Good morning. By way of introduction, just to introduce myself, my name is Jason Gallagher and my family and I have been members here at Branch of Hope since 2014. I've been a deacon since 2017, and currently a candidate for the office of elder here at this church. So I just wanted to second kind of what Pastor Paul has been encouraging you guys from the pulpit here, is to just make this process as thorough as possible, to feel free to ask us any questions you would like regarding our understanding of the scriptures, the government of the church. And during Q&A today, I encourage all of you guys to attend. and just ask questions, because the more you ask and understand, the better off the church will be in the long run. And the most important thing is that God is glorified through this whole process and that His will is done here at the Branch of Hope. If you want to open your Bibles, we're going to be in Mark 10. And the topic that I chose for the exhortation this morning is imitating Christ in our evangelism. And if you guys know me, you're probably not surprised that I picked a topic such as that. But I pray that you are all encouraged by what you hear this morning. And with that, let us turn our attention towards the inspired word of God. So hear now the word of God. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good teacher, what must 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, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for gathering us here this morning. Lord, we thank you for your word and we pray that by your spirit you would illuminate your scripture to our hearts and to our minds. Father, and I pray that whatever is from you this morning would fall on good soil in the hearts of the hearers, and that your word would do what it's been ordained to do, and it would correct us and teach us and rebuke us and train us for righteousness, Lord, that we would be prepared for every good work and equipped. And we ask these things for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. A familiar passage of a man asking one of the most important questions you can ever ask, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And little does he know that he is asking the most qualified person ever born, the greatest evangelist the world has ever known. And I'm guessing that for most of us, this is not a common occurrence, strangers coming up to us and initiating a conversation about eternal matters. Perhaps if you're a pastor or you work at a Christian organization, when people find out what you do for a living, it might spark a question or conversation. But for the most part, this is not a regular occurrence for us as Christians. But wouldn't it be nice if this was how it always happened? People initiating eternal conversations with us as we went about our day. It certainly would make things a little easier as we went about fulfilling the Great Commission. But that is not how God has ordained the normal manner of things when it comes to reaching people with the gospel. Christ, when he calls his disciples, calls them to be fishers of men, which would have been easy for the disciples to draw some parallels to since many of them were fishermen by trade. And among other things, part of being a fisherman means that you must take the initiative in going to where the fish are and learning how to catch them. It's an active, not a passive occupation. And after Jesus called his disciples, he really spent the next three and a half years with them, day and night, teaching them how to go about doing this. And just as Christ called his disciples back then, he calls us today. He has called us to be fishers of men, to be laborers in the harvest fields, and to be ministers of reconciliation, imploring people to be reconciled to God. As we look at this calling that God has given to us, his church, and in light of this conversation in the scriptures, I want to look at it with this question in mind. What is our standard? When it comes to the privilege of proclaiming the gospel, seeking and saving the lost, explaining to someone how to inherit eternal life, what is our model? Or perhaps a better question is, who is our model? And my heart's desire is for us to look at this encounter with the rich young ruler and see what we can glean from it and how we might recalibrate the way in which we interact with those around us, especially when the subject of conversation are things of eternal significance. And so often when it comes to this great task of evangelism, we can tend to treat it casually. But I would encourage us to look at it as something incredibly significant that we should be thoroughly prepared for. As we're stepping into battle for the hearts and souls of men, we should be as well equipped for the task as a surgeon is for life-saving surgery. For our task is that critical. And scripture has given us all that we need in order to be thoroughly equipped. And it was a little over a decade ago that I seriously started to study this topic and ask this question myself. And so as I was studying everything I could find out about evangelism and speaking to as many people as I could on the streets, I came across an interesting parallel between the Gospels and the Book of Acts. And the interesting parallel was that if you look at the evangelistic encounters of Jesus in the Gospels, where he's interacting either in public or private, 80% of those encounters were in the context of complete strangers. And the other 20% was in the context of some prior existing relationship. Now Jesus leaves the scene, he ascends to heaven, he commissions his disciples, he gives them the Holy Spirit, and their mission has begun, right? And if you look at the book of Acts, you find that again, 80% of the evangelistic encounters were in the context of complete strangers, while the other 20% took place in the context of some prior existing relationship. So it gives you a sense that the model that was set for them by Christ is then carried forward by them once Jesus is gone. Which makes sense, right? They had spent three and a half years with him, and now that he was gone, what else could they do except that which they saw him doing while they were with him? Wouldn't it have been ironic if the pattern we observe in the gospels by Jesus was suddenly flipped upside down or abandoned altogether just a few months later in the book of Acts? because they thought they knew better how to go about reaching the lost, or they didn't like how uncomfortable it made them feel. But we don't find that. We don't see them doing whatever seemed right to them or to the popular psychology of their day. What we see is Jesus' followers imitating Christ and maintaining the same pattern that he set for them. After all, Jesus had told them in John 20, 21, peace to you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And so Christ's mission was the disciples' mission. And his disciples took the model of Christ, which had really become part of who they were, kind of their DNA, so to speak, and they put it into practice and they taught it to the early church in both word and deed. So now Christ's mission, which was their mission, would now become the mission of the whole church. And so we see this principle taught in various places throughout the New Testament. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 says, to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. In his letter to Timothy, he exhorts them, saying, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. In Philippians, he writes, brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. And so there's a standard to look to, and what we see is You know, Christ is Paul's example, and Paul is the early church's example, and he's exhorting the church to walk like Christ and to keep their eyes on those who walk similarly. Not because they're special in themselves, but because they are following the true standard, and that's what's important. And so later in the letter of Philippians, he adds, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. And so it's kind of a, it's this pattern of imitation. It's kind of like a spiritual passing of the baton from Christ to the disciples and then to the entire church. And should it ever be the case that a generation of church leaders would lose their way and lose sight of that standard when it comes to evangelism in particular, we have preserved for us the gospel accounts, which has that standard. so that we can always measure our practice according to the scriptures and make reforms where necessary. And sadly, much of what we see in the church today is driven more by pop psychology or cultural relevance, motivational speaking and doing what feels right to us rather than being driven by a reverence for the holiness of God and his word. Another aspect of this imitating Christ is not only understanding some of the actions, but the motivations that accompany true and lasting zeal, right? What was it that kept the early church on fire for God? How did they maintain their passion and zeal as they continually contended for souls and advanced the kingdom and planted churches in the midst of trials and persecution? And there are a few verses that I think highlight some of these motivating factors, and one of them, First or second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes this. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. In Jude, Jude tells the church to snatch people out of the fire, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. And the Apostle Peter says to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. And so we see here some of the motivators for passionate, consistent evangelism are a desire to please God, to glorify Him, to set Him apart in our hearts as holy, not ourselves, and have a reverence for God's just judgment. and the fact that we're gonna stand before him, and then a genuine love for our neighbor that truly desires to see them reconciled to God. And so in light of this, this model, this standard, let's turn our attention to Jesus's encounter with this rich young ruler, and it gives us one of the most poignant examples of how we should approach our interactions with people, especially when it pertains to the topic of eternal life. It's a direct question that gets right to the heart of the matter, and it's a one-on-one conversation without a lot of distractions. And one of the first biblical principles you see modeled by Christ is something that James and Peter in the book of Proverbs all touch upon. And in Proverbs 334, we read that, surely he scorns the scornful, but he gives grace to the humble. James 4.6 says that he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then 1 Peter 5.5, be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And in light of this principle, resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble, one thing you'll never see Jesus do is giving the good news, the gospel, the grace of God. to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous individual. Throughout the gospels, Jesus uses the law to resist the proud, and he gives the gospel of grace to those who show humility. And if we think briefly to some of Jesus' encounters, we'll see some of this. In John 4, for example, the Samaritan woman at the well really starts to argue with Jesus a bit about what true worship is and not the most humble posture. And Jesus speaks with her for a bit before he brings the knowledge of her adultery through the seventh commandment. And it's not until she demonstrates humility that Jesus gives her grace and reveals himself as the Messiah. And the lawyer in Luke 10, who should have been an expert in the law, a lawyer, sought to tempt Jesus with a question about eternal life. And Jesus gave him the law, gave him the parable of the Good Samaritan to show how far he fell of God's standard, and he never got the gospel, this lawyer. On the other hand, you have someone like Nicodemus, a religious leader in Israel, who humbly acknowledges that Jesus was a teacher from God. We know that God must be with you, for you couldn't do these things. And this is a Jewish leader. And so he received the most gracious verse in scripture, which is John 3.16, because he came humbly. And Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector, was already bearing the fruit of repentance. as he declared that he was giving back what he had stolen fourfold, which shows the work of the law on his heart as he's trying to conform his life to it. And so Jesus... Let me know if it's something serious. All right, so in Jesus, the tax collector is already showing fruit worthy of repentance. So Jesus doesn't give him more law. Jesus gives him grace and declares that today salvation has come to this house. So hopefully you can see some of the pattern that Jesus has set for us in the scriptures. And as we learn about this man in our passage today, we gather a few things about him. Down in verse 22, it says that when Jesus asked him to go away to sell all that he had and give to the poor, he went away very sad because he had great possessions. So he was a wealthy man. The parallel account in Luke 18 tells us he was a ruler. And some commentators will tell us that this is a term for an upper class man in society. Others believe he was a religious leader of some sort. And he seems to be a little familiar with the law from his youth. And so this seems like I could support this idea. It seems valid. He may have been a religious leader. And then Matthew's account adds the fact that he was young. And so this rich young ruler comes to Jesus asking a very important question, and listen to the way he asks this. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And in the account of Matthew, we read, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? First off, this guy's a bit of an evangelist's dream come true, I would say. He's like a fish jumping out of the water into your boat while you're out fishing. It doesn't get much easier than this. All of the difficult part of starting a spiritual conversation has been taken care of by this young man's willing to just dive straight into it. But here's something to ponder. How would you respond if a young, wealthy man of stature came up to you asking about eternal life? Would your interaction with him look similar to Jesus's interaction with him? Would you have a biblical framework within which to navigate the conversation? Would you seek to lead him in a sinner's prayer? Would you try to flatter him in hopes that he would join your church and become a big tither? Would you change the topic and try to befriend him so that someday down the road, you could earn the right to speak into his life? Because those are all popular tactics and ideas today, which is why we want to study what Jesus did and learn from his example rather than from those who may not be following the standards set by Christ. And so what else can we say about this young man? I think it's great that eternity was on his mind. The idea that we know we will one day pass on and that our soul will go on to live forever is of utmost importance. And where our soul is headed after we take our last breath is something that all of us should think about and ponder on a regular basis. We don't know for sure what is prompting this question. Most young, rich people don't normally go out of their way to seek out these things. They're distracted by other things. But there could have been something going on in his life that was causing him to consider eternity. And God certainly will do that. He'll allow things to happen in our lives that turn our attention heavenward. And if he does, we would do well to pay attention and ask these type of important questions. Perhaps since this young man is wealthy and a ruler, he is used to working hard and receiving a good wage or reward for his labor. And here he's kind of approaching the idea of eternal life in the same sense when he says, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life? And it reveals a mentality of works righteousness. that he could do something to earn favor with God. And this is a common mindset and teaching of every non-Christian religion and really of the vast majority of people you will come across when you have these conversations. And like the rich young ruler in the West, in America, we're used to affluence and prosperity. And we see it as a virtue when someone can pick themselves up by their own bootstraps, so to speak. And there is some merit to that, right? It's honorable to do work. and to labor towards a good and productive end, and we should work hard at whatever we do in life, but when it comes to eternal life, this sort of thinking can be dangerous. If you take some time to look at various religions, each of them ultimately has man trying to do something to earn or merit God's favor, or to find some sort of mystical peace or balance with the universe. But if we're relying on our own efforts to somehow earn us favor with God, we're going to be found falling woefully short. And so how does Jesus respond to this young man? He says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. And so the very first thing Jesus does is focus on the young man's understanding of the word good. And it really sets the stage for the rest of his interaction, because true goodness can only be defined and understood in terms of God's character and nature. Now, cults and false religions will try to tell you that this is Jesus denying his deity. Jesus is not saying here that he is not God. He is simply using this opportunity to focus on the understanding of what it means to be truly good, and that God alone is good. And in the simplest sense, the very thing he's communicating to this young man is that God is the only one that's good, and since you are not God, you are not good. And this is consistent with Romans 3. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. And so no one is truly good in the objective sense, yet interestingly, in Proverbs, we are told this. Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man? So here's the conundrum we find ourselves in. when we have these conversations, right? From God's objective perspective, no one is good, not even one. From man's subjective perspective, most men think that they're good. And so this is where the function of God's law becomes critical to effectively communicating the gospel to the world around us. It is the law which bridges this disconnect and puts the human condition in its proper context and provides the necessary and logical basis for the good news of the gospel. Because if a person believes that they are good, then telling them Christ died for their sins is going to be a meaningless statement to them. So it's critical that we learn to follow Christ's example and properly apply God's law to those we find ourselves in conversations with. And so the dialogue continues. 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 in Matthew's gospel account, Jesus says, if you would enter life, keep the commandments. And so carrying along with this theme of what it means to be good, Jesus runs the rich young ruler through some of the Ten Commandments. And it's helpful to understand that there are several vital functions that God has ordained for his law to accomplish. Romans 3, 19 through 20 tells us that now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those 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, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So one way we will know that the law is doing its work is when a person moves from a vocal position of continually justifying their actions to a quiet position where they simply acknowledge the guilt of their deeds. As long as they are continuing to justify themselves or proclaim their own goodness, the law still has work to do. Second, the law tells us what sin is. Romans 7, 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. And so this is vital because if a person does not know what sin is, they will never find a place of genuine repentance or sorrow over their sin. And without repentance, there can be no salvation. It is part of the law's function to bring in this specific knowledge. And a simple analogy to see how the law brings in this knowledge is to think about driving on a freeway. The speed limit's 65 miles an hour. But you and everyone around you is traveling along at 80 miles an hour. And you're not concerned in the slightest. That is, until you glance in your rearview mirror and you see some flashing lights on your bumper. All of a sudden, the fact that everyone else around you is speeding is irrelevant. Your heart rate goes up. You know you're guilty. You take your foot off the gas. You reach for the brake pedal, and you begin to merge right. Your transgression, which was no big deal a second ago, is now something that concerns you because your guilt is clear, and you know you deserve justice, which in this case would be a speeding ticket. And third, the law leads people to Christ. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. And so the law was not put in place to show us that we can somehow be made right by keeping the law. The law doesn't help us. It just leaves us helpless before a holy God. The law doesn't clean us up. It just reveals to us how dirty we really are. It shows us that we can never live a good enough life to be made right with God through law keeping. And so the law, when properly applied, destroys any attempts at self-righteousness because it shows the utter impossibility of keeping the commandments. And lastly, one of the more remarkable functions of the law is that it bypasses the place of argument and speaks directly to a person's conscience. Romans 2.15, they who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves, their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. And so inside the heart of every person is a critical ally in this spiritual battle, and it's the conscience. Con means with, science means knowledge. So conscience just means with knowledge. And the conscience is like the trustworthy witness in the courtroom who's willing to point out who the guilty party is. And the conscience knows it's wrong to lie, to steal, to look with lust. And when the law does its work, their conscience will be in agreement that they are, in fact, guilty. And when their conscience is convicted, it bypasses the need for arguments, really. Whether the person is an atheist, an agnostic, a Muslim, a Buddhist, it's incredible to watch the law do the heavy lifting and bring their conscience to a place of conviction. And at that point, no special argumentation is made. They know they're guilty before a holy God. And so by bringing this man through the commandments, Jesus is seeking to bring about a proper understanding of his true condition before a holy God. And Jesus was essentially just asking him simply, have you kept the Ten Commandments? And the hope is that he would realize his sinfulness on his own, because it's much more powerful to come to that realization on your own than it is simply to be told that you're sinful, even if it's true. And so it's important to note also that Christ is not teaching here that we are saved by the works of the law. The clear message throughout scripture is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. Jesus is simply using the law in its lawful manner to show this man himself in truth. And it's a truth that great theologians and preachers of old knew quite well, just a couple Here, John Calvin, writing about the law, said this. He said, the keeping of the law is righteousness, by which any man who kept the law perfectly, if there were such a man, would obtain life for himself. But as we are all destitute of the glory of God, nothing but cursing will be found in the law, and nothing remains for us but to betake ourselves to the undeserved gift of righteousness. That's Calvin's commentaries from Luke 18. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, wrote this, or preached this, I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law. The law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man's heart unless you first send the needle of the law to make way for it. If men do not understand the law, they will not feel that they are sinners. And if they are not consciously sinners, they will never value the sin offering. There is no healing a man till the law has wounded him, no making him alive till the law has slain him. So how does the rich young ruler respond to Christ's quoting of the commandments? Do we see this conscious recognition of sin? Do we see quietness? He responds in verse 20, Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. So we see a clear proclamation of his own goodness, just like Proverbs told us will likely be the case. And while this man may have been brought up in the religious tradition, he must not have heard the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, even looking with lust is adultery, and even having hatred in our heart is murder. And so this man is in a state of self-deception, thinking he is actually blameless according to the law. And so Jesus doesn't even bother to cross-examine him on this. And it is very important to note what the scriptures record here. Jesus sees this young man declaring his own goodness, declaring his self-righteousness, his great law-keeping ability, and it is in this context we come to verse 21, perhaps the most important verse in the whole exchange. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, We'll pause there. This man really seemed to believe that he had kept the law. And Jesus looked at him and loved him. Because when our Lord met people who were as lost as this young man, his heart was filled with compassion. And just a few verses earlier, Jesus was telling his hearers something which would apply to this man. If you want to enter the kingdom, you must come like a child. Right? Don't you get it, young man? You only get into the kingdom if you come empty. You must receive it like a child. You can't earn it. I know you are rich, but this is something you can't buy. There is nothing you can possibly do to deserve the graciousness and kindness of God. It is a free gift. And Jesus is trying to show this young man step-by-step the error of his way by holding up the mirror of God's perfect law. And so please don't miss this. Jesus looked at him and Jesus loved him. And that right there is always our highest aim. That we, if you take one thing away from this exhortation, I pray it would be to love others the way God himself loves them. To speak with people about eternal life in a way that imitates our Lord Jesus. And many years ago, the phrase WWJD was popular, which asked the question, what would Jesus do? And it really is a speculative question. I think a much more valid question is not what would Jesus do, but what did Jesus do? And what he did do, we want to follow because he knows what's best, especially when it comes to raising spiritually dead souls to life. Now, we know that God is love, so everything that we see Jesus do in scripture is, by definition, loving. However, there are a few places in Scripture where it is declared that a specific action is the love of God on display. Romans 5 tells us that God's love was demonstrated for us, and that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. John 3.16 tells us that for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And those things are only things God can do, right? Only God can die for our sins. Only God can give his only son for us. But here, Jesus looks at this man and loves him and does something that every single one of us is capable of doing, right? Proclaiming the holy law of God. And Jesus knows this young man looks at himself as blameless, and if he continues to see himself this way, he will never look outside of himself for righteousness or salvation. So where does Jesus go from here? What does Jesus say to this young man whom he loves? You lack one thing. Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. Now what was Jesus doing here? He was addressing this man's idolatry. He had already addressed the second table of the law, our relationship with our neighbor, and proceeds to address the first table of the law, our relationship with God. And in doing so, he was exposing the fact that this man's money and his wealth were actually his God. He loved money more than God, and he loved himself more than he loved his neighbor. And so he hadn't kept the first table, nor the second table of the law. And this isn't an easy thing to say to someone, especially a stranger, a very wealthy stranger. Yet it is the love of God on display, and it is the love of God on display in a manner that every one of us can readily and immediately begin to imitate. So the truth of this man's heart was exposed, and so what does this young man do? Scripture tells us, disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And this is how the conversation ends, right? There is no sinner's prayer, not even a call to repent and believe the gospel. And by many of the worldly means of evangelism in the church today, Jesus himself would be seen as a failure for not closing the deal. There wasn't even an invitation to come to church or come over for a nice meal. Yet I believe this was the exact outcome that Jesus intended. Going away sorrowful is not the worst by any means. He could have laughed at Jesus and mocked him for being legalistic. He could have dismissed him as a crazy man, or like many of the Pharisees, he could have been infuriated and joined in the plot to kill him. Instead, he went away sorrowful. And I actually see it as a good sign that he didn't want to continue justifying his ability to keep the law. So perhaps this was a great ending. Perhaps this was the beginning of godly sorrow beginning to take root in this man's heart, and his inability to keep the law was revealing his need for mercy and grace. And is it hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? Jesus says it is, at least when it depends on man. But with God, it's possible, which is why we need to follow the God-ordained means that have been taught and modeled by Christ and his disciples in order to lead sinners of all stripes to Christ. And in closing, one of the main things I'd like to take away is to know that God has empowered all of us to preach the gospel and to reach people and lead people to Christ. We have been commissioned and commanded by the King of Kings and we want to do that effectively. We want our methodology of evangelism to be founded on the authoritative Word of God and the person of Christ. We don't base it on what we think is right or what feels the least uncomfortable. We look at Christ, we look at the scriptures, we look at the holy men of God filled with the Holy Spirit, And when we do that, we see that the equation is simple, right? With the law, God breaks the hard heart. And with the gospel, he mends the broken heart. It's so simple that uneducated fishermen could do it. And in so doing, they could turn the world upside down and set the trajectory for the evangelism and discipleship of the nations. And so if you are a believer here this morning, Let us always remember that apart from the grace of God, we are no different than the rich young ruler. But in light of that grace we have been given, may we take with us a desire to love people in a more Christ-like manner as we seek to show them their desperate need for grace through the teaching of the law and reach them with the glorious gospel. May we remember that this is the love of God on display, caring for the soul of this man as we seek to imitate Christ in our evangelism. and if you are not someone who has placed their faith in Jesus to save them from their sins, then I pray that you may learn from this young man. May you see Christ in this act of divine love, and just like he called this young man to turn from his sin and follow him, may you hear the same call today, to leave it all behind and turn to Christ for eternal life. May you not go away thinking that the cost is too high, But may you understand that you cannot live another day without this infinitely valuable treasure, which is Christ. May God grant you that gift, and may all of your sins be washed away, that you may indeed inherit eternal life, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning, We thank you for the model and example set by Christ, and we pray, Lord, that you would give us your spirit and that we would follow you all the days of our lives, Lord. We pray that your word would just continue to go forth and continue to sanctify us, Lord. Edify your people and bring glory to your name. Thank you for this time, in Jesus' name, amen.