Luke 18:18-27

Morning I invite you to turn with me once again with the book of Luke, chapter 18. I’ll be reading verses 18 to 27. A certain ruler asked him, saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why calleth thou me good? None is good, save one. That is God. Thou knowest the commandment. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and my mother. And he said, all these have I kept from my youth up. Now, when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, yet lackest thou. one thing, sell all that thou hast, and distribute under the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God? Or it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they had heard it said, and they that heard it said, what then can, who then can be saved? And he said, things which are impossible with men are possible with God. God blessed to us the meaning of His sacred and holy word. This is our last study on this subject. We’ve been looking at Christ and His evangelism, comparing it to modern day evangelism. I read about a Christian mother who sent in a letter of confession to her pastor, saying that she was brokenhearted because her son wasn’t converted. And she had good intentions and trying to pressure him into a decision. He pressured, she pressured. him into a decision, got him to pray, the sinner’s prayer. But the problem is he never changed. He still was rebellious and was always getting into trouble. And she was grieved because of what she had done. Or it’s a typical error of evangelical evangelism to rush someone through some kind of profession when indeed they’re not regenerate. And so she regretted doing it because her son said afterwards that he felt that God let him down, that, you know, he promised to save him, but he didn’t save him. And so she saw it as her own fault. She did not. But the Lord work, his spirit work. She pressured him. And this was the result. So he’s bitter toward God. And now, you know, he’s not going to show any interest in the things of God. It’s a common error. And we want to avoid that. We see it, Christ, and the way he dealt with the rich, young ruler. There is no pressure here to make some kind of decision. Few people realize the reason for our problems is the fault of evangelism we’re using today. But our text, I think, relates to the account here, the rich young ruler. Who Christ is using here, really for an example, for us. and dealing with the soul. He’s a morally upright person, very religious, eager to obtain eternal life. However, Jesus applied the implications of the law, Jesus taught him that he is not good. There’s only one good, and that is God. Jesus has spoken about the need to repent. by selling all that he had because he’s dealing with the sin of covetousness. And we find here that he, his response is such that it leaves us disappointed. He doesn’t seem to be willing to give up anything at all. You can’t grant assurance of eternal life based on. based upon a person’s desire or interest, as verse 21 or 22 tells us. In many cases, false assurance is given by those in today’s modern evangelism. By today’s standards, Jesus failed. They let the fish get away. He didn’t reel him in. After all, the man went forward on the road to come to Christ. He greatly desired and asked for eternal life from Jesus. He appears humble and reverent, kneeling before Christ. And after Christ’s words with the man, he is deeply affected. He is grieved, we’re told. Doesn’t Jesus know? You can’t just talk with a person that you’ve got to lead him through the sinner’s prayer? You’ve got to get him to make a decision. Doesn’t Jesus use the sinner’s prayer here? Why didn’t Jesus ask the rich young ruler to repeat a model prayer? Asking the Lord to come into his heart. In closing, he could have led the man to say, say thank you for coming into my heart and for hearing my prayers. And then as many would do, they would read John 316 in place of the word world. They would put the young man’s name. And afterwards, Jesus would tell him, never doubt your salvation. Be assured that you have it. Isn’t this what you find happening in today’s Christian circles? Yet practice, this practice is not biblical. It is not what Jesus did. It’s a great demand today for true doctrine because the system of doctrine we have today says little about the character of God, never talks about the law of God, doesn’t call for repentance on the part of the center, thinks faith. is man’s contribution to salvation, doesn’t see the need of coming to Christ as Lord, as well as Savior, isn’t interested in making disciples, just saving souls, and does not talk about the hardships of following Christ. Jeremiah clearly described these types of people when he said, they have healed also the hurt of my people slightly saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. He promised them peace, but they don’t have peace, because they’re not converted. If you read about the missionary David Brannard, that’s an interesting section here in dealing with the Indians. You’ll recall that he is, oh, is a great. missionary. He wrote about his dealings with the American Indians. July 2nd, he writes here, was obligated to leave the Indians in Cross Wuxung, thinking it’s my duty as soon as health would permit, again to visit the Forksong, again to visit the Forkson, they all earnestly inquired when I would come back again and expressed a great desire of being further instructed. When I parted, they told me with many tears that she wished God would, one said she wished that God would change her heart. Another said that she wanted to find Christ, an old man who had been once a chief of the tribes, wet bitterly with concern for his soul. I then promised to return as speedily as my health and business elsewhere would admit. What was Braynor doing? Modern evangelist would have had these Indians already professing faith, baptized in church, and taking communion, maybe even on a church committee by now. But listen to his explanation. I must confess, that often seen encouraging appearances among the Indians elsewhere prove wholly abortive. It appeared the favor would be so granted if God would now, after I had passed through so considerable a series of almost fruitless labors and fatigue. and after my risings of hopes had been so often frustrated among these poor pagans, give me any special success in my labors. This discouraging disposition and readiness to receive instruction, now among the Indians, and seen that have been a happy effect of the conviction they were under and not any conversion at all. When he went back to them, you know, they, even though they told their friends of the evil of idolatry, he learned by experience that only God can open their heart, and they still weren’t changed in heart. Only he can incline the heart of the poor, darkened sinner. prejudiced pagans to receive instruction. So far from pressing people into salvation of some sort, it’s best to see what develops. If this interest is genuine and a work of grace is in progress, there’ll be a change in life. You find false assurance, you know, granted by modern evangelism. You should not think you can rush a person into the kingdom of God. Notice here that God, Christ here, lets the rich young ruler go home and grieve. Since the man had great possessions, he’s going to have to ponder whether he really wanted eternal life or he wants to maintain his possessions. and his covetous ways, as we have pointed out. Unless a person has been brought to repentance and bows before Jesus is Lord, you can’t promise eternal life. The rich young ruler here is troubled, and it is hard for him to receive Christ’s teaching. He’s in grief. He doesn’t dismiss what Jesus has said. It realizes the master is speaking truth. But he’s not ready to give up his wealth. Christ is absolutely holy and the only one who is good. I can see that this man is wrestling with his covetousness, wrestling him with his state before God and whether he’s going to love the Lord or love maimon and he realizes unless he has a change of mind and change about you know wealth he can’t be a disciple he can’t have eternal life. So the words of Christ here have brought great grief to the man what’s more important to him the benefits and pleasures of this life or treasure in heaven that’s what he has to the way and so we learn from this show some patience in dealing with souls let the Lord work salvation in their life notice secondly you must rely on upon the sovereignty of God to grant eternal life to a person. Versus 23 to 27. You were told, entering the kingdom of God is humanly impossible. He just looked around, see what effect his words had on his own disciples, and he relates here how hard or difficult it is for a rich person to be saved. This shocks the disciples, because they’re thinking, well, These are the people that God has favored in this life with various earthly blessings and so forth. You know, and so they’re thinking that, well, surely, you know, he’s going to help the rich. They should be in an advantageous position, but that would be an erroneous assumption. Jesus repeats himself by how hard it is for rich man. enter the kingdom of God. Because they cling to the riches, they trust in their riches. And they will not want to lose their riches for the sake of the kingdom of God. Not everyone has to give up their riches, but those who are covetous and trust in them are going to have to deal with that issue. So the disciples are thinking if these rich people who appear to be enjoying going to be, God’s earthly favor cannot enter the kingdom of God. Who can do it? What Jesus plainly teaches here is it’s humanly impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of God on their own. In 1947, there was a rumor that spread that the Ford Motor Company would give a brand new Ford car in exchange for every car. copper penny dated in 1943. The rumors spread so fast that Ford offices in the country were overwhelmed jammed with phone calls. Thousands of people made inquiries. Washington reported that the Mint also was overwhelmed with people asking about the pennies. What all turned out to be an elaborate hoax. Because in the midst of the war, all the copper was used for military purposes. And so they made zinc steel pennies that year, and there are no copper pennies. So no one’s ever going to get a grand new Ford car. It just wasn’t going to be. It’s impossible to find that. Similar way, it’s impossible here for man to regenerate himself. self and come into the kingdom of God on his own. And this is the truth that Christ would have us understand. To be born again or regenerated is important. You can’t enter the kingdom of God without this spiritual birth. You know, can the Ethiopian change his skin, the leopard is fought. then may you also do good that are accustomed to doing evil, Jeremiah 1525. You know, can a lock Ethiopian be bleached in the sun or put some kind of medication on him to change his collar? No, he can’t. And the sinner can’t change himself. Sadly, today’s modern evangelism seems to teach us a God has done all that he can to save your soul. He’s now standing by idly, waiting for the sinners to respond and decide to come to Christ in salvation. Supposedly, you have to exercise free will, have a change of mind about your sin and lifestyle, and make a decision for Christ. But we find that this is not the case. Man has no native ability to repent, no ability to become to Christ on his own. Scriptures take it tell us very clearly that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned. And that no man can come to Christ without the Father calling him and drawing him and drawing him to themselves. So this is the problem. man has and the answer of course is that only God can save the soul your confidence in evangelism must be in the sovereignty of God verse 27 when we look at this rich young ruler it seems that he’s goes away and he’s lost but Christ says here with God all things are possible opening the door of hope in this case. Contrary to, I think, the rich young ruler’s initial response, there is a reason to believe this man did come to Christ after this interview. If you think back, Jesus dealt with Nicodemus in Chapter 3 of John, who came to Jesus by night. And if you look at the chapter, there’s nothing in there that says he came to Christ. Nothing at all. But later on, we find that he is a member of the Sanhedra and a ruler of the Jews, opposed their opposition to Christ, was involved in the burial of Christ, you recall, and seems to be a true believer. And so if we compare that with the rich young ruler’s case, we might say, well, he did come to Christ. And Christ did say, whoever comes to me, I will know I is cast out. And so there is a possibility that he was converted. We just don’t know. And I can’t say for sure, but with God, all things are possible. Some have suggested that he may be the Joseph of Aramathia. It helped bury Christ, who was a rich man, you’ll recall. I don’t know. I can’t say. But I can say this much. If the Lord has decided it’s possible for this man to be saved, then it is possible. And we might have to just leave the matter to the Lord here, but I just want to open that door of hope. With God, all things. things are possible. We see the power of sovereign grace here. God’s sovereign power to reach out in grace and regenerate and save a soul is our confidence. We can’t save anybody. They can’t save themselves. But we know one thing. When we give out the gospel, it is the power of God under salvation. and so we must trust in God to work. Who knows what he will do. We may be brought to believe on the mighty power of God working in people’s lives in regenerating them and wait for that work to take place. We can’t control the heart. We can’t change the person’s mind. But we know that God can grant. repentance. But repentance is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of God. And unless God gives them that gift, there’s not going to be any change. So why proclaim the message of Christ the dead sinners? Because God has the power to change the dead sinner and make him alive and bring him to salvation. And so we just trust in God. We give out the message and we rely on God to bless that effort that we’ve made. So, the woman who, mother who pressed her son into a decision, regretted it. It didn’t work. And it wasn’t helpful at all. All it did is turn him away from the faith altogether. Let us follow Christ here. Let us learn to be patient in dealing with people’s souls. Let us let God do the work by his spirit. If we believe in a doctrine of election, then we’re going to know that no one’s going to perish. If we give them the gospel, and we have to wait on the Lord’s work, he will bring them salvation if it’s his will in due time. So, we just trust in him and don’t press people into some kind of quick decision or it will not be effective in the long run. Well, let’s close with word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your gospel message and we thank you for the work of Christ and evangelism. We pray, Lord, that we may learn from this. and do better in our own evangelism in dealing with people’s hearts. Lord bless our efforts. Encourage us in the faith. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. Let’s stand for the benediction. Brother, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit. Amen.