This sermon is about the story of the rich young ruler who asked Jesus what he still lacked in order to have eternal life. Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and follow him, but the young man could not part with his wealth. To find eternal life, we must be willing to sacrifice anything that keeps us from fully submitting to and following Jesus.

Transcript

Good afternoon. If you have your Bible with you, would you take it out please and turn to the gospel of Matthew, Matthew, chapter 19, and we'll begin reading in verse 16 here in just a moment. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16. It is so good to see everyone here this afternoon, and I pray that this will provide a, a good end to our day as we've been worshiping our God.

Giving glory and honor to his name, proclaiming him as holy, remembering Christ's sacrifice for us and striving from his word to know better his will and make application to our lives. The Lord's Day. What a good day it has been. I hope it has been one for you. And I love it when a day kind of fits together.

And I, I hope by way of planning that the, the three lessons, the bible class, the sermon and the sermon tonight go together in just that way. Just a moment ago, Jacob prayed. Father, if there is something that stands between us, we pray you would bring that to our attention. That's kind of a big sort of thing to pray, isn't it?

Do we really desire that? I mean, 'cause that, that requires something of us, right? If, if there is something between us and God or, or something where we are not what we ought to be and we ask God to, to bring that to our attention, to reveal that to us, and he does well, now we're accountable for changing that thing, right?

And that's exactly what we find right here in Matthew chapter 19. That kind of attitude that says, okay Lord. What else do I need to be doing? Is there something that stands between me and you? And if there is, will you bring that to my attention this account. And what I'm gonna do is, this is found in all three of the synoptic gospels.

I'm gonna put the com combined account up on the screen. But if you'll be in Matthew chapter 19, well, if you want to turn to Mark or Luke, that's fine. That's your prerogative. But there are a few things there in Matthew chapter 19 that I want to point out specifically. But I'm gonna read this combined account for all of us.

This afternoon, and it's one of those things where we have to put those three accounts together to get the, the title of this. We call this the Account of the Rich Young Ruler. And we know when we combine the synoptic accounts that that's what he was. He was a ruler, probably of the synagogue. He was a wealthy man, and we learned that he was a young man who had already kind of achieved this great status in his physical life.

So let's read this account together. Beginning there in verse 16, if you're in the gospel of Matthew or following along on the screen. As Jesus started on his way, a certain ruler ran up to him and fell on his knees before him, good teacher, he asked, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?

Now, right off the bat, there's a lot going for this young man. He's a ruler again of the synagogue, most likely. That was no small position. That was a position that showed this was a man who was well studied, well educated, not just in secular things, but in the law and the things of God to the extent.

Now he was able to teach others even though he was very young. He is faithful in the commands under the law. As we will read in just a second, he is, he is seeking eternal life that is exactly the right thing to be seeking. He has an attitude that asks, what do I need to do in order to inherit eternal life instead of just assuming he already has the answer, which would've been rare among the Jewish leaders, right?

They thought they had all of the answers. And there is even an undertone. I think if he is a ruler of the synagogue, he's exposing himself a little bit and even asking this question of Jesus, right? You're the ruler. You're supposed to know all these things, and yet he's coming to Jesus, calling him good teacher and asking, what do I need to do?

What good thing do I need to do to inherit eternal life? He asks the right question, doesn't he? There? There's something that is required of me knowing. That there's something required. What is it? What is required of me? And he asks not just the right question, he asks the right person in Jesus Christ, whom he calls good teacher.

Now, Jesus knows all of this, and yet he, he holds him to a really high standard here, doesn't he? Just like Nicodemus and others who were rulers among the Jews when they came to him, Jesus didn't pull any punches and he doesn't with this young man either. He's called him good, and he's asked what good thing he must do, and so Jesus says, why do you ask me?

Why do you ask me about what is good? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. There is only one who is good. No one is good except God alone. Now we know that that is in the ultimate sense, right? That there is no one who is only good, that's reserved for God alone. God is the source of all goodness in this life and the life to come.

And we understand that there's a sense in which there are good people and bad people from, from that sort of perspective. But in the ultimate sense, in the complete sense, only God is good. Jesus calls him out on his question because he's trying to get him to think about the implications of what he's saying.

Jesus says, if I'm good, if I'm a good teacher, then my claims to divinity that he's already made by this point in the gospels, my claims to divinity, to be the son of God, to be the promised Messiah, then those claims are true. That's the only way that I could be good, and if you're asking me what is good?

Well, you must be asking me because you believe that I know what is good. And so Jesus says to him, if you want to enter life, that is eternal life, obey the commandments. There's an eagerness to this young man. He is not gonna be put off so easily by Jesus. Even with Jesus's seemingly harsh response, he asks another question.

He says, which ones the man inquired. Jesus replied, you know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother. Where are those commandments found? Do you know? Those are all part of the 10 Commandments, right? And love your neighbor as yourself.

What is that? That is the second greatest command, as understood by the lawyer who came questioning by Jesus and by Jesus himself. teacher, the young man declared all these I have kept from my youth, but again, he asked another question, what do I still lack? You know, I, I think I see in this room a lot of people who could say something probably pretty similar, these commands that I see from God.

Well, I've, I've kept those to the best of my ability, even from my youth. I see in that other sense, good people here tonight, people who love Jesus and people whom Jesus loves. And yet still, that is a powerful question. What do I still lack? Well, Jesus looked at him and loved him. Mark's account tells us one thing you lack, Jesus says, if you want to be perfect, that is complete, mature, go.

Sell everything you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven, then come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying his face fell and he went away very sorrowful for, he had great wealth. Think about that question in Jesus's response to it. Did the rich young ruler, this man really literally only lack one thing.

Jesus says one thing you lack. Does, does that mean that he was perfectly without sin and absolutely every other way? Of course not. We know that's not the case. But this, this was the one thing that was gonna keep him from following Jesus on this occasion. And this was the one thing that possibly was gonna keep him out of heaven.

It would keep him out of heaven. If he didn't make it right. And there is great power in identifying our biggest shortcomings or shortcoming and seeking to change it, identifying the one thing we lack and changing that for eternal life. And so that's what I want us to think about for a few moments this evening.

What do I still lack in changing that one thing on the path to eternal life? In Matthew's gospel, this is a whole chapter. Chapter 19 is a whole chapter of hard things, isn't it? In the beginning of the chapter, Jesus has some hard teaching on marriage and, and when they hear the, the standard to which Jesus is holding them, which is a higher standard than what was found in the law of Moses, something that goes back all the way to the beginning.

Notice what they say in Matthew chapter 19 in verse 10. His disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. This is hard, Jesus, if you're saying this, and then immediately this rich young ruler comes to him, and at least that's the way Matthew puts this account together and he has some hard things to him and says, you gotta sell all that you have.

Give it to the poor. Come follow me. And just after that, Jesus gives some really hard teaching on, on riches and wealth. And he says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven. And what is the response to the, to the disciples in verse 25? They're greatly astonished and say, who then can be saved?

Rich people can't be saved, and who's gonna be saved? These are hard teachings by Jesus. Such is the commitment that is required by Jesus Christ. Sometimes it requires big things, hard things of us. Now, in regard to the commandments, this young man was blameless in regard to many of those commandments. Again, the 10 commandments, commandments five through nine.

Apparently he had kept since his youth and the second greatest commandment as declared by Jesus. He had kept that too. But what was he violating? Well, I believe that he was violating, we might say commandment 10, you know, envy and so forth. But I really think what he was, what he was violating was commandment one in the 10 commandments.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the greatest command to love the Lord your God, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Morris says the young man of this story, Was quite unaware of his failure to keep the commandment to have no other God, but the one true God, he made a God of wealth and when faced with the challenge, he could not forsake that God.

Jesus puts it this way. In the sermon on the mountain, Matthew chapter six in verse 24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. The text says, it doesn't say you can't serve God and riches.

No riches are personified as this concept of mammon, as if it's an idol, as if it's a false God. And what God says is you have to be totally devoted to me. There cannot be any other God in your life above or before me. Now, in times past in thinking about this passage, I've always thought about what Jesus demands, kind of in only negative terms.

This young ruler, he had sin in his life and that sin was materialism and that sin needed to be fixed. He needs to stop being materialistic. This is the one thing that that has his heart and his mind, and his will that he wasn't willing to let go of and service to God. The one thing that wasn't just, you know, an occasional slip into sin, but this was willful, habitual, unrepentant sin that he loved riches more than God.

And that's true. That's confirmed by what Jesus says next with his teaching about riches and the camel and the eye of the needle and how difficult it is for a rich man to go to heaven. But that's not what Jesus says to the young ruler. He doesn't say to him, you need to get over materialism. You have materialism in your life.

That's your sin. And you need to overcome that sin. Jesus's response instead is what? Go. Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, you'll have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow me. What Jesus does instead is give this young man all positive admonitions for good actions. Doing something is what Jesus requires of him not stopping doing something else.

The one thing that we might lack might be a sin that we have in our life that we need to stop. Maybe it's materialism, in which case, you know, this, this lesson is just right on the nose, but maybe it's something else. It might be instead, instead of some great sin that we see in our life. I mean, you think about this young man, he, he saw himself as a commandment keeper.

He didn't have some great apparent sin in his life. Do you think this young man totally neglected the poor, never gave to the poor? Now I think it's very likely that he did give to the poor as he saw fit, as he saw right as he saw good. Yet Jesus demands something more of him. And maybe for us, it's not some big sin that I have in my life that I need to make right.

Instead. Maybe it's something that I need to start doing or complete doing, or be more wholehearted in my doing. Giving up everything for the poor and following Jesus that was too big an ask for him to do it. And that's sinful too. If we're uncomfortable by what Jesus demands of this young man, I think that's exactly the right response.

Would we be willing to do what is required of this young man? Would we be willing to give up all that we have in order to follow Jesus well? Loved ones? That willingness is what is required of us. I remind you of Jacob's prayer. Father, if there is something that stands between us, we pray that you would bring that to our attention.

What do I still lack? That's the question I. And as we seek to change one thing on the path to eternal life, I think that asking that question requires some things of us. And here's the way I want to do that this evening. I just want to throw this text back on the screen. And I just wanna highlight as we go through this text and show you what is required here.

Asking that question, what do I still lack, requires five things that we see in this text. Number one, what do I still lack? Requires an honest acknowledgement that I lack something, an honest acknowledgement of what it is that I lack, and maybe this young man didn't think that he lacked anything but. He still asked the question, he could have left feeling good about himself, that he was sincere and that he was doing well, and he was keeping these commandments just as Jesus told him to.

He didn't have to ask this question, but he did. And because Jesus looks on him and loves him, I think he was absolutely sincere and asking Jesus, what do I lack? Jesus loved him. Not in the way that he loves everybody. We know Jesus loves all people, but I think in, in many ways he loved this young man's heart that he's really asking this question.

Here was a young man with great and redeeming qualities who held great and wonderful potential, who is doing many things for God, but he still lacked something. One big thing, and we sometimes don't want to ask the question because we're afraid of the answer.

Is there one thing that I'm not willing to give up in order to have eternal life? And that's silly. I mean, that's silly, isn't it? What kind of an idiot has something here on earth that's gonna keep 'em outta heaven and they won't get rid of it? But when we put it that way, we know how foolish we're being.

And you know that big idiot might be me if I look too carefully at what this question is. Instead, we say things like, in regard to this question, well, I've got everything under control. It's not that big of a deal. It's just a sin. Like anything else, I'll be forgiven. It's not affecting anybody else.

Everybody has their problems. I'm still doing everything I have to do. I'll, I'll get to that thing later. There are reasons why I'm involved in this. I'm still doing more for Jesus than most people. I'll take care of it eventually. Blah, blah, blah. Be honest. Be honest with yourself. What do I still lack? Not what do others lack?

What do I still lack? I think the regular asking and honest answering of this question is what separates the most mature and fateful among us? What is it that Jesus says he looked at him and loved him and he says, one thing you lack. If you want to be perfect, if you wanna be complete, if you wanna be mature, if you wanna be everything that God has called you to be, you're gonna have to ask and answer this question, where do I need to grow?

What do I lack? And I can't tell you how many times. Some of the Christians that I look up to most in the world have said to me after some lesson that I've preached, and these are Christians that are far better than I am. They come and they say, oh, I needed that lesson. I needed that. Thank you for challenging me.

I'm gonna do better. And I'm like, really? Like, you're way better than I am. Yes. Really. It is that kind of attitude that makes them the kind of Christian that they are. They're not that, they're not worried about everybody else and what those other people need to be doing. Other people need to hear that other need.

People need to be doing that. They're constantly looking and examining themselves, testing themselves. Am I really who it is God has called me to be. And it is not because they are somehow uncertain of their salvation. It is not somehow that they think they're gonna earn their way into heaven, but because they love the Lord their God with all of their heart, and they refuse to have any other gods before him.

God is gonna be first in my heart, first in my life, and that requires me to ask the question, what do I still lack? The kind of person who asked this question is honestly looking at their lives, striving to be more like Jesus. Well, Jesus says, if you wanna be perfect. And so what is required of us in asking this question is a personal desire to change.

He asked the question, but was he really ready for the answer? Do we really want to give up the one thing in our lives? And the amazing thing about this world is that, is that we, as a general rule, you know what we do. We do the things we want to do. Now you say, no, that's not true. I do all kinds of things I don't want to do all the time.

No, the reality is you do things that you don't want to do because you'd rather do those things than face the consequences of, of not doing them. You know what we do in this life? We do what we want to do and God gave us that power. The power of free will, the power to choose the things that we want to do.

And if we are not personally and com and totally committed to something, the reality is sometimes it's just not gonna happen. Is my desire to change? Is my desire to be all that God has called me to be? Is that because that's what I really want? Do I really want that? Or is it something that I just know I'm supposed to do?

Maybe I want it for others. Maybe I'm doing it for the sake of my job or the sake of my spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe I do things for my parents or my grandparents. Maybe I do it so I don't get in trouble. Maybe I do it for my mentor in church. Maybe I'm gonna do it for my kids, and so I know I need to do these things for them.

All of those are fine motivations, but ultimately they fall short of what is required. What is required of us ultimately is to do what God has called us to do, to be complete in his sight. We need to do it in order to be complete in the eyes of God because we have to do it, not because we're afraid of Hell, but we have to do it because we love Christ and we desire to please him.

So what is it that Jesus says, if you want to be perfect, go sell everything that you have and give it to the poor. The third thing is a plan of action, an executable plan of action if you want to take it that far. We all, we all know that we need to have goals and plans in our lives, and, and we talk about how those need to be attainable, right?

That there are things that I need to do and I need to make sure that I can attain the goal, obtain the goals that I set for myself. But let's not sell short. The power of big transformational change. I mean, we had a whole week on that, right? Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the re renewing of your mind.

Obtainable goals and big goals are not mutually excu exclusive. And so, so let me ask it this way. In regard to this rich young man, could he have done what Jesus asked, thumbs up or thumbs down, could he have done what Jesus asked? Was what Jesus asked of him. Really, really big. Was it a really big thing?

So it was big, but it was also obtainable. And how do we know it was obtainable? Because God never asks us to do something that we are incapable of doing. God asked us to do the things that He knows that we can do now. Sometimes the only way we can do them is with him. Don't misunderstand me on that.

That's not us pulling us up by our own bootstraps with God. It is possible in verse 26 in regard to who then can be saved With men. This is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. But the idea is God only asks us to do things that we are capable of doing, maybe only with his help. He would only ask us to do those things if we could, can and could do them.

Now, the world says you can't do that. I mean, that's just too much and I'm not rejecting the help that the world can provide. But Jesus says, you can do it at my command. Jesus does not require anything of us that we cannot do for him, and he may be providing the way of escape through all sorts of physical things that we might do.

It might be AA or medication or peer accountability, or a daily planner or anxiety reduction techniques or whatever God might be providing some physical things to help us. But our plan in overcoming our one thing, whatever that might be, or implementing that one thing in our life that we need to be doing, our plan should be complete mastery and disciplining ourselves on our one thing, and what I require requires the wrong word.

What I ask of you this afternoon is just to spend a few moments thinking about this question, what do I lack? Writing down that thing, whatever it is maybe writing it in your phone, writing it on a piece of paper. I think there's something powerful about writing it down and then write down how you're going to do that and then do it.

And so what we see is, well, there's an honest acknowledgement of what we lack. There's a personal desire to change and there's a plan of action in order to try and implement that change. And those three things are really, really good. But if we're being honest, those three things probably in and of themselves aren't always enough, at least not usually.

And I've seen people, you've seen people, I've seen myself in a moment of clarity, in a moment of resolve, get this far and say, yes, I want to change and I'm lacking in this area and I desire that and here's my plan. In order to do that, only to quickly fall back into what they were doing before. The alcoholic who removes all of the booze from the house, the one who's addicted to pornography, who deletes, all of those things.

The immodest apparel is thrown away. The social media accounts are frozen. The credit cards are cut up only to be bought and downloaded and put back in the wallet a few days later if we're not careful, because the last two steps. What separates what we find here with what Jesus demands and provides from just self-help that we see out there in the world.

What is it that Jesus says after go sell all that you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. What is required of us as Christians in asking this question is to ask it from a spiritual perspective. The the fourth thing is an emphasis on the spiritual over the physical. What is sacrifice?

Well, my favorite definition, I stole this from Russ Bowman, is giving up something you want for something you want more. And almost all of our decisions are made on the basis of what we value the most, what we want the most, and all of our one things when it comes to the things that are separating us from God can be summarized in the same way.

We value the physical over the spiritual, and we have to change that perspective to get rid of those one things for good, for eternity. If what we truly are seeking is eternal life, then we should come at those things from an eternal perspective, that spiritual things really are the most important. It wasn't that eternal life wasn't important to this young man.

That's the very question that he asked. It was important to him. The problem was that riches were more important, and so he was willing to sacrifice eternal life for riches instead of sacrificing riches for eternal life. We quoted from Matthew chapter six, verse 24, a moment ago. Go back to Matthew chapter six, if you would.

Just a few pages earlier in Matthew's gospel in Matthew chapter six.

Start there in verse 19. Matthew chapter six and verse 19.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moths nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Four where your treasure is. Your heart will be also the heart.

What we're really concerned about, what's really most important to us, and, and that's the, the thing that he's talking about there in verses 22 and 23. When he says this, the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Now, the eye, physically, all of that, that he says is true, but he is talking about this from a spiritual perspective. Your eye is representative of your heart. What is it that you really look at and desire? What is it that you really want from this life?

Is it the life that is found in spiritual things? Or is it the darkness of these physical things that are gonna pass away? That's how it's connected to verse 24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

So what is it that we're supposed to do? Well, in order to not worry, verse 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. That's what we're seeking. That's where our perspective is. Because as Christians, we see with more than our physical eye. So how do we have this change of heart to seek first the kingdom of God?

I think it begins by seeing spiritual things as real. We often think of physical and fake instead of physical and spiritual. I think spiritual isn't physical, but spiritual is real. And the bridge for us to see that is Jesus. If we see Jesus. In the manger, sure. But in his teaching in the synagogues, if we see him on the mountain hillside, if we hear his sermon on the mount, if we see Jesus alone in the garden, on the cross, and we see him on the throne, he physically was here.

But all of those things were with an eye toward the kingdom of heaven. And the spiritual reality behind those things. Jesus was a real king and is a real king, and it is a real kingdom. It's just not a physical one. And there is a real heavenly abode that is waiting on the fateful and a real judgment in that spiritual place called hell.

And so what we must do is learn to walk by faith. To see spiritual things is more lasting and more real because they are, that world is the real world, and this world is the shadow. You will have treasure in heaven, and that treasure is far more valuable and far more lasting than anything that we could have here.

And so an emphasis on the spiritual, over the physical. And then finally, . What does he say? Then come follow me. The final thing, if we're gonna ask and answer this question, what do I still lack? Is it ends ultimately with a total dependence on Jesus. Think again about what Jesus asked this young man to do and, and try and put yourself in his shoes for just a moment.

Sell everything. Give away the prophets, and then come follow Jesus. That's asking a lot. That's asking this man to depend on Jesus for food and shelter and direction and instruction and purpose and more. And that's what Jesus really ask of us too, that we depend on him instead of ourselves. You follow my will instead of your own.

Sometimes we think to ourselves, when we ask this, what do I still lack? Ah, I know what it is I lack, I know very well what I lack and I've got this, I'm gonna be able to do it. But the reality is we can only overcome those things through our dependence on Christ. Only overcome them and fulfill them spiritually.

There's a man that I knew when I first started preaching. And my family and his family have gone back for several generations. They're longtime residents of Smith County, my family, longtime residents of Smith County on my father's side. And there's several brothers. And one of these brothers I was very close to, and he was a, is, was, was and is a fateful member of the Lord's Church.

We went to church together when I was up in Lyndale. And one of his brothers had been unfaithful for many, many years, and so he asked me and I desired to go and talk to this man. And we became friends, this one who was unfaithful. And so I'd go and I'd talk to him and we'd talk about spiritual things.

And he grew up with great knowledge of the word of God and could talk eloquently at times about God's word and what he needed to do. And if I were to ask him the question, what do you still lack? He could point a finger on it and say This, this is what to answer. Jacob's prayer. This is what stands between me and Jesus.

This what is what stands between me and being right with the Lord. This is what stands between me and eternal life,

and yet what I would ask him. Then why don't you come and be with the brethren? Why don't you come and confess those things? Why don't you come and make it right? His answer was always the same. I've just gotta take care of that before I can come back,

and he never did.

He had it totally backwards.

He needed to come back to Jesus to take care of it, not take care of it so he could come back to Jesus. Jesus is the answer. That's what the sign says right out there, right? Jesus is the answer. What's the question? Doesn't matter. Whatever your one thing is, Jesus is the answer. It is only through Jesus Christ that we're gonna be able to be complete perfect in all that he has called us to be.

You're not gonna overcome your one thing without him, and even if you did, you would still stand condemned for having that one thing to begin with. And so the call from Jesus is, is no different than it was with the rich young ruler. Then come follow me. Submit to his will for your life. Repent of what it was that you were doing before, come to him in humble submission saying, whatever it is, Jesus desires of me that I am willing to do.

And some of you here this evening, I know you and you have already sold all that. You have given it to the poor and followed after Jesus, at least metaphorically. That's exactly what you've done in your heart and in your life. And my call to you is to help those who haven't. Because it's difficult to hold their hand through this process to guide them, to give them something to imitate as you imitate Christ.

And even for the rich young ruler, there were those that he could have looked at and said, look, they are the very ones who are doing what it is Jesus is asking me to do. If you look there later in this same chapter, In Matthew chapter 19. Look there just after all of what Jesus says about riches in verse 27.

Then Peter answered and said to him, see, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? Peter, as he so often did like a bulldozer, just kind of stumbles upon the right question, doesn't he? Wait a second. You're saying leave all and give all up and follow after you and depend on you.

That's what we've done. So what will we have? So Jesus said to them, assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you have followed me, will also sit on 12 Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel and everyone. Who has left houses or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or wife, or children or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life.

So the application is abandon your family, sell all your things, and go to Africa

maybe if that's what God required of you, would you be willing to do that?

Would I be willing to do that?

I pray that I would because I love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and whatever. One thing I lack, whatever I lack, my prayer is that he would make me aware of it, review it to me. So that I can be who it is that he's called me to be. But so often it is not some grandiose thing as we think about it in those terms, it's the small acts of service and sacrifice.

The small moments where we say no to sin and yes to Jesus, that leads us down this path to eternal life. If you're here this evening and you say, well, what do I still lack? I, I still need to come to Jesus. That's the beginning of that path that leads ultimately to this place of eternal life where we can stand before him in glory.

And if we can help you to start on that path, even this evening, come now while together we stand and while we sing. .