Luke 18:18-23 (3)
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-Let me invite you to...
...turn in your Bibles back to Luke 18.
We’ve made our way...
...down to Verse 18 this morning.
This is another familiar passage.
It’s usually referred to as...
The Story of the Rich Young Ruler.
And in it we see the themes...
...of the last two sermons...
...being carried forward, once again.
Last week (let me remind you) we looked at...
...that story about Jesus and the little children.
And we saw, quite easily in that...
That those infants...
In their dependent, lowly condition...
...very much resembled...
...the Tax Collector from the first week.
And you’ll see in a minute, that...
...our rich young ruler...
...bears a lot of resemblance...
...to the Pharisee from that first week as well.
-Now, one final matter of introduction:
This is a long section with a lot in it.
We’re going to have to break it up...
...into two or three parts.
For today, we’re going to attempt Verses 18-23.
Let’s read them together.
This is the Word of the Lord:
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
22 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.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
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Pray
-Look back up at Verse 18, if you will...
And let me point out to you the fact...
...that all three synoptic gospel writers...
...attach what happens here...
...to what we looked at last week.
(They seem to be intending to connect them thematically)
Luke’s is probably the most obvious.
He goes from the statement in Verse 17, about...
17 ...receive the kingdom of God like a child...”
...to saying...
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
So, not only does the...
...flow of the narrative stress continuity...
...the elements of it, do as well:
Think about it:
Receiving the Kingdom of God
Inheriting Eternal Life
...are basically the same idea.
And it’s hard to deny...
...that a contrast is being made between...
A Child...
A Ruler...
Especially in Luke’s account!
Matthew and Mark both refer to him simply as...
16 . . . a man came up to him . . .
Click Back
But Luke points out that...
...that he’s also a part of...
The Jewish upper class
Maybe even the ruling class.
Maybe even the religious ruling class (Nicodemus)
(All three are possibilities)
Do you see my point?
A grown man is contrast enough...
...from the infants of last week...
But a ruler goes even further!
And a rich ruler goes even further than that!
Whereas children and tax collectors...
...were at the bottom wrung of Jewish Society...
...this guy was at the very top!
-Now, before we get back to the narrative...
...think about this for a second:
How would this man have been perceived...
...by his contemporaries?
He was...
Young
Rich
Powerful
What would they have assumed about him...
...based on those factors?
That he was a righteous man...
Upon whom the blessings of God had been poured out!
Remember:
1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments . . . the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you...
11 ...the Lord will make you abound in prosperity...
13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail . . .
Does that sound like our “Rich Young Ruler” ?
I think that’s what both he/they...
...would have assumed.
-Now, Mark includes a detail that Luke has omitted.
I think it’s important for context:
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him...
That’s a good posture for him to take, isn’t it?
It shows...
Sincerity
Eagerness
Zeal
APPARENT Submission
He’s not just doing this for show.
His heart is burdened.
-Here’s what he asks:
18 . . . “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
-Now, there’s more that’s wrong with this question...
...than what initially meets the eye.
For starters, Jewish Rabbis...
...were often called “Master” (Teacher)...
...but they were seldom called “good.”
(That was usually reserved for God)
(In fact, I think this is...
...the only time in the gospels...
...where a Rabbi is called good)
It seems like this was an attempt at flattery!
What’s that?
(An attempt to...
...appeal to someone’s pride and vanity...
...in order to make them become...
...more favorably disposed to help you)
Guys, does this guy...
...have any real clue who Jesus is...
...if he thinks he can be manipulated by vanity?
-Now, the second problem in the question...
Is the false premise that it assumes.
Think about it:
18 ...what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Matthew even specifies:
16 . . . “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
Guys, that question assumes something absolutely false:
It assumes that:
Salvation and Heavenly Reward...
Can be earned through OUR OWN efforts.
It assumes that, if...
Our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, or
We accomplish a really, really GREAT deed...
Then that will tip the scales of divine justice...
...in our favor.
That’s an idea that lies inherent...
...within our fallen hearts...
...but it is patently false!
And the irony here is, that...
The Jews...
...who had the mirror of the Law...
...should have realized...
...after centuries of failing to keep that Law...
...that the premise “what shall I DO to inherent” God’s blessing...
...was fundamentally flawed.
They should have been asking:
What must GOD DO...
...to make me inherit eternal life?
They should have been looking...
For GOD to provide an alien righteousness for them...
Provide the satisfaction of his own justice on their behalf.
They had tried for centuries…
And failed — Miserably!
And even after all those years...
...the overwhelming majority of them...
...still clung blindly…
...to the hope of their own righteousness.
That somehow, some day...
THEY would be able to pull it off!
And it would appear as though...
...our rich man thought the exact same way.
-Alright, look at Verse 19.
First, Jesus responds...
...to the man’s attempted flattery:
19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Now, this statement brings up...
...two very important questions:
1.) Was Jesus implying that he wasn’t actually good?
2.) Was Jesus implying that he wasn’t actually God?
Well, if we apply...
...our 2nd and 4th rule of hermeneutics to this...
...we realize very QUICKLY...
...that neither of those...
...could have been what he meant.
Why?
Because, Mary was told:
35 . . . the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Because John stated plainly:
5 ...in him there is no sin.
The author of Hebrews described Jesus as:
26 ...holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
And Peter referred to him as...
14 ...the Holy and Righteous One....
And then as...
15 ...the Author of life...
So, what was he saying then?
Consider this from R.C. Sproul:
A Walk with God: Luke 80. The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18–30)
Jesus is not denying either his sinlessness or his deity at this point. He understands that as far as the rich young ruler is concerned, he is just a good teacher. Perhaps the man may also suspect that Jesus is a prophet, but it is quite obvious that he is not aware that he is talking to God incarnate...
A Walk with God: Luke 80. The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18–30)
He also sees that the man has a defective understanding of what goodness is. So Jesus wants to get this straight first. No-one is good compared to God.
A Walk with God: Luke 80. The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18–30)
When we use the term, good, we use it in a relative way . . . But we make a fatal mistake here:
A Walk with God: Luke 80. The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18–30)
the standard by which our goodness will ultimately be judged is not the standard of run-of-the-mill
A Walk with God: Luke 80. The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18–30)
No human being is good in that ultimate sense, and Jesus is reminding this young man of a deeper understanding of the nature of goodness, lest his superficial understanding of goodness be the very thing that keeps him out of the kingdom of God
I think he’s spot on there:
Think about the wording in Matthew’s account:
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?
There is only one who is good...
God is the standard.
Remember what Jesus said in...
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
That’s the only objective standard...
...for good and bad...
...for ethics and morality...
...for right and wrong...
...for guilt or innocence...
...for blessing or condemnation
God HIMSELF is the standard.
And remember, that His Moral Law...
...is an expression of his own moral perfections.
Ergo, Jesus rightly says (back in Matt19):
17 ...There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
All you have to do is:
Conform perfectly to the divine image
Obey God perfectly from birth to death...
It’s really that simple.
Remember what Jesus said back in Luke 10?
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
That’s essentially what Jesus is saying in our text today.
“You want to DO something to earn eternal life?”
“Never ever sin, and always perfectly obey!”
Is that a tall order?
That’s probably why The Rich Young Ruler asks:
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” . . .
What’s the answer to that?
All of them!
If you don’t keep them all perfectly...
Then you...
23 ...have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
-Now, watch what Jesus...
...goes on to tell him back in Verse 20:
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
What do all of those have in common?
They’re from the second tablet of the Law, right?
They tell us our duty to our fellow man, right?
Matthew even includes (at the end of the list):
19 ...and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Now, which Commandment is missing?
The Tenth Commandment!
What is it?
17 “You shall not covet...
(Some people do think that...
...this is what Mark is referring to...
...when he adds:)
19 ...Do not defraud...
Click Back
(But that seems more akin to...
...a summary of the second tablet...
...than it does a specific command to...
...be content with what you have.)
-Now, if that’s right, then what has Jesus done?
He’s pointed the man to the Moral Law...
...as the standard of righteousness...
...that must be met...
...in order to have eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
And upon being pressed for specifics...
He verbalizes the fifth through ninth Commandments.
Why does he do that?
Why doesn’t he just say, “All Ten?”
-I can’t be sure, of course...
But it seems like he’s making a point...
...by the ones that he omitted.
Which are those?
The Tenth Commandment (Prohibiting Greed)
The First Four Commandments...
Which describe our duty to God...
And can be rightly summarized as:
27 ...love the Lord your God with all your heart...
Why would he not...
...expressly state those Commandments?
I’m guessing that he withheld them (temporarily)...
In order to more powerfully (In verse 22)...
...show the man...
...how blind he was to his own sin.
(Bear with me for now)
-Look at Verse 21:
With that redacted list of Commandments in view...
...the man responds:
21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
Now, is that true?
Or, has his arrogance deceived him...
...about these commandments as well?
He may not have committed...
Actual Physical Murder
Actual Physical Adultery
Actual Physical Theft
Actually Perjured Himself in Court
Externally Rebellion Against His Parents...
But, he had certainly broken...
...each and every one of them.
He obviously didn’t understand...
The heart and essence of the Law...
...as Jesus had explained it in the S.O.M. (elaborate)
He probably thought that...
Being a generally faithful Jewish Boy after Bar Mitzvah...
(Going to Synagogue)
(Paying His Tithes)
(Not falling into any scandalous sins)...
...WAS all it took to keep God’s Law.
Guys, he understood very little about...
God and his holiness
The extent of his own sinfulness.
-But yet, blind as he was...
...he knew something wasn’t right.
-Look at Matthew’s account:
20 ...“All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
He knew something was still missing.
Deep down, he knew he wasn’t right with God.
-Now, watch what Jesus tells him.
And keep in mind...
...before we read it...
...what Mark tells us...
...about what was motivating Jesus...
...in his response:
21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him...
This...
(Verse 22 in our text)
22 . . . “One thing you still lack...
Here it is.
Here’s what you’re missing.
Here’s what’s lying beneath the surface...
...keeping you from being right with God.
(And notice that he says, “ONE” thing)
(ULTIMATELY, it does boil down to that)
Here’s...
16 ...what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect...
Here’s what you need to do:
One thing (ultimately)
Expressed in Three Commands:
(Verse 22 in our text)
22 ...Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Do you see what He did there?
He described what it would look like...
...for the man to repent.
What would that look like?
...Sell all that you have...
AND...
and distribute to the poor...
Just to liquidate it isn’t enough!
He has to part with it!
AND...
have treasure in heaven...
Do you see how Jesus...
…is taking him to the very essence...
Of the requirements of the Law?
Of his own fallen heart?
Of biblical repentance?
-But, there’s more!
That’s only dealing with...
...his transgression of the 10th Commandment.
What about his transgression...
...of the First Tablet of the Law?
Had he not transgressed the 1st Commandment?
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
That was the “one” ultimate issue!
His money controlled him
It was his master
It was his god
That’s why the final part...
...of Jesus’ remedy for the man was, not simply...
22 ...Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor...
But also:
...come, follow me.”
You see, it’s not enough to simply...
...throw of the yoke of your old master.
Christ must become your master!
That’s what it means to:
27 ...love the Lord your God with all your heart...
It means to throw off all other masters...
And bow the knee...
...to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!
The first commandment is ultimately about him...
And he said in Luke 14:33
33 ...any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
And that is the ONE THING...
...that the Rich Young Ruler...
...simply refused to do.
He wanted to go to heaven...
But, not if it meant...
...giving up his earthly treasure.
Look at Verse 23.
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad...
The word Luke uses there...
...expresses deep, deep agony and grief
It’s used to describe Jesus’ agony in the garden.
Why was the Rich Young Ruler so grieved?
Jesus had told him exactly...
20 ...What do I still lack?”
Here’s why:
Matthew says:
22 ...he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Luke says:
23 ...for he was extremely rich.
That’s why
He couldn’t have Christ AND his best life now...
So, he chose the money.
-Brethren, that brings to mind...
...the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 3.
Remember what he said:
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
That’s the way the Rich Young Ruler...
...should have responded.
And that’s the way...
...Christ calls us to respond as well.
Let’s Pray
