Luke 18:23

‘But when he heard these things, he became exceedingly sorrowful, for he was very rich.'

When the man heard this he was struck with great sorrow, for he was very rich. Jesus had taken him at his word, and had revealed to him the one thing that was preventing his life from being pleasing to God, and that would prevent him from having eternal life through faith in Jesus. And that was his great love for riches, a love that threatened constantly to overwhelm his love for God and prevent it from coming to genuine expression, and the more so as he grew older. Once that was dealt with, Jesus tells him, and he was following Him, he would experience eternal life in himself (John 5:24; John 10:10), and be sure of its enjoyment into the distant future.

It was a crucial moment. Some stirring within had caused this ruler to seek out Jesus, and now here he was at the crossroads. He could set his heart to follow Christ, or he could sink back into luxury and apathy. Jesus, who could see into the depths of his heart, knew that he could not do both. And Jesus no doubt only had to take one look at the man's face to know what his decision was going to be.

Note how Luke, who from the beginning has avoided some of the sentimentality of Mark now moves immediately on to the crunch point. He does not want us to be taken up with the ruler's dilemma. He wants us rather to immediately face our own dilemma. What is there in our lives that prevents our full obedience and dedication to God?