Sermon for Lord's Day September 11, 2022 Luke 18:18-30 Who can be saved?

The Lord’s Prayer and the Reading of Luke 18:18-30

Think highly of the love of God, higher and greater than we do of anything in this world. Let's, if you would, let's say the Lord's Prayer together before we read the scripture text this morning. Good for us to have it in our mind.

As we go to the Lord in prayer.

Our Father, which art in heaven,.

Hallowed be your name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power.

And the glory forever.

Amen. Stand with us this morning to Luke chapter 18 as we turn to Luke 18. And we're gonna be reading verses 18 through verse 30 in your hearing this morning. Luke chapter 18, verse 18 through 30. This is the word of the living God.

And the ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 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 have I kept for 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.

Thus far as the reading of God's holy word, you may be seated. And I would like to, here at the very start, make a correction. I, last week, spoke incorrectly, communicated, taught incorrectly in the particular case of the passage where we read last week.

Want to read that? I've communicated to everyone that the disciples were rebuking Jesus in our text when, in fact, the disciples were rebuking the children who were coming to Jesus. But let me say something.

What a blessing it is to have a congregation of people that actually pay attention enough.

To notice that.

There are folks sitting in churches across this, up and down Chapman Highway today who can't tell you what the preacher said, who won't know what the sermon was about. But I thank God for brilliant listeners today.

I'm thankful to be a part of this congregation. So praise God. Keep paying close attention. Praise God.

So, again.

All right. So, this morning, our text is, of course, verse 18 through verse 30, the rich ruler. As in the parallel accounts, we have a couple of different instances. We're not going to go to those necessarily today.

But I encourage you to go to the parallel accounts so that you can see specifics of the text that is referred to as a young ruler in one place. In another of the gospel accounts, it shows him approaching Jesus, bowing before him, coming before him, kneeling before him, and asking this question.

Nonetheless, here in Luke's account, we see the ruler came and he asked him this question. So, before we get into that, I want to do something kind of backwards today. Normally, application of the message will come at the end of the sermon.

But I want to communicate the application of this passage here at the front because I believe it really helps us understand why things go as they do. It helps us understand the question that the ruler asked, and it helps us to answer the answer, or it helps us to understand the answer that Jesus gives.

So, if you're taking notes and you want to put a title on your notes, I titled this sermon, Who Then Can Be Saved? And in parentheses, Law and Gospel. So, the practical application of this passage is worked out in how we share the gospel.

It is very important for us as Christian men, Christian women, Christian boys, and Christian girls to be able to rightly explain and to rightly communicate and to rightly share the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's very, very important.

A biblically balanced gospel presentation will include both the law and the gospel. A biblically balanced presentation of the gospel will include both the law and the gospel. Simultaneously, together, not one without the other, but they always go together.

And I'll say this, I recognize this, but it's good for us to hear it. The law does not save anyone. The law does not save anyone. However, it does show us our sin. And until a person realizes that they are, quote unquote, lost in their sin, they cannot be saved.

So, a gospel presentation minus the law will not point someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There must be a knowledge of sin and a recognition of our need of salvation. So, this is why we must share both law and gospel when we are out about in our daily lives communicating with people and testifying to the truth.

Of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, I'm gonna use this for an example. This is a cliche term, right? With every one of us, no doubt, I believe, I don't know if the youngest person in here maybe has not ever heard this used. Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

You can approach all the people in the world that you wish to approach with that statement. And a lot of times, people, there are actually churches who will tell you, you say this when you share the gospel with somebody.

Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Now, the challenge with this is, it's very easy for folks to dismiss that statement.

Right?

If I walked up to you on the street, sir, and I just said, look, Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, and that's all I say, and I feel like I'm sharing the gospel with you, it's gonna be very easy for you if you don't know Christ, if you don't know me particularly, what's this guy coming up and telling me that Jesus loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life for it?

It's easy to dismiss that, and it's easy to disregard that statement.

Why?

Because it can be said of anyone in any given set of circumstances. Let's take another, for example, here. Let's say that sir comes to me and he says, April loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Right?

April loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Now, is this true? Yes, she loves me. And yes, she has stuff for me to do.

Right?

You see how this goes right here. However, this statement does not bring me to an understanding of the reality and of the gratefulness of my own sinfulness and of my need for the Savior. We must share the law and the gospel.

We are taught in the scriptures that the law is a schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. We're kept under governors and tutors of the law until we come to a saving knowledge of Christ. So the law, if you're writing notes down, the law points us to our sin and the gospel points us to Christ.

The law points us to our sin and the gospel points us to Christ. The law says, do this and you will live. The gospel says that Jesus did what we could not do and that he perfectly kept the law of God.

Why do men need a Savior? Because we are unable to keep God's law in and of ourselves. We certainly might be able to keep a point or two. I doubt that very seriously. If you read further into the gospels, Jesus delves into the heart of some of these matters that folks will pass over and jump right over assuming that they are not guilty.

But the scriptures teach us that all of sin and all comes short of the glory of God. If you turn over to Galatians chapter three.

For just a moment.

Galatians chapter three. We're gonna read verse 10 through 28. To illustrate, the scripture will illustrate that the law says you will do this, do this and you'll live but the gospel says that Jesus said we could not do it and he perfectly kept the law of God for us.

The apostle Paul writes to the Galatian church and he says, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide in all things written in the book of the law and do them.

So cursed is the one who does not obey the book of the law and do everything that is in it. Now, verse 11, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. For the righteous shall live by faith but the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them.

But Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

He goes on, to give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to his offsprings, plural, referring to many, but referring to one.

And to your offspring, who is Christ? So the promise that God gave to Abraham was pointing to Jesus Christ.

That's the key.

This is what I mean, Paul states. This is what I mean. The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise.

But God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Why then the law?

Because it was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and no female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. So in that, we see that summarized. The work of the law is to bring us to a knowledge of sin, the work of the gospel is to bring us to the knowledge of salvation, which is in Jesus Christ, which is in Jesus Christ.

So as we enter into this text, J .C. Ryle made a comment. He said, does the rich young ruler stand alone in how he answers, how he lives, the way that we see this conversation go on in the text. Ryle said, does the rich young ruler stand alone?

Do we think that people are not like him today? If we do, we are greatly deceived. There are thousands, it may be feared in all our congregations who have not the least idea about the spiritual nature of God's law and consequently know nothing about their own sinfulness.

They do not see that God requires truth in the inmost places and that we may break commandments in our hearts and thoughts as well as by our actions.

To be delivered from such blindness.

Is one of the first things needed for salvation. The eyes of our understanding need to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and we must learn to know ourselves. No one who has been taught correctly by the Holy Spirit will ever talk about having kept all God's commandments.

And particularly, Ryle said, from his youth. Having the Holy Spirit brings to light, right, through the law, the knowledge of sin. And the Christian man, the Christian woman, the Christian boy and the Christian girl cannot in good conscience say, I have kept all the commandments since I was but a youth.

Particularly because as an adult, you look back and you think, I was once a youth. And I know that the youth aren't as good.

As they think they are.

Because I ain't as good as I thought I was. What was that country song? I'm as good as I once was? Bye anyway.

Let's go on.

That is neither here nor there. Some of you, if you listen to country music, you get that. I hate country music, but I just thought of that. So, in this 18th chapter here, we found that God, beginning in verse one,.

We found that God is the righteous judge.

From verse one to nine.

In verse nine through 14, we find that God gives grace to the humble and that he resists the proud. In verse 15 through 17, we read how Jesus sets the little children as an example for how we are to come to God for salvation.

And so here in our text, verse 18, here in our text today, we're gonna hear and we're gonna see the conversation between Jesus and this ruler. And at the latter end, we'll hear a little bit when Peter chimes in and Jesus responds to Peter.

If you're taking notes, there are seven things we're gonna look at here. Number one, the ruler's question. Number one, the ruler's question. Number two, Jesus' response to the ruler. And that is a twofold response.

Number three, we're gonna see the ruler's response to Jesus. So we have this conversation. Number four, we're gonna hear Jesus responding with a statement that is very difficult then for them to hear, and it is very difficult for folks now, even in our day, to take and to hear.

Here, verse five, Jesus, the statement that Jesus makes, who then, or not verse five, but point five, who then can be saved? That is the question. Who then can be saved? And then number six, Peter chimes in.

Number seven, Jesus responds to Peter. So as we enter in here, this text, let's consider the words of Alexander McLaren and what he said concerning an empty and an outward seeking of Christ. He said, outward connection with Jesus gave no claim in his kingdom.

We have to learn the lesson, which he who live amidst the wildly diffused professing Christianity sadly need. This was written in the 1800s, about 1850s. McLaren said, no outward connection with Christ in Christian ordinances or profession will avail to establish a claim to have the door open for us, very plainly.

It doesn't matter how many times you go through communion. It doesn't matter how many times you've been baptized. It doesn't matter how many times you darken the church doors. That does not give you the right to say that you are in the kingdom of God, for you must be born again.

Amen.

McLaren went on to say, a man may be most respectable and even be a respected church member and have listened to Christian teachings all his days and have a life, having life, a vague wish to be saved, yet to be hopelessly unfit to enter and therefore to enter mediably to be shut out of the kingdom of God.

Amen.

We're not saved by what we do. We are not saved by our works. We are saved by Jesus Christ because of the blood that he shed on the cross at Calvary. Here in the text, notice verse 18, a ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Just this statement is very, very important as we look at that. So the word that's, the term that's used here, good teacher, means to be, good means a good constitution or nature, means to be pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, to be excellent, to be distinguished.

So he was lauding and pouring praise on Jesus. And then he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So those who inherit eternal life must apply themselves to Jesus Christ as their master. This is what the scriptures teach, not as a passing phase, not as a get out of hell free card, not as a whim, but they must own Christ as their master.

Matthew Henry said, so it signifies here as he said, good master, didascleis, the Greek word that's used, it means to be a ruling master. And so they certainly shall find him. There is no learning the way to heaven.

Henry said, there is no learning the way to heaven, but in the school of Christ by those that enter themselves into it and continue in it.

As a matter of fact, this is,.

This goes right into some of the catechism questions that we've been learning this year. It's very, very important as well. John Lightfoot, a commentator from many, many years ago, said this concerning the salutation there.

Notice what the young ruler says, good master. It was very unusual to salute the rabbis of that nation with this title. For however, Lightfoot said, they were want to adorn, not to say load, either the dead or absent with very splendid epithets.

Yet if they spoke to them while present, they gave them no other title than either rabbi or mari. If you turn over both of the talaments, this is Lightfoot's words. If you turn over both the talaments, he said, I'll be deceived if you once find either good rabbi or good mari.

So far, therefore, is our Lord in these words far from denying, or I'm sorry. So far is our Lord in these words, not denying his Godhead, that he rather doth, as it were, draw this person in to own and to acknowledge it.

Because he said, thou seemest in thy very address to me, and the compilation thou gavest me, again, very, very old writing here, to own me for the Messiah. And dost thou take me for God too, as well as man, when thou callest me good, seeing there is none good but God only.

So when this rabbi comes, he immediately, he gives an address. According to Luke here, he gives an address that was not common or customary in that day. And so what does Jesus do? Jesus takes full advantage of this to point him to his divinity and to point him to the law so that he can understand his sin.

For he goes on, the ruler goes on to say, teacher, good teacher, good rabbi. In the New Testament, when this word is used, rabbi, it's speaking of one who teaches things concerning the things of God and the duties of man.

So it is one who is fitted to teach or thinks himself so. It is a teacher of the Jewish religion. If you look, harken back to John chapter three, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, right? And he calls him rabbi.

He addresses him as rabbi there. John Gill as well gave us some great insight in his commentary. He said this concerning the kingdom of God and receiving the kingdom of God, how important it is, that when a person is doing such, that he is number one, he's receiving the King, the Messiah.

And he's recognizing and he's honoring Jesus as the King Messiah. A person who comes to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ understands the doctrines of the gospel and the ordinances of it,.

Even though the whole gospel dispensation.

So as a little child that we come,.

And again, remember,.

What did Jesus just get finished doing in the text that we just came from? Setting the children before everyone, before the disciples there and saying, look, if you want to enter the kingdom of God, you must become like this little child.

Meaning without prejudice. So we come to Christ without prejudice. We come to Christ without pride. We come to Christ without ambition. We come to Christ without vanity, which is the polar opposite of the call that we hear today in 99 of the churches around about us.

Come to Christ so you can be a better manager. Some come to Christ so you can have a better life. No, I implore you today, come to Christ because you're a savior.

And you will forever spend an eternity in hell outside of Christ.

But Christ has made the propitiation for your sin today. He has made the way of salvation possible. He has opened up the door of salvation, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles.

And because of that,.

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so we see Jesus' response. Good master, what must I do? The question is asked, what must I do? What can I do to be right in your eyes?

What can I do to have eternal life? So we hear Jesus' response. Again, why do you call me good? There is none good but one and that is God. The rabbis always said there is nothing good but the law. So the rabbis of this time, their common answer when someone, if someone did happen to come and say something about their person, they would always say only the law is good.

But what does Jesus say? There is none good but one and that is God. So very important to understand the context there. Matthew Henry said Christ would have this ruler know that if he understood him aright and calling him good, that he did in effect call him God, that he recognized him for who he was.

Incarnate God in the flesh. So next, notice Jesus' statement. Jesus' next statement is quite plain and it's quite simple. Do you know the commandments? And then Jesus said, or as the text states, you know the commandments.

Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. Now the commandments aren't stated in any specific order here. There's nothing super spiritual about this.

They aren't placed in a specific order for a specific reason. He simply quotes the commandments there. It is noteworthy to realize though that the commandments that Jesus states here at first are the second table of the law, right?

The first table of the law has to do with our relation to God. The second table of the law has to do with our relation to our neighbors, our brothers and sisters around about us. Who is our neighbor? Our fellow man, right.

So Jesus specifically lays out these commandments before him and again, all second table of the law, which points us to our catechism. Question 68 in our catechism, how many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai?

That's right.

What are they sometimes called?

That's right.

What do the first four commandments teach us? Go ahead. That's right. And what do the last six commandments teach us?

That's right.

And what is the sum of the 10 commandments? To love the Lord our God with all of my heart and my neighbor as myself. And who is my neighbor? We gave you this answer. All my fellow men, all fellow men are my neighbors, right?

So he gives him these commandments and then the ruler responds. Question three, right? We see the ruler's response here, section three. I have done all these things since I was a child. Now, again, scripture interprets scripture.

Jesus isn't speaking out of a vacuum. He's speaking in reference to what he has already been teaching. He has always, I almost said teached. He has always taught line upon line, right?

One thing after another building.

So in the text itself, previously, remember what Jesus has just taught. Jesus has just already taught them about the Pharisee who went up into the temple and he prayed thusly, right? He prayed with pride, he prayed with arrogance, he prayed with ambition, he prayed with unholy boldness.

And then we have the tax collector who didn't so much as lift his head from his breast and smote upon his breast and said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. He had already addressed this issue just a short time before.

Now, that Pharisee that Jesus had spoken ill about and this ruler were doing the same thing. They were justifying themselves when in fact, they were not loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

They may have been kind to their neighbors, right? I haven't killed anybody. I wanted to kill people, but I haven't killed them, right? I haven't stole from anybody, you're just a liar. And because you're just a liar, you're a liar.

They're a false witness. It goes on and on and on. And so we see this. So they were justifying that he was justifying himself when in fact, this ruler was not loving God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

So again, Jesus responds after the young ruler says, I've kept all these things from my youth up. And Jesus says, but there is one thing that you lack. One thing that you lack. He said, sell all that you have and you will have treasure in heaven.

Key phrase. And come and follow me. What Jesus said to this ruler.

Was not at all any different.

Than what he had said previously. If any man would be my disciple, Jesus said, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. That's not any different. What Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves. Jesus said, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Treasures in heaven where neither the moth nor the rust destroys and where no thieves can break in and steal it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So Christ, getting to the heart of the matter and finding out, and here it is, it's the same, it's a broad general application where and what is it that you treasure in your heart? Are you treasuring God, the creator of the heavens and the earth?

Are you treasuring Jesus Christ, his son, who died for our sins? Are you treasuring the Holy Spirit who leads us and who guides us into all truth and all righteousness? Or are you loving more the things of the world?

We are called to love God with all of our soul, with all of our mind and with all of our strength. Alexander McLaren went on to say this, there may be a seeking which has no real earnestness in it, referring to this young ruler, and it is not sufficiently determined to do what is needful in order to find it.

Plenty of people, again, remember this is written in around the 1850s, plenty of people would like to possess earthly goods but cannot brace themselves to the needful work and sacrifice. In other words, they want something for nothing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Plenty would like to go to heaven, McLaren said, as they understand the phrase, but they cannot screw themselves to the surrender of self and of the world.

Vagrant, half-hearted seeking, such as one sees many examples of, will never win anything in this world or in the world. They will never win the other. When we come unto Christ, we must come full throttle, holding nothing back.

The old songwriter said, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. So Adrian Rogers, I haven't read a lot of him over the years I used to listen to him a lot. You've ever heard Adrian Rogers' voice?

As soon as I said Adrian Rogers, immediately you get some kind of like, it's like one of those things where a smell brings back a memory. His voice is unmistakable, deep and rich. So strong, such a strong voice.

But he said this about the rich young ruler, as is applicable to many who are in the church in America. He said, they joined a local church, but they never truly joined Jesus, the head of the church. They have religion, but they lack relationship.

They have head knowledge without a heart change. And Adrian Rogers said, there is a problem, a real problem. And that is that people attend church, they listen to sermons, they join churches, but they are never radically, dramatically and eternally changed.

They have religion, but they've never met God. Many churches today are filled with baptized pagans, baptized pagans. They've been vaccinated. Are you listening? He said, vaccinated with a mild form of Christianity, and they've never caught the real disease.

And so the church may be full, but the people are often empty. They come, they go through the motions, they try to live outwardly a good life, but they have never really truly found a new life because they have never been converted.

Thomas Manton, the Puritan said this concerning riches. Riches beget pride and pride ends in atheism. What a statement there, because we can truly see that in this text. An atheist would deny God and we see in this text, this is exactly what happens when it comes to the end.

This man, this young ruler who has heartily approaches the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory leaves devastated in his heart and in his mind, because he loved the world more than he loved God. In the text, notice as we follow through the text there, he says, one thing you lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, verse 24 said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Now, let's make a clarification here. Jesus is not saying that money is evil or for a person to have money is a bad thing.

What he's saying is that the more that we have, the harder it is for us to let go of and give it to the Lord. Wealth is a good thing. As a matter of fact, wealth is one of the things that God blessed King Solomon with when he said, you ask anything you want.

Solomon, all he asked for was wisdom. God gave him wisdom and he gave him all the wealth that he could handle. Ever in his life or 20 lifetimes. So wealth is not evil. Money is not evil. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

It is loving money more than God. And that's what we see in this text. And so Jesus saw how sad he was because why he was extremely rich. Jesus seeing that he had become sad said, how difficult it is for those with wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

And he gave an illustration for it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Now, and then the statement is made when they hear this, those who heard it said, who then who can be saved?

If a rich man who keeps the law can't be saved, who can be? Because they were held in high esteem. He was a ruler, whether a ruler of the synagogue or a ruler in the political realm. If one way or another, the word that's used there is archon, it means to be a ruler.

He was literally in high esteem and he testified to having kept the law. And yet Christ said there was still one thing that he lacked and without even proclaiming the first table of the law, it is revealed what this man lacked.

He lacked loving God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength because he had riches and he loved them more than he loved God. Who can be saved? Riches do not save us. Good works do not save us. Pedigree and lineage do not save us.

Who then can be saved? And that's where the Lord makes this statement again. Another one of those statements that's put on magnets and bumper stickers and t-shirts that everybody takes so out of context.

That's when Jesus makes this statement. With men, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. With God, it is possible for a man to be saved from his sin. With God, it is possible for a man to have the forgiveness of sins, to have his name written in the Lamb's book of life and this life, to have hope in more than the things of this world.

The old psalm writer put it this way. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow that makes me white as snow.

No other thing but the blood of Jesus. With men, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Notice the words of the apostle Paul in the letter to Philippians, Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, beginning in verse three, the apostle Paul writes this.

For we are the circumcision who worship God by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.