulfill your calling as a husband and father.
We are only told of one of the wives of the disciples - namely Peter. Paul infers in 1 Corinthians 9:5 that Peter took along his wife in ministry. In fact, Peter even discusses godly marriage in 1 Peter 3:1-7.
Although following Christ requires great sacrifice, be sure that you don’t disobey Him in the process. God desires first obedience before any sacrifice as we see in 1 Samuel 15:22.
Scripture References: Ephesians 5-6, 1 Corinthians 9:5, 1 Peter 3:1-7, 1 Samuel 15:22, Romans 3
Conclusion:
Today’s message has been a heavy one. It has dealt with the best question anyone could ever ask - namely, what must we do to inherit eternal life.
We have learned that we must have an accurate view of the Savior. We must see Jesus as He is and not as we might want Him to be.
We must have an accurate view of our self. We are not good as Paul asserts in Romans 3. Only God is good.
We must have an accurate view of salvation. We are not saved by works or because we are good. We are saved through the finished work of Christ.
And finally, we must have an accurate view of sacrifice. We must be willing to obey Christ:
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
We must deny ourselves and take up our cross in order to follow Christ. This sacrifice of self provides the greatest blessings and rewards one could ever hope for. Jesus reminds us in verses 29-30 that the rewards from following Christ will far eclipse the sacrifices in this life for Him.
Do you believe that? Do you trust what Christ asserts here?
I pray that you do. Don’t be like the rich young ruler who traded everything - namely eternal life - for what amounted to nothing when he died.
Don’t be guilty of making the worst transaction ever.
The right question has been asked. But how we will respond to Christ’s answer?
Will you trust and obey, or will you walk away?