Matthew 19:16-22 A BAD DECISION 1-15-11
Today for a few minutes I want us to think about this young man that we read about in our text, he obviously was an intelligent person, I mean he was rich according to the other gospel accounts of this same young man, unless of coarse he became rich by being crooked, and that happens some time, but we’re told that he had great possessions, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with a person having possessions as long as the possessions don’t have the person, we’ll see that he makes a bad decision.
Listen as I read today’s text found in Matt.19:16-22
16And, behold, one came and said unto him, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
17And He said unto him, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18He saith unto Him, “Which?” Jesus said, “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”—Jesus did not mention, ’THOU SHALT NOT COVET”
Let me point out right here that these 5 of the 10 commandments are to do with our fellow man.
Let me point out too “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Is not among the 10 commandments in Exod.20:
Ø James calls this the (royal law)
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: a good way to understand this “royal law” is, if we would actually “love thy neighbour as thyself” we could keep the other laws to do with our fellow man.
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20The young man saith untoHim, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?:”
Jesus said unto him, “If thou wilt be perfect, (complete) go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
22But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
The first 4 of the Ten Commandments have to do with man’s relationship to God. But Jesus did not use those because He was leading this young man along in his thinking.
Jesus used the commandments that have to do with a man’s relationship to his fellowman.
Jesus had shown him that he had not kept the commandments at all. He loved himself more than his neighbor (the poor) and he loved his possessions more than God (follow me).
Jesus don’t mean that people of wealth should give their possessions away in order to have eternal life, He was showing this individual where his priorities lay.
For this young man his stumbling block was his riches, most of us don’t have this riches problem as our stumbling block, but just about all us do have some thing that hinders our walk as a Christian in some way or another, every bodies stumbling block is not the same.
I remember a man many years ago that was bad about drinking and gambling, he was retired out of the military, I heard him say one time “I have seen the gates of hell and still do the way I do” I don’t know what ever become of him, I hope he got saved, he knew that the way he was living was not right but the pull of his habits was just too strong. It is so easy to create old worldly habits that often hard to break, many times it takes the Lord to break them, and He knows how.
This man who came to Jesus reminds us of many people today, he was ready to sign a card, raise his hand, walk the aisle, all of this is to do with the outward appearance without and inward change.
He was unashamed. He was eager. It appeared that there was no way he would go away without receiving eternal life . . . but he did. -- Why?
This man who sadly left the presence of Jesus without receiving eternal life is often called the rich young ruler. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell us about him:
• All three say he was RICH; --• Matthew adds that he was YOUNG;
• Luke says he was a RULER.
>>First of all lets look at WHAT THE YOUNG MAN DID RIGHT<< (v. 16)
A. He came to the Right Person (v. 16a)."And, behold, one came. . . ."
The words "and, behold" are indicating wonder and amazement. Matthew must have been astonished that this man would seek out Jesus and admit that he needed eternal life.
>Jesus is the source of eternal life: "<. . (1 John 5:11).. God hath given to us eternal life, and this life in his Son"
>Jesus is eternal life: <(1 John 5:20)."This is the true God, and eternal life"
(Acts 4:12)."Neither is there salvation in any other: for there in none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”
B. and also he Had the Right Attitude, and he was not at all ashamed
He came publicly. (Mark 10:17 tells that he came running and knelt at Jesus’ feet
Obviously he had thought about his lost condition and desperately desired eternal life.
Not only did he come to the right person, with the right attitude, but he also asked the right Question (v. 16b).- and said unto him, Good Master, “what good thing must I do, that I may have eternal life?"
Some one may say that this young man thought that he could possible do some good deed & merit eternal life.
And there is something we all have to DO to receive eternal life: we have to BELIEVE.
If you’ll remember, the Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas,
Acts 16:30-31 Sirs, what must I DO to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved—and so could his family the same way.
He was young, rich, intelligent, and surely influential. Think of what he could do for the Lord!
He could give his testimony, and even help in a financial way to get the WORD out for the cause of Christ.
He had come to the right Person, with the right attitude, asking the right question.
Ø Again in vs. 21-22
21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect**(complete) go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
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Ø Now lets look at WHAT THE YOUNG MAN DID WRONG (vv. 17-22)
He Did Not Confess His Sinfulness
17-20 And he** said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
We read nothing here about him admitting and confessing that he was a sinner.
He did not understand that only God is good (v. 17a).
"And He said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. . . ."
Jesus points out to the young man that there are not any that’s good—other than GOD Himself.
PS. 14:3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom. 3:12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
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2. He did not understand that no one has kept the commandments, nor can they.
What Jesus said was this, if a person were able to keep all of God’s commandments, he would possess eternal life, but if a person ever breaks just ONE of the commandments then he can not have eternal life apart from Jesus.
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
The only Perfect Man that’s ever lived is Jesus, when we except Jesus as our Lord and Savior we receive His righteousness on our account,
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We keep Gods law in Jesus, God’s law is good, God’s law has not been done away with, and it’s still there,
Matt. 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil
Rom. 6:23 is still enforced, the wages of sin is death, and so our Savior has removed the sting of death for we that are saved.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon said, ". . . “On the ground of law, if the young man would deserve eternal life as a reward, he must be as good as GOD, and keep the commandments to perfection.
There the rugged way of works was set before him; not that he might attempt to win eternal life, but that he might perceive his own shortcomings, and so feel his weakness as to look for salvation by some other method”
Law always precedes grace.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ--
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What was the purpose of God’s law?
Romans 3:20-22 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:
The emphasis in Jesus’ teaching from the beginning, had been to define the law in such a way that no one could look at the commandments and feel justified.
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3 the rich young ruler did not understand that he had not kept the commandments
(v. 20)."The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"
There was no way this man, or any one else could be saved while he clung to his self-righteous attitude. Salvation is not for people who want an emotional lift; it is for sinners who come to God for forgiveness.
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B. He Would Not Repent of His Sinfulness
(vv. 21-22). "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions."
A. W. Tozer said, "I think there is little doubt that the teaching of salvation without [repentance] has lowered the moral standards of the Church and produced a multitude of deceived religious people who erroneously believe themselves to be saved when in fact they are still in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity”
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The Ten Commandments (in Exodus 20): the first four of the commandments deal with our relationship to God and the last six deal with our relationship to other people.
Notice that Jesus only referred to the commandments that deal with our relationship to other people.
There was one that Jesus didn’t mention, however— the tenth commandment of the 10 commandments: "Thou shalt not covet" (v. 17).
Jesus knew that this young man’s heart was filled with covetousness.
Jesus told the young man in other words, "You say you love your neighbor as yourself. OK, give him everything you’ve got. If you really love him as much as you love yourself, that should be no problem."
Jesus was not saying that it is possible to buy eternal life with charity. He was saying, "Here is the test of true faith: Are you willing to do what I ask you to do? Are you willing to turn from your sin and follow Me?" By placing Himself alongside the man’s wealth and demanding that he make the choice, the Lord revealed the true state of the young man’s heart.
This young man responded to Jesus very differently than did Zaccheus in
Luke 19:1-8
1And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 3And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. 4And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. 8And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
In Matthew 22: 36-39 we read that Jesus was asked, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" His answer was, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”).
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The young man’s refusal to submit to Christ demonstrates two realities:
1. He really didn’t love his neighbor as himself;
2. He really didn’t love God with all his heart.
He would not confess that he was a sinner, and he would not repent of these sins.
Matthew 19:23-26 23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible
The rich young ruler went to Jesus in desperation for eternal life, but he left the same as he came.
The salvation of a rich sinner is just as miraculous as the salvation of a poor sinner. Both are only possible with God.
