Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.43 – November 1995

 

Eternal Life: How Do You Get It?

 

Sermon by Rev. W. J. Bosker on Mark 10:17-27

Scripture Readings: Matthew 6:19-21; Mark 10:13-31

Suggested Hymns: BoW 57a; RejoySing-2: 355; RejoySing-1: 180; BoW 191; 331

 

Dear Congregation, Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The question this rich young man asks is a most important question: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  It’s a question we all do well to ask.  Have you asked it?  Do you know the answer?

Sadly, we live in days when many no longer even ask this question.  We can put that down to arrogance or ignorance.
  Arrogance: “Who cares what happens to me after death?  It’s got nothing to do with you.  I’ll live my life how I want to!”
  Ignorance: When people are blind about spiritual realities in this life and what follows in eternity.  Not realising that we are all born with a spiritual dimension, a dimension we have for eternity.

The Bible says that God has put eternity in our hearts (Eccles 3:11).  This is an important question: “How will you spend that eternity?”  With Christ in Paradise, under His authority in an eternal kingdom of peace and love?  Or without Christ under Satan’s authority in an eternal kingdom of hatred and bitterness?  What will it be for you?

Let’s look at the communication between Jesus and this rich, young man.  There is something very likeable about him.  Luke tells us he was a ruler (18:18), someone who commanded authority.  Yet he was not ashamed to seek out Jesus in broad daylight.  There was an urgency in his approach.  Out of respect and in reverence he fell on his knees before Jesus.  He was obviously a seeker.  He had even come to the right person!

From the outside we would say: he is a good man.  A law abiding citizen with a good reputation.  Surely he’s on his way to heaven!  But notice from his question, he was not so sure.  He was aware of the life to come, but he wanted to know where he would spend eternity and how he could make sure he would be with God.

He expected Jesus to tell him how to live, what more he had to do so that he could be sure of his eternal destination.  So many people are like this man.  In fact we are all like him.  If we do the right thing God will accept us, won’t He?  Just tell me what to do, Jesus, and I’ll do it!

Our Lord sees the heart.  He sees the heart of this young ruler.  He has been trying so hard.  He’s relying on his own strength, his own good qualities.  He sincerely wants to do all that’s right.

Look at Jesus’ reply.  If it’s ‘doing good’ that you are concerned about, then keep the Ten Commandments.  So Jesus quotes some of them, particularly the ones that deal with our relationship to others:

 * Don’t hate people and take their lives – that’s murder (6).

 * Don’t envy someone else’s wife and have sexual relationships with someone whom you are not married to (7).

 * Don’t take what belongs to others (8).

 * Don’t let lies come from your tongue to damage others (9).

 * Be content with what you have and don’t increase your wealth at someone else’s expense (10).

 * Give your father and mother the respect they are due (5).

The young man heard Jesus’ answer and believed that he had carefully observed these good rules that God wants everybody to observe.  “I have kept all these commandments since I was a kid!”

Do you think he really understood Jesus?  The Bible says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).

When it comes to God’s standard, God requires perfection.  This young man thought he had done all God requires of any human being.  But he was still uneasy about it, wasn’t he?  Otherwise he wouldn’t have come to Jesus with his question!

Jesus’ answer told him nothing new.  After saying he had lived an exemplary life he was still as restless as before, still unsure of where he would spend eternity, still uncertain of what else he had to do to guarantee his eternal future.

This man was close to the kingdom.  He was knocking on heaven’s door.  Jesus could see the man’s sincerity and it warmed His heart.  He was a genuine seeker, looking for eternal life.  But the man was still as restless and uncertain as before.  Do you know why?  When you don’t really know God as He has revealed Himself in Christ, you look at God’s law and think you are doing OK.

Without Jesus ruling your life and living in your heart, you always think of yourself in a better condition than you really are.  That’s because you are measuring yourself against a human standard and not God’s standard, which is perfection.

As you become more sensitive to the things of God, His Holy Spirit begins to awaken you.  Perhaps all is not as well as you thought.  That is the Holy Spirit nudging you out of your comfort zone and making you aware of the blazing holiness of God.  That doubt about where you might spend eternity is something to take notice of.  Don’t put it off.  Don’t push it out of your mind.

Do what this young ruler did.  He came to Jesus.  He came to the right Person!  But be prepared to have Jesus probe your heart to see on what you are really relying to secure your eternal destiny.

This is where the young ruler found his struggle.  He was close to being under the rule of God, but he was not yet yielding himself to the only way into God’s kingdom.

Is he ready to give up on his own self-effort and self-sufficiency?  Is he prepared to rely completely on Jesus to enter God’s kingdom?  Can he see that according to God’s perfect standard no one measures up?  Not even this good man who could say, “All these commandments I have kept since I was a boy” (vs 20).

In kindness and mercy Jesus goes to the heart of his problem.  While he was close to entering the kingdom of God, Jesus pointed to the one thing that was still missing.  “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow (literally: keep following) me” (vs.21).

Jesus looked into this man’s heart, just like He looks into yours and mine today.  He exposes the young man’s true loyalty.  As good as he is, he wants it both ways.  He wants to have the benefits of eternal life but he still wants to hang onto his other god – the treasures of wealth and earthly possessions.  He has split allegiances.

Jesus has exposed the good man’s obstacle into the kingdom.  The man’s face fell.  Though he had run to Jesus, though he had kneeled down at his feet, his head was still held up high.  Now he is downcast and deeply grieved.  He wants eternal life!  But he also wants the treasures of earth.  At this point his earthly riches have his greater allegiance.

He asked Jesus for the answer.  He wants the question settled.  Jesus points out what is causing his uneasiness, but Jesus’ solution is more than he can take.  The disciples were puzzled.  If any man looked like he had a mortgage on heaven, it was this young ruler!

What could be standing between you and eternal life?  What are you really living for?  Job security… paying off the mortgage… providing for a comfortable retirement… a good education for the kids… trying to have a good marriage… building a career for yourself… wanting to be well known in the public service… in the academic or scientific world?

While these things are good in themselves, they can also enslave you.  “Mammon” used to mean “the things that you control and possess,” but in Jesus’ day it already meant “the things that control and possess you”.

Do you find verse 21 a hard saying?

I have heard people say, “If we all go and sell everything we have and give to the poor, we’ll just have more poor people.”  We’ll end up going to St Vinnies ourselves!  This misses the point!  Jesus was talking about where your treasure is, there your heart and your allegiance will be also (Matthew 6:21 ).  What you are most attached to will receive your greatest loyalty!

This man’s obstacle may not be yours.  Jesus is not commanding a universal poverty for His people.  He is saying something much more potent!  You cannot buy eternal life; you cannot earn it.  None of us deserves eternal life, no matter how good you are or how good others think we are.  Eternal life is impossible to obtain.  No one is good enough!  You might as well try pushing a camel through the eye of a sewing needle.

Look at it from God’s perspective.  He makes the impossible possible!  Eternal, everlasting life is totally up to God to give, and then only as a free gift.  Only one Person in history has ever lived a perfect life and He gave it away on the cross.

God wants all the praise for giving people eternal life, so if we think we can nudge our way into heaven we are actually robbing Him of glory.  Only with the absence of human effort and a total reliance on Christ’s work can we have any hope of living with Him for eternity.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a courageous German theologian who spoke out against Hitler’s cruel regime.  He was hanged by the Nazis on the last day of World War 2.  This is what he wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship: “Christ calls us to leave the security of worldly thinking for the insecurity of following Jesus.  That, in the end, is the only ultimate security!“

You have no chance of eternal life if you think you can pull it off by yourself; every chance in the world if you let God do it.  Can you see how closely this incident is connected to the paragraph above?  Jesus and the little children!

Babes in arms are totally dependent on others, helpless in fending for themselves.  Everything has to be provided for them.  That’s how God sees you!  Until we see ourselves from God’s perspective we won’t let go of earth’s toys for heavens riches.

Are you asking the question about eternal life?  Do you know how to receive it?

What a paradox!  The most precious treasure for all eternity is an unearned, free gift.  We have to give up the fragile security of our own efforts and earth-bound self-reliance in order to receive the unearned gift of a secure and eternal life with God.

The rich young ruler couldn’t handle it.  He was too proud, unable to hold a heavenly treasure when his arms were full of earthly trinkets.  He reminds me of a bumper sticker I’ve seen lately: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”  How tragic.

He would rather have the rust he could see than the priceless treasure that waits for those whose only hope is in God’s mercy.  He went away sad.

What’s it going to be for you?

Amen.