To Encourage You

Luke 18:18 “And a ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”

John 3:3-4 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’  Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”

One of the most perplexing questions that can enter the human mind is “What will happen to me after I die?”  I suppose most people wonder about this at one time or another, although there are many who just don’t want to think about it and try to push the thought away.  Yet, it’s inevitable – something we will face sooner or later.  It can be a terrifying thought – or not – depending on what you believe.  It’s a question that has touched humanity since the time of the first man.  It’s the question that we find asked in one way or another as we consider the encounters in the Scripture passages above.

The first is from a rich man who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” The second is from a Pharisee named Nicodemus.  In his case, although he didn’t ask this question in so many words, we can see that Jesus knew that it was the question that was on Nicodemus’ mind, for that’s the question that He answered.  In each case the men who asked the question held an assumption that was false.  It’s an assumption that many other people hold even to the present day.  It’s the assumption that they need to do something in addition to what they’re already doing in life so that they can be saved.

In the case of the rich man, Jesus attacked that assumption by answering Him with this question: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” And then He asks the man about the commandments, for it was on this basis that Jesus knew the man was measuring himself.  The man answers that he’d kept all the commandments since his youth.  Of course, Jesus knew that this wasn’t true, so to expose the sin that was in the man’s heart, He says, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  At this the man walked away.  It was a cost he was not willing to pay, for he was a lover of money rather than a lover of God. 

In the second instance with Nicodemus, we have a person that was very well learned in the Jewish Law, for he taught it. Yet, like the rich man, he had a stirring in his soul that that just wasn’t enough. He needed something more to add on, for perhaps then he’d merit eternal life.  Jesus’ answer surely rattled him, for He told him that nothing added on would help him. Rather, he would have to start all over again.  All the religious trappings in which he was trusting had to be rolled up like a piece of garbage and tossed away. He needed to begin anew. He needed to be born again. In essence it was the same answer He gave the rich man, for he had to be shown that the goodness he was trusting in had no true “goodness” in it at all.  And that’s the stumbling block so many people trip over when they come to this most important issue of eternal life.  It’s the realization that whatever we may have been trusting in all our lives that made us think we were “good people,” had absolutely no merit in the eyes of God. It can be a terrifying thing to realize this. It can shake us to the depths of our soul, i.e., a sudden realization that what we’ve been trusting in all our lives can’t be trusted at all.

The apostle Paul came to this same shocking realization in his life.  Listen to his words recorded in Philippians 3:4-11: “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” 

So, have you ever come to this realization in your own life? Have you come to realize that what you are trusting in, if it is not Christ and what He did, rather than anything you have done, it is utter garbage? Have you come to the point that you know you need to start all over and that you need to be born again?  For you see, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . You must be born again” (John 3:3,7). It’s this and only this that will result in the eternal life that is the possession of all those who are in the family of God.  It’s arrived at by humility, by acknowledging that our goodness is not good in God’s sight.  It’s a recognition that it is only “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Have you realized this in your own life?  Have you asked God to forgive you of your sins and told Him that you want a brand-new life that is committed to Him?  Have you been born again?