There was only one man in the Bible who met Jesus and walked away sad. Many came to Jesus sad, but left happy. But this man sadly walked away from Jesus. He refused to let go and let God.
As He [Jesus] was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God. You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.” He said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.” Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” 22 But he was stunned at this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
I discovered three lessons we can learn from this man’s short-sighted decision…
1. You may do a lot of good works, but don’t be unaware of your own faults.
Did you notice that Jesus didn’t argue with the man about keeping 5 of the commandments. Whether he did or did not is not the point. The point is he had faults (materialsm) that he would not acknowledge.
Despite the man’s religious living, materialism occupied the place of God in his life, and because of this he lived in perpetual transgression of the First Commandment against having other gods before the true God.
All the good works you do will never earn you eternal life if there is still sin. Sin must be removed. You cannot be saved from sin by keeping the Law. The Law is a mirror that shows us how dirty we are, but the mirror cannot wash us. The purpose of the Law is to bring a sinner to Christ. He is the One who can remove sin by His substitutionary death on the cross.
We cannot be saved from sin by keeping the Law. The Law is a mirror that shows us how dirty we are, but the mirror cannot wash us. The purpose of the Law is to bring a sinner to Christ.
2. You may know Jesus as the way to eternal life, but be willing to pay the price.
This man had a lot going for him. He was a young, rich ruler. But he did not let too much too soon spoil him. He recognized he needed something else – eternal life. And he recognized Jesus knew how he could get it.
So he ran and knelt and claimed Jesus as the ‘good teacher.’ He kneels. He claimed Jesus as Good Teacher. And he asked about eternal life. But he refused to pay the price Jesus set for eternal life.
Jesus invited him to do something contrary to the previous direction of his life. Sell everything, give to the poor, and follow me. If he wants eternal life, he must loosen the grip of what he now trusted – his wealth. This man he had a straight choice – riches or the kingdom.
Jesus was not making a case for universal asceticism (giving up all wealth and living a life of conscious denial). Jesus did not ask anything more of this man than he asked of anyone else. Jesus always demands those who come to him put away their gods, whether they be possessions, position, power, a person or a passion.
3. You can come as you are, but don’t leave as you came.
This is the only man in the whole New Testament that went away sad from the presence of Christ, though many were sad when they came.
He refused to be a disciple of Christ. Christ’s demand of total commitment he was not ready to give. His reaction shows that the Lord laid His finger on the spot; his wealth was the one thing that was holding him back from the kingdom of God. Jesus will change you. But you have to do what He says and follow Him.
Jesus loved the young man, but made no attempt to rescue him from walking away sadly. The conditions had been set. The young man must make up his own mind. Our evangelism would do well to copy this pattern from Jesus. He does not pester in the kingdom, nor lower the level of commitment required.
One minute he ran courageously to Jesus. The next he slowly gets up and walks away. Don’t walk away without doing what Jesus wants you to do.
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