Matthew 19:16-22 NKJV-Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” [17] So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” [18] He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ [19] ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” [20] The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” [21] Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” [22] But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
The rich young man starts out by calling Jesus good and Jesus reminds him there is none good but God. That statement should have made the rich young ruler humble, but it did not. So Jesus did what any good evangelist would do, and that’s to use the ten commandments to humble the rich young ruler and show him his need for the savior. Jesus asked him if he kept the commandments like” thou shalt not commit murder”, thou shalt not steal” “thou not commit adultery” “thou shalt not lie”.
The rich young ruler was full of pride and thought he had eternal life in heaven in his grasp. He said I have kept all those commands since I was a child. Jesus knew this young rulers heart was not right because the rich young ruler just told Jesus he never told a lie. If you are ever sharing the gospel using the ten commandments and someone tells you they have never lied? You can be sure they are lying because the bible says ” let God be true and every man a liar”. There is only one person who has never lied and that’s God. But Jesus knowing the heart of the rich young ruler told him to sell his possessions and give them to the poor and then come follow Jesus. The rich young ruler walked away because he had broken the first commandment ” thou shalt not have any gods before me”. And because the rich young ruler walked away in pride, Jesus was not able to share the gospel of grace with him. Jesus used the ten commandments to probe the young ruler and to show him his true sinful nature in the mirror of God’s law.
If Jesus used the ten commandments to preach the gospel, then we should too. We can not improve on the ministry of Jesus. Other evangelists in history like the apostle Paul, who preached sin and judgement to Felix. Like Charles Speurgon who used the ten commandments to preach the gospel. Whitfield did the same and many others. If you would like to learn how to preach the gospel using the ten commandments? Go to preachthegospelnow.wordpress.com
Romans 7:7 NKJV-What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
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