An Amiable Youth Falling Short of Heaven
by Archibald Alexander
"One thing you lack." Mark 10:21
The history of this young man is given by three of the evangelists, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18, in nearly the same words. It is therefore doubtless worthy of our marked attention.
This youth possessed many things, and yet was deficient in one. He was rich. He was possessed of power, for Luke calls him "a ruler." He was remarkable for his morality. Few young men in our day could compare with him in this respect. When our Savior, to try him, mentioned several of the commandments of the second table, in which our duty to our fellow-men is enjoined, this young man was able to say, "All these have I kept from my youth up." And our Lord did not deny the truth of his assertion; yes, he admitted it, for Mark says, "Then Jesus beholding him, loved him." He was pleased with the purity and blamelessness of his external conduct.
Yet this youth had no proper knowledge of the state of his own heart. His obedience was only like that of Paul when a Pharisee, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."
This young ruler, however, was not ashamed to address Christ in the most respectful manner. He came, regardless of the sneers of his peers, and kneeling, said, "Good Master." He came to him as a serious inquirer. The question which he asked was the most important that he could ask, or that any man ever asked: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" He was convinced that something was still needful, but he knew not what. He had heard of the teachings of Christ, and he was impelled by the serious impressions on his mind to break through every difficulty, and to inquire of the Master, believing that he could tell him what to do to secure this object of infinite value.
And evidently, he was confident that he was willing to do whatever should be prescribed. Oh, deceitful heart; how little did he know of its true state! But Jesus knew, and in a moment brought him to a fair test. He knew that, notwithstanding all his fair professions, amiable character, and courteous demeanor—he was an idolater in his heart, and worshiped mammon with supreme affection. He therefore said, "Go, sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor; and come, follow me; and you shall have treasure in heaven."
O what a test for a lover of riches! See, the young man's countenance changes; he remains silent. His heart is undergoing an evident conflict. Heaven and earth, with all their charms, are before him. For a moment, perhaps, he hesitates; for he sincerely wishes to possess eternal life—but, O upon what a hard condition! to give away all his riches, to which his heart was wedded! No, no! He cannot do it!
See, he turns his back on the Savior! He turns his back on all the treasures of heaven! He goes away sorrowful indeed, very sorrowful to lose the opportunity of securing eternal happiness, but deliberately resolved not to relinquish his hold of this world. He will have his "good things" in this life, whatever may become of him in the next. Here is a picture of the true state of thousands—of thousands of well-instructed, moral, and amiable youth!
But was not this a hard test? Was it not more than is required of others? Not at all. All may not, in fact, be put to this same test; but every true disciple has already passed this ordeal, and has renounced the world as a portion—as an object of supreme affection. And every true Christian, however much of this world he may possess, would instantly resign it all at the command of Christ. It is the characteristic of every genuine disciple, that, for the sake of Christ, he has been made willing to forsake father, mother, wife and children, house and lands, yes, life itself.
It is true, this test, if made practical in our churches, would detect the hypocrisy of a multitude of professors; or rather, their lack of supreme love to Christ is already but too evident, from the ardor with which they pursue the world, and from their unwillingness to part with even a small portion of their wealth to promote the cause of Christ.
This young man possessed many excellent qualities and advantages, and lacked but ONE THING. Yet that was the main thing—the one thing needful—a heart to love God supremely—a heart to prefer heavenly treasures to earthly riches. Though his character and conduct were so correct and amiable, yet his heart was not right in the sight of God. He went away sorrowful.
But did he ever come back with a better mind? We do not read that he ever did. His sorrow was not that of true repentance; that is, repentance unto life. But his sorrow was "the sorrow of the world, which works death;" a sorrow which probably he has bitterly felt for eighteen centuries, and which will never cease!
What good can his riches do him now? They only furnish fuel to the flame in which he is tormented! Let young men look at this! Let the lovers of riches look at this!
Although neither the future course of this rich young man in this world, nor his final destiny, is given in the Scriptures; the probability is, that having turned his back on the Savior and on the heavenly inheritance, he relinquished all thought about his salvation from this time, and abandoned himself to the enjoyment of his idolized riches. Men who have for a time been under serious concern about the salvation of their souls, and afterwards turn back to the world, because they find the terms of salvation too difficult, commonly become more careless and more hardened than others. "Their last state is worse than the first."
But though we have no record of the end of this rich young man, we have, from the lips of the Savior himself, an affecting account of the end of another rich man, who lived in splendor and pleasure on earth, but neglected piety and charity. The transition, in his case, from a sumptuous table, and from being clothed in purple and fine linen—to the torments of hell, is as great as the imagination can conceive! When he began to experience the keen anguish of future misery, O how bitter was his cry! "Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame!" But it was too late to pray. He had enjoyed his good things here—and torment awaited him in the world of woe!
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#1: Don To: All (#0)
Don posted on 2016-04-05 18:27:23 Reply Private Reply
#2: SOSO To: Don, redleghunter (#0)
Then I wonder how many of us self-professed Christians will actually be redeemed. I may be willing for forsake Mom and Dad, my house and lands, and, even my life. But my wife and children? Did God forsake His child?
What say you, Ram?
SOSO posted on 2016-04-05 19:52:09 Reply Private Reply
#3: Don To: SOSO (#2)
Don posted on 2016-04-05 19:56:48 Reply Private Reply
#4: rlk To: Don (#0)
The lesson for Christians: Be ye overcome with irrational guilt and become a good socialist. With people receptive to lessons like this, and other people feeling entitlement to receive and squander it in the name of righteousness, it's no wonder we have an extensive population supporting Obama, Hillary, and Sanders.
rlk posted on 2016-04-05 20:06:09 Reply Private Reply
#5: SOSO To: Don (#3)
Abraham had no idea that God was just testing him and would stop him from killing his son. I say again, I wonder how many self-professed Christians would be willing to kill their wife and children, or parents, if God asked them to do so. Would you kill any or all of your children if you heard the voice of God tell you to do so? Abraham had an ongoing dialogue with God and knew His voice. Does God speak to you in the same manner as He did with Abraham?
SOSO posted on 2016-04-05 20:10:15 Reply Private Reply
#6: SOSO To: rlk, Don (#4)
That's one way an immoral, godless person would look at it. But to most the correct way, the intended message was put God above your worldly treasures - aspire to commune with God not with worldly possessions and pleasures. But that is an alien concept to your. Hey, God gave you free will to use as you choose. Keep up the good work.
SOSO posted on 2016-04-05 20:14:51 Reply Private Reply
#7: Vicomte13 To: SOSO (#5)
I would not.
It is asking too much, and I would not believe that the spirit asking it of me was really God.
I would challenge that spirit, that asked me to kill me child, thinking him to be Satan, or a demon of the sort that spoke to Son of Sam through the neighbor's German shepherd.
I would put the demon to the test, demand things of him - proofs of his divinity. And in the end, no proof would be enough. I would still think it was a trick - but having caused the good to have been done, I would extend the test and say simply: if you are God who has done all of these miracles, then when I deny your request anyway, because I do not believe that God would actually ask me to kill my child, if you really are God than you will leave all of these blessings and healings of so many people that I have demanded of you as proof, for if you take them back and plunge these people you have healed back into illness and despair, then I will have been right that you were not God but a demon to trap me.
Put to the test of Abraham, I would put God to the test like Gideon and more, and in the end I would not believe the spirit that said he was God and demanded that I kill my own child, no matter what he did.
I expect, therefore, that the real God would never put me to that test, knowing that I would fail it, and knowing that in the process I would try to cajole a world full of cancer cures out of him.
Abraham lived in a world where child sacrifice was a social norm. He did not express abhorrence at the request. He just went ahead to do it, like any other barbarian of that time and place.
Of course, Abraham did not have the luxury of knowing God as well as we do - he had no Gospel or Torah or prophets by which to know God's character. We do.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-05 20:23:31 Reply Private Reply
#8: SOSO To: Vicomte13 (#7)
Are you kidding? He had a one-on-one personal dialogue with God. You can't get much more intimate than that.
Genesis 12 - The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
Genesis 17:3 - And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
Genesis 18:16-33 - 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[b] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare [c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Abraham had a very intimate personal relationship with God indeed. More so than 99.99999999999999999999999% of Christian ever had.
SOSO posted on 2016-04-05 20:51:35 Reply Private Reply
#9: Vicomte13 To: SOSO (#8)
God promised Abraham things that were desirable, and he communicated with God.
And Abraham lived in a time and place where the locals sacrificed their children to Ba'al quite routinely. God had not yet given the commandments against it. That will come later.
So when God asked, Abraham followed along without objection.
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-05 23:53:36 Reply Private Reply
#10: SOSO To: Vicomte13 (#9)
So God asks us more than what he asked of Abraham?
SOSO posted on 2016-04-06 00:24:56 Reply Private Reply
#11: Vicomte13 To: SOSO (#10)
Guess that depends on who "us" is.
What does God ask of you?
Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-06 13:09:17 Reply Private Reply
#12: SOSO To: Vicomte13 (#11)
Hopefully the same that he asks of all of us.
SOSO posted on 2016-04-06 14:20:20 Reply Private Reply
#13: Don To: SOSO (#6)
Don posted on 2016-04-25 19:36:40 Reply Private Reply
#14: Don To: SOSO (#5)
Don posted on 2016-04-25 19:40:30 Reply Private Reply
#15: Don To: SOSO (#2)
Don posted on 2016-04-25 19:42:28 Reply Private Reply
#16: BorisY To: rlk (#4)
I
would
say
the
dnc
minorities
catholics
jews
blacks
Asians
pathetic
love
boris
ps
antichrists
antiamericans
BorisY posted on 2016-04-25 19:53:08 Reply Private Reply
#17: SOSO To: Don (#15)
Did the Father forsake the Son?
SOSO posted on 2016-04-26 00:40:48 Reply Private Reply
#18: Don To: SOSO (#17)
One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."
- by Mary Stevenson
Don posted on 2016-04-26 10:11:44 Reply Private Reply
#19: redleghunter To: Don (#18)
Wonderful and so true!
redleghunter posted on 2016-04-26 10:19:57 Reply Private Reply
#20: SOSO To: redleghunter, Don (#19)
What does this have to do with God asking Abraham to kill his son for Him?
SOSO posted on 2016-04-27 11:16:09 Reply Private Reply
#21: redleghunter To: SOSO (#20)
Everything.
redleghunter posted on 2016-04-27 11:29:59 Reply Private Reply
#22: BorisY To: All (#16)
Be ye overcome with irrational guilt and become a good socialist.
I
would
say
the
dnc
minorities
catholics
jews
blacks
Asians
pathetic
love
boris
ps
antichrists
antiamericans
pss
the
pathetically
dumb
majority
women
vote
psss
queers
100%
too
BorisY posted on 2016-04-27 14:37:42 Reply Private Reply
#23: SOSO To: redleghunter (#21)
Moo.
SOSO posted on 2016-04-27 19:43:35 Reply Private Reply