Matthew 90
(Chapter 19)
The price of following
Matthew 19:16–22 (NLT)
16Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
17“Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”
18“Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “ ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.
19Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20“I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Someone
16 Someone came to Jesus with this question:
· Rich Young Ruler the NKJV calls him
· This is a young man, a wealthy man
· And pretty wise for his age
· He is already thinking about mortality
o I don’t know what age you were
o I was like 50, and that fact that I had an expiration date started to set in
o So this young man is ahead of the curve
“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
· This is the question we all have
· Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of the how
· The checklist
· The nuts and bolts of it all
· It would be amazing if it were that simple
· Just a simple list of do’s and don’ts
· But as we are about to find out that following Jesus, getting into heaven is not that simple
Matthew 7:14 (ESV)
14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
· This following Jesus thing is sometimes complicated
· and hard
· filled with all kinds of tough decisions
· and this young man is about to find that out!
Why me??
17“Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good.
· Mark and Luke add only God is good!
· Why would Jesus ask such a question??
o Christ will have this young man either know him to be God or not call him good;[1] (MH)
James 1:17 (ESV)
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
· Jesus wants to establish that the only good in this whole world comes from God alone!
· That everything in our lives that is good is from God
· All the blessings you have are from God
· All the wonders and beauty in this world is given to us by God
We all have to follow
But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”
· The way prescribed is, keeping the commandments.
· Keeping the commandments of God is the only way to life and salvation
· Jesus died for us and covered our sins
· But that doesn’t mean that we are not supposed to try and follow the law and word of God
· Jesus set out commandments for us to follow
· All throughout the gospels we are called to follow
· And James says this:
James 2:14–18 (ESV)
14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
· Our lives should reflect our faith
· We should be different
· We should stand out, look different, act different
· People notice things when they're different
· If you just blend in with the rest of the world, act like the rest of the world
· Is your faith even real????
I need a list!!!
18“Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “ ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.
19Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
· We all want that short and concise list!
· The one we can all follow and judge others on
· The one we can check the box and say “yep, I did that”
· But God created His law for us to see just how bad we are and just how good He is
· There is no easy road to following Jesus
· No one size fits all, it’s individual
We all follow our shortlist
20“I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
· This young man is probably thinking “YES, I can do this!”
· But in his haste to pat himself on the back he sinned
· PRIDE
Romans 3:27 (ESV)
27Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Matthew Henry: A man may be free from gross sin, and yet come short of grace and glory. His hands may be clean from external pollutions, and yet he may perish eternally in his heart-wickedness.[2]
· The outward appearance might be spotless
· But the heart is still full of sin
· And pride is the reason thousands fall short of eternity
Paul says this:
Philippians 3:6–7 (ESV)
6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
· We are never perfect enough
· Good enough
· Righteous enough
· EVER!
· And in this young man’s boasting he has sinned and undoubtedly sinned and broke most of the commands
But he asks What else:
21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
· This is quite the quandary
· Jesus instead of arguing the law
· Saw deep into this young man’s heart and saw the one thing that matters to him most
· His worldly possessions, his covetousness for things
· And Jesus got right to the heart of the matter
· when we embrace Christ, we must let go of the world, for we cannot serve God and this world at the same time
o for us to start building up treasures in Heaven we must start to let go of the world
o we have to be kingdom and eternity minded
Come follow me!
· Following Jesus means giving up some things
· It might be wealth
· Friend or family
· Lifestyle choices
· But sacrifice is certain in this life if we are to follow Jesus
To Follow:
· Means to Sacrifice
· Trusting in Jesus to provide for us
· Follow His commands and be obedient to His call on our lives
· Be dependent on Him
· Learn from Him
· Lean on Him
· To submit totally to Him
· Die to self and follow!
What is coming between you and Jesus??
22But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
· He walked away
· He knew what was on the line
· But the world and all he had drew him back into it
Matthew Henry: Those who have much in the world are in the greatest temptation to love it, and to set their hearts upon it.
· We live in the land of plenty
· We live in the richest country in the world\everyone came here in a car
· You will leave here and go to a housing of some kind
· With A/C, and a TV, and food
· Most of you will get up and go to a Job in the morning
· We have so many things to get in our way
So, the big question is what is coming between you and Jesus??
· What worldly thing is in the way?
· What do you have to give up to follow Jesus, or to follow him more closely??
· That is the burning question we all need to be looking in the mirror and asking ourselves!
[1] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1711). Peabody: Hendrickson.
[2] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1712). Peabody: Hendrickson.
