You can quote a lot of Scripture.  How much are we living?  How easy is it to forgive?  How easy is it to humble ourselves?  How easy is it to be available to the kingdom?  Are we burning in our hearts for the lost?  Are we looking at those and having the same compassion as Jesus did and praying, “Lord, here am I, send me!”  If we believe we’re on the brink of the return of Jesus Christ, how can we not be in the highways and the byways and compelling people to come?  There are many of us, here, that would dive into a river or run into a burning building, or whatever it might be to save some child or to help somebody.  What about their souls?

What do you need to do to be saved, to inherit eternal life?  Keep the commandments.  He asks the question, “Which?”  Well, the real answer to it all is, love the Lord thy God with all of your heart; amen?  If that’s what’s taking place, all of these other things fall into place.  Priorities are set by whether we’re loving God with all of our hearts or not.  It’s the cares, the Lord said, of all of these other things that choke the Word of God out of us.  If we’re not seeking to do his commandments, the Word that is alive in us is being choked out on a daily basis.  How much is this world vexing us?  Are we in a place where we might rise up one of these days and shake ourselves and the Holy Ghost is gone?  The power we used to know isn’t there anymore, but a form of godliness with no power.  Help us, Lord, to be ready in this hour.

When Jesus speaks and tells me, “Listen!  Take heed!  Beware!” then I want to give some credibility to that; amen?  So, this young man stands before Him, and He said, “Keep the commandments.”  “Which ones?”  He then speaks toward the ones that pertain to our living and interaction with men.  “Don’t murder.  Don’t commit adultery.  Don’t steal.  Don’t bear false witness.  Honor your father and your mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The young man said, “I’ve done all of these things.  What do I lack?”  Jesus said, “If you want to be perfect, if you want to be mature, go and sell everything that you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.  Come and follow Me.”  Following Jesus demands, every day, denying ourselves, dying on the cross of personal crucifixion, humbling ourselves, preferring others, living for eternity and not the moment.

You want to be saved?  You want the assurance of eternal life?  Then look at the fruit of your life.  What is my life producing in abundance?  What am I known for?  How would those that are closest to me describe me?  Now Jesus is going to take it into this aspect of money.  He begins to introduce the subject, here, and said, “You know the thing you need to do is just get rid of all this stuff, it’s killing you.”  It says that he, upon hearing that, turned and went away.  He was sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  I would say great possessions had him.  There’s nothing wrong with stuff, even the abundance of stuff, as long as we have it and it doesn’t have us.  We’re all very quick to say, “Amen!  I have mine under control.”  It will enter in and choke the Word of God out of you, wealth, abundance, running and playing with the world, fellowship with their gods, the idols of the world.  This message is stated over and over again.  Here’s what I want you to see, “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  How content are you?