Luke 18:18-30 - God's Salvation Requires Humility and Repentance

22 So when Jesus heard thesethings, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you haveand distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,follow Me." 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for hewas very rich.  Today,we're looking at Luke chapter 18, verses 18-30, the story of the rich youngruler who comes to Jesus looking for salvation. In verse 17, Jesus had justmade the statement, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as alittle child will by no means enter it." You have to come to Jesuslike a child, totally dependent upon Him, hungry for Him and Him alone. In thevery first “Beatitude” Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, Fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). This young ruler comes toJesus is an illustration of someone who will not enter the kingdom of heavenbecause of their pride, possessions, and their wrong views of Jesus, self, sin,and also basic dishonesty. Jesussays to this rich young ruler, "Keep the commandments", and Helists five of them: "Don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal,don't bear false witness, honor your father and mother." The manresponds, "I've done all these things since I was a youth." Hecalled Jesus "good Master," honoring the Lord with his lips, but hisheart was far from Him. He didn’t truly believe Jesus is the Son of God,despite implying it by calling Him "good Master." He also had a wrongview of his own sin, claiming he’d kept all the commandments. Noticethat Jesus didn’t quote the last commandment, "Thou shalt not covet."He tells the man, "Go sell everything you have, give to the poor, andfollow me." The man went away very sorrowful because he had greatriches. We see that this man had a problem with covetousness, and Jesus knowinghis heart deal with that by telling him to give his wealth away. What’simportant is that unless we come to Jesus with a heart like a child, willing inhumility to repent of our sin, our selfishness and our pride, we will notreceive the grace of God to be saved (Ephesians 2:8-9; James 4:6). This manthought he could get saved by what he did, asking, "What shall I do toinherit eternal life?" He wasn’t looking at his heart or the need torepent of his sins. He felt he was a pretty good guy, keeping all thecommandments. Youdon’t get to heaven by keeping the commandments. I’ve asked people over theyears, "Are you going to heaven? How do you know?" They’ll say,"I do the best I can and try to keep the commandments." But myfriend, that doesn’t take away our sin. Our problem is a sin problem, acovetous, selfish, prideful heart problem. “All have sinned and come shortof the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We must come like a child, admit inhumility that we have sinned, turn from our sin, and trust Jesus. Scripturedoesn’t teach that it’s wrong to be wealthy. You can possess great wealth andbe a wonderful, loving Christian, making a major difference in the kingdom ofGod. But you can’t let wealth possess you. Keep your focus on kingdom work, notpersonal gain. I’ll never forget a wealthy friend who said, "I take careof God’s business, and God takes care of my business." He was one of themost giving people I’d ever met. Keepyour focus on eternity, knowing we are sinners. The only way to heaven is torepent, turn from sin, and trust Jesus Christ as Savior. Go to the cross, wheresin was taken care of. Jesus died in our place, gave us the only parachute lefton the plane, and went down with it. But thank God, He rose again the thirdday. He’s alive, and today He can save you if you come by faith to Him.  Don’tbe like this rich young ruler who goes away “very sorrowful”. No, youcan live a happy, joyful, wonderful life in Christ when you give your heart toHim.