“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”The young man said to him, “All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?”The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?The young man saith unto him, All these things have I observed: what lack I yet?
3 sermons cite this verse
So, when I say to the graduates, you graduates, remember the rich young man, what do I want you to remember? And very honestly, I don't expect you to remember anything I say. I hope that in 50 years, I mean, it would be amazing and thrilling to me if in 50 years, I know I'll be thrilled in 50 years, no matter what, but it would be amazing to me if in 50 years, you would remember there was a speaker and he gave us a dollar and he said, remember the rich young man. That's all. That's all I remember. Changed my life. if you just remember, he said, whoever he was, I can't remember, he's old. He said, remember the rich young man, maybe you'll read it again. And if you read that story, you are reading the very words of the Son of God who created the universe by the word of his mouth. If there is anybody who could protect you against the craving to be rich, it is he, not me. …
Who needs a Savior most? Answer this. Should not mercy exercise itself where there is most need for it? This world is like a battlefield over which the fierce hurricanes of conflict have swept and the surgeons have come to deal with those who lie upon its plains. To whom shall they go first? Shall they not turn first to those who are most terribly wounded and who are bleeding almost to the death? Will you quarrel with us if we declare that the first to be taken to the hospital should be those who are in direst need? Will you be angry if we say that the liniment is for the wounded, that the bandages are for the broken limbs and that the medicine is for the sick? A strange quarrel this would be! If ever it should begin, a fool must begin it, for no wise man would ever raise the question! Blessed Christ of God, we will not quibble because You also come in Your mercy to those who need You most, even to the lost! And who do you think will love Him best and so reward Him best if He comes to them? The proud Pharisee in his perfection of imaginary holiness—will he value the Christ who tells him that He comes to wash away his sin? He turns upon his heels with scorn! What sin has he to wash away? The self-satisfied moralist who dares to say, "All these commands I have kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"—is he likely to become a disciple of the Great Teacher whose first lessons are, "Yet must be born-again," and, "Except you are converted and become as little children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven"? The fact is that Jesus has no form nor comeliness to those who have a beauty of their own! Christ gets most love where He pardons most sin. And the sweetest obedience to His command is rendered by those who once were most disobedient, but who are gently led beneath His sway by the force of grateful love. Yon sterile hills of fancied holiness yield Him no harvest and, therefore, He leaves them to their own boastfulness. But meanwhile, He scatters plenteous grain among the lowlands where the ground is broken and lies ready for the seed. He preaches pardon to those who know that they have sinned and confess the same—but those who have no sin, have no Savior. …
I. First, then, this is A WORD OF CONGRATULATION. Let us take this young man's case as descriptive of that of many here present. He did not lack morality. He could say, "All these things have I kept from my youth up." Nor did the Savior tell him that he was uttering a lie—He looked upon him and lovedhim—which He would not have done if he had been a willful liar. No, he had been neither unchaste, nor dishonest, nor profane. He had been all that could be desired in these respects. I congratulate you if such is your case. It will save you from a thousand sorrows to have been kept from those grosser sins! You have not formed habits which will lead you in later years into temptation. You have not formed associations which it will be difficult to break. You have not learned words, phrases and sentiments which will defile your memory in later days, even though you should live to hate them. I thank God that you have this privilege—that it cannot be said of you that you lack in morality! …