1 John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.“
This regards sermon 9 on love of the world from a set of sermons on Mark 10:17-27 from Puritan Thomas Manton, where the rich young ruler asks Christ what he must do to inherit eternal life. I found it very interesting, beneficial and challenging.
Here is a link to the entire set of sermons on the topic:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A51840.0001.001/1:17?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
And here is a link to this individual sermon 9 on love of the world:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A51840.0001.001/1:17.9?rgn=div2;view=fulltext
And here are the previous parts from our blog:
Part 1 – Cooling Zeal
Part 2 – Truth in Trials
Part 3 – The Evil of Worldliness
The below is part 4 of just some of the main snippets from the sermon. I hope you will take the time to go through the entire thing as it has many more rich explanations and many scriptural proofs.
From Thomas Manton:
Mark 10:22 – “And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.“
Doctrine 4: A carnal worldly man may be sorrowful, when he cannot win heaven in his own way.
When he cannot get heaven, and his own will in the world also, as this young man was, when he could not be a Christian at a cheaper rate: he departed from Christ sad, as loathe to miss this felicity, and yet loathe to pay so dear for it. There is a sorrow that works repentance to salvation never to be repented of, 2 Cor. 7:10, but this is of another nature, it makes a wound in the conscience, and doth no more.
And this is just the disposition of a man that hath a sense of eternity, and yet is wedded to his lusts [desires of the flesh, senses, world, not necessarily sexual in nature]: fain he would be happy hereafter, but will not leave his lusts now; so they are troubled they cannot have Christ and the world too, Christ for their consciences, and the world for their affections: they love this world, and yet would fain be saved in the world to come, and therefore are grieved when they cannot have both. On the one side they are troubled, with a sense of religion, and on the other side with a fear of losing their worldly interests:
Thus shall we be affected, till we seek God with our whole hearts.
This sorrow of the young man will give us some light as to the difference between those conflicts that are in a gracious and renewed man, and those conflicts that are in the unregenerate. There are conflicts in both, yet they differ much: in the unregenerate, graceless soul, the conflict is between conviction and corruption, conscience wrestles with their lusts, and lusts wrestle with conscience, and so men are sorrowful upon carnal, not godly reasons; whereas the conflict in the regenerate is in the same faculties, carnal reason against spiritual reason, and carnal will against spiritual will, carnal affections against spiritual affections; the battle is fought in every faculty. In the conflict betwixt the flesh and Spirit in the regenerate, the spiritual part prevails.
And here the young man yielded, and went away sorrowful: this conflict and sorrow may have a wound in the conscience, but it doth not prevail to cause them to look after heaven on Christ’s own terms.
Stay tuned for part 5, if the Lord wills!
May we see the evil of the world, renounce it wholly and fully, in favor of cleaving to Christ and His commands!
— David
Thank you David for these writings. Takes a bit of getting through the way it's written in old English, however great reminders throughout. One thing I would like to know is. The young man thought he was a good person because he thought he had kept all the commandments. This is clearly an impossible thing to do as we all sin daily even though we truely don't want to. Do you think Jesus' answer would have been different if this young man had realised he was a sinner and in fact could not wholly keep the commandments. Was it because of this that Jesus asked him to give up his wealth as well? Would like to know your thoughts on this.
Blessings Gail Firenze.
Hi Mrs. Firenze,
Indeed it is impossible to keep the law perfectly, and Puritan commentator John Gill believes Christ intimated as much when He looked at him in Mark 10:21. And Christ had compassion on him. Still, self-righteousness was a common thing Christ dealt with, especially with Jewish leaders. And here, Christ gets to the heart of the matter with this young man, shining a light on the truth of his situation, that his wealth was more important to him than following Christ, which, if he had actually listened to Him, would have benefitted him.
It would be speculation to know what Christ might say given a different specific circumstance, but Christ always loves a humble heart, and a humble heart would deal with what Christ might say to it, in showing its lack, and seek a remedy through Him.
If you really want to get into the depths of this study, I would encourage you to read the entire set of sermons on this section of Scripture from Manton. Also, John Gill's commentary, starting at Mark 10:17.
May God guide your studies. Thanks for saying hello!
— David
Thank you David, for your reply. Two very important things I am really thinking about in these verses, "pride and humility". I look forward to reading John Gills commentary.
Blessings Gail Firenze.