Mat 19;16-22 16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions
We have been studying the Gospel of Matthew verse by verse and reached Chapter 19 last April, but we decided to suspend this study to look at a new topic on the blessings of adoption to strengthen and help all of us face the pandemic. I believe God has wonderfully blessed us through that series. We all have to thank and praise God for revealing these wonderful truths to babes like us.
We now return to our verse-by-verse exposition in the wonderful Gospel of Matthew. The providence of God brings a wonderful connection between what we learned in the last few months and the passage we are looking at today. We studied the blessings of eternal life, and in this passage, as a practical application, we have a question about how to attain that eternal life.
Context: Jesus’ Final Journey
Let us understand the context. After two and a half years of his ministry, the time has come for Lord Jesus to go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise on the third day. He is on the way to Jerusalem, with less than six months remaining before he is crucified. This is a critical time of his life, moving from the upper area of Palestine toward Jerusalem. He taught about his death repeatedly to his disciples, but the disciples do not seem to understand at this point. At the beginning of Chapter 19, he left Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan, an area called Perea. The Pharisees came testing him, asking a question about divorce. From that, we get the most important and concentrated teaching about marriage and divorce in verses 1–12, which then naturally moves to the next topic about blessing children in verses 13–15.
Now, today before us is another very vital subject. It is indirectly related to marriage and children: the whole issue of money, possessions, wealth, and how those issues, if not properly handled, can impact our entrance into the kingdom of God.
Interpretive Challenges
There are many textual difficulties—what is said in the original and what translators have done—and also how to interpret the passage. Many use this passage and give all kinds of interpretations according to their church. Dispensationalists say Jesus was dealing with how to be saved under the law, and that this is not applicable for us. Jehovah’s Witnesses use it and say, “See, Jesus says why you call me good, God alone is good, so he is not God.” Throughout church centuries, Catholics used this to make rich believers feel guilty and grab rich people’s wealth, saying, “Sell and give it to us; we will give to the poor, and you will have eternal life.” In the midst of all these confusions, what did Jesus mean?
If we are to understand the meaning of the text, we have to understand what this original event meant to the original people there. This is very important in interpretation. People want to jump to what it means to us, but before that, we have to understand the context. Whatever confusions exist, the central issue is very clear. So clear that the man who comes to Jesus understood clearly and leaves Jesus broken-hearted, and the disciples who heard him throw up their hands in despair and say, “Who then can be saved?” So, we will focus on the central issue instead of the technical issues of the passage. May God’s Spirit help us.
The Three Headings
We will study this passage using three headings:
- The Most Crucial Question
- The Searching Response
- The Tragic Reaction/Consequence
1. The Most Crucial Question (v. 16)
Verse 16: “Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’”
We will understand the question by asking three questions: What is the question? Who raised the question? How was it raised?
A. What is the Question?
The question concerns the most important issue facing every one of us. Everyone listening to me can never face a more crucial question than the question given in this text.
What did this man understand by eternal life? It is clearly the eternal life that will be given at the day of resurrection in the new heavens and new earth—the glorious blessings at death, at resurrection, judgment, and then eternal blessedness. In two words, they are called eternal life. If this is eternal life, the great question all of us should have is: What must I do so I am not cast off to eternal hell and can attain eternal life?
This man’s knowledge of eternal life could be based on Old Testament texts like Daniel 12:2 (those who are in the grave shall come forth, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame). Whatever he understood, the Lord also refers to it in verse 28, talking about what true disciples will receive: “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.”
What a great question! We don’t know if someone preached the series I preached to you to this man, but he is so eagerly asking the question. If this is the future of eternal life, how do I reach a state here where I know that I have that life now? How can I be sure that I will have this life now? Shouldn’t you all have that question? This man knew what he wanted. He knew he didn’t have it. He comes with that question: What must I do to attain eternal life?
B. Who Raised the Question?
This was an unnamed man. We learn more about him by looking at the parallel Gospels:
- Verse 20 says he was a young man.
- Luke 18:23 says he was very rich.
- Luke 18:18 says He was a ruler (likely referring to a position in the local synagogue, like an elder or a pastor today).
That is why he is commonly called the rich young ruler. People bring together Matthew, Mark, and Luke to create this composite description of the man.
He was also externally moral and upright. When the Lord quoted the Ten Commandments, he could say, “All these things I have observed from my youth.” How many can say that externally? He would have been able to say what the Apostle Paul once said of himself—that “concerning the righteousness which is in the law” he was “blameless” (Philippians 3:6). It is very rare that a young man would be a ruler of a synagogue, which usually required a lot of experience and age, but maybe because of his external blameless life he was made a ruler. He was highly respected. Not only that, he was exceedingly wealthy with great possessions. As far as the culture and religious environment of his day were concerned, he had everything. He was the very picture of “success,” an outstanding man, the very best man you could meet. If you had young daughters, you would actually look for such a man for her.
That is why Matthew starts with an exclamation in verse 16: “Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’” Could you believe this, that this guy—a devout Jew who was a religious man, who was a ruler of a synagogue, who was influential and prominent—came to Jesus wanting eternal life?
C. The Significance of the Man
This man was interesting: young, rich, and a religious ruler with an externally moral life. These three things often serve as great hindrances in this world, preventing men from seeking eternal life and making them indifferent to this crucial question. But they did not stop this man.
- His Youth: How many young people are so earnest about eternal life? The young often deceive themselves that they have many years to consider the issues of the soul, the world to come, death, heaven, hell, and judgment. Instead, they say, “Let us enjoy this life now.” Young people here, learn from this man. This is not just a topic for old people. The most important topic, even when young, is that you should be sure you have eternal life now and experience that life now. You should settle this question now. Are you ready to die? Are you sure of eternal life? Do not allow Satan to deceive you by saying you have long years and will somehow come later. If this is not the most crucial question for you, then you are living in the deception of Satan. Here is this young man who broke through the general indifference about this great issue in spite of his youth.
- His Wealth: Often wealth deludes people; it gives a false security. They assume they can buy everything in life with money. They can buy anything with their money, but not this man. He was conscious that whatever his wealth had brought him, it cannot buy eternal life. It could not fill that aching void. It could not answer his haunting question: “What will you do when you die? Where will you be on the day of judgment?” Rather than use his wealth to enjoy the pleasure of the world and numb his mind to forget the great issues, he sought Jesus.
- His Morality/Religion: In spite of his youth and wealth, the man remained externally moral and upright. He lived a religious and decent life, so much so that in spite of his young age, he was highly respected and was made a ruler of the local synagogue. The third greatest hindrance for men to seek eternal life—if not youth or richness—is that their morality and religion become the very means of their deception. They think they are alright. They have a decent religious life, not like drunkards or other “bad” friends; they go to a Bible-preaching church, pray, read the Bible, know so much of the Bible, and think, “If not me, who will go to heaven?” This man didn’t deceive himself like that. He had all of this, yet he knew it was not enough. He was a rich, young, religious ruler that came with the question: “How may I inherit eternal life?”
Eternal life is not a blind hope or a deception that you think you will get because you were once baptized in a church and go to church regularly, or read the Bible once in a while, no. It is something that will impact you today. You will have the foretastes of that life now, and that assurance will make you live holy and give assurance you have eternal life. He was seeking such an assurance, and was honest that in spite of all he had, he knew he didn’t have eternal life.
How many will admit that? “Pastor, you taught about all this heaven, but I don’t have assurance that I will go there.” It was amazing that he would come and admit that he didn’t have eternal life. He had not found the reality to put his soul at rest—a confident, permanent peace, a settled hope. There was a restlessness in his heart, a sense of being unfulfilled. And he knew what was missing: eternal life. As great as he was, and as much as he may have accomplished, this ‘rich young ruler’ was still empty inside.
He didn’t have that eternal life that was alive to the divine environment. What is life? It basically means the ability to respond to your environment. In physical life, we can respond to a physical environment. Eternal life means the ability to respond to the divine environment. We respond to the life of God, heavenly life. Before we were dead in sin, we had no sense, but now we respond to the life of God, sensitive to God. Eternal life is a quality of existence which allows us to be alive to the world that God dwells in. It is that life which is the result of the new birth. That is why when we are saved, Paul says we enter into the heavenlies. We realize our citizenship is not here, and we now have foretastes of the coming life. It is the life of the age to come, the life which is characteristic of people who live in the world to come. That joy and hope fill our heart in the security of belonging to God.
And this young man knew that he did not have that life. He wasn’t sensing God’s love, God’s rest, God’s peace, God’s hope, the security of belonging to God. He knew that he did not possess the divine life. So he comes with this question.
C. How was the Question Raised?
Mark 10:17: “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’”
There are a lot of people who would like to discuss religious questions like they discuss weather, politics, or sports. They just like to talk about a field of interest. But Mark says this man not only knew what he wanted, but he wanted it desperately. He came with tremendous earnestness, sincerity, and urgency. Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem. As he goes out, this man, so rich and famous, acts unlike the crowd thronging for food or healing.
See, anyone in the crowd with the group could do anything without being noticed. Nicodemus, who was also a ruler of the synagogue, came in the night so no one could see. But this man, though a ruler of the synagogue and famous in his society, was willing to be exposed in singularity when there was so much opposition from the Jerusalem headquarters against Jesus. He doesn’t walk; he runs and then throws himself down upon his knees and asks the question. This points to the fact that this was an urgent and pressing concern in his heart, not just a matter of discussion about religion.
This question of eternal life—how to know one possesses it now and enters it at the end of the age—was so pressing upon his spirit that it moved his feet and caused him to act in an extraordinary manner. Jews never fell on their knees before a Rabbi. He broke custom, the ordinary pattern. Why? He was consumed with the concern. When you are filled with concern, customs and social niceties go to the wind. This man was a man of great dignity in the eyes of this world, but he was willing to be “undignified” in the presence of Jesus and plead with Him for an answer to the great need of his soul, stepping down off his high horse.
When this question of all questions begins to press in upon you, it will always create a climate of earnestness like this man. You see in Acts what happened at Pentecost: the crowd heard Peter’s preaching and they cried out, interrupting his sermon: “What shall we do, brothers?” They came under such pressure of this question. When the Philippian Jailer saw God’s power in the jail, he wanted to kill himself. He came out, fell before them, and pleaded, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The jailer was falling at the feet of prisoners and pleading in an unorthodox posture, but this one question got hold of him.
Oh, would God make some of you who are so careless, may this question catch hold of you so much! You are so concerned about all other questions: what will I eat, what will I drink, what will I wear, how will I manage my future, which government next? You have so many questions, but more than all that, what should I do to attain eternal life? If I am to enter eternal life in the judgment, today I should have that foretaste, taste the power of the world to come, the sweetness and glory of the coming age. That should fill my heart with joy and peace and make me live holy. But I don’t seem to have it. Oh, what shall I do? May that question fill you and sometimes even cause you to unmute and stop me preaching and ask the question: “What shall I do, Pastor? How may I enter this life?”
Have you asked this question? Has this question become a holy obsession (veeri)? Has it gotten hold of you, followed you to bed, met you when you woke up in the morning, followed you into dreams, out to your work, and out to places of pleasures? Oh, eternal life! You have heard the glories of heaven, but will you go there? Do you experience that foretaste now? Will I miss it and sink in eternal hell?
Again, John Bunyan captured this beautifully when Christian, disturbed about being in the City of Destruction with the burden of sin on his back after reading the book, goes on a journey. His world, society, and family call after him, telling him of so much pleasure and enjoyment, “Don’t go, leave us, come back.” He puts his fingers in his ears and runs away, screaming, “Eternal life! Eternal life!” That was the one great burning concern for him.
Until it becomes one great burning concern, my brothers, you are hanging over hell, hanging by a small thread—just one breath, it stops, and you will fall into eternal hell. How can you be so careless about this? Oh, if not so far, at least now, may this become your greatest concern in life, the question of all questions. This opening scene is full of hope; this man looked like a Pilgrim’s Progress hero. Would God it ended that way, but it doesn’t. He becomes a zero. It ends very sadly.
What a Gospel opportunity! If someone comes to churches today asking this question, it is a ripe fruit. Nicely pluck it, tell the Gospel, make him sign, make him a member. But see Jesus; he doesn’t go for gathering a crowd.
2. The Searching Response (v. 17)
In the second place, notice the searching response given by our Lord.
Verse 17: “So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’”
If you view the response superficially, it looks like Jesus is giving a response as if he didn’t understand the question and is giving irrelevant answers. Oh, but if we knew a little of the wisdom of the Son of God, His question not only answers the ears, but the heart, mind, and deepest soul of the man.
We see three things in this response:
- He makes him realize to whom he is talking: He is talking to God.
- He makes him realize his sin by exposing his shallow understanding of the Law of God.
- He calls him to concrete repentance and faith.
Are not these beautiful steps to attain eternal life? Know Jesus is God, realize your sin before the Law, and repent and believe and fully follow him. Let us see how marvelously this great physician deals with this soul.
1. Realizing Who He Was Talking To
Verse 17: “So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’”
The man’s question was, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Schooled in the Pharisees’ teaching, this man thinks he can attain eternal life by doing good works. The man’s manner toward Jesus said something about what He believed about Jesus Himself. He heard about Christ, maybe heard him preaching with authority unlike anyone so far in his life, and may have seen his miracles. Like Nicodemus, he was thinking, “How can Jesus preach so authoritatively and know about the coming life so much?” With his legalistic thinking, maybe more than anyone in his generation, he viewed Jesus as one who had attained the ultimate measure of good, a level that would have put him on a plane of knowing that he had eternal life. “That is why he can preach and do these things.”
He calls him “Good Teacher.” The Greek word for “good” is agathos. There are two Greek words for good: Kalos means good in form, good on the outside. Agathos means ultimate good—good on the inside, outside, inherently good in nature, good in essence. He knows Jesus is not like others; his life, teaching, and works show he is inherently good.
So, he has seen Jesus as a great Rabbi, above all, one who has attained a goodness that leads to eternal life. “Surely this teacher has got the secret to eternal life. He must have it. And maybe He can tell me how to get it.” He didn’t think Jesus was God, but a good human teacher who, by his law-keeping, attained a high level. Now he comes to him asking what good thing he must do so he can attain what Jesus has attained—enough merit for eternal life based on his goodness.
To Him Jesus answers, “Why do you call Me good—agathos—highest good? This goodness is not a virtue a man can attain. Goodness unto life is inherently possessed only in God himself. No man is good. If you have seen that I have that good, what does it mean? It clearly means I am God. Do you see? Simply he is saying, “Young man, you are talking to God. Realize that first.” Jesus forces him to think who it is that he was speaking to. Only God Himself is agathos “good.” It’s as if Jesus was asking the man, “What are you saying about Me? Are you calling Me ‘God’?” If you truly understood my identity, you would have the answer to your question of what you must do.
Ironically, this verse is a favorite that Jehovah’s Witnesses use to say that Jesus is not God, but the original meaning of that context is that the goodness this man has seen and which drew him to Christ is to make him realize that he is talking to God. He’s saying, “If I am good in the ultimate sense, it’s because I am not merely a good person, it’s because I am God in human flesh.”
2. Exposing Shallow Understanding of the Law
After making him think about who He is, Jesus answers the man’s question.
Verse 17: “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Verse 18: He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus quotes from the second table of the Law—our responsibility to our fellow man, as opposed to the first table, which concerns our responsibility to God. He quotes and summarizes:
Verses 18–19: Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Why does Jesus tell him to follow the Law instead of immediately preaching the Gospel? We cannot properly preach the Gospel without preaching the Law. A curse of today’s church, filled with false believers, is that many have never heard the Law’s demands or seen themselves as sinners before coming to Christ. Here, the Lord is making him realize he is a sinner by the Law of God.
Whatever good things we see in this man, one thing is missing: He has never confessed sin. Where is the first condition for eternal life, as seen in the Beatitudes: poor in spirit, mourning for sin? This man’s desire for eternal life is purely wrapped up in his own anxieties and personal needs. He knows this life will end, there is a hell he wants to avoid, and he wants joy, peace, and hope. That is not a good enough reason for eternal life. You must realize your sinfulness before the Law to truly come to Christ. This man is full of religion, but has no thought for the affront that his life is to an infinitely holy God. That is the essential element to enter eternal life.
He does not have that. He thinks he can attain eternal life by doing some good. He wanted a list of things to do to go to heaven, like so many people today. Notice his specific question: “What good thing shall I do?” He assumed he could earn eternal life by good deeds. So, the Lord gave him a specific answer to that question, which is the accurate answer: If anyone wants to know what they themselves must do to inherit eternal life, the answer is—keep the law perfectly.
Jesus gives him an “easy” list first—He quotes only from the second part of the Law, where a person’s behavior is visible. This man is seeking eternal life as a felt need without any understanding of his sinfulness before God, so Jesus directs him to the Law.
Verse 20: The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
The young man answers apparently with no justifying hypocrisy, but with a horribly deceived and completely ignorant view of the breadth and depth of the Law of God. “Teacher, these I have observed from my youth. I have regulated my life by these laws in all my relations. What do I still lack?” This is so sad. With all his external religious activities, living so perfectly on the outside, he knows deep within himself that he still did not have peace with God. There is a nagging emptiness inside that tells him he doesn’t have eternal life.
“What lack I yet?” What frustration! In spite of all his outward religious, clean life, he is empty inside, unfulfilled, and anxious about eternal life. He is crying, “Teacher, I’ve been at this religious thing with all my might, lived an an exemplary life (munmātiriyāṉa vāḻkkai) outwardly, avoided outward sins, but something is missing in my life.”
If you are like that—anyone listening—the Lord is talking to you in this passage. This is because of a shallow understanding of the Law of God that never allows you to see your heart. You have never seriously looked at your heart in the light of the Law of God; that is where the problem is. You enter eternal life by seeing yourself as an empty, wicked sinner before the holiness of the Law, falling prostrate, and seeing you don’t have any merit. This man had a wrong understanding of the Law of God. When it comes to going to heaven, it is not what you have got that counts, it is what you lack.
His response is honest but hopelessly naïve and self-deceived. His understanding of the Law is influenced by the horrible Pharisaical teaching of externalism. As the Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount, they thought they kept the Law by merely keeping it externally: “You shall not kill” means not putting a knife in another body. No, Jesus said your anger is your murder. “Adultery” means if you lust in your heart, you are an adulterer before God. The Law touches the state of the heart, the very springs of desire. This man was a “whitewashed tomb”—good on the outside, but inside, all vile evil. The Ten Commandments are simply external pictures, or symbols, of an internal heart state.
He was ignorant of the full extent of God’s Law, so he was ignorant of his own heart. He thought by his pattern of blameless external law keeping, he was just a little bit away from eternal life; if he added one more good thing, he would get eternal life. All he wanted was some fulfillment in the empty place in his heart. He had no sense of having violated God at all. He was saying, in effect, “I don’t have any real sin. I’ve kept all that. I look at myself, I don’t see any sin.” It’s incredible. This man couldn’t be saved yet.
As Samuel Bolton said, “When you see that men have been wounded by the law, then it is time to pour in the gospel oil.” He said, “It is the needle of the law that pulls through the scarlet thread of the gospel. So you have got to wound them before you can sew them up.”
Jesus used the second table of the Law because a man can keep that externally even without conversion. However, only true regeneration, which results in repentance and faith, can make a man keep the first table of loving the Lord with all our heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves. The Lord is going to show him that all his keeping is just external; he doesn’t love God with all his heart; his God is his wealth. Without loving God with all our heart, we can still put up an external religious show.
You sitting here, are you like this? Do you have no love for God coming through a heart of repentance and faith, but are externally putting up a show—coming to church, reading the Bible? Learn from this man: all your religious show will not give assurance of eternal life. He has lived so perfectly outside, but is so deceived in thinking he is good. You will not have any knowledge of the sinfulness of your heart without the Law of God. The only way to get eternal life is to see yourself as a horrible sinner before the Law, to such an extent that it makes you repent and come to Jesus as a desperate sinner. He gives a new heart.
Bishop Ryle stated: “Ignorance of the Law and ignorance of the Gospel will generally be found together. He whose eyes have really been opened to the spirituality of the commandments, will never rest until he has found Christ.”
3. Calling Him to Concrete Repentance and Faith
First, Jesus makes him realize to whom he is talking. Secondly, he exposes the shallow understanding of the Law of God and shows him to be a sinner. Thirdly, it comes to the climax when he calls him to concrete repentance and faith. See how he does it.
Mark 10 says, “looking at him, he loved him.” Look at the motive at which this call came. It is important to note that the call he gives next is an expression of love. What seems harsh (kaṇṭippāṉa, excessively rigorous, kaṭumaiyāṉa) flows out of love. Looking upon him, He loved him and said:
Verse 21: Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Jesus says something to him that we would never say to someone we were trying to lead to Christ. These are scary words. Let me put it in perspective: This is the only time that Jesus ever said this to anyone as a condition of eternal life. But why did he say it to this earnest young man? Because that is where he had the problem. This fellow, who looked so good on the outside, on the inside was totally controlled by the love of money. Jesus was saying to this fine-looking, upstanding, good young citizen, “If you want to be my follower, you are going to have to break the spiritually stranglehold (kaḻuttai nerikka) of money on your life.” Money had become his God. And Jesus knew it. He is touching this man at the point of his need.
The word “perfect” is often used in the Bible to speak of salvation. If you would want the perfect joy of eternal life, then Jesus gives:
- First 3 Imperatives (Repentance): Go, Sell, Give.
- Promise (Assurance): You shall have treasure in heaven.
- Final Command (Faith): Come, follow Me.
All this is nothing but conversion. We enter eternal life by a saving response to Christ, which is always repentance and faith.
The first three commands are radical: Go, Sell, Give. “Go” means wherever he had to go, and “Sell” means to totally liquidate all his financial assets—houses, lands, things, shares, and bonds. He did not say go and sell half. The third command is to give to the poor. Why, Lord? He did not say that to Matthew, who was rich. Not to Zacchaeus, not to any other rich men. Even the New Testament nowhere says rich people should universally do this. But the Lord knew this was the idol of his heart, the sensitive nerve for this man. He was so inseparably attached to his wealth that it was hindering him from entering Eternal Life (EL). The Lord sees that unless he permanently gets rid of it, he cannot enter eternal life. Jesus told him to permanently sell it, make money, and give to the poor so he would never fall into it again. The young man needs a radical, total repentance; unless he does, he cannot enter EL.
Then Jesus encourages him in love into obedience with a marvelous promise: “The fruit of this will be treasures in heaven.” In getting rid of all your treasure here, you shall simply exchange it for a treasure there—a treasure that moth and rust will not corrupt, and thieves cannot steal.
The final command He gives is: “come and follow me.” After you have sold everything and given to the poor, come back and enter into loving attachment to my person. Radical repentance is not enough, but he must believe and follow Me.
Pastor, how can this give eternal life? The man asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus says you get eternal life by radical, total repentance of your top sin and turning in faith to me and follow me. If you want eternal life, this you must do: you must repent of the idolatry of your riches. Jesus is saying, “I see in your heart, young man, that your riches are not merely a commodity you hold loosely by the grace of God, but your riches are your God.” This love for your riches and making it an idol is what is hindering you from entering eternal life. You will never be able to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength as long as this idol is here in your life. You will not know the true God who claims a place of unrivaled supremacy in your heart until you repent of your idol. You can never come and truly follow Me as long as you stick to your God of riches. Jesus really hit the sin of this man. The sin of this man was the sin of idolatry of riches.
The reason He did not bring up the First Tablet of the Law so far (which summarizes to: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”), is that here He is bringing the application of that commandment. By telling this wealthy young ruler to sell what he has, give the money to the poor, and then follow Him, He is putting his finger on that which the man loved more than God. He loved his success and wealth so much that he was breaking the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). The man had worked all his life to keep the law; and to his horror, when Jesus said this, he discovered that he had been breaking it all along. He stood guilty before God as a sinner.
This man, because he had no real understanding of the depth of the Law, did not understand sin, and so did not understand his heart. His external religion never allowed him to see his heart, which loved money more than God. The young man had no sense that he had offended a holy God. Now Jesus makes him see that by this command. He makes him see his sin.
The Lord asking him to sell is not a universal demand for everyone to attain eternal life. He gives him a test. Jesus was tailoring His challenge to reveal to the man that what was hindering him from entering eternal life was his idolatry of wealth. It was a demand of radical repentance and faith in the concrete situation of Jesus’ knowledge of that man’s heart.
The Lord never deals with repentance and faith in the abstract in his personal work. He points to the specific idol and sin that keeps them from attaining eternal life through him. Remember the Samaritan woman who said, “I want living water.” He said, “Call your husband.” What did that have to do with living water? In the situation of that woman’s life, her sin of immorality, unless she dealt with that, she could not have living water.
Finally, look at the tragic reaction:
Verse 22: “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Mark says his face became sad; His countenance fell—imagine this word hearing, became mentally broken (intā vārttaiyaik kēṭṭu, maṉamaṭintu)—like a sky that was bright with the sun, suddenly before a thunderstorm, full of heaviness and darkness. His bright face became dark. The face is often the mirror of the soul.
The look on his face led to the reaction of his feet. You notice his feet move away. He did not go to sell and give; he went away to live with the riches of idolatry. How sad! He went away from the only one who could give him eternal life. He went away from the only one who could forgive his sins. He went away, he went away, he went away.
Look at his face, the activity of his feet, and the state of his heart: sorrowful, heavy-hearted. He came with such full expectancy and eagerness. When the Master spoke, his hopes rose higher: “Oh, if it’s only keeping the Law, I’ve kept it all my life.” But when Jesus started to make him realize he was talking to God, exposed his heart before the Law, showed him his shallow views of the Law, and finally laid upon him the claims of repentance and faith, he went away with a heavy heart.
Oh, what a sad man. He was so blessed even to realize the importance of eternal life, and also came directly face to face with the only one who can give what he was seeking. 1 John 5:11 says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” But he went away. When this man died, oh, how horribly he would have died! What horror for him to see his body and face the judgment! The same Christ will look at him and say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
The Fundamental Reason
What was the fundamental reason? What is the reason that didn’t allow this man to have eternal life? “For”—this was the rationale for his face, feet, and heart. Sad face, running feet, sorrowful heart. “He had great possessions.”
All his life he thought he kept the Law and was seeking eternal life, but here the Lord’s piercing eye exposed him and showed he was a terrible sinner worshiping his wealth. Unless he repented, there was no eternal life. Ah, he wanted the price of eternal life, but was not willing to pay the price because it was too much. He had great possessions.
One might say, “Great possessions had him.” He had great possessions, but it had him. If they hold him in life and death, he will go down to hell without his possession. What use? What will he do without Christ in the grave? What about his soul without Christ? Without Christ in the resurrection? Without Christ to plead his cause in judgment? Without Christ in all eternity? How sad!
See, for him, repentance and faith and following Jesus meant parting with his money. He decided he would rather part with his God than money. He would part with his God than money.
So we see the crucial question, the searching answer, and finally the tragic reaction—a sad ending to the story.
Applications for Us
Now let us come to our story. We will look at more applications for this passage next week, but very briefly, here are a couple:
1. External Religion Cannot Deliver Eternal Life
You will never have the joyful experience of eternal life now by just external religion. Some of you may be wondering, like this man: “I go to church, read the Bible, hear sermons, pray… What do I still lack?” One thing you lack: you must see yourself in the light of the Law to the extent that you are a horrible, terrible sinner. It is only the Law that can reveal what is hindering you from Eternal Life. Then, like Ryle says, “He whose eyes have really been opened to the spirituality of the commandments, will never rest until he has found Christ.”
2. Radical Repentance of Your Idol is Necessary
You will never be saved and enter eternal life until you truly radically repent of your idol in your life. That is the only way to get eternal life, not by external religion. You and I may be wondering, “What do I still lack?” You will never be saved until you repent, not in a vague, abstract, or general way, but with a concrete, specific repentance of the sins by which you are bound to self, the world, and sin. For this man, the sensitive nerve was his riches. What is your sin?
I vaguely remember a message that made me repent and saved. One thing the preacher said was, “What is your sin? Maybe you are saying, ‘Lord, I will leave everything but this one thing.'” That is the one thing Jesus says you have to leave if you want eternal life. That is what actually broke my heart in repentance and brought me to Christ. May God do that to you today.
- For some of you, it is pride, your name, your reputation. You must go and sell your rotten, stinking reputation, to be made a fool for Christ. That is what is keeping you from following Christ, or you will never have eternal life.
- For some of you, it may be a wrong relationship against the revealed will of God. Go get rid of that relationship, then come follow me.
- For some, it is ambition (laṭciyam), for some, money, for some, entertainment. You cannot leave that mobile or TV which is taking so much of your time and life. He says go sell that if you want eternal life.
- For some, it is a secret sin. You will never leave that for eternal life, and that blinding sin will allow itself to drag you to hell.
- For some, unforgiveness against someone. You cling to it, and that is not allowing you to attain eternal life.
- Some of us, our house can become God. If so, the only way we can enter eternal life is to sell that house.
- Some of you have made your children an idol—their life, their future. You won’t take God’s side for your children. You will sooner violate God’s will for the love and affection for your children, and adjust with the kids.
- Some of you, your husband or wife is an idol.
I don’t know, but He knows and you know what is keeping you from eternal life. What is hindering you? Jesus knows the red button. He is pressing you there today. Wherever He presses you, go drastically sell, come, and follow him. Then you will have eternal life. The loving attachment of the Son of God, the peace and blissful joy that comes from knowing you have eternal life, is worth all that sacrifice. If you just knew what a glorious thing it is to know “I have eternal life,” you would be ready to sacrifice anything.
The common command for all of us is: “Leave that permanently and follow Me.”
To follow Christ meant for this man he would have followed Jesus down to Jerusalem and seen Jesus die upon the cross for sinners and rise from the dead and go back to the right hand of the Father, and in those mighty acts, secure eternal life for all who trust him.
This man went away without Christ, with temporary riches. His conscience would not even allow him to enjoy it in a sinful way. He was the most miserable man. He couldn’t enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; he could just touch and feel his riches. And for that temporary riches, he walked away from the only one who could give him life.
Are you going to walk away today? Eternal life is in Jesus Christ. He is the only one who gives it. He only gives it to those who wholeheartedly repent and have faith in him. You should not set your heart on anything, but be ready to leave anything if he asks. He is going to Jerusalem to offer himself, not to have a half-committed people—half world and half God—but people willfully ready to leave everything for him: the world, materialism, and self-centeredness.
I plead with you: Don’t let the chapter of your life close like the chapter of this man’s life. He went away sad, without eternal life.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 