Conversion to Jesus Christ (4)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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August 13, 2015

Man’s Inability to Convert Himself

00:02: Knowing that we have a limited time on a first Sunday of the month,
01:19: I actually attempted to shorten this matter, and I did actually,
01:27: I've already got next week's half studied, but there's some important matters here that we want to give attention to in our ongoing study of true conversion to Jesus Christ, and so let us give attention to what we read in Luke 18 here shortly, but first let us pray.
01:47: Our Father, we recognize that salvation is of your grace, holy, totally.
01:57: You have promised, you have purposed to administer your salvation by your grace through your written word that's before us.
02:08: It's through your word, Lord, you accomplish salvation in our souls, and so we are in deeply need of your blessing.
02:18: May the blessed Holy Spirit take this letter, this word upon these pages and etch them upon our hearts, give us understanding of our
02:28: God, and we pray that you would give us faith and a fresh gift of repentance if called for, and we pray for anyone here that has maybe not truly been converted to Jesus Christ, that this would become an increasing awareness to that soul, so that soul will come to fully rest and trust in Jesus Christ.
02:55: Be merciful and gracious to us all, our Father, to each of us, for we ask in Jesus' name.
03:01: Amen. Well, on the first three
03:07: Sundays that we've devoted to this subject, conversion to Jesus Christ, we addressed the question in three
03:14: Sundays, are we converted to Jesus Christ? And so we sought through those first three
03:22: Sundays up until today, we sought to show forth the ease in which people, even professing
03:28: Christians, can be deluded in their thinking that they are true Christians, that they have salvation when in actuality they're still in their sins, and it could be a rather troubling thing when we work through this, but it's a refining matter, isn't it?
03:44: It causes us to assess ourselves, and that's a good thing, test ourselves, we're commanded to do so, taught to do so in Scripture, and so we were hoping this would result in each one of us to commit to serious biblical testing of the state of each of us, our own souls.
04:06: One minor point that we've made in these first three weeks was to set forth the teaching of the Word of God that although conversion involves action on our part, conversion is the work of God's grace in the soul.
04:19: We cannot convert ourselves, God has to do the converting work, or it's not gonna happen.
04:27: Fallen man is incapable and unwilling of converting to Christ in order to obtain salvation.
04:34: The Scriptures teach that the natural man, that is the unconverted man, does not receive the things of the
04:40: Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
04:47: So you have to have the Holy Spirit reveal these things or you're not gonna know them, the reality of them and the relevance of them to the life.
04:58: The Scriptures declare the carnal mind, again the mind of the unconverted man, is enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be, so then those who are in the flesh, that is unconverted people, cannot please
05:11: God. And so if a man is to be converted, a woman to be converted to Christ for salvation, he must be an object of God's sovereign converting grace, or it's not gonna happen.
05:27: And so what we've earlier suggested today, we desire to confirm sinful man is unable to convert himself to Jesus Christ in order to be saved from his sin.
05:38: We're incapable of converting ourselves. So I thought we would begin our study with this matter, considering the account of Luke 18, 18 through 30.
05:50: Here we read of our Lord Jesus dealing with the soul of a rich man, a rich young man who came to him.
05:58: And although this young man had many admirable qualities, and he had made great efforts to live a life pleasing to God, after he had spoken with the
06:08: Lord Jesus, this young man went away from Jesus, an unconverted man. He would not surrender all in order to come unto
06:19: Jesus for salvation, but he had a reservation that he would not yield. And so after the
06:26: Lord, or after the young man departed from the Lord, our Lord instructed his disciples in the necessity of the sovereign
06:33: God to bring people to salvation, for it's impossible for a rich man, and by extension, therefore, any man, it's impossible to enter the kingdom of God.
06:44: It's only possible for him to enter the kingdom through the grace of God working in upon him.
06:50: Thankfully, all things are possible with God, but with man, it's impossible. And that's the whole point of the episode.
06:58: People cannot convert themselves to Christ. It is a work of God's sovereign grace.
07:05: And this is clearly set forth here. And so we began reading in Luke 18, 18.
07:12: Now a certain ruler asked him, Jesus, saying, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
07:19: So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. You know the commandments.
07:27: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother.
07:35: And he said, all these things I have kept from my youth. So when
07:41: Jesus heard these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.
07:54: Perhaps as we read that, it seems like an unreasonable request. But next week, we're going to consider a rich man who was converted and he did that of his own account, didn't he, little
08:05: Zacchaeus. And we'll consider how it's possible for God even to save a rich man.
08:11: And therefore, you can save any sinner. And so Jesus told him, sell everything you have, just distribute to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven, come follow me.
08:24: But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful for he was very rich. And when
08:30: Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, he said, how hard it is for those who have riches 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.
08:45: And those who heard it said, who then can be saved? But he said, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
08:57: And then Peter said, see, we've left all and followed you. And so he said to them, assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come, eternal life.
09:20: So in Luke 18, we read of events that transpired while our Lord and his disciples were journeying to Jerusalem, a long travel narrative that began with Luke 9, 51, concludes in Luke 19, when they arrived to Jerusalem.
09:35: It was the last journey of our Lord's life, earthly life, for in Jerusalem, he would experience his destiny to suffer, die, and rise on the third day.
09:46: And so with our Lord's earthly ministry coming to its conclusion, the Lord imparted to his disciples instruction regarding the kingdom of God.
09:55: And that is the primary subject, really, that was the primary subject of our Lord's teaching throughout his earthly ministry, the kingdom of God.
10:05: Of course, God had promised his people a future kingdom really from the beginning of biblical history.
10:11: It's a common theme throughout the entire record of God's word. God declared that there would be a kingdom comprised of his people, a kingdom in which there was no presence of sin or of sin's effects.
10:26: And within this kingdom, God would rule over his people who are willingly subjected to him. His promised kingdom would be one in which the people of God would dwell in safety and security.
10:38: They would have no need. They would be at peace. They would live together in harmony with mutual respect, dignity, no troubles in the kingdom of God for the people of God.
10:50: And of course, God would rule over his people in his kingdom through a mighty king, a son of David, and he, that son of David, would assure that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11:02: And so within this promised kingdom ruled by the son of David, God would enable his people to dwell in joy, peace, and righteousness.
11:10: And this kingdom is spoken about throughout the entire biblical record. Now the disciples of the
11:18: Lord Jesus knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised king, the promised son of David. The disciples also anticipated that the kingdom would be inaugurated when they arrived to Jerusalem.
11:30: They thought that everything was going to be seen immediately or soon. And so it was fitting that the kingdom would be the subject of their discourse and the subject of our
11:41: Lord's teaching as they continued their journey. What the disciples of our
11:47: Lord did not understand is that the kingdom of God would come in two stages, not two different kingdoms, but two stages.
11:56: And our reading mentioned that today. Now it talked about three kingdoms, but really the second and third kingdom were one and the same.
12:03: If you read carefully the devotion and doctrine, it said that the kingdom of glory is actually the kingdom of grace that we presently enjoy but will be realized fully at the second coming.
12:16: That third kingdom was the kingdom of Satan that God is currently destroying as he brings people out of that kingdom into his own kingdom.
12:26: And so the kingdom of God would be inaugurated after Jesus was crucified and raised and enthroned in heaven by his father.
12:34: This kingdom, the kingdom of God, would exist in a mystery form throughout this church age, a spiritual kingdom that would exist among the fallen earthly political kingdoms of this world.
12:45: But the final form and the full realization of the kingdom of God would come when Jesus returns a second time at the end of the age.
12:54: And then the Lord Jesus would judge the world. He would exclude from the new heavens and the new earth all those that were not submitted to him, all those who were not his disciples.
13:05: And then the kingdom of God in its fullness would be manifest through eternity.
13:13: And thereafter the people of God would live with Christ their king in this everlasting kingdom. And so the
13:19: Lord Jesus emphasized in his teaching that to know that one would enter and enjoy the kingdom of God was the most important of all matters.
13:30: There's no matter more important to you or to me. Are we going to enter that kingdom when
13:36: Jesus comes? Are we within that kingdom even now? Entering the kingdom of God is to participate in salvation from sin that Jesus Christ has secured for his people.
13:51: This was the most important matter for this young man. And this is the most important matter for you and me today.
13:57: It is of eternal importance that each of us knows that we have truly come to Jesus Christ, that we are within the kingdom of God, and we will inherit the kingdom of God in its fullness when
14:09: Jesus Christ returns. And so here in Luke 18 we read of our
14:15: Lord's words regarding entering the kingdom of God. In other words, to receive God's salvation through Jesus Christ.
14:22: We all, each of us, need to know what's involved in entering the kingdom of God. It's a matter of coming unto
14:29: Jesus in repentance from sin and putting faith in him, committing oneself wholly unto him without reservation.
14:39: And that's key, that's important. The true disciple of Jesus Christ truly acknowledges
14:47: Jesus as Lord and commits everything to the
14:52: Lord. Now, none of us live perfectly and consistently with that, but when we become a disciple of Jesus Christ, the question is to whose
15:01: Lord of our life comes to a conclusion, Jesus is Lord. But none of us are able or willing to come unto him in this manner unless God himself moves and enables to do so.
15:18: And so our Lord taught, all that the Father gives to me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.
15:27: And our Lord taught that unless the Father takes the initiative and brings a person unto Christ by his grace, it will not happen.
15:34: And so our Lord taught his disciples, therefore I've said to you that no one can come to me unless it's been granted to him by my
15:41: Father. And so we see a person can't convert himself, it must be a work of God's grace initiated by the
15:50: Father. And so this account shows us that even the most seeming, this account in Luke 18, even the one who seems to be most sincere, committed, and devout will not inherit eternal life unless he fully, wholly, without reservation, comes to Jesus Christ as his
16:10: Savior and his Lord. And he is in need of the grace of God to bring him into this kingdom, or he will forever remain excluded.
16:23: Now let's consider this. First we read that a young man comes to Jesus out of concern for his salvation, nothing could be more clear.
16:34: He came forward to Jesus and asked about what was required for entrance into the kingdom of God. He came to Jesus to inquire of him, of what
16:42: God requires of someone to enter or inherit eternal life. Verse 18 reads, now a certain ruler asked him,
16:51: Jesus said, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
17:01: Important question. There could be no more important question than that. Eternal life includes all that's promised in having a place in the kingdom of God or being saved.
17:13: And here as in many places in the scriptures, eternal life is viewed as an inheritance. What must I do, what good thing can
17:20: I do, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Notice eternal life is presented as a future inheritance.
17:32: And here in many places in scriptures, eternal life is viewed as an inheritance. That doesn't put it in doubt because those who are disciples of Jesus Christ are being preserved or reserved by God and God has reserved their inheritance in heaven and the two will come together one day, there's no question about it.
17:49: But oftentimes salvation is presented as a future inheritance for disciples of Jesus Christ.
17:59: Well we can learn much about this inquirer who came to Jesus from the few words that describe him here in Luke, but also in the parallel passages in Mark 10 and Matthew 18.
18:12: Matthew describes this man as a young man. We may assume that this young man had inherited his wealth, he was a rich man, and he was probably a man of some social standing.
18:23: This man had been greatly blessed of God for he had great wealth. Secondly, he was not only a young man, but he was a religious young man.
18:34: He sought to order his life in a godly fashion. With respect to God's laws, he could say honestly as best he knew, now he didn't know himself, but as best as he knew,
18:43: I think we can assume he was being honest in his own thinking. He was wrong, but he was being honest.
18:50: All things I've kept from my youth, Luke 18, 21. And so he was reflective about himself.
18:56: He thought on matters of eternal significance. He was not a careless, idle young man who only thought and lived for today.
19:05: Again, he had probably inherited earthly riches, but his eye was on a heavenly inheritance of heavenly riches as indicated by his question, good teacher, what shall
19:16: I do to inherit eternal life? So this was not a man without values.
19:25: He had some important matters upon his heart. And thirdly, he was an earnest and sincere religious young man.
19:35: He was not one who just happened by and listened out of curiosity and shot a question to Jesus. Mark describes this young man as having come running to the
19:42: Lord Jesus and then fell on his knees. This man was earnest and sincere.
19:49: Young men who care little about spiritual things don't act in this manner. They might come to church and tolerate a sermon, but it really has no interest to them.
19:58: That was not how this young man was. This young man took his religion seriously. He wanted desperately to have eternal life, desperately.
20:08: He came running, fell on his knees, Lord Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
20:16: He was probably even a religious leader, and when it says he was a ruler, that's probably what it means.
20:21: He was a religious leader in his community, even though he was a young man. Perhaps a leading young man in a synagogue, or he may have even been in the
20:31: Sanhedrin, I don't know. But we see that he was an unsaved man in spite of all these qualities about him that seemed to be favorable.
20:42: We see that, of course, by his response to Jesus. In the other Gospels, they tell us his face fell and he went away sad.
20:50: He wouldn't follow through with what Jesus commanded him to do. In his encounter with the
20:56: Lord Jesus, it was revealed, really, that he loved riches more than he desired entrance into the kingdom, more than he desired even eternal life.
21:05: He wasn't willing to trade that. Our Lord liked this young man.
21:11: In fact, Mark records that Jesus actually loved him. He was a likable young man.
21:16: He had good qualities, and yet our Lord could see right through all that was apparent to the eye, and he addressed the matter of his heart.
21:23: And the Lord dealt faithfully with this man, for the Lord desired this man's good.
21:31: And yet, we see this man went away sorrowful. He did not do what was necessary to inherit eternal life.
21:43: In verse 18, we read that the young man addressed the Lord as good teacher, and our Lord responded to him, why do you call me good?
21:49: No one is good but one, and that is God. It really was a case of flattery.
21:55: He was flattering the Lord. The parallel accounts in Mark and Luke have slightly different wording and meaning.
22:02: They have the young man address Jesus directly as good, but here in Luke 18, verse 18, we read good teacher, what must
22:10: I do to inherit eternal life? In Matthew, the man asks, what good deed must
22:16: I do to have eternal life? In all three accounts, however, we have the response of the
22:21: Lord Jesus, and that response with respect to applying this quality of good to him, and Jesus answered, there is only one good, that being
22:33: God, of course. The cultists jump on this, of course, and say here the
22:41: Lord Jesus is himself denying deity, only God is good, and therefore he was deflecting this quality being rendered unto him by this young man.
22:53: But the Lord was merely addressing the young man from what the young man could have known, and of course, the young man could not have known of anything but our
23:02: Lord's humanity, and so the young man shouldn't have addressed him with this quality of goodness that belongs to God only, even though, of course, the
23:12: Lord Jesus warranted that description because he is good, essentially good, as the eternal son of God.
23:21: And so our Lord, in his response to the young man, was not denying his own essential goodness, for he is eternal
23:27: God, but the young man could not have known Jesus was God, and so it was wrong for the man to attribute to Jesus, who he thought to be a mere man, the goodness that is
23:37: God's alone. Jesus was affirming that God alone is essentially good.
23:45: The point, it would seem, is this, our Lord sought to probe the nature of the man's faith. The young man addressed the
23:52: Lord Jesus as good teacher. This suggests the young man might have been a legalist, in that he may have wrongly thought people merit their way into heaven through their good deeds.
24:04: If the young man could view one human being as good, then he might be able to view another being as not so good, and others no good whatsoever, and that's how the legalist looks at the world.
24:18: He may have viewed himself as good, and therefore merited entrance into the kingdom, and so this way of viewing life results in exalting some persons in your estimation, you're going to make saints out of some people, and degrading others.
24:35: The standard or criteria may be based on religious devotion or activity, moral conduct, religious law -keeping, identity with a specific group, but somehow people elevate others as though they're somehow more worthy of God's blessing than others, and so he's probably a legalist, this is heresy of course, if a person sees himself and others in this way, he's in great error, he's probably not saved.
25:06: Now we might make a point here, we do refer to people as good all the time, and there's nothing wrong with that, and that's not what the
25:14: Lord Jesus was correcting as far as this young man goes. In fact, one of the qualifications of being a pastor is that he is an admirer of good men, but when we use the word, we speak relatively, we're speaking of a good man relative to other men.
25:36: When we speak of a good man, we're speaking of man's goodness as derived from God, but when we speak about someone who is essentially good, you cannot attribute that to a human being but to God only.
25:48: God only is essentially good. If you or I are any measure good, it's because we've derived our goodness from a
25:58: God who is all good, and essentially good, and nothing but good. We don't have time to read those quotes, you might do so later regarding Thomas Mann and Arthur Pink about the essential goodness of God, I think they're important, they're good, but we are limited in time, so let's move on.
26:21: I might say this, however, notice how the Lord Jesus seemed to kind of zero in on this man's doctrinal error, just in his casual, you know, opening words to Jesus, good teacher.
26:38: The man may have just been polite in his own thinking, addressing Jesus in this manner, but our
26:43: Lord felt compelled to correct the young man regarding the error. In other words, the Lord Jesus discerned that this was a problem in this man's thinking about himself, humanity, and God himself, and so our
26:54: Lord sought to correct this man's doctrine. There are many who believe that to state or advocate finer points of doctrine before people is tedious and bothersome to them, and they shouldn't do that.
27:10: It's being picky to point out flaws and bring correction, and attempt to speak with precision and accuracy about the things of God, but our
27:18: Lord did not deal with souls in this manner, but rather, he, you know, he detected this wrong way of thinking on the part of this young man, and he corrected it.
27:29: And that's what we ought to be doing in our own thinking, and also with one another, as we seek to exhort one another and instruct one another in the things of God.
27:41: We are to strive to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and so our
27:47: Lord Jesus led the man to think about what he was saying, and think about the implications of his assertions, to believe that a mere man who's fallen due to original sin and Adam and lives in sin in this world may be described as good is inaccurate.
28:03: God alone is good. And so our Lord sought to instruct this young man in this way.
28:11: Now look at our Lord's response to this man's request. The young man says, Lord, what good thing, what thing can
28:16: I do to inherit eternal life? And how does the Lord respond? Well, 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.
28:30: This isn't the kind of response that we would expect, is it? Especially as supposedly good evangelicals.
28:40: We might prefer to hear our Lord say, as he did in John 6, 29, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent.
28:51: Why didn't the Lord Jesus answer this young man in this way? Why? Why did the Lord Jesus answer this man in this way?
28:58: You know the commands. What good thing can I do to inherit eternal life? Well, you know the commandments, and then he recited them.
29:06: Why did our Lord respond to the man in this way? For several reasons, I believe. First, the
29:12: Lord Jesus directed this man to keep the commandments of God because this is the way in which every human being is to live in God's world, whether Christian or not.
29:26: God has created us. He's established his laws that are consistent with his nature, laws by which all of his creatures are to order their lives in his world.
29:36: And God demands that all people everywhere order their lives according to his law, according to his commandments.
29:41: No one's exempt. Secondly, more specifically, the
29:47: Lord Jesus directed this man to keep the commandments of God because to keep the commandments of God is the way of life of all true
29:55: Christians. Do you want to inherit eternal life? Keep the commandments of God.
30:02: That's the way Christians live. Keeping the Lord's commandments is the course of life that Christians are to take that leads them to eternal life.
30:12: Our Lord was not declaring the grounds of our salvation, which would have been himself, Christ Jesus alone, nor was our
30:19: Lord speaking of the means by which God brings salvation to his people, which would be grace alone.
30:25: And our Lord was not speaking of the instrument by which God brings salvation to his people by grace, which is through faith alone.
30:31: Rather, our Lord was answering the question of the young man, which was essentially, what kind of life am
30:36: I to live if I'm to inherit eternal life? And the answer of our Lord was a life characterized by keeping the commandments of God.
30:44: And you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God if you do not order your life according to the law of God.
30:51: Mark it down. It doesn't matter what you claim. You can claim all day long that Jesus is your savior, trusting him only.
30:59: But if you do not live your life according to the law of God, the commandments of God, as enabled by the grace of God, that's the only way we can, you will not inherit eternal life.
31:12: This is consistent with other passages of the New Testament. John 15, 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.
31:18: Just as I kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
31:32: That's how a Christian lives. First John 2, 3, by this we know that we've come to know him if we keep his commandments.
31:39: Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
31:47: You want to inherit the kingdom of God? You know the commandments. Keep them.
31:57: I've got a number of verses there, of course, in your notes, and they all state the same thing. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.
32:05: A third reason the Lord Jesus directed this man to keep the commandments of God was in order to reveal to this man his self -righteousness, his sin, his need of grace by directing this man to the law of God.
32:17: For the law of God is not only the manner in which the Christian is to live, but the law of God is the means by which
32:23: God convicts people that they're sinners. This man needed to know he was a sinner.
32:34: Christ to convince him of his folly sends him to the law, saying if that will enter into life, keep the commandments of God.
32:40: So God will use his law commonly to convict a person of his sin in order to bring the sinner to see his need for God's mercy and grace to be extended to him in Christ.
32:53: So the Lord is accomplishing all these purposes in giving him this instruction.
33:00: Now regarding the law of God and how we are to regard it, there are two common serious errors respecting this matter, and we need to be careful to avoid either one.
33:10: We've talked about this quite a bit because it's so important and it's so common. First of all, there's the error of legalism, and it says that by keeping the laws of God you merit entrance into the kingdom.
33:24: This is the error of Roman Catholicism and most other man -made religions, that by doing good works somehow you acquire the right to enter the kingdom, and this is not the case.
33:39: The other error is antinomianism or lawlessness. There's legalism on one extreme and then the other extreme, antinomianism, lawlessness.
33:47: It says that you can live in violation to the commandments of God and still gain entrance into the kingdom of God, and this is the error of much evangelicalism today.
33:57: It doesn't matter how you live as long as you believe the gospel, they tell you. That's not what the Bible teaches. Paul addressed the first problem of legalism most thoroughly in Galatians and Romans, but he also addressed antinomianism in those epistles.
34:17: The problem that exists today is that people take Paul's arguments designed to refute and correct legalism and they use it to justify antinomianism.
34:26: We're not under law, we're under grace, and so, hey, thankfully we're under grace. It doesn't matter how we live.
34:33: We can still be saved. And if you press, probably most evangelicals, they would come down on that, that kind of thinking, and that's just not biblical, it's not, it's the error of antinomianism.
34:50: The Lord was not baiting this young man by telling this man a falsehood. No, if you want to inherit the kingdom of God, keep the commandments.
34:59: You know what they are. You shouldn't murder, you shouldn't commit adultery, you shouldn't bear false witness.
35:07: If we want to enter life, we need to walk a straight and narrow path prescribed within the limits of God's commandments.
35:14: Now to think that he merited entrance by doing so would damn his soul. To think he could gain entrance apart from doing so would damn his soul as well.
35:26: And so in between legalism and lawlessness is grace. And this grace motivates and enables one to keep the law of God.
35:33: Not perfectly, but as the rule of life. And so our
35:40: Lord affirms to this young man the need to keep the commandments of God, citing the second of the two tablets containing the
35:45: Ten Commandments. These have to do with how you relate to your neighbor.
35:54: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother.
36:01: And really all of the laws of the Bible may be seen to be extensions or applications of the
36:06: Ten Commandments. Again, I'm not going to read that extended quote by Thomas Brooks, but he shows how that's the case.
36:12: The Ten Commandments are a summary of God's law. And all the laws of God can really be seen under these ten words or ten categories.
36:23: Well then we see the young man's response to the Lord in verse 21. This is after our Lord told him, you want to enter life, keep the commandments.
36:31: The young man said, all these things I've kept from my youth. And so here we see the young man did not know himself.
36:41: Matthew Henry wrote of him. By the way, Matthew Henry's commentary, it's in six volumes.
36:50: Charles Spurgeon said every pastor ought to read through it once, cover to cover. George Whitefield read through all six volumes four times in his life.
37:00: The last time it was said that he read Matthew Henry's commentary on his knees. Matthew Henry wrote of this young man, he boasts that he began early in a course of virtue that he had continued it to this day and that he had not in any instance transgressed.
37:17: Had he been acquainted with the extent and spiritual nature of the divine law and with the workings of his own heart, had he been but Christ's disciples a while and learned of him, he would have said quite the contrary.
37:30: All these have I broken from my youth up in thought, word and deed. And that's absolutely right.
37:38: No one apart from the Lord Jesus has ever or will ever keep the law of God perfectly or even sufficiently to merit life.
37:46: But apparently this young man thought he had. And so he told Jesus respecting God's commandments, all these
37:51: I've kept since I was a boy. It seems clear he was a legalist. He thought he was due to inherit the kingdom of God through earning entrance.
38:01: He revealed his self -righteousness and his ignorance and thinking that he had done so.
38:07: And so the Lord would reveal this to him. The man's response reveals the errant thinking of this man with respect to God's commandments and his responsibility before God.
38:19: It's clear from this man's response he viewed the laws of God not as a rule of life or the one who's justified through faith alone.
38:26: Rather, he saw keeping the commandments in a moralistic or legalistic manner, believing he would merit eternal life through his good works, which he saw as keeping the commandments of God.
38:40: It's, of course, extremely important that we understand our relationship to the law of God and our obligation to keep the law of God.
38:51: If we attempt to keep the law in a legalistic manner, as this young man, believing that our obedience will earn us entrance into eternal life, we will be damned on the day of judgment.
39:04: This is what it is to be a moralist, a legalist. This man wrongly believed he must keep the commandments in order to gain acceptance by God, and he foolishly thought he had done so.
39:16: He wrongly believed that he'd kept the laws of God throughout his life. He did not know the full extent of the law.
39:23: He did not understand the spiritual nature of God's law. He did not understand the sad, sinful condition of his own heart and life.
39:30: He was self -righteous because he wrongly believed that he had faithfully kept God's law, and he had falsely thought this would qualify him to enter the promised kingdom of God.
39:43: In contrast to the legalist, this man, the man of faith, the
39:48: Christian, keeps the commandments in order to show that he already believes in God's gift of salvation by God's grace alone through faith alone.
39:56: The believer keeps God's commandments out of love and out of faith in Jesus Christ as his
40:02: Lord, his Lord who directs him in this course to order his life in the way of righteousness, a life characterized by keeping
40:11: God's law. The legalist keeps God's commandments because he thinks wrongly. He's keeping the terms of the law as a covenant of works by which he's gaining his soul.
40:21: The true Christian strives by God's grace to keep God's moral law in order to show that he believes that Jesus Christ is his
40:29: Lord and Savior and that his Lord who rules according to God's law in his kingdom governs him.
40:37: And that's why we keep the commandments of God, because we love God. We love Christ.
40:42: He is the Lord, and therefore we do so because he's commanded us to do so.
40:48: And we are only able to do so as he enables us to do so by the Holy Spirit that he gives to us.
40:58: The man in asking this question, what must I do to inherit eternal life, perhaps there was something he had missed.
41:04: Perhaps there was some law, some commandment he failed to give due diligence to. And so he's asking the
41:10: Lord to reveal this to him. And so our Lord revealed to this man his error. We read in verse 22, when
41:17: Jesus heard these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing, sell all that you have, distribute to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.
41:28: And so the Lord showed the young man that he was not a law keeper, but rather he was an idolater. His wealth was his
41:36: God from which he refused to part. And we see what God requires of those who desire to inherit eternal life, the kingdom of God.
41:45: Jesus told this young man, follow me. But this man failed to do so. Our Lord taught that treasure in heaven is obtained through abandoning all and following him.
41:57: Treasure in heaven in this context is eternal life. It is inheriting the kingdom of God. And so here the
42:03: Lord reveals several things. Keeping the law alone is not enough.
42:08: This man thought he had done so. That would be pure moralism. People who view entrance into heaven based on law keeping are moralists and legalists.
42:21: They think that they will be, you know, God would have to be just in granting them entrance because of their law keeping.
42:30: But besides, this young man actually wasn't keeping the law of God, was he? He had not been loving his neighbor as himself.
42:38: Had he done so, he would have sold his possessions and given to his neighbors, demonstrating that he loved them.
42:44: But rather, he was a covetous man. Interesting, our Lord did not cite the 10th commandment, did he?
42:50: But five of the six commandments dealing with our relationship with our neighbor. The man was covetous, as Paul was, later discovered money was this man's
43:02: God. He neither loved God nor his neighbor. In reality, he had not kept the commandments of God.
43:10: We also see through our Lord's words to this young man that entrance into eternal life is through discipleship to Jesus.
43:17: He said, follow me. That's how you inherit eternal life, following Jesus Christ.
43:25: Jesus must alone be the master of your life. Now please understand, you don't have to go out and sell everything you have in order to inherit eternal life unless everything you have is a
43:37: God in the place of Jesus Christ. That's the point. You cannot serve both money and God.
43:49: And there's not a true Christian here who would not sell anything and everything he has to give to the poor if he was convinced that was
43:57: God's will for him to do so. Now it might be tough, you know, but we would do it, wouldn't we?
44:04: The Lord Jesus stood right before you and told you that, you would do it, wouldn't you? Of course we would.
44:12: He'd have to give us grace to do so. We have to close, but we want to emphasize the major lesson of this passage.
44:22: And that is found in verses 24 through 27, the impossibility of fallen man to save himself and of his need for the sovereign grace of God to bring him salvation.
44:33: When Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, he said, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.
44:40: And when he said how hard it is, he's saying it's impossible. And we see that through his metaphor, for it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
44:54: Can a camel go through the eye of a needle? No. And that's one of, that's an example of one of our
45:00: Lord's rhetorical ways of expressing truth using hyperbole to emphasize the point.
45:09: It's impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
45:16: Well the disciples heard that and they said, hey, if that's be true, who then can be saved? You see, they assume that the rich man, probably if anybody could get in, he could get in.
45:26: If the rich man can't get in, if it's impossible for him, where does that leave us? Who then can be saved?
45:37: And then our Lord concluded, verse 27, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. And so our
45:44: Lord spoke of the impossibility of this rich man to become saved. The Jews thought that rich people were the most blessed people of God.
45:51: If Jesus says a rich man cannot be saved, who then can be saved? If this rich man who had everything, who was religious in every good way, could not enter the kingdom, who could?
46:05: Now this fact of the impossibility of a man to be converted, to save himself, is often explained away by a spurious explanation that has accompanied this verse.
46:20: It's commonly said that there was in one of the large gates of Jerusalem a little door. And although the large gate was closed, you could open this little door and you could walk through it as an individual.
46:31: And if a camel really bent down, he could squeeze through this little door.
46:40: And they say this little door was called the eye of the needle. And so what Jesus is saying is it's really hard, but a rich man can do it, get into the kingdom of God.
46:51: But the fact is there was never such a little door in a big gate called the eye of the needle.
46:57: What our Lord Jesus is saying in very clear words is that it's impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
47:08: And if a rich man can't do it, you can't do it, I can't do it, no one can do it. The point is people cannot convert themselves to Christ and come into the kingdom.
47:18: God has to do it because it's impossible for man to do it. Isn't that what the
47:24: Lord Jesus is telling these people, telling his disciples, who then can be saved? God has to do it because it's not possible with man.
47:34: Lord Jesus is teaching the sovereignty of God and bestowing salvation, isn't he? People cannot convert themselves.
47:48: Well, our Lord then instructed his disciples regarding the blessing of God that was theirs, and we conclude with this,
47:55: Peter says, see, we've left all and followed you. So he said to them, assuredly,
48:01: I say to you, there's no one who's left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and look at the last clause there, or phrase, and in the age to come, eternal life.
48:17: Here the Lord Jesus is declaring that only those who have left house, parents, brothers, wife, children, in other words, anything and everything for the sake of the kingdom of God, only they are going to inherit eternal life.
48:35: Who in the world can that possibly be? Well, it's those, of course, that experience the grace of God in converting them to Jesus Christ.
48:46: This rich man would not come fully to Jesus Christ, nor could he. It was impossible for him to do so.
48:55: But thankfully, God is in the business of saving great sinners, isn't he? And even though this young man had all these wonderful qualities in life, it would seem he was religious, he was in church every week,
49:08: I would think, he knew the commandments of God, he thought he ordered his life according to the commandments of God, I imagine he was a generous man, but he in actuality was a sinner who would not, really could not, enter the kingdom of God on his own.
49:30: God would have to do a work of grace in his soul or it wouldn't happen. Next week, we'll consider
49:37: Luke 19, in which God does the impossible.
49:42: He saves a rich man. And it won't be a man who was seeking to be religious and order his life according to the commandments of God all his life, but it's going to be a little despised tax collector who had betrayed his people, abandoned the faith, but nevertheless was converted to Jesus Christ wholly and fully by the grace of God.
50:09: And so we're going to see, next week, a case in point of a rich man coming into the kingdom through the grace of God and salvation.
50:20: But the bottom line today, realize, when we ask the question, are we converted?
50:26: And if we conclude, I may not be converted, I'm going to therefore make every effort to try and be a converted person.
50:35: You need to stop right there and realize it's going to take the grace of God to do in you that which you cannot do for yourself.
50:44: And what you have to do is to get to Jesus Christ, wholly and fully and without reservation, trusting him to do in your soul that which you cannot do.
50:55: You don't have the desire, you don't have the ability, you are not willing to do all that God requires of you.
51:02: But God can make you willing through his power, through his grace and his mercy, amen?
51:09: And that's through the gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is wrought by the spirit of God.
51:17: Being converted to Christ is not something ultimately you do, but what God does for you and in you.
51:24: And we need to be wholly mindful of this in these days as we seek to bring people to a true knowledge of Jesus Christ and awaken nominal
51:35: Christians that are everywhere as to the nature of true Christianity. May the
51:40: Lord help us do so. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would be merciful and gracious to us.
51:47: May you, Lord Jesus, give us the Holy Spirit afresh, his presence and power to enable us to order our lives according to your commandments, according to your laws.
52:01: We pray, our Father, that you would help us to truly be your disciples, that everything would be submitted to you, that all of our possessions,
52:11: Lord, all of our thinking, all of our relationships, all of our doings would be submitted to Jesus, our
52:19: Lord and Savior. And then we ask, our Father, again, that you would forgive us and cleanse us of all the failures that we've committed and even all the failures that we'll commit this week as we fall short of your glory.
52:33: But we pray, by your grace and by your mercy, that you would help us to follow this course, this narrow road that leads unto life, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen.