TEXT: Luke 18:18-30

SUBJECT: Luke #68: Rich Young Ruler

Some stories will break your heart. The story of the Rich Young Ruler is one of them.

No one is more attractive than he is. No one’s future is more promising. The Rich Young Ruler is a pious man, sincere, and humble. He’s the kind of man you’d like to be; the kind of man you want for your daughter; the kind of man you hope your sons will be when they grow up. He’s a good man.

And he’s the only man in the Bible who comes to Jesus Christ and goes away disappointed. He comes for eternal life and he does not get it. Unlike the others who leave the Lord rejoicing, the Rich Young Ruler walks away in tears.

What kind of man is he?

You’d like to say he is a hypocrite—clean on the outside, but polluted on the inside. You want to say his pretended holiness is just that—pretended. But that has to be read into the story, for the story we have describes a man who’s nothing at all like that!

The Rich Young Ruler is an obedient man. When the Lord tells him to keep the laws of God, he wants to know, which ones in particular? Five of the Ten Commandments are named:

The man says he has always kept them. Some take this for pride or self-deception. I’m not one of them. I think the man had kept the Law of God. He had not kept it perfectly, of course—no one has. But he had kept it; he was an obedient man. Paul describes his life in Judaism in much the same way:

This doesn’t mean sinless—Paul never said that! It means obedient! The parents of John the Baptist were not perfect saints, yet Luke says, they were

The Law of God was more than a list of dos and don’ts. It also featured sacrifices and washings to confer forgiveness. When the young man did a bad thing or left a good thing undone, he went to the Temple, offered his gift to the Lord, and went away absolved.

Note this, too: the commands he kept were God’s Commands. The Scribes and Pharisees were very good at observing the traditions of men—so good at it, in fact, that they broke the Law of the Lord to do it! But not the Rich Young Ruler! We don’t know if he kept the customs of Israel or not—but we do know that he had a conscience for keeping God’s Law.

He is an obedient man.

The Rich Young Ruler is also a humble man. The Pharisees kept a few man-made rules and felt superior to others because he did. The man who went up to pray gave thanks that he was not as other men are—that he went beyond the requirements of God, fasting twice a week and tithing more than he needed to.

But can you find any smugness in the Rich Young Ruler? Does he come across as self-satisfied? No, it’s quite the opposite with him: he’s a fine man, carefully obeying the Law of God, and yet he has to wonder what’s missing?

He knows that his obedience has not made him right with God and has not made him ready to die! Though he’s an excellent man, he also a lost man—and he knows it! He’s much more like the Publican who beat his breast than the Pharisee who told God what a first-class saint he was!

The Rich Young Ruler is a humble man.

He is also an eager man. Luke doesn’t mention it, but Mark says he "came running" to see the Lord. Powerful men don’t run very often—they don’t need to! They hold court and let the little people come to them. But the rich man is so unhappy and unsettled, that he runs after a poor, untrained rabbi, begging for help.

Felix, the Roman Judge, was scared of the Judgment he would face one day. And yet his fear did not spur him to action. He listened to Paul off and on—and felt the truth of what he said—but he wouldn’t do anything about it now:

He wanted forgiveness; he wanted holiness; he wanted fellowship with God—but not yet! The Rich Young Ruler was not this way at all! He was like Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress. With a crushing burden on his back, he had to get out of the City of Destruction—and he had to get out now!

Here’s an eager man—ready to do anything it takes to be saved—well, almost anything.

The Rich Man has a high regard for Christ. "Master" is a title of respect; all the rabbis (and other leading men) went by it. But the Rich Man isn’t content calling the Lord, "Master"—no, he adds the word, "Good" to the customary title.

Scholars do not agree on what this means or what it implies. I think the simplest answer is also the best one: If Master is a title or respect, then Good Master shows a double-respect. Not only is the Lord a fine teacher, but He’s also a Man who lives up to His teaching. The Ruler, therefore, is paying Him the highest compliment, something like what the Lord said of Nathanael,

Some preachers—then and now—preach like angels, but live like devils. But the Lord isn’t one of them: He practices what He preaches, the Young Ruler knows it, and respects Him for it.

This sets him apart from most others—especially others of his class. By this time, the Lord was deeply unpopular. The rich and powerful, in particular, resented Him and hated what He said about them. Yet here’s one of the richest and most powerful men in Israel kneeling before a poor carpenter and calling Him Good Master.

He has a high regard for Christ.

The Rich Young Ruler is an honest man. When the Lord told him what he must do to be saved, he did not lose his temper or denounce the Lord as a false teacher—a mean, harsh, ugly, or unsympathetic Man.

No, he feels the truth of what Christ says and goes away "very sorrowful". He knows his money is keeping him out of heaven and he’s sad that he cannot give it up. This is honesty.

And so, what kind of man is the Rich Young Ruler? He’s a fine man: Obedient, humble, eager, honest, and with a deep respect for the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he’s also the man our Lord turns down. He’s the man Jesus Christ does not receive with open arms.

He wants to know how to be saved. The Lord tells him he can be saved only if he gives up his riches and accepts a life of discipleship and the poverty that goes with it.

The man will not do it and the Lord will not accept him until he does.

This seems out-of-character for our Lord, doesn’t it? He took others on easy terms, but not this man! For him, He lays down an iron rule—a condition that will not bend. Liquidate or leave!

The young man leaves because "He was very rich".

His choice hurts the Lord. He, too, was "very sorrowful". He feels worse for the man than the man does for himself. For the Lord knows what his choice means: it means he is lost and will be lost until he changes his mind and does what he was told to do.

Until he sells out, he cannot be saved.

What does the story mean? Back in the Early Church there was a wealthy Egyptian named Anthony (or St. Anthony). He heard a sermon on the verse and he took it to mean that no one could be saved unless he sold his all and lived in poverty. He became the first monk—living outdoors, almost naked, and half-starved for sixty or seventy years.

This is not what the story means. For having money is not a sin and some rich men have been saved.

But the fact remains that it is hard for a rich man to go to heaven. We ought to think about this when we moan and groan over not having more or when we fantasize about hitting the lottery or something!

Money gets in the way of salvation. Because we’re tempted to trust money. That’s what the Rich Young Ruler’s problem was: not that he had money—or even that he loved it. No! Mark 10:24 says,