PURSUE WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE

“And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”—Matthew 19:16

 

The rich young ruler seemed to approach Jesus to seek salvation, in Matthew 19:16-22.  He ran kneeled down to Him, and openly professed Him as a Good Master.  What could be wrong with that?  First, he acknowledged Jesus as good, but not God.  Every major religion of the world acknowledges Jesus existed and that He was a good man, but they would not recognized Him as God.  If Jesus was only a good man, He could not save anybody.

 

Second, the young man asked what he could do to produce his salvation.  He trusted in himself and believed he could accomplish whatever good work Jesus might request.  This is completely opposite God’s plan of salvation.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).   Jesus obtained salvation for us by substituting himself for us on the Cross, and He offers salvation to us as a free gift.  All we must do is believe and receive.

 

Jesus did not come just to show us the way to God; He is the way—the only way—to the Father, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way the truth and the live.  No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).  Jesus had made this point publicly many times, and so He responded to the rich, young ruler accordingly.  He said, “God is the only one who is good.  You must accept me as God or not at all.”  Jesus was either who He claimed to be or He was the biggest fraud that ever lived.  He has to be one or the other, He cannot be both.

 

This rich, young ruler was not looking for the Savior; he was trying to be his own savior.  There are some people who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, and then try to live their lives saving themselves.  The same grace that provides salvation is the same grace that will keep you until the day you enter heaven.   Salvation that Jesus Christ provided keeps on giving.  We could say it like this:  the blood of Christ makes salvation sustainable.  Although we as Christians may miss the mark, all that we have to do is confess on sins and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

 

Prayer—Father I repent for not trusting You, and trying to be my own Savior.  Lord, I look to You today to strengthen me, to uphold me, and to lift me up out of the miry clay so that I can stand before You whole and complete lacking nothing, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.