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What Must I do to Inherit Eternal Life?

 Mark 10:17-22 – “’Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may 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,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.’ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

In the Gospel of Mark, a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked this question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” If we were to survey people today, most would say they believe in eternity, and most would say they want to go to heaven at the end of this life. Listen to the conversation in Mark 10:19-20, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.’”


This rich young ruler was an outwardly moral, but Jesus got to the heart of the matter in Mark 10:21, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Verse 22 says, “he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” 


Jesus has a way to getting to the heart of the matter. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Jesus identified what this young man valued the most. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In I Samuel 16:7 we learn, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 


What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus gives these instructions on what qualifies us for heaven. John 3:3 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” To be born again is to experience salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Salvation cannot be earned or inherited; it is the gift of God.


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