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Light Of His Word The Sermons of Pastor Mike Walls Freedom Baptist Church Used By Permission Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. |
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Light Of His Word The Sermons of Pastor Mike Walls Freedom Baptist Church Used By Permission Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. |
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I’m
talking about folks who may have been close to the things of God
and on the threshold of salvation, but failed for different reasons
to make it to heaven. Last time we looked at Judas Iscariot.
We compared him to the lost Church member. Judas had a name
that he belonged to Christ! Judas was in the presence of Jesus!
Judas outwardly appeared ok! Judas willingly betrayed Christ
when the price was right! Judas received warning from Christ
to no avail! Judas’ problem was that he allowed Satan to
have control of his life rather than Christ! Judas died
a tragic death! Today
we want to look at a man known as “The Rich Young Ruler.”
We will compare him to the moral person. Before going any
further, let’s define what moral is. This is someone that
is ethical. It is someone of high caliber of living.
He or she would be someone you would trust with that which is
most precious to you. He was a real catch. He was
young. Who really wants his daughter to marry an old man?
He was rich and a ruler. He was respectful. Oh yes,
he was a man. Let’s look at this man in what the scriptures
has to say. I. THIS
MAN WAS A YOUNG MAN. “But when
the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for
he had great possessions.” In
his mind he may have thought that he had a long life ahead of
him. What is more important- what we think or what the
Bible proclaims? Just in case you are not able to make
up your mind- let me make myself clear. It is most important
to know what the Bible says. How important is the Bible.
Let me give two passages before going on. “I will worship
toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness
and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above
all thy name.” “For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” What does the Bible say about life? “Whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away.” “Man that
is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not.” “For we are
strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers:
our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” “Now my days
are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.”
We
know from the five deaths recently of the young people that
death comes at a time that God only knows. So first of
all, this man was a young man. II. THIS
MAN WAS A RULER. Luke
18:18 “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?” This
was a man who had a position of power and influence. This
man may have thought that his position would gain him some recognition
is the eyes of Jesus. We see a lot in the world in which
we live. Many times people in positions of power and influence
try to use their position to gain favor. As much as I
respect our president, he put his pants on one leg at a time
just like I do and every other man I know. Some
of the biggest crooks that have ever lived are people of position.
A ruler in that day was usually a religious leader because they
were under Rome rule. So
he was a young man and a ruler. III. THIS
MAN WAS A RICH MAN.
Luke 18:23 “And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was
very rich.” He
was very rich. But, what we are not told is how he gained
his riches. We don’t need to know, but we need to understand
that Jesus knew. Just because he was rich does not mean
that he was a crook. What is difference between rich people
and ordinary people? They are held together by all their
dough. There
is nothing particularly wrong with having riches. It is
not a sin to have riches. But, there are some people that in
order to get ahead and gain riches, are willing to cast their
principles aside. This may have not been necessarily the
case for this man, but many times that is how it is. What
doe the Bible say about riches? I will not get sidetracked
but our children need to hear this and know it is the truth
about riches and not someone’s opinion. The
Perils of riches are thus. The rich are inclined to Forgetfulness
of God Deuteronomy
8:13-14 “And when
thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold
is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine
heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage” Riches
can result in greed. Psalm 62:10 “Trust not
in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase,
set not your heart upon them.” Riches endanger
integrity. Integrity is a famous word for good old honesty.
Proverbs
28:20 “A faithful
man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to
be rich shall not be innocent.” The get rich
schemes are harmful to your character. This includes the
playing of the lottery even if it benefits education.
I know many who work for school system. They are trying
to figure out where all the millions raised for education is
located. It is not in the school system. Riches
hinder entrance into God's kingdom. Matthew
19:23 “Then said
Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” We will see
this in this man’s life shortly. Riches
can result in barrenness of life. Mark
4:19 “And the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the
lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful.” Riches subject
men to powerful temptations. 1st
Timothy 6:9 “But they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition.” This man was young, a ruler and rich. IV. THIS
MAN WAS SEEKING. A. He Was Seeking At The Right Place–Jesus. “Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.” “And when
he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and
kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do
that I may inherit eternal life?” Kneeling
before Jesus will happen in one of two places in life.
You will kneel before Jesus as Lord when you get saved or you
will kneel before Him when you are judged before going to hell
and eternity. B. He Was Seeking In The Right Way–Respectfully. He called
Jesus “Good Master.” I
am going to get a soapbox so to speak. But our children
need to know the truth. There is a lot of disrespect for
Jesus today. He is not the man upstairs. He is LORD!
He is not J C. He is LORD! He is not your dog.
He is LORD! He is not a curse word. He is LORD!
He is not a byword. He is LORD! One day all this
disrespect will be taken in account. Exodus 20:7 “Thou shalt
not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
That
word “guiltless” means innocent. Payday some day is the
way we ought to looking at this today. Be careful how
you address the Lord and how you speak of Him and His name. C. He Was Seeking For The Wrong Thing–Self-Justification.
“What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
“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. 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.” “Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by
the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified.” D. The reality is that Jesus Came Seeking Him first. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which
was lost.” “Then Jesus beholding him, loved him . . .” V. THIS
MAN WAS MORAL IN HIS OWN EYES. He
Was Self-Deceived. If we take this man at his own testimony,
we see that he had never killed anyone. He had never committed
adultery. He had never stolen. He had never bore
false witness. He had honored his parents. He had loved
his neighbor as himself. Many
people have this testimony but they are just like this man-LOST.
What he could have said and we should say is that by the grace
of God we have never done these things. It is either the
grace of God that changes us or our own efforts. “But by the
grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than
they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” “Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost” It
is not our works that gets us to heaven like this man supposed.
It is only grace. If you think you are going to heaven
because you are a good person, you will miss heaven by just
a little bit. What does the Bible say about being good? “They are
all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” “For there
is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” “But we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away.” You
could say that the word “righteousness” means goodness.
Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But what are filthy
rags? I am glad you asked. I am not sure you will
be. As a nurse, I change dressings almost every day I
work. This filthy rag is a dressing over the wounds of
leprosy. Leprosy is a very contagious disease. It
was a wet, moist sore that ran constantly. For the sake
of the children and those with weak stomachs, I will not explain
further. This is why the lepers could not live with their
loved ones. But this did not mean a loving wife or husband
did not have compassion on their loved one. So they would
leave dressings in a prescribed place. The leper would
take off the old dressing or rag and it was full of disease
and filth. That is what calls our righteousness.
That old dressing that could never be used for anything or on
anyone again is God calls our righteousness. VI. THIS
MAN WAS LACKING AND HE KNEW IT. “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept
from my youth up: what lack I yet?” “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.” The truth is that this man was not keeping the whole law and knew
it. In fact, he was guilty of breaking the very first
commandment. “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me.” Anything
you put before God is an idol. This includes your family,
food, fortune and such. How
many people know that they are lacking? Some are seeking
for God and His salvation but don’t even know it. We just
don’t know but it is our responsibility to tell them the truth
from the Word of God. VII. THIS
MAN WENT AWAY SORROWFUL AND LOST. “Thus saith
the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man
glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness,
in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” “There is
that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh
himself poor, yet hath great riches.” “But they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” “Jesus said
unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that
saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” His
riches will ever before him in hell. John Rockefeller
was asked one time how much money it would to satisfy a man
and his answer was just one dollar more. It
is hard for rich people to get saved. They focus on what
they will have to give up. What do they really give up?
You give up your rags of your own righteousness for a robe. “I will greatly
rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for
he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” You give up your vileness for virtue. “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine
hand upon my mouth.” “According
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue” You
give up Satan for the Son of God. “Ye are of
your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it.” “But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name” But
this young man gave up heaven for hell. He gave up the
righteousness of God for rages. He is just like many others. Conclusion:
Let me make five more short statements and give the scripture
proof with it. It is how I am going to close this message. 1. You may have
done no wrong in the eyes of this world–You may be of impeccable
character in the community. Some have even called this man
the best man in the community. But what the Lord does say
about this? 1st Samuel
16:7 “. . . the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on
the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 2. You may have
done no wrong in your own eyes. “As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone
out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is
none that doeth good, no, not one.” 3. You may even
have more morals than most Christians. “For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” 4. But, have
you submitted yourself to the righteousness of God? “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is,
that they might be saved.” It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich, moral man to enter the kingdom of God. On our own human
merit, it is impossible. Only with God’s grace and mercy
in our lives, it is possible. 5. Do you lack
anything today? No matter what you have today, if you don’t
have Jesus in your life, then you are lacking the one and only
key ingredient. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What
is keeping from being saved? Whatever it is, is worth going
to hell? This young rich, young ruler missed heaven by just
a little bit.
MISSING
HEAVEN BY A LITTLE
Rich
Young Ruler
Luke
18:18-23
Introduction:
We began last week to look at the subject of MISSING HEAVEN BY
A LITTLE. It’s sad that there are multitudes of people who
will miss out on heaven. But what really is much sadder
is that there will be many folks who miss out on heaven by just
a little.
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