TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2015.
GOOD
Excellent; virtuous; righteous; sound or valid; morally right.
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked: “Teacher, what good things must I do to get eternal life?” Matthew 19:16.
Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16.
Good works cannot erase sin. That is why good works can’t save us. No amount of good works will cover the sin debt that we owe. Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross can do that. It is the crucifixion of Jesus that makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins. There will never be anything else, including all of the good works done in the world, that can eliminate our death penalty for the sins we have committed.
In the verse we have put above from Matthew a rich young man approached Jesus and asked Him what good things he would need to do to spend eternity in heaven. What he was really asking was that he had done so many good things in life hadn’t he done enough to earn eternal life? Like so many people today this young man was asking the wrong question.
The young man’s emphasis was on what he could do to earn salvation. Unfortunately, this is the great deception because eternal life cannot be earned by any amount of good works. This is the way that many people approach God. They ignore their sinful nature.
The young man did not understand the source of eternal life. The man was rich so no doubt he was accustomed to getting what he wanted. Eternal life cannot be bought for any amount of money. The young man realized this but thought he could earn it by good works.
In answer to the young man’s question we read in Matthew 19:16 that Jesus told the young man to keep God’s commandments and listed six of them. The man replied saying that he kept all of them. No doubt the man thought that he was looking good. The six commandments dealt with human relationships not his relationship to God. When Jesus told the man to sell all he had and give the money to the poor, Jesus exposed his sin. The truth was that the man’s riches were his idol and he could not give them up. He was a good man but he had not kept God’s greatest and most important commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” Exodus 20:3.
The sad thing about this young ruler is that he walked away from the one person who could give him eternal life --- Jesus. This is the tragic decision that too many people make today.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Colossians 3:2.
Set your minds on things above, and not on earthly things.
Thank You for Your goodness and grace in giving me eternal life through the shed blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that salvation is a free gift that does not depend on my goodness because there is nothing I can do to be good enough to earn eternal life.
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