27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
Luke 18 18-30 FOLLOWING JESUS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE 13 Living in Jesus
📖 Luke 18:18-30
10Oct2020 - *Living in Jesus* - _Luke 18:18-30_ - FOLLOWING JESUS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE 13 – Bible reading: _Genesis 19:15-17_
It was the tragedy of the choice of the Rich Young Ruler that our Lord was giving as a teaching and as a warning to the disciples.
_Mark 10:23-27 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" (24) And the 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 the kingdom of God! (25) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (26) And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" (27) But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."_
We said yesterday, that though we talk about walking in the fear of God, our life is lived in the atmosphere of materialism. This was the one lesson that the Lord desired that the Israelites would learn as they trudged across the desert. He longed that they would experience their life to be God-dependent and not in their material needs being met.
_Deuteronomy 8:2-3 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (3) So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD._
The Rich Young Ruler knew that he was heading in the wrong direction for he knew the ways of God. He was not ignorant. This was the real sorrow that was now dawning on him. He was deliberately choosing to go the way of mammon when God’s ways were to live in a relationship with Him, a relationship of trust and dependence.
_Proverbs 11:28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage._
Moses had warned the people not to place their trust in the material things of life. _Deuteronomy 8:11-17 "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, (12) lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; (13) and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; (14) when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; (15) who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; (16) who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— (17) then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'_
The young man was all too familiar with the story of Lot. He could identify himself with Lot, for Lot too was rich, he was young and he was a ruler in Sodom. The angels had come to rescue Lot for the Lord was merciful to Him. Abraham had intervened on Lot’s behalf.
_Genesis 19:15-17 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." (16) And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. (17) So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."_
Lot was lingering since he was not able to decide whether to run for his and his family’s safety or stay back and hold on to his material possessions. This is the terrible end to which mammon will lead us to. When we choose materialism and not God (for we cannot have two masters), we will soon reach a stage in life, when materialism will dictate life’s choices for us. Even when the obvious confronts us, as it was with Lot, we will find ourselves in a state of muddle, unable to make a simple decision. We will be dithering.
The Rich Young Ruler was sorrowful for he knew, very clearly, where his choice of rejecting Jesus and choosing mammon, would lead him.
*Thought to ponder*
```Friend, would you and your family make Jesus you're all in all?```