Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #51 Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler - Luke 18

 

Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #51
Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler - Luke 18

 Introduction:

Earlier in our series on Jesus as Creator, Savior Lord and King back in Luke 10 there were three people who either came to Jesus or Jesus came to them about salvation and discipleship. And to be just honest about it, Jesus presented discipleship as the natural next step after salvation. You couldn’t or shouldn’t be a believer and then not be a disciple. In this day and time we seem think salvation and discipleship are two steps and that one of them is optional. I want Jesus to give me eternal life but I don’t want to give Jesus my life today. It really doesn’t work that way, but that is a topic for another sermon. Today there is a man who comes to Jesus and he seems utterly sincere about eternal life, but Jesus make it clear that eternal life isn’t earned.

In our passage this morning three questions must be answered in order to fully answer the rich, young ruler’s one question. Who Is Jesus? Who is Lost? And Who Can Be Saved?

Who Is Jesus?

Luke 18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

The “Good” Question

In our timeline of Jesus earthly life, this takes place within the last few weeks of Jesus life. He is on His way to Jerusalem now. He is on His way to die on the cross and that adds depth and context what happens here.

This meeting is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, (Mt 19:16–30; Mk 10:17–31; Lk 18:18–30) that means that those three authors were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit as to the importance of this event. Each are a little bit different, Matthew chapter 19 tells us he is young, Luke tells us he is a ruler, but all three of them tell us he was rich. I don’t have to tell you what rich is, because for most of us, …. Make that all of us, rich is what we aren’t. So we understand that term. Young is what most of us were and then there is this word ruler. We think of king when we read ruler but it may mean he was an administrator over a synagogue, or a simply a nobleman.

This is one of the passages that many people think of when they talk about the hard sayings of Jesus. The difficulty begins with Jesus’ response to what we see as a straight forward greeting by this young man. He approaches Jesus and says, Luke 18:18 Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? That is not a problem for us but what Jesus says next is. Luke 18:19 Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Wait now, this is Jesus of all the people you could call good it would be him, but the young man is not you or I, and he does not live in our time with a copy of the new testament on our laps, or in our phones, (nope still not a Bible) this man is a Jew and he is a product of his time and heritage. Jesus’ question meets the man where he is at then, not where we are at now. Always remember context takes in all the setting of the passage. Who, when, where, why and only then can you explore what.

Jesus stops the man cold in the same way he stopped Nicodemus when he came to Christ and said, John 3:2-3 Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus didn’t stop them when they called him rabbi or master, since the words mean teacher, but he did stop them when Nicodemus said, “you are from heaven” and the rich, young ruler called him, “Good.” What they meant as a honorific greeting, Jesus knew they were both missing the point. To Nicodemus he said, “you can’t even see the kingdom of heaven” until you are born again and to the young man, “Think about what your are saying, you call me good but do you understand that only God is truly good. Jesus is talking about righteousness, but the young man is talking about the general description of a person’s actions.

Jesus is saying, “Stop and think about what you are saying and who you are saying it to.” He was not denying his own goodness, his own righteousness anymore than He was telling Nicodemus, he was wrong in know that Jesus had been sent from heaven. The problem was in their preconceived ideas of what they were saying meant.

Before they could go on they needed to understand who Jesus was and is. The young man came to ask a legal question from a famous teacher, Jesus came to earth from heaven and yes he was sinless and yes he was good in every aspect of righteousness and sinlessness and before they could understand the answers to the questions they were asking they needed to know who they were talking to. It wasn’t just another teacher, they were talking to the Son of God. Nicodemus came to understand that, the rich, young ruler in this story did not.

Who Is Jesus to you?

Knowing who Jesus is, truly is, fully is, completely is makes the difference between a discussion and revelation. Knowing who Jesus is means you see eternity, not just tomorrow. Knowing who Jesus is means security of salvation and not the half-hopes and doubts of insecurity.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the eternal son of God, that He is very God or very God, that He is God in the flesh. That He came to earth born of virgin, lived a sinless life and then gave that life to pay the price for the sin of mankind on the cross of Calvary. That after His death He was buried in a tomb and then 3 days later rose from the dead as He had prophesied and promised. The Bible tells us faith in Jesus brings forgiveness of sin and salvation for eternity.

Acts 4:10-12 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Before you can know how to be saved, you better know the One, the only One, who can save you.

The next question that must be answered is who is lost.

Who Is Lost?

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. 21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. 22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. 23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

The Law Question

Jesus answer is not what we in 2026 expect is it? We expect the basic statement of salvation, like Paul gave the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Instead Jesus tells this man in this time and culture. “Thou knowest the law.” And then he give that law, Luke 18:20 Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

Now, did you notice that that list is a bit short? It only contains 5 commandments; all the upper part, the God part, of the 10 commandments is missing. Here they are in Exodus 20:3-8 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: …. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain… 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

All the commandments about God, Jesus left out. He also left out the last commandment Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet…

Do you think Jesus didn’t know all the commandments? He wrote them and gave them to Moses. Yet he leaves off the most important ones about God and the last one about coveting.

The young man immediately says, “Luke 18:21 All these have I kept from my youth up.” What that tells us is that Jesus is meeting the question of this young man right where he was at.

He is a moral man, he is a keeper of the law, he is obedient in his own eyes to the law of God. He wasn’t lacking anything from what he understood as he means by which he could “inherit” eternal life. He asked a question about what he could do to earn salvation and Jesus told him, but the young man is in for a shock.

Listen to Jesus’ answer, this should shock you, Luke 18:22 Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

Wait, wait, wait. That’s not the right answer, what is Jesus doing? Where is the altar call, where is the invitation, where is the say this prayer, raise your hand, come to Jesus answer? Well, it’s not here.

This man has been taught all his life that keeping the law meant he could earn his salvation and Jesus knows that. Now Jesus is going to show this man that the law, he was counting on to save him, couldn’t save him because he wasn’t really keeping it at all. Remember all the commandments Jesus left out? Well, here they are.

Sell all you, give it away and come follow me. Thou shalt not covet and have no other gods before me. This young man coveted the thing his wealth could buy and that money was the god he worshipped. He hadn’t kept the commandments at all, Jesus knew it and now this rich, young ruler knew it.

Luke 18:23 when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

What is the Law To You?

Now I can’t identify with this rich young ruler because he was very rich. I don’t know what that is like. I’m sure Joel Osteen with his mansion down there in Houston and his Mercedes and Ferrari’s could. I’m sure Kenneth Copeland who brags about have 3 private jets and 20 watches worth over a million dollars, could. I’m sure Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and so many other billionaires could identify with this man.

Just imagine if Donald Trump asked this question to us, would you tell him, “Sell everything you have give it to the poor and follow Jesus.” No would we say, “Believe” most of us wouldn’t even tell him “Repent and Believe.

So what is the law to you and I. It is not a way to salvation, the law can’t enable us to “inherit” or earn eternal life.

This is what Paul who wa a Jew, like this young man and also a Pharisee like Nicodemus, this is what he said in Romans 3:19-26 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Galatians 3:22-24 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

What is the law to you and me? It is proof that we are sinners before a holy and righteous God. It proves we can’t keep it and therefore we can’t inherit or earn salvation. It is our teacher and it teaches us one great and vital lesson, we are sinners who cannot save themselves but need Jesus, the only one who did not sin, to save us.

This young man didn’t get it. He heard Jesus answer and instead of asking more, instead of asking like the disciple for help in understanding, he just walks away. Like so many others, just walking away from Jesus the only hope of eternal life. Let’s look at happens next because that is where the real answer to this man’s question is found.

Who Can Be Saved?

24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. -27 And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? 27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

The Salvation Question

Luke is the only writer who tells us about this man being a ruler, but it is Mark that tells us, Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Jesus loved him. He saw the sincere desire of this young man to know about eternal life, he looked on him and perhaps saw in his eyes that he was going to walk away and Luke records Luke 18:24 when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful.

Sorrowful because he loved this lost man, sorrowful because he walked away and sorrowful because he was just one of so many, Luke 18:24 How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

What Jesus is saying is that it is difficult, hard for the rich to let go of their riches and take hold of salvation through Jesus. This was the young man’s problem. He heard give up your riches and you’ll go to heaven, but Jesus was telling him, “your riches stand between you and following me.”

When the disciple hear this, and this is always what made them true followers of Jesus, they asked questions. When they didn’t understand a parable, they asked, when they didn’t understand about the kingdom of heaven they asked. Now when they hear Jesus say Luke 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” They don’t walk away the ask the question that the rich young man didn’t ask, Luke 18:26 Who then can be saved?

They knew the comparison Jesus was making, it would be easier for someone to pass through the eye of a sewing needle, that is the word that is used here, than for a wealthy man to go to heaven. Now I heard what you’ve probably heard, I may have even preached it when I was younger, that this eye of the needle was a gate that was used at night to enter Jerusalem and the camel had to bow down and take off its burden to enter the city. Neat story except that’s not what Jesus was saying. No such gate has ever been found, the word means sewing needle and the reaction of the disciples is one of shock.

Wait, Lord what are you saying? How can anyone be saved then if it is that hard?

And just listen to Jesus’ answer, Luke 18:27 The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Only God can open the door of heaven, only God can forgive sin, only God can make a way to salvation. This God did in Jesus.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door….

Oh if only that young man had waited to hear that answer but all he heard was sell all that you have and he left.

What is Salvation to You?

This world has as many ways to be saved as it does religions, but if you condense them all down to their essential elements they come down to these two, salvation by works or salvation by grace through faith. One is earned the other is a gift.

One way says I will earn salvation and eternal life. I will be good enough. I will be found worthy. The other way says no one can earn eternal life, no one is good enough and no one is worthy.

Romans 3:21 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Catholicism says Keep the Sacraments. Methodism says Jesus saves you from your past sins but you are responsible for your future sins. The Church of Christ says you must be baptized and Pentecostalism and the Charismatics say you must speak in tongues and receive the gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life, period. It’s Jesus only, fully and forever or you also are walking away. Salvation is in Jesus alone without any mixture of works, or you’re walking away. Eternal life is in Jesus perfectly and completely for all time and eternity or else you are walking away.

Didn’t Paul state it well in Ephesians 2:7-9 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

What is impossible with man, with you and I, is the only thing possible with God. Your salvation is impossible in yourself but it is the great and divine gift of God when you put your faith in Jesus.

Conclusion

This morning how would you answer those three questions? Who is Jesus, who is lost and what is salvation?

I rejoice today because I have experienced the impossible in my own soul through the salvation of Jesus. I’ve experienced something more miraculous than jumping through the eye of a needle. I have experienced the new birth, the cleansing of my sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the salvation of my sinful soul because I know who Jesus is. This morning, don’t walk away like the rich young ruler, walk to Jesus and experience the impossibility of eternal life.