Good News Mission Sermon – Aug 11, 2023 – Matthew 19:16-22

Open in Prayer

Matthew 19:16-22; And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 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. He 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, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 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.

Sometimes, you can learn alot by not just what the Bible says, but by also what it’s not saying.

Most of your Bibles might title this section of Scripture as “The Rich Young Man.” We can guess from his opening statement to Jesus by calling him, “Good Master” that he was a Jew, but not like that of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That group of Jews would openly mock and ridicule Jesus. So…I’m doubtful that they would call him, “Good”.

Now if you were a pastor, and somebody came to you and asked, like this rich young man did, “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” You probably wouldn’t answer the same way as Jesus did.

You might begin by saying that there is nothing you can do to earn your way into heaven. Then you might talk about repentance from sin. Trusting in the Lord, and so on. And all of that would be true.

But Jesus didn’t start with any of those things. He started by talking about keeping the Law.

He listed 5 of the 10 commandments and then summarized them by saying to love thy neighbor as thyself.

In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus was asked, what is the great commandment of the Law. Starting at verse 37 he said, “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. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The first four commandments of the 10 commandments have to do with loving God. The last 6 have to do with loving your neighbor.

When Jesus replied to the young man’s question, he listed 5 of the 6 commands that deal with loving your neighbor. He left out one in particular, which we’ll get to in a minute.

For me as a Christian, a bible study teacher, and now a pastor, I don’t recall anyone ever just coming up to me and asking me how to be saved. If they did, however, the Christian in me would be….excited to answer them. The skeptic in me, however, would be wondering what is this person up to? Are they an angry atheist just pulling my leg?

But for this young man approaching Jesus, what’s interesting to note is that Jesus left out the first four commandments.

My question is…Why?

Did Jesus somehow forget that loving God was an important part for someone that could be considered saved? I don’t think so.

In John 14:15; Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And in John 15:10; he said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Keeping God’s commandments doesn’t save you, but doing so testifies, or bears witness, that you love God.

But here, this rich young man apparently thought that some kind of work played a part in his salvation.

Why didn’t Jesus just tell him directly that works had no place in salvation? Did Jesus somehow forget that one too? I doubt it.

In John 3:16 and 17 he said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

To believe in Jesus…is not a work. But…it is a demonstration of one’s faith.

Come to think of it. Why didn’t Jesus just say that to the young rich ruler? That would have made it abundantly clear to the young man what it took to be saved.

Well, let me try to answer all these questions by saying this. For me as a pastor, whatever I do, whatever I say, I always want those words and those actions to lead a person to Christ, and not push them away from Him.

There is no middle ground for the Christian. Your actions, or lack thereof, and your words, or lack thereof, will always be perceived in one of two ways.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:30; “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

Therefore, when Jesus was talking to this young man, he wanted to say to him the best thing he could, at that moment, to lead him to salvation.

For one, Jesus knew this man’s heart. John 2:25 says, in reference to Jesus, that he, “…needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” In other words, Jesus knows the heart, the mind, the thoughts of everyone, and he knew the heart of this young man.

This young man had a problem though even if he didn’t want to recognize it. And his problem had to do with the one commandment that Jesus didn’t list. Which was…Thou shalt not covet.

What if however, Jesus did point out his problem. That being, he coveted his riches. What do you think the young man would have said in response?

Let me put it this way. If you had an alcohol problem or a drug problem, but you didn’t want to admit it. If somebody pointed that out to you, what would you say in response?

Would you defend yourself? Would you deny it entirely, or would you say it doesn’t control you. Would you say, “I can quit anytime I want to.”

You see…for this rich young man, he coveted his wealth, and Jesus knew that. To answer him directly would have only caused this man to go on the defensive. He might say that his wealth wasn’t important to him. He might talk about all the people that he’s helped and the poor that he’s given to. Whatever he would have said, it would not have led him closer to understanding what it really took to be saved.

His perception of salvation was totally messed up. Even his understanding of what was Good was eschewed. In order to straighten out his understanding of these things, Jesus needed to bring him to a place of conviction…first.

In order for you to come to Jesus, you must first acknowledge that you are a sinner. This young man wasn’t able to admit this to himself. Therefore, Jesus helped him by using this man’s willingness to justify his goodness against him.

When Jesus listed the 5 commandments, he knew this young man would respond in the affirmative. This young man wanted to demonstrate how good he was. You see, not only did this man have a coveting problem, he was also blind to his own sins.

We know this by how he defined good. His definition of good was all wrong. We can see that when Jesus corrected him when he called him…Good Master. Some have tried to say that Jesus was openly admitting that he was not God manifest in the flesh, but that would go against every other Scripture where he affirmed his deity.

What Jesus was doing was correcting what this man considered to be the standard of what was good. Because…the young man saw himself as good. But the Bible is clear…no one is good…not one.

His view of himself was completely off, and his pride was blinding him from seeing what he lacked. You can tell by the way the young man answered that he truly thought he lacked nothing. He did not see himself as a sinner. I love how gentle Jesus was with him though. He could have said, “Well kid, you’ve got a coveting problem. You love your wealth more than you love God.” But he didn’t do that.

Like I said earlier, Jesus knew that the young man would have just talked his way through it and justified himself. What Jesus did instead, however, was to use this man’s so-called goodness against him. This was the only way Jesus could bring him to a place of conviction.

Jesus wanted this young man to be saved. How do I know that? Because Peter, who was with Jesus for his whole ministry said in 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slack [or lazy] concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Therefore, the best way to answer this young man was not in the way that most pastors today would have answered someone. He answered him in a way that would bring this man one step closer to the conviction of his sins.

Because, when a person is convicted of their sins, then maybe…maybe they will come to a place of repentance. And if they come to that place, then maybe, just maybe, they will come to the Cross for forgiveness of their sins. That is when they would see salvation.

When I opened my message today I said, “Sometimes, you can learn alot by not just what the Bible says, but also by what it’s not saying.”

In verse 22 of Matthew 19 it says, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”

What it doesn’t say however, is that Jesus ran after him. Because he didn’t.

Why didn’t Jesus run after him? Why didn’t Jesus try again? Why didn’t Jesus say, “Hey kid, don’t go away, let me try to say it a different way?”

Well…because the rich young man…did understand. He made a choice at that moment. He wanted his riches more than he wanted God. He came to Jesus thinking he was good and lacked nothing…but he walked away realizing that he was not good and that he was a sinner.

So did Jesus not want him to be saved because he did not chase after him? No.

He did not chase after him because he knew the young man’s heart. He knew that he didn’t want the things of God. He claimed he did, but he was unwilling to completely surrender all to the LORD.

A pastor friend of mine said this has to be one of the scariest passages of Scripture in the Bible. Jesus let this young man walk away. He didn’t run after him, he just let him go.

You see, Jesus did all the work on the Cross to save you and I from our sins. But you and I must make a choice. Do we want the things of this life, or do we want the things of God.

I think some people have this image of God in their head as someone begging mankind to love Him.

Like some kind of pathetic lover that doesn’t know when to give up. But that’s not the God of the Bible.

By His grace and mercy, He has given you and I the opportunity to become His children.

By making the greatest sacrifice possible to pay for our sins, he has demonstrated his love to all of us. All that he asks of us in return is that we trust and obey.

We show our love to him by keeping his commandments. But, if we refuse Him, he’s not going to go crawling after us.

He’s not going to drag us through the gates of Heaven against our will. If we choose to walk away from Him, then he will leave us to our choice. For me, that is a terrifying prospect.

So…don’t be like this rich young man. Do not hold on to the vices of this life. They will not save you.

Your goodness will not save you, only Jesus can.

Let’s Pray!