Grace Bible Church Expository Sermon Notes

Jesus Interviews the Rich Young Ruler!

cf. Matt. 19:16-22
The Lord's Day 3/2/97 AM

If a wealthy man came up to you and asked you how to get to heaven, what would you tell him? This very thing happened to Jesus and His response to this young man has been a puzzle to many Bible students for years.¹ In this story we hear Jesus describing how to obtain eternal life by sharing three issues we must understand followed by one basic response.² In this passage we see: the Young Man's Desperate Question; the Lord's Unexpected Answer; the Lord's Unqualified Call to Surrender; and the Man's Sorrowful Rejection of Eternal Life. First we see…

The Young Man's Desperate Question

Matthew 19:16 And behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

Matthew calls him a "young man" and adds that he had "great possessions." (vs. 22) So he was a young man who was rich. Luke's Gospel describes him as a "certain ruler" which probably refers to a ruler of a Jewish synagogue. So this young man was a wealthy ruler of a synagogue, who came to Jesus asking about eternal life. In the Greek text the second adjective "good" is omitted. In working with manuscripts evidently the adjective "good" was placed in the Matthew text, to reflect agreement with Mark and Luke's Gospel.³ The question was clear as he asked what he needed to do to get to heaven or to obtain eternal life or to enter the kingdom of God. It was a salvation question, posed by a sincere seeker. Mark 10:17 adds he came "running," suggesting his desperation and "kneeled to Him" suggesting his humility. This leads us to…

The Lord's Unexpected Answer

Matthew 19:17...Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God; but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Jesus was forcing the rich young ruler to advance in his thinking and recognize who Jesus really was. Jewish rabbis taught that God alone was the perfectly good being. So this is Christ's way of adjusting the man's thinking from considering Him as only a great teacher, to God in the flesh, which is a prerequisite understanding for salvation. Fundamental to what man must do to obtain salvation, is the acceptance that Jesus is God. The Person of Christ is essential to understand, at least in respect to His deity.

But did you notice Jesus' answer? "If you want eternal life, keep the commandments!" What the Lord has done is establish by His question that God is infinitely good, so the answer about eternal life with God follows, i.e., you must be perfect also; you must be obedient in keeping the entire will of God; you must not sin or break any of the law of God; you must keep the commandments.⁴ Jesus was forcing the man to understand not only who He was, but what God expects, i.e., full compliance, not partial obedience, to the whole law! Then the young ruler asks, "Which?" This is an honest question, because the Jews had distilled the entire law down to 613 commandments: 365 commandments were negative and 248 were positive. And they had even categorized those 613 commandments into greater and lesser laws. But the Lord didn't let the rich young ruler off the hook by watering down the man's obligation.

Matthew 19:18-20 Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother; and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?

The Lord slammed him up against the divine standard! Jesus quotes the last five of the ten commandments, replacing the 10th commandment about covetousness with the commandment of Leviticus 19:18 to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The reason is, that Leviticus 19:18 is a summary statement of the last half of the 10 commandments. If you were to take the last 6 commandments and summarize them into one basic law, it would be: "love thy neighbor as thyself!" Another observation may suggest the heart of the rich young ruler's sin, i.e., the commandment to honor father and mother, is out of place. This would call attention to it, suggesting that the young man evidently had not fulfilled this commandment as he should. Unfortunately, the young man, like many Jews during that day, had a superficial understanding of the law and thought he had kept the commandments. His question, "What lack I yet?" was sincere, but illustrated his heart knew nothing of his own sinfulness and need for God's mercy and grace. The man's statement manifested his low view of the nature of God; a high view of his own accomplishments; and an inadequate view of his desperate lostness, because of his denial of the reality of his sinfulness!⁵ Mark's gospel records that at this point, "Jesus, beholding him, loved him ."⁶The conversation then turn toward…

The Lord's Unqualified Call to Surrender

Matthew 19:21 ...If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.

Obviously, the Lord was pointing out the one issue of this man's lack of commitment, i.e., his wealth. And without this unreserved commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, this man could not have eternal life! This isn't to teach that salvation is earned by a human works of benevolence or philanthropy. This is to inform the rich young ruler that eternal life comes by a committed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When someone trusts the Lord Jesus for salvation, although a full understanding of all the implications of a full surrender to His Lordship is impossible, yet the concept of an unqualified obedience must exist. As in the case with the rich ruler, if anything is held back from His Lordship then the person is not really trusting Christ and cannot have eternal life. Lordship suggests surrender of the will to the Master. But unfortunately we read of…

The Man's Sorrowful Rejection of Eternal Life

Matthew 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

The man did not confess his guilt before God and would not submit to the Lordship of Christ, because of his wealth. cf. 1 Tim. 6:9; Luke 14:33. Salvation is only for those who are willing to forsake everything. William Barclay concludes with an insightful summary.

His tragedy was that he loved things more than he loved people; and he loved himself more than he loved others. Any man who puts things before people and self before others, must turn his back on Jesus Christ.⁷

In summary, although the rich young ruler came desperately asking about eternal life, because Jesus taught it involved complete obedience to the moral law and an unqualified surrender to His Lordship, the man sorrowfully rejected Christ's answer. Jesus surfaced the man's sin and the man's lack of full commitment.

Main Idea: Obtaining eternal life requires: a clear perception that Jesus is God; a clear understanding of what God requires, the perfect keeping of His law; hence, an honest evaluation of our inability to do that. These are prerequisite to the exercise of personal faith, which consists of turning from our sin and surrendering our lives to the unqualified Lordship of Jesus Christ!

Exploring the Bigger Picture

The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur, Jr. (Zondervan, 1988). A landmark book challenging the easy-believism and cheap grace theology of today by examining how the Lord Jesus Himself shared the Gospel with others. Every professing Christian in America today should carefully read this book. In our opinion, this is the best by Pastor MacArthur, launched a movement to recover the Gospel message!

What Should We Do About This Passage?

- Application Recommendations -

The quest for eternal life demands an understanding of three fundamental realities, leading to one basic human response.
	Do you understand thoroughly from the Bible the three realities of the Gospel message, without importing your own opinions.
	Have you personally trusted Christ with an unqualified surrender of your entire life? Is there anything you are not willing to give up?

Sharing the Gospel is the careful and thorough reasoning about these three fundamental truths and one basic response.
	Are you able to clearly communicate the Gospel with others or do you believe you need helpful training on what to share? Indicate your need on the Registration Card next Sunday.

Grace Bible Church is dedicated to reclaiming the Gospel message in the Tulsa area. This has definite implications for our ministry.
	How can we guard the whole truth of the Gospel, as a people committed to protecting it's message amid a culture rejecting it?
	Do you know of anyone at GBC needing the encouragement to surrender everything for Christ? Help them this week.

A disciple is one who has made the unqualified surrender of his/her life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

	Is your discipleship ministry based on a mutual unqualified surrender to Christ or a lesser commitment? See any real changes?
	Share with your discipleship partner the implications of Jesus' call to eternal life, the danger of wealth and the moral law of God.

Gather your children this week and read the story of the rich young ruler in the NIV or Living Bible. Ask them why the man didn't receive eternal life. Ask: "Would you give up everything for Christ?"

Footnotes:

1. MacArthur: "Our ideas of evangelism cannot indict Jesus; rather, He must judge contemporary methods of evangelism. Modern evangelism is preoccupied with decisions, statistics, aisle-walking, gimmicks, prefabricated presentations, pitches, emotional manipulation, and even intimidation. It's message is a cacophony of easy-believism and simplistic appeals. Unbelievers are told that if they invite Jesus into their hearts, accept Him as personal Savior, or believe the facts of the gospel, that's all there is to it." cf. The Gospel According to Jesus (Zondervan, 1988) p. 79.

2. Each of the Synoptic Gospels record Jesus' interview with the rich young ruler. cf. Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-27. A similar interview took place as mentioned in Luke 10:25-37, where the Lord once again called the man back to obedience to the moral law. The law defines the character of God and His will, resulting in man's awakening of his guilt, demanding that he cry out for the mercy of the Lord. cf. Gal. 3:19-25; Rom. 3:19-20.

3. The Greek word agathos speaks of good in essence or nature, instead of kalos, which is external goodness. He believed Jesus was good essentially, instead of simply ascribing a simple compliment of His teaching.

4. This is probably where much of our evangelism attempts detour and we water down the issue of a relationship with God. We don't explain the uncompromising nature of God and the fact that perfect obedience to the law of God is required; we don't explain the law of God in its essence, so that the person we are taking to has a deep conviction about his or her lost condition and helplessness to contribute to their salvation; and because we don't steadfastly point out that this holy God cannot compromise by relating to sinful men, our lost friends get the erroneous idea that God will somehow ignore sin. But God will not populate heaven at the expense of violating His own integrity! His throne is established on the basis of holiness and "[God] is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." (cf. Hab. 1:13)

5. Lewis S. Chafer, taught that today's Gospel should omit the moral law, omit dealing with sins and omit the call to repentance. But Jesus did all three to the rich young ruler as is illustrated elsewhere. cf. Systematic Theology (Kregal Publishers, 1993), vol. 2, pp. 371-394. Compare with Matthew 5-7; Acts 2:14-40; 3:12-26; 7:1-60; 17:24-34, etc.

6. Greek is agapasen auton. This answers the question, "Does God love the non-elect?" Yes, as the rich young ruler illustrates. The Lord has a special love for His own but also has a love for the lost non-elect. cf. John MacArthur, Jr. The Love of God (Word Publications, 1996).

7. William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Westminster Press, 1975), vol. 2, p. 216. He quotes the extra-biblical book, The Gospel According to the Hebrews: "How sayest thou, I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; and lo, many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and thine house is full of many good things, and nought at all goeth out of it unto them." Ibid, p. 215.