I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;
it was not I that found, O Savior true;
no, I was found of thee.
Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;
’twas not so much that I on thee took hold,
as thou, dear Lord, on me.
I find, I walk, I love, but oh, the whole
of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee;
for thou wert long beforehand with my soul,
always thou lovedst me.
- Anonymous
There is a great difference between presumption and full assurance. Full assurance is reasonable; it is based on solid ground. Presumption takes for granted, and with brazen face pronounces that to be its own to which it has no right whatever. Beware, I pray you, of presuming that you are saved. If with your heart you trust in Jesus, then you are saved; but if you merely say, “I trust in Jesus,” it does not save you. If your heart is renewed; if you hate the things that you once loved and love the things that you once hated; if you have really repented; if there is a thorough change of mind in you; if you are born again, then you have reason to rejoice. But if there is no vital change, no inward godliness; if there is no love for God, no prayer, no work of the Holy Spirit, then your saying, “I am saved,” is but your own assertion, and it may delude, but it will not deliver you.
Our prayer ought to be, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, with real faith, with real salvation, with the trust in Jesus that is the essence of faith; not with the delusion that gives rise to gullibility.” God preserve us from imaginary blessings! I have met with persons who said, “I believe I am saved, because I dreamt it,” or, “Because I had a text of Scripture that applied to my own case. Such and such a good man said so and so in his sermon,” or, “Because I took to weeping and was excited, and I felt as I never felt before.” Ah, but nothing will stand the trial but this: “Do you abandon all confidence in everything but the finished work of Jesus, and do you come to Christ to be reconciled in Him to God?” If you do not, your dreams, and visions, and fancies, are but dreams, and visions, and fancies, and will not serve your turn when you most need them. Pray the Lord to bless you indeed, for of that sterling reality in all your walk and talk there is a great scarcity.
- Charles Spurgeon
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. “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.’”And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “ How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! “ 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.” They were even more astonished and said to Him, “ Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:17-29
We now come to a staggering scene in Scripture that teaches many great theological and evangelical truths. As Christ is on His way a man runs up to Him. We learn from other gospel accounts that this man is rich, young and a ruler. That being said, it’s striking to see such a man run. It was thought improper for a man of nobility to run in Biblical times so this no doubt shows this young mans great interest in Christ and probably a true and genuine desire to be with Him. Like many in the world today there may be many who have a genuine desire to be with Christ and even to have eternal life as this young man did. However, they want it on their terms and not Christ’s. This is the great lesson we learn from this passage and one that is so important for us to glean from today since there are so many in the world who are coming to Christ on their terms and not His. Christ makes it clear that we can come to Him only on His terms – any other way is to climb over the wall! (John 10:1)
As this rich young ruler asks the very important question on what it takes to have eternal life Christ then answers his question with a more important question. The man needs to understand two important truths. First, only God is truly good. There is none good in this world and we all fall short of His perfect glory. (Romans 3:23) In addition, Christ is also teaching this young man that he needs to understand that he is speaking with God in the flesh. If only God is good and this young ruler is addressing Christ as good he must understand that Christ is God. Only Christ is perfectly good and meets the holy requirements as the God-man to enter heaven and stand before God on our behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Knowing this young man’s heart that he is trusting in himself Christ takes him through some of the commandments in the second table of the Law. These are the commandments that deal with our relationship with others and of course our relationship with others is only possible if the first table of the Law is first upheld.
The young man responds to Christ that he has kept all the commandments of the second table since he was a child. While it may be possible that he has kept them in a sense externally (although highly unlikely) the point Christ drives home is the heart condition of this man. Here we see the great love of Christ in this young man by revealing to him his true problem – idolatry.
Christ told him that he would need to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. This statement drove home the condition of his heart since it’s evident that upon this request of Christ the young man walks away sad since he owned much. His god was money and possessions. While he may have (in his own mind) kept the commandments of the second table of the Law he has in fact broken the first and highest commandment of the Law and therefore failed at all of them.
It’s important to note too that the religious leaders of the day taught that those who were rich were more blessed of God and had a greater chance of entering heaven. So the next thing Christ says to His disciples and the crowds was staggering. Looking around He says to His disciples that it is just about as possible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle as it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
This rich young ruler was trusting in himself and his works to make it into heaven and he also wanted to enter it on his own terms. When Christ demanded the relinquishing of all that he had his response was a firm no. Christ is not teaching that we must work our way to heaven by giving up all that we own. (He may very well ask us to do that and we must be willing to do so since He alone is Lord.) What we learn from this amazing account is how easy it is for idolatry to setup in the hearts of people. This young ruler thought himself to be doing quite well but he lacked the proper understanding of who Christ is, that God is perfect and requires absolute perfection and that God is a jealous God and will not allow any other gods anywhere in our lives. Sadly, we do not see the young ruler asking Christ the question the disciples ask. Instead this man walks away from Christ loving his riches and wealth more than the very One he claimed he obeyed and sought to spend eternity with!
However, there is a wonderful ending to this passage. The disciples, like we should be, are dumbfounded by this teaching and have come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to be saved! All along they believed (and were taught) that following the Law and being blessed with riches was their ticket to eternal life and here Jesus turns that entire belief upside down. Christ then reminds them and us that it truly is impossible for us to work or merit our way to heaven. But what is impossible with man is possible with God and miraculously it is made possible through the very One speaking to them!
You see, if we could obey the Law and work our way to heaven then Christ died needlessly. The cross of Jesus Christ demonstrates not only the love of God but also His perfect justice and holy requirements. On that cross Jesus bore the wrath that we deserve from God. Not only that, we have failed in keeping God’s holy Law perfectly – a requirement to stand before Him. Christ fulfilled the Law, not only prophetically but also by following it perfectly the thirty-three years He walked on this earth. So through faith and repentance in Christ we are forgiven of our sins and we are also given the perfect righteousness of Christ so that when God looks on us He sees not our sin but His Son! What glorious truth.
Sadly, like the rich young ruler, many today believe that they can work their way to heaven or do enough good things to please God. This is a lie of Satan. Let us recall the words of Christ to that young ruler that there is none good but God. That should wake us all up that only God is good and there is none who are good enough to stand before Him. All those outside of Jesus Christ will one day stand before God but only to receive the punishment, judgment and wrath that they truly deserve. Let this not be you. Repent from trusting in your own works and thinking you are good enough and instead of walking away from Christ like that young ruler run to Him and embrace Him in faith knowing that all who come to Him He will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)
The true believer’s desire to obey the Law is not to merit anything before God but to seek to obey Him (albeit imperfectly) out of sheer gratitude for all that Christ has done.
Oh may we rejoice in the glorious truth that while we are dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1) and absolutely unable to come to God that He has come to us in His Son and provided the only way to eternal life and forgiveness. Christ Jesus is not a way, but the way, the truth and the life and no man can come to the Father but through Him! (John 14:6) Is this not the wonderful truth that Christ taught this young ruler and us? Don’t be like the young ruler! Relinquish all that you are and all that you have to all that He is and all that He demands – for He is worthy!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Another excellent and Christ-exalting sermon from Paul Washer as he expounds on how prayer is not only intercession and requests but most importantly a time of sweet communion with God as we are adopted into the kingdom because of Christ and only because of Christ. I highly recommend this excellent sermon by brother Washer.
“He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:5-6
“The images or pictures of God are an abomination and utterly unlawful, because they do debase God, and may be the cause of idolatrous worship. It is not lawful to have pictures of Jesus Christ, because his divine nature cannot be pictured at all, and because his body, as it is now glorified, cannot be pictured as it is; and because, if it do not stir up devotion, it is in vain; if it do stir up devotion, it is a worshipping by an image or picture, and so a palpable breach of the second commandment.” (Thomas Vincent, An Explanation of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, n.d.) 162.)
“Perhaps more people living today have derived their ideas of Jesus Christ from these typically ‘liberal’ pictures of Jesus than have derived their ideas of Jesus from the Bible itself. Such people inevitably think of Jesus as a human person, rather than thinking of him according to the biblical teaching as a divine person with a human nature. The inevitable effect of the popular acceptance of pictures of Jesus is to overemphasize his humanity and to forget or neglect his deity (which of course no picture can portray).” (Johannes G. Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2002), 292.)
As a teacher of the Bible I often have people come up to me saying things like, “the Lord told me to tell you to…”. I know that there are great intentions behind this kind of speech but the horrible problem here is that this would be a direct violation of the third commandment and in its basic form false prophecy. The television and internet are full of so-called “teachers” of God’s word who claim to have special revelation and a new message from God. If anyone comes up to you telling you they have a new revelation from God my advice to you is to run!
What we so often neglect, especially among American evangelicalism today, is a proper understanding and elevation of God’s Word. God has spoken and everything He has to say to us is in His Holy Word. Christ Jesus, God incarnate, is the final High Prophet and God has spoken finally and fully in the incarnate Word. What glorious news. This important and basic biblical understanding should guide us away from the multitude of false teachers and so called modern day prophets.
I believe that this short excerpt from Phillip Graham-Ryken’s excellent book on the Ten Commandments sums up how easily (and how often) even believers take the Lord’s name in vain…
A more serious way to break the third commandment is by using God’s name to advance our own agenda. Some Christian’s say, “the Lord told me to do this.” Or worse, they say, “the Lord told me to tell you to do this.” That is false prophesy! God has already said whatever He needs to say to us in His Word. Of course, there is also an inward leading of the Holy Spirit. But that is only an inward leading, and it should not be misrepresented as an authoritative word from God.
May our eyes be opened to the seriousness and multi-faceted ways in which we so often break this and the other commandments. May the mirror of the Decalogue show us our constant need for Christ and the thanksgiving constantly due Him, the holy character of God and be a model for believers to live by to seek to please God out of sheer gratitude for what Christ has done for us!
And if you are outside of Christ may the Law show you how far you fall from God’s perfect and holy standard and see that there is nothing you can do to merit or earn your salvation and standing before God. May you see the Law as the letter that kills, damns and condemns and run to the only One who has met the Law perfectly and bore the wrath of God due to us in our place. Pray the Lord to grant you true faith and repentance to embrace Christ Jesus for “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him!” Now that is Good News!
Soli Deo Gloria!
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