In his sermon 'Who's Your Master,' Peter Allison examines Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler as depicted in Luke 18 and its parallel passages in Mark and Matthew. The sermon delves into the question of who truly governs our lives, using the ruler's sorrowful reaction to Jesus' command to sell his possessions as a pivotal point. Allison argues that the young man's wealth was his true master, illustrating the broader biblical principle that no one can earn salvation through their own efforts or obedience to the law. The sermon contrasts the covenant of works, where eternal life was promised based on perfect obedience, with the covenant of grace, where salvation is given through faith in Jesus Christ's perfect life and sacrificial death. Through various biblical examples, such as Noah and Abraham, Allison highlights that true freedom and mastery are found in obedience to God's will. He emphasizes that Jesus is the ultimate master, and only by following Him can one truly experience freedom and holiness.

Luke chapter 18. I'd like to begin reading at verse 18. Now a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God.

You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.

And honor your father and mother. And He said, all these things I have done from my youth. But when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, You still lack one thing, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow Me. But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful he said how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and those who heard it said who then can be saved but he said the things which are impossible with men are possible with God then Peter said see we have left all and followed you so he said to them assuredly I say to you there is no one who has left houses or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present age and in the age to come eternal life." And then I'd like to also read a couple of verses from Mark, the parallel passage in Matthew 19 at verse 16. Now behold, one came and said to him, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 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 His commandments. And he said to him, Which ones? And Jesus said, You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack?' 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.' But when the young man heard that saying, He went away very sorrowful, for He had great possessions.

May Jehovah bring His judgments of old to mind and comfort us in them. Heavenly Father, Your word is true, though every man be a liar. We ask this morning that you might impress upon us the truth of your word, that you might do so in the power of the Holy Spirit with much conviction and assurance. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips and preserve me from error. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Well who is your master? Who is your master? If you're new to church, your first thought might be, well, no one. I'm not a slave. No one owns me.

Or maybe you've been around church long enough and the Scriptures long enough to know the right answer, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master. Well, Jesus goes far beyond simply asking this young man, who is your master. He demonstrates to this young man, in a way that's evident to everybody standing there, in a way that's also evident to the young man himself. Everyone who witnessed this exchange, Jesus demonstrated who this young man's master was. And it wasn't, it's not Jesus Christ.

This story, this account Luke puts right after the parable of the publican and the Pharisee and the account of the little children that were brought to Jesus. Because this account, this event, this interchange between Jesus and this rich young ruler, and these other two accounts all teach the same lesson. That we are helpless. That we, in our own strength and our own ability, are helpless to earn our own salvation. The children were brought to Christ as helpless babies.

They were able to do nothing. They were able to contribute nothing. The publican who went to his house justified came knowing that he wasn't worthy to earn God's favor and he simply cast himself upon the mercy of God. God be merciful to me a sinner he cried and Jesus said that this one and not the other one not the one who praised himself who thought that he could do something and had done something good for the Lord, is the publican, the one who cast himself on the mercy of God, who knew he had done nothing worthy that went home justified. So this young man comes to Jesus with a problem.

He had a problem. He was going to die. It's a universal problem. It's one we all have. It's one that we are all aware of.

Sometimes painfully aware of our problem. That we are going to die and we are dying. But he wanted to live. This rich young man, and being a rich young man, a wealthy man, he was used, and a ruler, He was used to getting what he wanted. He was used to being able to buy whatever he lacked, or to pay somebody to do what he might not in his own body be able to do.

He had money, and money can solve a lot of problems. But he needed to know what to do. He needed to know what to buy. So he went to Jesus. And he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

It's a little bit of a confused question when you think about it because an inheritance is not something for which we have to do anything. Now some people may get creative and make an inheritance contingent upon performance of something or other. But most of the time, an inheritance is something we receive not because of what we have done to earn it, but because of who we are, the son or a daughter of so-and-so. And so when someone receives an inheritance, legal title passes to them without them having to do anything in exchange for it, without them having to do anything or pay anything. They require legal title to property, to something.

And inheritance is something to which an heir has a legal right and so in asking what must I do to inherit eternal life he is asking what must I have what must I do to have a legal right to eternal life? What must I do to have a legal right to eternal life? Right to eternal life. And as we'll see, Jesus answers him. But before Jesus answers this question, Jesus wants to point out another problem that he has, that he doesn't realize he has.

A problem he doesn't understand yet. He wasn't good. In asking this question, the rich ruler had addressed Jesus as good teacher. Now that's just a polite way of talking to somebody. It's a polite way to address someone.

And there are other places in the Scriptures where people are addressed with this form of address. Well done, now good, and profitable servant. That's a well done, now good servant. That was a form of address that's used in the Bible. But Jesus uses this, takes this occasion where this young man has used a very normal form, very normal, polite form of address to challenge his understanding of what it is, what it means to be good.

What does it mean to be good? Many children are promised that an idol will give them gifts at Christmas if they are good and not naughty. And we use that word very broadly. It has many different nuances to it in meaning it can refer to somebody's level of skill. We can say, well, they're a very good piano player.

It's a level of skill. Or they are well suited to something. They make a good fit in that role. Or to somebody being kind, we might say. They're a good person.

But fundamentally, fundamentally, in a moral sense, good is defined in terms of the law. Good is what is in accordance with the law and evil is what is wrong or not according to the law or what is right. And in that sense then to be good means to perfectly keep the law of God, to perfectly obey every commandment in God's law. Now no man, No man can do that. And thus no man is good.

And so Jesus uses his address as an opportunity to tell this young man that no one, No one is good, not a one. There is none who does good, no not one. If this man knew the Scriptures, he would know that because it says in Psalm 14.1, Psalm 14.3, Psalm 53.1, Psalm 53.3, and then Paul also says it in Romans again, Romans 3.12. These all state that there is no one good. Paul told the Romans, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

There is none who understands, There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one." This man didn't know that.

He thought he was okay. He thought he was a good person. And Jesus here is telling him, no, you're not good. There is no one good, Jesus says, but God. Jesus says that to him before this young man even has a chance to tell Jesus how he's kept the law.

This young man had another problem that he didn't know about either. This rich young man was used to getting what he wanted with his money. He simply had to ask the right person and be ready to pay the right price. But what he didn't realize was that he was a slave he was in bondage to his money but Jesus doesn't tell him that just yet he will he waits instead He will. He waits.

Instead, he answers his question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, Jesus' answer to this question is not one that we would probably expect. Right, when we would expect something more like what Paul gave to the Philippian jailer when he said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And Paul said, "'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.'" But Jesus doesn't tell him that, does he? Doesn't say, believe on me. What he says might initially sound quite surprising.

Contrary to everything you've probably ever heard a Bible-believing preacher say. Jesus says, well, you know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal.

Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Now what would you think if your friend, somebody in the church, you're out walking the street shopping and somebody says, what must I do to be saved? And they say, well, you know the law. Don't murder, don't steal.

You would think, what? What are they saying? Mark adds to that list, do not defraud. And Matthew adds, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, as the last of that commandment, or the commandments. And that phrase is a summary, or that is a summary of the law from Leviticus 19.

And when the lawyer asked Jesus, or the scribe asked Jesus, what was the greatest commandment? Jesus said, you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. He said the first commandment, the first of all the commandments is here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment, and the second, like it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment, Jesus said, than these.

So that's just a summary, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, a summary of what we call the second table of the law. Honoring your parents, respecting people's property, respecting their chastity, respecting the truth in the neighbor's good name and not desiring things that the Lord has not given us. But how is this the right answer? How is this answer that Jesus gives that he should look to the law and keep it? How is that a right answer to his question, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Well, we know that it is, right? Because Jesus is truth. He would never tell somebody something that wasn't true. Well, It's right because God had promised to Adam eternal life if he did not disobey God. But God also promised him that in the day that he disobeyed God, in the day that he disobeyed God, he would die.

We call that the covenant of works. Remember, covenant is just the word the scripture uses to describe God's relationship to us. In the covenant of works that God made with Adam and he made it with Adam as a federal representative, as a federal head, as a representative of all the human race. And in that covenant with Adam, Adam and all his posterity were promised eternal life if he perfectly obeyed the law of God. But in the day that he disobeyed God, he would die.

We call it the covenant of works because life is earned by obedience or by the works of Adam. Life was merited by works, by Adam's obedience. And the Bible defines work in Romans as that which is owed. Work is that which is owed, grace is that which is not owed. Work is that which is owed, Grace is that which is not owed.

Work is that which is owed. Grace is that which is not owed. We call it unmerited, meaning not deserved, unmerited favor. And so it's called the covenant of works because God promised Adam that if he obeyed he would have life. That was something that was owed to Adam if he obeyed on the condition of his obedience and so it's a work.

Now did God have to make that promise? Absolutely not. The fact that God made that promise is certainly the grace of God and so the covenant of works is not to say there's that God is not gracious or God did act toward Adam with grace he did Adam then God didn't have to give that covenant to Adam he didn't have to promise him life upon the condition of obedience but he did and having made that promise God obligated himself to give Adam life. God is able to obligate himself. He does.

And when God obligates himself, then he is the sovereign can obligate himself. And so Jesus is not misleading this young man and giving him a false answer. God told the Israelites in this very same thing in Leviticus 18, You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them.

I am the Lord. You see, only it is true. Only the pure in heart will see God. Only the righteous can come into God's presence. Only the righteous can stand in the day of judgment.

Hebrews 12 says, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Only those who perfectly obey the law of God have eternal life. The man asked, what must I do in order for me to have a legal right to eternal life? And Jesus answered his question exactly according to the word of God.

If you want to have a legal right to eternal life, then you must perfectly keep the law of God. If you want to have a legal right to eternal life, then you must perfectly keep the law of God. It's the only way that anyone can have a legal right to eternal life. Of course the fact that we are all in Adam means that we all sinned in Adam. When Adam sinned in his first sin, we sinned.

His guilt is imputed to us. And also the corruption of our nature as well. But the problem that Jesus has stated is that there is no one who can perfectly obey the commandments of God. None. Jesus said there is no one good.

No, not one. Not even you, or I, and not this rich young man. And that is why Jesus Christ came to the earth. Christ is the second Adam, He's called. And He has kept the law of God without any stumbling, without one transgression.

In His thoughts, in His words, or in anything that He did, He has perfectly, perfectly and completely kept every commandment in God's law. And He's done that as the second Adam, as our federal head, as our representative. And this is called the covenant of grace. Because in the covenant of grace, Jesus Christ has made an agreement with the Father that He would keep the law of God in our place and that He would die in our place to pay the penalty of our sins, of our failure to break, keep the law of God. And that all those who believe in Him and rest in His righteousness, in His obedience, and not in their own, would be saved.

We call that the covenant of grace because we have no legal right to that salvation. We have done nothing. We haven't earned it. It's unmerited. It's given to us without anything, without us owing it, being owed it.

And so we call that grace. Marvelous grace. Marvelous grace. Grace. Marvelous grace.

Marvelous grace. It's not because, we call it the covenant of grace. It's not because there are no works in the covenant of grace. It's because the work is done by God. And not man.

It's done by the God-man. You see, it's still true that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. This rich young man, ruler, believes he has done everything. But Jesus' response demonstrates that He has fundamentally missed the significance of the law of God. Fundamentally.

And how does He do that? Well, he really demonstrates to him who his master is. See, God told Adam not to eat the fruit of a particular tree, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now that might seem like a strange and arbitrary command. Was the fruit toxic?

Was it harmful to the human flesh? Was it nasty? Ugly? Well, no. Eve looked at it and to her, it looked pretty good.

It looked desirable even. God didn't give this command because this fruit was somehow toxic. The issue was not is this fruit toxic to you? The issue was who's your master? Who's Lord of your life?

Who are you serving? That's why God gave that command to Adam. It demonstrates that God is the Lord of all. He's the sovereign. He's the one that's created us.

He's our master. It's his right, it's his prerogative to command us, to tell us what to do and what not to do. And it doesn't have anything to do with what might be toxic for us or not toxic for us. It has to do with His will. What is His will for us?

What does He want us to do? That's what it means to be, for someone to be your master. It means you do their will, not your own will. It means you follow their laws, and not your own laws. And so Jesus shows this young man that he did not recognize the Lord as his master.

He was still serving himself. And so he tells him, well go sell all that you have and give to the poor and come and follow me. Jesus didn't argue with him when he said, I've kept the law from my youth up, I've done all these things. Jesus didn't say, well, no, you haven't. He didn't argue with him.

He just very simply and easily demonstrates that you've missed the entire point of the law. He just said, well, okay, go and sell everything that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. Now, if he was serving Jesus, if Jesus was his master, when Jesus told him to do that, he would have said, yes Lord, yes my Lord and master, gladly I will go and do what you have called me to do. But he wasn't serving Jesus. Jesus wasn't his master.

His wealth was his master. You know, and if anything is our master other than Jesus Christ, that's bondage. That's slavery. Because, remember, freedom comes only in obedience to the law of God. Freedom is the ability to obey the law of God.

That which promotes freedom promotes the ability to obey the law of God. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do. That's not freedom. When Job lost all his possessions, He lost everything too. He even lost his family.

He said, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But this rich young man really wasn't keeping the law. Jesus wasn't His master. His possessions had mastery of Him.

He would do whatever it took to keep His possessions. You see, we might think, well, where in the Bible does it say, go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor? It doesn't say that anywhere. But that's what Jesus commanded him to do. The law is God's will for us.

And God doesn't ask the same thing from everyone. He just doesn't. Some people, Jesus may ask to suffer unjustly for His sake. Now when we have the authority and the ability to rebuke injustice, or to bring offenders to justice, we should do that. But there are many times when we don't have that ability, or the authority to do so.

Or we can only do it after a period of affliction. And so we patiently endure. Take a look at Hebrews 11. If you think that this was maybe a command that is, you might think, well, that command was for Jesus, that command Jesus gave was for that man. And Jesus isn't walking the earth today, so He's never going to give me that command.

We're safe. We'll never have to sell all that we have and give it to the poor. So maybe we don't really interact with that command in the same way that the rich young ruler did. But take a look at Hebrews 11. Verse 6 says that without faith it is impossible to please him.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And then it goes into a list of things that God has called people to do. Let's take a look at them. Noah was asked to build an ark. Doesn't say that anywhere.

The Bible doesn't command, the law of God doesn't command everyone to build an ark. But God called Noah to do that. God told Noah to build that ark. And he built an ark in the middle of dry ground. A land that had never really seen rain.

There was a mist. You know, the earth was watered by. Or some way. And I'm sure people mocked him, building this huge boat on dry ground. And it was a huge boat.

Even by today's standards, it was a big boat. Because he was moved with godly fear. By faith he did this, because Jesus was his master. When God said build an ark, he built an ark. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out of Ur of Chaldees.

God came to Abraham and this was the city of his family. This was where he was from. And God said, leave, go. And go to this other land, a foreign land that you don't own anything, you don't know anybody, you don't have any family there, because I'm going to give it as an inheritance to your descendants. That's not written in the law of God anywhere.

Leave the land of your fathers and go to another strange land. But that's what God told Abraham to do. And Abraham did it by faith. By faith he obeyed. Because Jesus was his master.

And God was the Lord of His life. And if God said, Abraham, go, Abraham said, yes, Lord. He didn't know where he was going even. God didn't... He went out not knowing where he was going.

He didn't say, well, Lord, where should I go? I can't go until you tell me where. God said go, he went. Jesus was his master. Sarah died.

These all died. Not having received the promises. Abraham died not seeing the land that he had been promised given to his descendants, but he died in faith. God told Abraham, go sacrifice your son. That's not written in the law anywhere.

We're not told, fathers, go sacrifice your sons. But God told Abraham to do that. That was hard. Abraham said, yes Lord. And he got a donkey, and he got wood for a sacrifice, and he took his son, And he went.

He took the son that he had waited 25 years for. The son that God had promised him and never came and it never came and he never came. And finally he's born to his wife when she's 90 years old. A miracle, not likely to happen again. And this is the son that God said, go sacrifice.

And Abraham vice. And Abraham said, Yes, Lord, because Jesus was his master. By faith, Moses, when he was of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasure of Egypt, for he looked to the reward of everlasting life. Jesus was his master, and so By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. By faith he kept the Passover in the sprinkling of blood.

By faith they passed through the Red Sea. God told him, you take this nation and you leave. And you go out into the wilderness. The Bible doesn't, the law of God doesn't somewhere command all of us to go into the wilderness. And live out there where there's no water and no food and no way to make clothes but God called Moses to lead Israel out there and He led him right to a dead end.

There's a really great movie now that has a lot of footage of that path that they probably took to the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aquabot, we call it today. And It's a canyon, basically. It's a mountain pass through the mountains. There's mountains on either side. You're walking down a channel, a relatively narrow channel, and you end up at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is thousands of feet deep.

It's a large body of water. These mountains come right up to the shore except right where this pass is. And that's where God led Moses right down there. And then the Egyptian army came behind him and you can understand now their plight. They've got this thousand plus foot body of water in front of them, a big ocean as far as they're concerned.

The mountains on either side, you can't walk through them. And in this narrow path up there back is coming the Egyptian army. That's what God told Moses to do and Moses did it because Jesus was his master. And what Jesus said to do, he did. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were circled for seven days.

By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish. And what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon. What did God tell Gideon to do? He said go knock down this idol that is prominent in your community. It's the God of your family.

It's what you're worshipping. Go knock it down. And Gideon was rightfully troubled by that. And he ended up doing it at night when nobody could see it. But he did it.

Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness, were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their life again. But others, God called them to be tortured, not accepting deliverance. So others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned because that's what God called them to do, to do something that would get themselves stoned.

They were sawn in two because they were obedient, because Jesus was their master. And they went where he called them. Chains and imprisonment. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword.

They were wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute, afflicted, tormented because Jesus called them to those things. And Jesus was their master and when he called them, they said, yes Lord, by faith. These were people of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. These all obtained a good testimony through faith.

They didn't receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. But these are people who by faith followed their master, Jesus. Whatever he called them to do. The question is, who is your master? Who is your master?

And are you ready to do what he says, to do what he calls you to do? Because he is your master, because you love him, and your desire to follow Him wherever He sends you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are our Lord and Master, and that you are gracious and kind, abundant and loving mercy and tender kindness toward all who call upon you. We thank you Lord that as our master you call us to come to you to take your yoke upon us and to learn of you For you are lowly and gentle you've promised to us rest to our souls For your yoke is easy and your burden is light For Lord all that you call us to do, you equip us to do.

And you have made provision of heavenly resources in Christ Jesus that are sufficient for everything that you call us to do. For every task, for every duty, for every job that you give us, for every commandment that you call us to keep, none of which we can do in our own strength. Lord, you have made provision in Christ that we should be equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Lord, enable us to possess that which you have given us in Christ, to put on your armor, that we might be able to stand. And having done all this, Lord, to stand.

We ask, Lord, for your strength and for your mercy. We ask that you would sanctify us and that you would fit us and prepare us to spend eternity with you in heaven. O Lord, while our days on earth remain, you call us to be the church militant, to battle the world, our flesh, and the evil one. We ask for your strength and your power today and this week through Jesus Christ. Amen.