rich young man

If I asked you, "What must I do to be saved?" or "How can I be saved?"

What would you who are Christians say?

"I imagine most of you who are Believers in Jesus would say, "Believe in Jesus to save you from your sins"...or something like that.

Well, I'd say you were right sometimes but sometimes you might be wrong.The reason I say that is because that's not what Jesus answered when someone asked him that.

Jesus can see right into our hearts so He knows the perfect thing to say to each of us.

One day, a young man, a rich young ruler, came asking Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal Life?"

Now first of all I want to tell you, that you are a rich young ruler! I know this because you live here in the United States and I'm pretty sure that all of you know where your next meals are coming from and you have no worries about food. You all have more than one pair of shoes and I'm ready to bet that you all own underwear, probably a whole bunch of underwear.

Those things are not true of most of the world. I know, it's incredible to think of, but you, my friend are a rich, young ruler.

Now Jesus didn't break into the 'sinner's prayer' with the guy or tell him how to be 'born again.' Nope. Jesus could see into his heart and He saw what the man needed.

He needed the Law.

He needed to understand that he had broken the law.

Mat. 19:16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" 17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

Yup..if you've obeyed all the Law you have no need of a Savior. So the young man asks Jesus..

Mat. 19:18 "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Jesus plays along with him and lists some laws and the young dude says, "Oh yeah, I'm cool!"



20 "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

But there in that deep corner of this guy's heart, we can see the pride and the trust in his wealth that make something other than God, the ruler of this young ruler's life. And it works. He suddenly sees himself for who he is ' a self-anointed ruler' of his own life. God is not his god.

He is.

and you know what, we are all in danger of being in that same place everyday, especially because we are rich. We feel we have this control over our lives and destinies outside of God.

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, 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." 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" 26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."



So you and me baby, the most difficult, ornry creatures on the planet.

But with God all things are possible!

If you are convinced of your sin....

Which by the way the young ruler finally was. That's why he went away sad. He really had alot that he cherished above God in his life. He needed to repent or decide to turn away from that.

....so if you like him can see the need of God in your life, if you can see that you have as Danny likes to put it, 'missed the mark' and fallen short, then you turn to Jesus to cleanse and keep you it's the natural reaction.

Once we see our depravity and the hopeless state our sins have left us in,

our heart's desire is to turn to the Savior-Messiah.

Now there was and is only way for God to return us to Himself.
Mt 26:39 - Going a little farther, He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Mt 26:42 - He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

Our Messiah had to give Himself as an atonement for us. I hope the rich, young ruler saw His need of a Savior, Yeshua and return to Jesus with His whole heart. I hope we will too, everyday.