Four Essential
Gospel Truths
In Mark 10:17–22, we find the Lord Jesus Christ interacting with the rich young ruler and, in so doing, teaching His disciples and us some essential gospel truths that are necessary to know and experience if we would “enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
1. Attributes of God
As Jesus and His disciples are walking along, a man who was young (Matthew) and was some type of ruler (Luke) and clearly had some wealth accumulated (thus, “the rich young ruler”) comes running to Jesus with much zeal and an apparent sincere request: “Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus answers, “There is none good but one, that is, God” (v. 18). What is Jesus doing? He is showing him that if anyone would have eternal life, he must learn who God is. We must learn not only that He is good, but must learn all of His attributes. In his Institutes, Calvin wrote some five hundred pages on the knowledge of God as Creator and Redeemer. Jesus Himself prayed, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Spurgeon also says, “The proper knowledge of God is the great hope for sinners.” [more…]
Go To Jesus
What is the one specific cry of a truly spiritually regenerated and awakened soul? Is it not for JESUS, the bread of life? Most assuredly! Go to the sinner bowed beneath the weight of the law, to the man awakened to a conviction of his sinful and lost condition, who has been brought to know the nothingness of his own righteousness, and ask him, ‘What will make you happy?’ Bid him go to his religious duties, to his sacraments, to his church, to his minister. Oh, how bitter will be his reproof—“I asked you, as a starving man, for bread, and you give me husks. I need Christ—I need to know that my sins are pardoned—that my transgressions are blotted out—that I am an accepted, forgiven child of God. And nothing short of this will meet my case. [more…]
From The Fullness of Christ by Octavius Winslow
