The Way of the Master
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Ray Comfort Evangelistic method
Expose with the Law then give grace
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Pray
1. What Must I Do to Be Saved? (v.16)
1. What Must I Do to Be Saved? (v.16)
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
Behold - Grk. “look”
Means to pay attention to what is about to be said
It is not an empty word
What is about to be revealed is important
Teacher - Rabbi
Luke includes that the man loved Jesus and fell down before Him
What “good deed” must I do to have eternal life
There is a desire for eternal life
We have a hunger in our souls for eternal life
There is a desire to earn salvation by our own works
“What must I do”
Application:
Are you here this morning to worship God because of a deep longing in your heart to know God and to give honor to Him, or do you come in order to be right with God and appease Him?
Many Christians are religious in order to earn salvation
Practically every other religion in the world (including so-called Christian sects like JWs, Mormons, and RCs) basically have a religious system set up to do good deeds to earn eternal life
How good do you think you are? Do you realize that you are not good and the depth of your sinfulness?
2. Who Is Good But God Alone? (v.17)
2. Who Is Good But God Alone? (v.17)
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
The man’s question reveals that he does not understand how fully sinful he is
He is not alone. Everyone is sinful and no one is good but God alone
Jesus is not denying the man’s claim that Jesus is good
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
If we think that we can do a good deed that will undo our evil deeds, we are self-deceived and do not fully understand God’s justice, righteousness, and holiness
Our sin is an offense to His rule and character
By breaking any of God’s laws, we have challenged His rule and authority and sinned against the person of God
David recognizes that while he has sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba and others, he has ultimately sinned against God himself
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Joseph would not sin against God with Potipher’s wife
9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
The Problem of Redemption
If good deeds were all it took to gain eternal life, then the rest of the New Testament makes no sense
Jesus would not have needed to come to earth
His death was a waste and unnecessary
His death is actually more akin to cosmic abuse by the Father since it wasn’t necessary
Faith is not necessary
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation means to turn away the anger of someone by offering a gift
God is righteously angry over our sin and His righteous anger means His wrath is ready to be poured out on the offender
Jesus is the One who appeases the wrath of God by offering Himself in the place of man
Is Sin a Big Deal?
This man’s question treats his sin as if it is not that big of a deal
Most of mankind believes that they are good
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
Our righteousness is like filthy rags before the Lord
12 I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you.
Israel’s “righteous” deeds would not be enough to cover the evil of their idolatry
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
3. Who is Without Sin? (vv. 18-22)
3. Who is Without Sin? (vv. 18-22)
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus gives the man the Law Test to show him the condition of his heart
The Law is intended to give us a moral standard of God’s holiness
It is separated into two major tables: Laws towards God and laws toward man
It can be further separated into 3 types of commands:
upward commands related to our relationship with God
inward commands related to our attitude and heart towards God (commandment 1 and 10) - can’t see these
outward commands concerning our relationship with others (only ones that can be visibly seen)
The man claims to have been “perfect” in keeping these commands
This is an over-estimation of self
Application: How many of you feel that you have been perfect in keeping these commands towards others that can be physically seen by others if they were to look at how you act towards other people?
Jesus gets to the heart of this man’s problem by giving him one last command
Before we look at what Jesus says, we need to see His motive towards the man
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.”
Because Jesus loved the man, He delivered the knock-out punch to the man’s self-righteousness
Jesus got to the man’s idol and called it out. For this man it was his wealth
Not everyone is called to do what this man is called to do.
He is called to sell all that he has and give it to the poor and follow Christ
Jesus is commanding the man to do this to demonstrate that his heart is on his wealth and not wholly devoted to God
Application: What idols would Jesus expose in your heart? What needs to be torn down and sold? How devoted is your heart to following Christ
The man went away sad (and unredeemed) because he wouldn’t part with his wealth
Jesus looked around at the Disciples and the crowd in one of those moments where everyone is thinking, “What just happened? What do we do?”
Jesus addresses what has happened by giving a very famous illustration that has often been distorted.
He first says this in verse 23,
23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is not calling the rich evil. God has given them their wealth.
Jesus is saying that often for the wealthy, their faith is in their riches.
11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.
For others, it may not be your wealth that is a strong tower of refuge in your mind; it might be your good works for God or your morality.
The Disciples and the people are amazed at this statement because it was commonly held that the rich were blessed by God so they surely must be going to heaven
Jesus responds with these words in vv. 24-25,
24 Again I tell you, 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.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
There are many who have distorted this passage to give it all different kinds of meaning, like there was a particular place called the eye of the needle and camels had to stoop to pass under it.
It think this is a wrong interpretation of the meaning of what Jesus is saying.
Jesus uses the largest common animal to people and the smallest orifice to describe the impossibility of the rich being saved, or anyone else for that matter.
Catch what Jesus is and is not saying here.
Jesus is not saying that the wealthy cannot be saved. Think about the wealthy that followed Christ.
Matthew & Zacchaeus- tax collectors
James & John - owned their own fishing business
Joseph of Arimathae and Nicodemus - Pharisees
What Jesus is saying:
Without God, it is impossible for ANYONE to be saved.
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
Peter’s natural reply was to think about what they had done in contrast to this wealthy man who would not give up everything to follow Christ.
Peter says,
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
Jesus responds by giving the promise of eternal life
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Don’t get caught up in the ruling part. This is partly specific to the Disciples, though in some part it applies to us.
We are also not to obsess over the return on our investments in the form of what we get in spiritual rewards.
What we are to focus on is the eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we will have.
Jesus closes by warning that many who are first will be last. There will be a great reversal that will happen one day and many that people think are blessed by God will be found to be quite the opposite.
People who are making the mistake of thinking that material blessings equal God’s approval will be corrected in their thinking.
Conclusion
So hear the end of the matter.
So let me wrap things up and summarize what we’ve looked at so far.
No one is good
The Law exposes our sin
We need a rescuer to cover our sin and redeem us from God’s wrath
Who is it that has done this for us?
The very one that is standing before the Disciples and the people and who is presented before us today
Questions:
Do you still think that you are good enough to earn your way into eternal life? Are you counting on that one good deed?
Have you looked into the Law of God’s Word and been exposed? Have you been to the Doctor, the Great Physician to get the proper diagnosis?
Have you trusted in the works that God has done in Christ for you rather than your own good deeds?
We must humble ourselves and give up everything to follow Him. If we do we will receive eternal life.
