Eternal Life Is Not For Sale

by Jesse Duplantis

The people who Jesus met when He walked the earth two centuries ago were very much like most folks in the 21st century. They thought that they could buy their salvation. But, let me tell you something, if salvation were for sale, I would have bought it back when I was a rock singer who had more money than he could spend! I'd have paid the price for a first class ticket to Heaven, not only for myself, but for my family and friends too. No waiting, no standing in line, with the kind of money I had to shell out, I'd have bought straight access to the Throne!

That may sound funny to you, but a lot of people today think about Heaven sort of like that. Sure, most people know that they can't buy eternal life with money. But a whole lot of people think they can buy it with good deeds alone! They figure that since their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, when their dieing day comes, they'll make it to Heaven. They have no concept of actually forming a relationship with God. They just figure that if they do more good stuff than bad, they're assured access into Heaven.

Why do so many think this way? Because religion has preached it for centuries! Even though Jesus came to the earth for the express reason of dying for mankind's sins and making righteousness available through His shed blood, people still preach that it's good deeds that get you into Heaven.

This kind of mindset was exactly what a certain young man had when he approached Jesus about obtaining eternal life. As an Old Testament Jew, he had been schooled in the Law and was diligent in obeying God's commandments. What he didn't have a concept of was the heart issue. He didn't know what it meant to love God enough that you would give up everything you knew and everything you loved just to serve Him.

In Matthew 19:16, the young man asked Jesus, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, he basically said, "There are 10. I've done them. Now, what do I do?" He was pushing Jesus to give him something more; to tell him something that he could do to ensure that he would make Heaven his home. So, Jesus gave him something more; he challenged him with one serious deed. But it wasn't exactly what the Rich Young Ruler wanted to hear.

In fact, the deed Jesus told him to do was so hard that the young man didn't even answer. He didn't say a word! Instead, Matthew 19:22 says, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”

You see, he was fooling himself by pressing Jesus for more deeds to obey in order to earn access into Heaven. And Jesus called him on the carpet about it. What Jesus was saying was, "So, you want to go further with this thing? You want to do more? Well, if you want to know what you really have to do to enter Heaven, I'll tell you...you can check your heart out and find out where your treasure is. What is your source? Where is your security? Is it in your money? Or is it in God. You make the choice." That's my paraphrase, but I believe it's correct.

You see, the Rich Young Ruler was willing to sacrifice and do a great many things for the sake of earning salvation. But, what he wasn't willing to do was the one thing that ensured his place in Heaven - to give his whole heart to God. His love for his material possessions was greater than his love for God.

What you should notice here is that Jesus did not dismiss The Ten Commandments. He told the man to obey them, so we know that doing good matters to Jesus. But what Jesus mainly wanted to deal with was the man's heart.

What Jesus proved to the Rich Young Ruler was that even though he thought he had done everything right, he was fooling himself if he thought that loving something else more than God was OK. He needed to get his priorities in line if he was that interested in following the Lord and obtaining eternal life.

When Money Has You, God Doesn't.
One thing I want you to understand is that riches were not the problem. Jesus didn't tell everybody he ran into to give away everything they had, and He met many, many rich people. You see, you can have all the riches in the world as long as riches don't have you.

God wants you to be financially blessed but when money has you, God doesn't. It's that simple. The Bible says you have to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus rose from the dead, and you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). In other words, what gets you into Heaven is your heart and your mouth. It matters more than all the good deeds in the world.

The Rich Young Ruler probably wouldn't have ever been asked to give away everything if Jesus hadn't seen that his heart was in the wrong place. This man was trying to be externally obedient in order to earn his salvation, but he wasn't willing to trust God with his possessions. His response immediately showed that God wasn't his source of security.

Let me ask you a question. If you can't trust God with your possessions, how can you trust Him with your eternal soul? Nobody can buy eternal life. John 3:16 says it best. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Jesus told His disciples that it was hard for a rich man to enter Heaven. Why? Because riches have a way of making people feel secure. The world conditions us to believe that having money is equal to having security and freedom. But God is our only real security and there is no real freedom without Jesus! Let me tell you something, money has wings on it! It can fly away as fast as it came. And how many people who have money actually feel free? Freedom can't be bought. And it's a lie that money equals security.

That's why an offering at church will always expose your weakness. You recognize how much security you put in your money when you have the opportunity to give. You see, if the Rich Young Ruler had known anything about the God's operational system, he would have realized that giving opens the windows of heaven. He was destined to receive a hundred fold return in this life!

When Peter told Jesus that he and the disciples had forsaken all to follow Him and asked what would they get in return, Jesus said, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:29). Whew! A hundredfold and everlasting life - now, that's a promise to stand on!

This excites me because I know what it means to give up something to follow God. I gave up my ability to make money in the music industry for His name sake. I gave up the ability to buy whatever house I wanted. I gave up the ability to buy whatever car I wanted. I gave up money, family, wife and child to serve the Lord in the evangelistic capacity that He asked me to.

Cathy had to raise my daughter because most of her life, I was preaching somewhere. I was gone five days a week from home for her whole childhood and that wasn't easy on my wife, my daughter or me. Yes, when Jesus said, "Follow Me," I went but it was at a great sacrifice to me personally. But I didn't boo-hoo about it, and neither did my wife and daughter. We all knew this was what God wanted me to do so there were no resentments over it. We were excited about seeing people saved and healed and touched! Glory! You see, I did it for the right reasons, and today, I live a life of multiplied blessings.

Today, God has blessed me with way more than I gave up. I can buy any house I want and drive any car I want. God has given me a jet that allows me to sleep in my own bed just about every night and bring my wife with me everywhere I go. God has made my wife, my daughter and her husband to work right along side with me and I see them all the time. God is continuing to give me back everything that I gave up for His name's sake. It's His promise to me, and I stand on it!

If you've given up something for His name sake, Jesus has promised you a hundredfold in this life and everlasting life in the next. Don't let Satan fool you into settling for less than what God promised. Stand on Jesus' Word because it is for you!

You Can't Bargain for Spiritual Things
Some people read the Rich Young Ruler's story and think they have to give away all their money to be holy. Wait a minute! Did the Lord tell you to do it?

Holiness does not come by way of poverty. It comes by way of Jesus' blood. If you give everything away in an effort to bargain your way into God's good graces, you're off track. If He didn't tell you to do it, don't worry about it. There is nothing you can do to get inside God's good graces except accept His Son as your personal Lord and Savior. There is no need to reduce your life to a transaction. You don't have to earn salvation. It's free!

I believe that Peter, James and John must have already started getting some of their hundred fold back for giving up houses, families, lands, etc. because if they didn't, they would not have responded the way they did when Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to give it all away.

After Jesus said how hard it was for a rich man to enter Heaven, you don't read about the disciples getting excited about it and saying, "Praise God! We've got nothing, so there's hope for us!" No, they're response in Matthew 19:25 was a sad, weak and miserable, throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air kind of response of "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus said, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26)” Why? Because He was about to go to the cross. Jesus was about to sow Himself (Christ) so that He could reap us (Christians)! Glory! The kingdom of God is all abut sowing and reaping; seedtime and harvest! And, of course, this was when the disciples realized they were in for a great harvest, because they had already forsaken everything to follow Jesus and a hundredfold was promised back to them.

There are two classes of people in life. There are those who ask, "What can I get out of it?" And there are those who ask, "What can I put into it?" One of the greatest gifts you can give God is your time in His presence. But the world is so busy, few want to mess with it. The problem really isn't time; it's a commitment problem. The problem is thinking that you can buy off God; that you can trade in good deeds for time committed to spend with Him.

After all, you want your husband or wife to commit to you for life. You want your children to commit to you for life. You certainly want God to commit to you for life, because when you die you want to go to Heaven. Why can't you commit to do something for Him? Why can't you commit to spend time with Him?

It's time for us to recognize that eternal life is not for sale. Doing everything that the church or religious world says to do may make you feel good, and it may be good, but it won't assure you a place in Heaven. Salvation is never tied to anything. It isn't tied to money. God's love can not be bought, bargained for or traded in on. His love is free to all who will call upon His Son's name.

Eternal life is free to anyone who is willing to make getting to Heaven a heart issue and give their all to Him.

source: http://www.jdm.org