“A ruler questioned Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall 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 things I have kept from my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” (Luke 18:18-22 NASB)
Now, before I get into the main message here, I want to respond to Jesus’ first response to this rich ruler. When Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone,” he was not saying that he was not good nor that he was not God. If anything, I believe he was leading the man to realize that Jesus was God because indeed he was good, for he is the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now when we come into this life we are all born with sin natures, separated from God, and without hope. All of us have sinned, and we all come up short of attaining the approval of God and the hope of heaven (Romans 3:23). Not one of us can keep the whole law with absolute perfection, so the law can never save us. Only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ and his blood shed for our sins, can we have the hope of eternal life in heaven with Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-10). Yet, the question always remains: “What is faith?”
Earlier Jesus had stated that if anyone would come after him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow him (in obedience). He said that if we want to hold on to our old lives (of living in sin and for self) that we will lose them for eternity, but if we deny self, and if we willingly die to our old lives, and if we now follow our Lord in obedience to his commands in holy living, we will gain eternal life (Luke 9:23-26).
The apostles taught the same truth with regard to our eternal salvation. Paul said the way we come to know Christ is “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:20-24).
I believe this is the essence of what Jesus was telling this rich young ruler. So many people are willing to “do” things “for” God on their own terms. They may keep at least some of the rules, to the best of their ability, and they may even live morally clean lives, but they won’t yield their lives to Jesus Christ and give him everything. Jesus is saying, though, that to be his followers we must be willing to lay it all down to follow him.
He wants our all on the altar. We can’t be his fully devoted followers if we are holding on to “other gods.” For the rich young ruler, his god was his wealth. He was not willing to give it up. For others it may be something else. It could be our entertainment choices, reputation, career, houses, possessions, pride, and/or self-will, etc. A “god” is anything we give our hearts, minds, loyalties, emotion and devotion to in place of or above God. These we must forsake. Jesus must become our “all in all.”
“But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who are wealthy 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ But He said, ‘The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.’” (Luke 18:23-27 NASB)
So, what is the essence of what Jesus said here? I believe this message reaches far beyond just physical wealth, though that is a very difficult thing, evidently, for the rich to let go of. Many things of this world may have strongholds on our lives, and we may not be willing to let go of them to follow Jesus, and that is indeed very sad.
I believe the principle here is that it is hard for those who possess much in the way of the things of this world to enter the kingdom of heaven, because it is hard for them to let go and to leave it all behind. This also means that to enter the kingdom of heaven, it requires that we let go and that we let God have his way in our lives. Sadly enough, this is not being taught much anymore, and so many people have been given a false hope of heaven based off a lie.
The message Jesus gave the rich young ruler is the same message he is giving to all of us, which is we must lay aside (die to) our old self-life, and that we are to then follow Jesus Christ in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives. This is impossible in our own human will and strength. We can do nothing to earn or to deserve our salvation. Yet God, who is rich in mercy, made the way possible for us to be saved.
Jesus Christ paid the price for us so we could be set free from our bondage to sin, so by his grace, and in his power and strength, and because of what he did for us in conquering sin on our behalf, we can be saved. All this is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, yet we must cooperate fully with his work of grace in transforming us away from living in sin and for self to now following our Lord Jesus in submission to his will and in obedience to his commands in holy living – all for the glory and praise of God!
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23; Colossians 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown
Music by American Melody
“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).
I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ks49apflE
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