Pleasures & Self-Righteousness

By Dane Gardow

¹⁸A ruler questioned [Jesus], saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁹And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments, 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.'" ²¹And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth." ²²When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." ²³But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.Luke 18:18-23 (NASB)

When Jesus told the man that he would enter into life if he kept the commandments, He knew that the man had already broken them. But the man was not willing to face this fact. Jesus was using the Law to bring the man under conviction. The man had built a defense against the Law and would not face any blame; he was conceited with self-righteousness. If he had really accepted Jesus' challenge and applied himself to the Law, it would have been a schoolmaster to him, like Galatians 3:24 tells us…which would have brought him under condemnation and put him in a position not to seek a certain work to be done, but rather to seek mercy and forgiveness. The sad thing about this is he was staring at the only One who could offer him the mercy and salvation he desperately needed, but he was completely oblivious to this reality because his eyes were instead fixed upon himself and his earthly pleasures.

You can see his first mistake in his first sentence. He called Jesus good—not that Jesus isn't good (because as God He most certainly is good)—thinking that doing good works makes a person good or righteous before God. Jesus rebuked him and sternly told him there is only One who is good: God. And since God alone is good, every man therefore is not good, but evil and sinful. But the man didn't catch on, and he even had the nerve to ask what to do in order to gain eternal life. Jesus listed several of the Ten Commandments. Now, in truth, this man could not have possibly kept every single one of these commandments his entire life, especially in light of Romans 3:23 which declares "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And that was the message Jesus was conveying, but the man was blind to his guilt, and he self-righteously proclaimed he had perfectly kept the entire Law all the days of his life.

That is when Jesus became blunt in addressing the heart of the issue. He told him to give up that which he prized most highly in his life—his earthly possessions—and thus revealed he had more love for them than he did for God. The man was therefore exposed as a transgressor of the first two commandments, including the great commandment "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength" (Luke 10:27).

Because the man was more concerned about keeping his worldly goods and indulging in temporary pleasures than he was for God, he was filled with sorrow, and departed from the Lord—and from salvation. And that is why he justified himself: he wanted to go to Heaven without having to give up his sins, riches, and earthly pleasures. Well, that man is dead now, and all his riches are long gone…and what does he have now? As he sits in the torments of Hades, with nothing at all except an unspeakable amount of shame, contempt, grief, and agony, he awaits the final day of judgment on which he will be raised to stand before God in order to receive the righteous punishment for his sins. Even worse, he is continually consumed at the thought that the gracious Savior once stood before him long ago and offered him salvation; but he esteemed his temporary pleasures more worthy than forsaking all and following Christ. Were his earthly pleasures worth it? Are yours?

People, like this man, will insist their goodness before God in order to continue indulging in their sinful pleasures. However, Jesus made it very clear that you cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve both God and wealth, or sins, or anything else that might rival Him (Matthew 6:24). There is no more hope for that man…but there is hope for you. Christ went to the cross to die, to shed His blood, in order to purchase redemption for His people. He took the punishment for sin God required so that His people could go free. And now God commands you to repent and turn away from all your sins and to believe the gospel, trusting in His Son Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Please, do not walk away sorrowful, clinging to your sinful pleasures, like that man. The Lord is a gracious Master and loving Savior, and He abundantly pardons; but He requires your total allegiance. Forsake it all, and come, follow Christ.

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