The Christian and Money: The Rich Young Ruler

And now let’s pray together as we open the Word of God. Thank you, Father, for the vitality of your Word; it is a living Word, it’s not dead. And it comes alive as the Holy Spirit of God breathes upon us. Thank you for your inspired Word, and thank you that it has all that we need for life and godliness. Now help us today as we study together. Oh, deliver us simply from hearing; help us to do what we receive, I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Luke 18:1 contains a fascinating cast of characters. You know, Luke was a doctor, and doctors are interested in people, individuals. It opens with a story about a persistent widow; it’s interesting how much Luke has to say about widows in his gospel. And then we’re introduced to a proud Pharisee who goes to the temple and prays a proud prayer. Then we have the precious little children brought to the Lord Jesus and the disciples trying to hinder the parents from bringing them. 

But the last three men in Luke 18:1 especially interest me because each of them in one way or another is related to wealth. We have a rich man who would not become poor, Luke 18:18-30. We call him the rich young ruler—a rich man who would not become poor. Then we have a rich man who became poor to make us rich, Luke 18:31-34. That’s our Lord Jesus Christ, and in these verses, our Lord talks about His suffering and death on the cross. A rich man who would not become poor, a rich man who became poor to make us rich, and then a poor man who became rich, Luke 18:35-43. That poor blind beggar who was seated there near Jericho and Jesus gave him his sight. 

I want us to look at these three different individuals because you and I can learn a great deal about life, about values, about the things that really count, the priorities of life, if we’ll just get to know these three individuals and learn from them. What a tragedy it is to waste your life or simply to spend your life. What a wonderful thing it is to invest your life in that which is eternal. 

Now Luke 18:18-23, we have the rich man who would not become poor. Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall 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,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’" And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And those who heard it said, "Who then can be saved?" But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." 

There is so much about this young man that is so commendable. When you compare the different Gospel accounts of this man, you find so much that you like. We know that he was rich and that he was young and that he was a ruler of a synagogue. He was a young man of character. Outwardly, he had lived an unblemished life; let’s be thankful for that. He had kept himself pure and clean. He was a religious person; he had respect for God and for God’s law. He had a certain amount of spiritual desire; he came running up to the Lord Jesus and bowed down before Him. He certainly showed respect to the Lord Jesus. 

And yet, this young man was very shallow. By the way, it’s often the case—not always—but it’s often the case that those who worship money are very shallow. They are not at all deep in the spiritual life. In the parable of the sower, Jesus points out that the deceitfulness of riches will choke the Word of God and keep us from digging deep and planting the seed and getting a harvest. 

As you look at this young man, you discover how superficial his views really were. He had a very superficial view of the Lord Jesus Christ. He called Him, "Good Teacher." Now that’s interesting. The Lord Jesus picked up that word "good" and said to him, "Why do you call Me good?" You see, the Jewish rabbis were not called "good." They wouldn't call them "good teacher," "good master." They reserved the word "good" for God. 

Psalm 25:8: "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way." Psalm 34:8: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 86:5: "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive." And so, throughout the Old Testament, it is God who is marked out as good. The Lord Jesus was just a little bit skeptical when this young man said, "Good Teacher." You see, our Lord was saying to this young man, "All right, you’ve called Me good, but only God is good. Are you calling Me God?" Our Lord here is affirming His deity. He is saying, "I am God. Now do you really believe that?" You see, if the young man really believed it, then one, he would have believed what Jesus told him; two, he would have obeyed it. You don’t argue with God; you don’t bargain with God. 

No, this young man, I think, was just using good religious terminology. People do this in church today. We call God our Father, we pray together "Our Father which art in heaven," and all week long, so often we forget our Father. We’re not really concerned about doing His will or glorifying His name; we’re just interested in having our own way, and then we get into trouble and come running to Him and say, "Oh, please help me." That’s the way this young man was. He had a very shallow and superficial view of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you cannot be saved unless you believe that Jesus Christ is God. He’s not just a good man; He’s not just a good teacher; He’s not just a religious leader. He is God come in the flesh. And if you don’t believe that, you cannot be saved because Jesus Christ is God. 

Not only did he have a superficial view of Christ, but he had a very superficial view of sin. When Jesus said to him, "You know the commandments," He was not saying to him, "You’re saved by keeping the law." Our Lord knew, as everybody knows, nobody is saved by keeping the law. By the works of the law can no flesh be justified. You see, the Lord Jesus held up to him the mirror of the law. And this young man, unfortunately, had a very superficial view of sin.

Oh, he’d never committed adultery; I wonder if he’d ever lusted in his heart? He’d never murdered; I wonder if he’d ever hated in his heart? Or by holding back his goods, his wealth, from helping others, he may have murdered. Had he gotten some of his wealth by unethical means? "Do not steal, do not bear false witness." He was standing right there bearing false witness about himself! He was saying, "All these things I’ve kept from my youth." Now, outwardly this may have been true, but inwardly, you see, he had no conviction of the reality, the depth, the tragedy of sin. 

Many people are this way today. You see, you cannot be saved until you're lost. And you can't be lost until you admit you are a sinner. Paul says in Romans 3:1 that every mouth may be stopped. We stop bragging, we stop arguing, we stop defending ourselves. He saw himself as an obedient Jewish boy, and yet he had a very superficial view of sin. This raises the question: why did he come running up to Jesus to begin with? 

Well, Galatians 3:24 tells us the answer: "Therefore the law was our tutor our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." This young man was a student of the law, and he tried to obey the law. What did the law do? The law fulfilled its purpose in making him dissatisfied with his religion, and the law was his schoolmaster that brought him to Christ. The tragedy is he would not let the law really convict him. For not only is the law a schoolmaster that brings us to Christ, but the law is a mirror that reveals to us our need for the Lord Jesus Christ.

James 1:1 tells us about that: "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." The Word of God, the law of God, is God’s mirror to show us how dirty we are. Now, you don’t wash your face in the mirror! The mirror shows you are dirty, and then you come for cleansing. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ held up the mirror to this young man, but this young man had such a superficial view of sin that he was not convicted. 

Thirdly, he had a very superficial view of salvation. He thought he had to do something to earn salvation. "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now, let’s make it clear that when Jesus told him to sell everything and give it to the poor, He wasn't telling him how to be saved. The night I was saved, I did not sell anything or give anything to anybody. The Lord Jesus did not in Luke 18:20 tell him to keep the law as a means of salvation. Now, if you say that Luke 18:22 is necessary for salvation because Jesus said it, then you also have to say that Luke 18:20 is necessary for salvation. That means that in order to be saved, we have to, one, keep all the commandments and two, sell everything we have and give it to the poor. Well, that would mean that a lot of people who are really born again are not born again.

No, our Lord was dealing with this young man’s special sin. What was it? Covetousness. The last of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not covet." It’s the only commandment that has an inward expression, not an outward expression. "Thou shalt not kill," that’s outwardly. "Thou shalt not commit adultery," that’s outwardly. "You shall not steal," that’s outwardly. Coveting—you can’t see if somebody’s coveting. But when people start coveting, they’ll end up stealing and lying, bearing false witness, committing adultery, doing all sorts of wicked things. Covetousness—a selfish desire—is the root of sin. 

Well, he wanted to do something to earn his salvation. Now, Jesus didn't tell him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and that that would save him. No. What He was saying was, "Young man, your problem is you are trying to serve God and money." You recall we dealt with that in a previous study. The Pharisees tried to serve God and money. In Luke 16:13, the Lord Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot"—it’s impossible—"to serve God and money mammon." Now, this young man wanted to do that. He wanted salvation on his terms. The Lord Jesus said, "All right, if you really want to prove that you have faith in Me, you’re going to trust Me as your Savior, then sell everything you have and give it to the poor." Our Lord was asking for an evidence of his faith. 

Now, this, when you read the other Gospels, this is very clear: this young man was trusting his riches. Now, when you trust riches, that is a dangerous thing. In Mark 10:23-25, the Lord Jesus talks about this. He says it’s impossible for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. The whole lesson here is this: let nothing stand between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. He may not tell you to sell all that you have and give it to the poor. We don’t find Paul saying that in 1 Timothy 6:1. He simply says, "You charge those that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded"—don't get proud—"or trust in uncertain riches." Paul didn't tell them to sell everything and give it away to the poor. This is a special case where Jesus was touching the need in the boy’s life. For somebody else, it might be a different kind of commandment. Let nothing come between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s a rich man who would not become poor, and as a consequence, he was filled with sorrow and sin, and unless he repented, he died and went to hell. No matter how much you have, if you don’t have Jesus Christ, you don’t have anything. 

Now, in Luke 18:31-34, we have the rich man who became poor to make us rich. The Lord Jesus now tells His disciples again—this is the third time—what’s going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. He’ll be delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spit upon, scourged, put to death, and the third day He will rise again. You can't read that passage without thinking of 2 Corinthians 8:9: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." He was rich—rich in glory, rich in power, rich in everything. He was rich; He became poor by an act of His own will. We have here the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. He came down to earth and took upon Himself the form of a servant and was obedient unto death. That’s obedience now, if you’re willing to obey even unto death. But notice, the death of the cross—a suffering, shameful kind of a death. He was rich, He became poor that we might become rich, that we through His poverty might become rich. 

Here is a rich man who became poor to make us rich. Here’s the rich young ruler who could not give up some of his earthly treasures in order to have eternal life, and yet the Lord Jesus Christ gave up His heavenly treasures to make eternal life possible for you and me. 

The chapter closes with a poor man who became rich, Luke 18:35-43. A poor blind beggar crying out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And the crowd tried to keep him quiet. Don’t let anything keep you from coming to the Lord Jesus. What a contrast here. Here’s a poor beggar contrasted with a rich man. A young man and an old man. A blind man and a man who could see. 

But the greatest contrast is this: the rich young ruler would not be honest. He would not admit his need. "All these things have I done from my youth up." Ah, but this blind beggar there by the roadside, he knew his need. He was blind, he was bankrupt, he was hopeless. He could do nothing; he was willing to do anything. In a very real sense, he was a lot richer than that rich young ruler because he was willing to admit his poverty. When you admit your poverty, that’s the first step toward spiritual riches. 

Well, he heard the crowd going by and recognized it was a different crowd and he said, "What’s going on?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth is going by," and he cried out for mercy. And they brought him to Jesus. The Lord Jesus stopped and He said, "You bring him to Me." By the way, that’s one of the greatest privileges in life: to bring blind people to the Lord Jesus—spiritually blind people. They can’t see their way; we have to bring them to the Lord Jesus. He said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." And he did. He trusted the Lord Jesus and followed Him. That’s what the rich young ruler wouldn't do; he followed Him, glorifying God, and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. 

Now here we have three individuals who help us to evaluate the priorities in our own lives. A rich man who would not become poor—what are you holding onto that is keeping you from having all that God wants you to have? Whatever you’re holding onto, it’s not worth it. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Maybe you’re not holding onto material things; maybe it’s a friend, maybe it’s something in life, a job. God’s talking to you and it’s keeping you from doing His will. 

Here’s a man who was rich and He became poor to make us rich. Let us never forget the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You may not think that you have all that you really ought to have, but you know, in Jesus Christ, we have been made rich. Only in Jesus Christ do you have the true riches. Jesus said we should be rich toward God, Luke 12:21. I like that: "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." What does that mean? Admitting our poverty, letting God know we are utterly bankrupt, and then drawing upon the riches of His grace, the riches of His goodness, the riches of His wisdom, the riches of His glory—drawing upon His riches to enjoy God and to do the will of God. We have been enriched in Him; we have every spiritual blessing. 

And here’s a poor man who became rich. How? Just by coming to the Lord Jesus. Again, I say it: no matter how much you have, if you don’t have Jesus Christ, you don’t have anything. Don’t turn away from Him. The rich young ruler, as far as I can tell, is the only person in the four Gospels who came to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and went away worse than he came. Don’t let that happen to you. Come to the Lord Jesus, trust Him, obey Him, follow Him, and you too shall share in eternal life.