Rich Young Ruler

Scripture

Matthew 19:16–26 NIV

16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Introduction

Tonight I want to ask you a very important question

Is there something in your life that is holding you back

Is there maybe someone in your life who is holding you back ?

The truth is for a lot of people there are things that we love or things that we may hold on to that could be holding us back in life

A lot of times these things can be simply things we love but we have made them an idol in our life

An idol is basically something we place more value on than God

Like I said an idol doesnt even have to be a thing but it can be a person as well

Someone whom we love but they are now an idol in our lives

These idols we have in our lives are things that are actually holding us back in life

We would get into the idol of this young man in this scripture in a little while but let me give you some time to think about what may be holding you back in life

While you are thinking about that let me share something about me years ago.........

My Story about Nintendo

This was basically my life

That was like drugs to me

While there is nothing wrong with video games - when it becomes an obession it can hold you back in life

I was capable of better grades but this gaming addiction was holding me back in school

This is a slight and subtle powere of being slave to an addiction or being crazy about something

An idol is something that can hold you back in your life

But I am sure I am not the only person tonight who may have struggled with an idol

Something that may have been holding me back may not be what held you back in life.

But I am sure that you can recall things in your life that held you back

I am sure that many kids today who are going to school could relate to me

There are many distractions that stops us from doing well in school

Mine might have been nintendo but for some it woud have been their friends

If you are going to school - your friends has a huge influence on you and they can cause you not to focus on your work

They can cause you to focus on drugs

Some of you listening tonight - the thing that is holding you back is not necessarily a thing but a person

Some of you listening may be held back by a relationship you are in

This person or persons in your life is actually preventing you from being whom you were called to be

Some of you may be married to someone who is holding you back a bit and may be considering divorce

If you are in such a situation I am not going to ask you to divorce which is actually not part of God’s original plan of marriage

You need Professional counselling and we have someone like Diandra in our church who specialises in this area

But yes - a spouse or partner or boyfriedn and girlfriend could hold you back from God

For some of you - your identity is holding you back

You wake up every day and you hate the person you see in that mirror.

You view yourself as ugly or lost or useless and helpless

No one will love me or care for me

That’s how you see yourself and it is holding you back in life

Some of you may be addicted to gambling, pornography and have other silent idols in your life that you don’t want anyone to know about

The truth of the matter is - You need help in these areas. All of us need help in areas that we are weak in.

God has people who can help you.

At the end of this message we will give you numbers you can call

Don’t be ashamed to call. We have people on the other end of the line waiting to pray with you and assist you as best as they can.

These people want to see you strive and be encouraged during whatever you are facing

What is holding you back today?

Tonight’s message is about a man they call The rich young ruler but Actually he’s one of the poorest people you read about in the bible: physically rich, spiritually poor. He walks away from Jesus; he walks away from an invitation to have everlasting life. I call that being really poor.

A very important question

I asked you a question in the beginning about what is holding you back in life

However the rich young ruler asked an even more important question than I have asked

Matthew 19:16 “16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?””

That is an even more important question

This is a question everyone ought to aks themselves some time or the other

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Seventeen: The King’s Demands (Matthew 19:16–20:34))

The man was obviously sincere, though his approach to getting eternal life was centered on works and not faith. But this was to be expected among the Jews of that day. However, in spite of his position in society, his morality, and his religion, he felt a definite need for something more.

I was watching a show recently and one character was asking the other - do you think their is life after death

The other character said no

One thing that I find ver surprising is that everyone knows one day they will die but yet very few people actually care what happens after they die

Imagine a character in a show tends to be a bit more conscious of this fact than people in real life

I believe this is a question everyone of you listening ought to be asking yourself or have asked yourself sometime in the past

Is there really eternal life waiting for us or are just like the animals with no hope of a future ?

Tonight I want to let you know there is eternal life waiting on you afer death and there is indeed life beyond the grave

Jesus said so and this ruler did ask a very important question

What must we do to get it ?

my friends i want to let you know that if something is holding you back in this life it is not as bad as something that holds you back from eternal life

If your friend holding you back from studying your work and you fail your exams in this life that is not the end of world

However if someone or something causes you to miss out on eternal life then that is a very grave dillemma for you.

this life is temporary but eternal life goes on forever and ever

You don’t want anything or anyone prevening you from experiencing eternal life.

A very important response

Matthew 19:17 NIV

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

Jesus gave this man a very important response that we need to pay special attention to.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Seventeen: The King’s Demands (Matthew 19:16–20:34))

But our Lord’s reply did not focus on Eternal Life . He forced the young man to think seriously about the word good that he had used in addressing Jesus. “Only God is good,”

He then told him that he basically needs to keep the commandments of God.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seventeen: The King’s Demands (Matthew 19:16–20:34)

Why did Jesus bring up the commandments? Did He actually teach that people receive eternal life by obeying God’s Law? If anyone could keep the commandments, he certainly would enter into life. But no one can keep God’s Law perfectly

Tonight I want you to know that no human could meet the demands of God’s law. Not any of us can say with confidence we keep all of his commandments .

I am a human and you are a human and we fail daily to live up to the commandments of God.

There are many people today who love to harp on the commandments of God over the Grace of God on our lives but I believe such an attitude is a prideful one to have because we stand on God’s Grace and his goodness on our lives and not because of our ability to keep all of his commandments

Romans 3:20 “20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seventeen: The King’s Demands (Matthew 19:16–20:34)

Jesus did not introduce the Law to show the young man how to be saved, but to show him that he needed to be saved. The Law is a mirror that reveals what we are

James 1:22 “22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

When we look deep into the law we will realise we are sinners unworthy of God and we need a Savior in order to stand before him.

Pastor Mario and what he said Sunday about Leaders and their vices

Thank God for his Grace

He then went on to ask Jesus which Commands he needed to keep and Jesus listed a few of them such as adultery, stealing, obeying your parents etc

The man then exclaimed that he had kept all of these things and he asked what do I still lack?

Now did the rich young ruler really keep all those commands as he had said

I highly doubt it but Jesus did not argue with him over that

Jesus decided to answer the question that the ruler asked this time which was WHAT DO I STILL LACK?

Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 19

“What lack I yet?” That is the question still being asked. According to an article in a newsmagazine, in the ’80s people made a living. In the ’90s, they were to make a life. No longer would young executives arrive at the office at six o’clock in the morning and be the last to leave at night. Long weekends, family time, and recreation would be the order of the day. In going from one extreme to another, however, our generation found emptiness once again. The only way to be fulfilled in life is through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Skip Heitzig Sermon Archive Matthew 19

If he’s rich, successful, young, I’m guessing aggressive, he’s what the world would call a high-achiever, he doesn’t really need anything, he doesn’t have to worry about, is going to make his payment on the house or is he going to have two camels in the garage? He’s set for life, however, even the wealthiest, coolest, smartest individual apart from Christ senses a lack and this man I believe sensed the lack, there’s something missing. What is the purpose of life? What is there that I have not personally experienced yet that’s out there? Maybe he heard Jesus speak about eternal life in some of his messages. Maybe he saw the changed lives of people that had been around Christ and he hungered for that. And so he asked a question, but in asking this question, he revealed his ignorance. “Good teacher, what good thing must I do to inherit or get or have eternal life?”

If is one thing we people are realising today is that they do lack soemthing in their life.

No matter how much good things you do or how much toys you have or how much money you make or how popular you are in the crowd - everyone soon realises and comes to the conclusion that their is something we lack.

We do lack something and that is God.

We are empty without God. We try to pretend we are alright by buying more and more stuff or turnng to drugs but we are empty.

Man is restless until he finds rest in God - Augustine

Are you empty tongiht?

Do you sense that there is an emptiness in your life tonight?

Are you longing for soemthing to break this emptiness in your life?

Before I close tonight I will give you an oportunity to be filled by God and to lose your emptiness.

Your lack will not be fed by getting a wife or getting a raise or getting the latest gadget out there.

You don’t need something but you do need someone.