The Rich Young Ruler Pt2
Sin
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
Mark 10:17-22 NIV
I think at some point we all wonder if we are going to heaven. For some that turns them to Jesus. For others it leads in a different direction. The rich young ruler asks that very question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In his mind the young man thinks he’s pretty good. He even tells Jesus that he’s kept all the laws. How wrong he was, yet like him we often compare ourselves to others and think, “not doing so bad.” But that’s not the point, Jesus was asking so that the young man would see how bad he had missed the mark. The law was given so that man could see that they had sinned. Instead this young man used the law to justify himself.
“Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.””
Romans 7:7 NLT
In the same way we often look for anything that we can find to try and justify ourselves. When in reality we should be seeing how lost we are. So, the first strike for the young man is that he does not even see that he is lost. He refuses to acknowledge that he is a sinner. Until you realize you are a sinner, you can never see your need of a Saviour.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 3:23 NLT
Where does the rich young ruler go from here? The conversation turns to money, but is money really the point?
Anchor In The Storm 