What must I do to inherit eternal life? Mark chapter 10 from verse 17 to 31. Let us read starting in Mark chapter 10 and verse 17. Now as he, Jesus, was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him, and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good, but one, that is God. You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. And he answered and said to him, teacher, all these things I've kept from my youth, Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, one thing you lack, go to your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. And come, take up your cross and follow me. But he was sad at this word and he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. And his disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And they were greatly astonished, saying amongst themselves, Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. Then Peter began to say to them, See, we have left all and followed you. So Jesus assured him, and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's. He shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. but many who are first will be last, and many who are last, first." This is the Word of God. So, we have got here, in this presentation of how the Lord presents the Gospel, an example of how the Lord counseled individuals for salvation, and it stands in sharp contrast with the way it's generally done and taught in our churches, in our modern messages, and our modern methods. This rich young ruler was earnest. He did not merely raise his hand while every head was bowed and every eye was closed and while the lights were dimmed and somebody played on the organ or the piano. He did not merely walk down the aisle in response to an impassioned appeal. No, while every eye was opened, every head was raised, in the full light of day, he ran to Christ openly in front of everyone. And he didn't just bow his head and repeat a set prayer. He fell on his knees before the Lord and he pleaded, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So this man was earnest, this man was eager. And our Lord didn't follow the guidelines of the four spiritual floors or any of the modern methods. What was our Lord's response? Did he say, just believe? Just pray this prayer. Did he tell him that God loved him and had a wonderful plan for his life? No. Our Lord rebuked him. Why do you call me good? Jesus said. No one is good except God alone. Our Lord began with the nature of God and the nature of man. Only God is holy. All people are sinners. Now this, in fact, gives us a great evangelistic opening for many, many people today, because the Americans have popularized the response to almost any question of, I'm good. Would you like some tea? No, I'm good. You can ask them anything, and I'm good. You can ask, are you a good person? I'm a very good person, most people would say. So whenever a person responds with, I'm good, you could just start a spiritual conversation by saying, but Jesus said no one is good. except God alone. And there you are, you've already started making people think about eternity, think about God. They've just opened the conversation for an evangelistic opportunity right there. No one is good except God alone. You might ask why the Lord rebuked this rich young ruler, who's obviously earnest and obviously religious. And anyway, surely our Lord Jesus is God. Yes, we know that, but here's God with us, here's Emmanuel, here's the second person of Trinity. He's the Son of God. But did the rich young ruler understand that? Was he merely seeking to flatter him, her teacher? Or did he realize with whom he is talking? Next, the Lord reminded him of the Ten Commandments. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Do not defraud. Honor your father and your mother. Now many would say, well what does the law have to do with eternal life? It's not part of most evangelistic programs. Well the scripture says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. What converts the soul? The law of the Lord. Galatians 3.24 says, the law was our tutor, our schoolmaster, to lead us to Christ, that we can be justified by faith. Telling people that Jesus is the answer, before they're even asking the question, is not helpful. No honest teacher hands out the answer keys before giving out the questions and exams. Declaring that Jesus saves to people who are not even aware that they're lost and that they need to be saved is ineffective. Until people know the bad news of hell, they're not ready to know the good news of heaven. Until our hearers appreciate the eternal implications of the holiness of God and the depravity of man, and His holy law and eternal judgment, they are not ready to receive the glorious message of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross at Calvary. To put it more bluntly, until people understand that they are lost, damned, on the broad road, heading towards an eternity of just condemnation in the lake of fire, they are not ready to hear the way of salvation, the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. But incredibly, this rich young ruler that we read about in Mark 10, he could declare, I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a youth. Now no doubt this man must have been an extraordinary individual. He was morally upright, he was devoutly religious, but he lacked an awareness of his own son. The greatest fault is to be aware of no faults. So our Lord tells him, one thing you lack, Go, sell everything you have, give it to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven, then take up your cross, come and follow me." Now, it may sound like the Lord is telling him to do several things, but it actually amounts to one thing, repentance. Because when you look at this rich young ruler, he wanted eternal life. But he wasn't willing to obey the Lord, he wasn't willing to, in this case, sell his possessions, give it to the poor, take up his cross, follow Christ. He wasn't believing, he wasn't actually obeying. Our Lord had singled out the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me, and the last, you shall not covet. This rich young ruler had apparently made an idol out of his wealth. His riches had become more important to him than obedience to God. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. The Ten Commands deals with our relationship with God, our relationship with our parents, and our relationship with other people. They deal with God, worship, speech, time, authority, life, love, property, truth, conscience. The Ten Commands forbids polytheism. idolatry, profanity, desecration of the Sabbath, dishonoring of parents, murder, adultery, theft, perjury and coveting. By studying the law of God we come to realize how far short we fall. The message to those who recognize their transgressions is one of repentance and faith. And as repentance without faith is not true repentance, so faith without repentance is not true faith. They go together, two sides of the same coin. If we believe, we will repent. But when this man heard our Lord's response and what he required, the man's face fell. He went away sad. He said, great wealth. Now this indicates that he believed what Jesus said. He didn't get angry, thinking this isn't being taken seriously. You're not answering me honestly. He went away sad. He didn't go away angry or frustrated. He went away sad. It indicates he believed what Jesus said, but he wasn't willing to pay the price. and the Lord didn't run after him, the Lord didn't say look 80% will do, 50% I'll tell you what, 10% He didn't lower the standard and so instead of chasing after him lowering the standard Jesus turned to the disciples and said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven the disciples were amazed at these words I mean this isn't exactly, it's easy to be saved just believe, just pray this prayer, just raise your hand, just walk down the aisle Just follow me in these words. Jesus said, it's hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. I've been told from the first day I heard the gospel, it's easy to be a Christian. That's not what Jesus said. The disciples were amazed. And Jesus said again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. Not just hard for the rich, but now, he says, it's hard for anyone to enter the kingdom of heaven. But how often don't we say it's easy to be saved? But our Lord, taught it's hard to enter the kingdom of God. Not only hard for the rich, hard for anyone. The disciples were even more amazed and they said to each other, who then can be saved? And Jesus looked and said, with man this is impossible. Not just hard, impossible. Do we realize the implications? All mankind is lost. No one can save himself. Neither can any pastor save you, no denomination, no sacrament, no amount of praying or singing or preaching can save anyone. Eloquence cannot save anyone. An emotionally charged atmosphere cannot. Certainly a music group can't save you. A charged atmosphere cannot save you. With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. A biblical illustration of conversion is found in John chapter 11 at Lazarus' tomb. Lazarus has been dead for four days. Is it reasonable for the Lord to stand at the tomb and call on a decaying corpse, Lazarus, come out! That's what the Lord did. And that's what evangelism is. Because the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Faith comes from hearing, hearing by the word of God. And so the Word of God has the power, the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, the Lord cries out, Lazarus, come forth! And Lazarus came forth. A man had been dead four days, his body had begun decaying, and he came back alive. Only the Word of God can save anyone. So why do we subtract from the powerful Word of God? Why do we think we can add anything of value to it? Jesus emphasized the need for sacrifice, and the need for endurance, and the need for willingness to pay the price, to be the ones doing sacrifices. He emphasized the need for sacrifice, for enduring persecutions, and he promised blessings, rewards, and eternal life to all those who obey the message. Now, what's wrong with the Gospel being preached today in the light of how Jesus proclaimed the Gospel in Mark chapter 10? What's wrong with the average gospel message proclaimed today by all too many pulpits on radio and TV? It's hard to avoid the conclusion that most evangelistic messages today are actually man-centered, emotion-based, weak and shallow. They just believe gospel is cheap. Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Today, all too many give him away free. This premise is superficial and it produces superficial converts at best, false converts at worst. The easy-believerism that so often is proclaimed is synthetic. It's just like white bread, which has had all the natural goodness taken out, had hundreds, literally hundreds of artificial additives put in it to give it the texture, the flavour, the colour and all that, and there's just no nutrition in white bread. These evil people in white coats who do vivisection experiments on animals, they tell you that if you feed a rat only white bread, they'll die of starvation. Well, honestly, you don't need experiments like that to prove that. We should be able to tell. It's not the way God made food, bread to come from the earth. And so white bread has the good nutrients taken out and it adds a whole lot of artificial things. And this has happened to the Gospel. Things have been added and a lot has been taken away. So what's missing from the Gospel message of today? Well, if you look at what Jesus taught in Mark chapter 10, it's quite clear that most of what he taught is missing from the average Gospel message today. To assume that our hearers understand the nature of God, To assume that they fully understand and appreciate the majesty and the holiness and the glory of our all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God, the Eternal Creator, the Eternal Judge, it's presumptuous. Most people don't understand who God is. You tell people God loves you, they don't know who God is, they don't understand what love is, and they don't even know who they are. So, you're communicating three words which they will misunderstand each one of those three words. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Lord's mercy extends to those who fear Him. The Lord instructs those who fear Him. The foundation for effective service is the fear of the Lord. The Lord's great blessing is upon those who fear Him. These are all quotes straight from Scripture. Yet how often do we hear these great truths proclaimed? How often is the fear of God taught? The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Through the law we become conscious of sin. But how often do you hear the law of God being proclaimed? Professor Martin Luther said the first duty of a gospel preacher is to proclaim the law of God and to show the nature of sin. John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, said the man who does not understand the nature of the law cannot understand the nature of sin. John Wesley said a good evangelist preaches 90% law and 10% grace. Just think of a good doctor. He has to first convince you of the diagnosis. And once you convince the diagnosis, then you'd be willing to take the cure. But why would a person want to take cure when he doesn't even understand he's got any disease? One evangelist said, failure to use the law of God is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and it'll fill the church only with false converts. Charles Spurgeon said they will never tremble before grace, they will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law. Our Lord Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 5, 17-19, do not think that I have come to abolish the Lord of Prophets, I did not come to abolish him but to fulfil him. I tell you the truth, until heaven or earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the law. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. How much clearer could the Lord have made it that the law of God applies today? Similarly, the wrath of God, the doctrine of eternal judgment, the reality of hell, are given scant attention in most modern sermons. for they would not follow his ways, they did not obey his law, so he poured out on them his burning anger." That's from Isaiah 42. Jesus said, do not fear man who can only kill a body and after that he can do nothing else. I will tell you whom to fear, Jesus said. Fear God, for after the killing of the body has power to throw the soul into an eternity in hell. Yes, I tell you, fear God. That's Luke 12, 5. In John 3, 36 we read, whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath abides on him." It's not that people are in danger of coming into contact with the wrath of God, it's that the wrath of God abides over those who reject God already, like the sword of Damocles. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Even the heart of the gospel message, the redemption achieved by the blood of Christ atoned on the cross of Calvary, receives surprisingly little emphasis from most modern evangelists, especially on TV. Without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness of sins, and yet many popular megachurches are preaching a bloodless gospel. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. The scriptures declare that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son purifies us from all sin. But how often do we hear that message proclaimed? Also what's conspicuous about its absence is a biblical emphasis and a biblical understanding of repentance. I've heard prominent evangelists say, repentance is just saying you're sorry. Well, it's a lot more than that. led drunkards to the Lord on the streets of Hillborough and Durban and Seapoint, who've prayed with tears on one night, and the next morning they can't remember any of it, and they're back to the bottle and back to drunkards. They might have felt sorry at the time, like many speak about a drunkard's regret, but that doesn't mean he's not going back to tomorrow. No, by way of contrast, the Bible emphasizes three aspects of repentance. Conviction, contrition and conversion. A change of mind, a change of heart, a change of life. Head, heart, hands. Attitudes and actions. Creed leads to change of conduct. Belief affects your behavior. It's faith in action. Conviction, a change of mind. Contrition, a change of heart. Conversion, a change of life. We stop justifying and excusing our sin, and using all kinds of nice synonyms for it, euphemisms, but we admit what is. We stop loving our sin, we come to hate it, and we stop doing it, we actually change our lifestyle, our behavior. It's not enough to confess sin, we also need to reject the sin mentally, to loathe it, to forsake it, to hate it. Repentance involves a change of habits, a change of belief, and a change of behavior. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him. That's Isaiah 55 verse 7. So there's a whole lot of natural parts of the Gospel that have been edited out, like all nutrients taken out of the white bread. But what are the unbiblical additions that have been added to modern Gospels? In place of the biblical message of the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the law of God, the wrath of God, eternal judgment, the need for repentance from sin, and faith in the atonement through Christ's blood, many have substituted a series of unbiblical innovations. Now, nowhere in the Bible will you find any of these examples that I'm about to give now. You won't read of any evangelist, you won't read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John in the Book of Acts or in the Epistles, these sorts of phrases. But this is common. So common that people would think, well, isn't there a Bible verse for it? No, there isn't. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That's the first of the four spiritual flaws. God is angry with the wicked every day. God hates a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, man who stirs up trouble amongst his friends. We read of seven categories of people God hates in Proverbs chapter 6. How on earth can we say God loves everyone? And I've heard people saying this to God-hating, blaspheming, pagans who spit in your face, God loves you. Well, that sounds nice, it may make us feel good, but it's not biblical. And neither Paul, nor any of the other evangelists, nor even the Lord Jesus spoke to people in that way. Those who are living lives of rebellion to God, the Bible says, the wrath of God abides over them. God is angry with the wicked every day. So instead of scripture making it clear that God is angry with those who refuse to obey and eternity in hell is his plan for the unrepentant, people have rather substituted unbiblical innovation. How about this one? Accept Jesus as your personal saviour. Now that sounds so good that you'd think that it's got to be in the Bible somewhere. But search and you will not find accept Jesus as your personal saviour. Accept is the weakest word possible. In Afrikaans, geemot deheera aniam. That is not a biblical concept. You don't need to accept Jesus. You must submit to Him. You must surrender to Him. You've got to put your faith in Him. You've got to trust in Him. You've got to obey Him. You've got to follow Him. But accept Him? He needs to accept you. It's not a matter of you accepting Him. For example, imagine me turning up at the Calvin Grove and saying, I accept a membership from you. He said, well, we weren't offering you any. We've got to accept you. You can submit your application. We decide who becomes a member of this club. You don't suddenly walk in and make yourself a member. And so this accept Jesus as your personal savior, it sounds like he's standing outside like a salesman waiting on a doormat for you to make a decision on accepting him. That's not a biblical concept. God now commands all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17, verse 30. That's a biblical concept. A call to submit to Christ, to surrender your lifestime as Lord and Savior. That's more biblical than this weak, anemic, pathetic, except Jesus. What about this one? Only you can open the door of your heart. Jesus standing at the door of your heart knocking. He's a gentleman. He'll only come in if he's invited. The handle is only on the inside. There's no handle on the outside. He can't open the door. You have to open the door for him. I've heard Word for word, that, over and over. People taking that beautiful Light of the World painting from Holman Hunt, which actually, I've seen a copy, but it looks like the original to me, but I'm told it isn't the original, hanging in St. Paul's in London. Magnificent, huge, massive painting, which would be taller than from floor to ceiling in this room. And the Holman Hunt, where you've got a depiction of Lord Jesus standing outside the door with a light. And it's a beautiful picture, but it's not inspired scripture. And yes, there isn't a handle on the outside of the door in that particular painting. That's a great idea, but where did it get this idea that the Lord will not come in unless you invite him? Think of Acts 9, Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Tarsus, ready to persecute the church. Did the Lord knock on the door of his heart and ask permission for him to come in? No, he kicked him off the horse, struck him blind, commanded him to go into the city to be baptized and to receive counsel and he called him to be a missionary to the Gentiles. He didn't ask Paul's permission. Saul of Tarsus was struck off his horse and told, why are you persecuting me? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Will you open the door of your heart? Will you give me permission? None of that. Nowhere in the Bible do you find a single instance of an evangelist or a disciple using this kind of imaginative imagery to describe conversion. In the Book of Acts, in the four Gospels, you hear people challenged to come to Christ, to seek entry into His house. You must ask, you must seek, you must not and seek entry into God's kingdom. He's not waiting on the outside of the door of our hearts asking permission. He can kick the door down any time he wants. He doesn't need our puny permission. And so throughout the Bible we see plainly a command coming from God. For example, I'm told that the Queen doesn't send you an invitation. If you're in the British Isles and you receive an invitation to the palace or any of the Queen's residences for an event. It isn't an invitation, it's a command. You are required to attend at this event or another. The Queen doesn't issue invitations. Monarchs issue commands, instructions. And the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he most certainly doesn't need the permission of any of his puny subjects or creatures on earth. He can command. God now commands all men every to repent. And so, in the scripture, we do see something that might possibly give some justification to this idea of, accept Jesus, open the door of your heart. And that is in Revelation 3.20. But this was not an evangelistic outreach. This is a letter to a church. The letter to a church at Laodicea. Far from being an evangelistic message, it's a severe rebuke to a lukewarm church. I know your deeds. I know that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either. I mean, so either one or the other. So because you're lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of my mouth. Those whom I love are abuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Behold, I stamp the door knock. Now that's the context. And now snip, snip, snip. A whole lot of people have cut off the whole context and preamble. and the context entirely and made this into an evangelist appeal. Behold I stand at the door knock. This is not an evangelist appeal. This is the Lord saying I'm outside your church. Your church is lukewarm. You think that you're rich and you're poor, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. You're lukewarm. I want to vomit you out of my mouth. Those whom I love I rebuke and dispel. So be earnest and repent. Behold I stand at the door knock. That's the context. And it's tragic that part of this letter, written to warn the Church against the danger of half-heartedness, worldliness, compromise, could have been so abused as to produce lukewarm, semi-saved and even unsaved Congress. If only the full context of this passage was used, as often as the verse 20 is abused, or have strong words like rebuke, discipline, earnest repentance, they now become unacceptable to today's modern congregations. Similarly, the insipid phrases, just believe, just pray this prayer, are unbiblical. Where do you read any command of God with a word just in front of it? We must believe, but it's the whole Bible we've got to believe, and study, and obey, and proclaim, and apply. We must pray, but we need to do much more than just pray. All we can do is pray. How many times do you hear this? You just wonder how many people have got this idea that just is part of scripture. There's a verse in James that says the prayer of a just man is effective and powerful. But praying in a prayer meeting, things like, Lord Jesus, Just want to thank you for dying on the cross. There's nothing else you've got to thank him for. Lord, I just want to thank you for this night. That's not what James is meaning by the prayer of a just man. Putting just in front of things devalues everything else. We say, I just want to thank you for this means there's nothing else I want to thank you for. And when we say, all we can do is pray, We are saying, I intend to disobey everything else you've commanded in Scripture. Prayer is not meant to be an excuse for disobedience. It's not meant to be an alternative to obedience and putting feet to faith. It's meant to be the first step, not the last step, not the only step. And so, putting just in front of any part of Scripture devalues all the rest of it. The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ commands us to make disciples of all nations, teaching obedience to all things He has commanded. There's no just believe and just pray in the Bible. Now, along with these phrases, we've also accepted several inadequate slogans to convey apparently Christian messages. And in fact, this one, I remember having this bumper sticker and putting it on my Bible at one point. Christians aren't perfect. Just forgive them. That was very popular in the 1970s. While it's true that we're forgiven, yet imperfect, the insertion of the overused just in front of it turns us into a very dangerous half-truth. Are you only forgiven? Are you not regenerated as well, as redeemed? What about sanctification? If we have not evidenced a dramatic transformation in our beliefs, in our behavior, in our moral standards, in our way of life, in our conduct, then it's doubtful if we've even been forgiven. So this business of saying something like, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven, it's like saying, I'm not trustworthy, I'm just forgiven. I'm not honest, I'm just forgiven. I'm not reliable, I'm just forgiven. That is just not biblical. That's just not acceptable. We cannot be those kind of people who are going to devalue the rest of Scripture. So, this then is the bold and balanced gospel of Christ. God is a holy God. His righteous standards are seen in His law. Man is sinful. wicked and depraved and needs to repent from his wickedness and put all of his faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord. This repentance and faith must be evident in obedience to Christ, a willingness to sacrifice and a willingness to suffer persecution. To those who do so he promises blessings, rewards and eternal life. That's the message in a nutshell of Matthew 10. 17 to 31. Instead of offering a weak, diluted, man-centered message of just believe and receive, we need to faithfully proclaim a Christ-centered, Bible-based, Holy Spirit-led message of repentance and obedience. Rather than making convicts, we need to make disciples, teaching obedience to all things the Lord has commanded. It is this message which deals with the heart of the problem. Anything else would be as inadequate as placing a band-aid over a cancer. However, the gospel of Christ faithfully proclaimed would result in a purged, purified, powerful and prayerful church prepared to honour and obey Christ in all areas of life. This week, as we have evangelistic opportunities, missions and more, may we be faithful in proclaiming this message, counselling people to surrender to Christ. Let's pray. Lord God, we want to thank and praise you for the power of your word. We want to thank you, Lord God, that you are the God who saves, who regenerates, who sanctifies, who transforms. You are our creator who has made us. You are the eternal judge that we must bow before on the last day and give an account of our lives. You are our Lord and Savior. And we love you and we pray, Lord God, that you may continue to redeem and transform us and teach us and guide us so that we would be more effective in your service and more faithful to your word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.