There are two words by which you can live your life. Two words. I'll make it more emphatic. There are two words by which you must live your life. Two words that measure everything. They tell you whether you're on the right track. They tell you what your priorities are. They tell you whether or not you're a lover of Jesus. They tell you If you're going to heaven or if you're going to hell. What are these important two words? These are the words that make up the urgent. Command of Jesus Christ. Those two words are follow me. Follow me, Jesus said. To obey this command. means everlasting life and joy and peace. To disobey it, to turn from it, means increasing and everlasting, the word here is sorrows, everlasting sorrows. So we return this morning to the account of the rich young man who was called by Jesus, follow me. Follow me. By the way, this, I think, and I could be wrong, this is the last time these two words are uttered in the Gospel of Matthew. This account of this rich young man and Jesus and the disciples had such a strong impression on the minds of those early disciples and the believers that God saw it fit to put it in three gospel accounts. Matthew, Mark, and Luke wanted you to know of this young man here and how he turned away from the command to follow Christ. All the disciples heard this same command, by the way. And I pray each of you hear this command. Follow me. Same command given to every disciple who's ever walked the earth, Jesus says, whether it was in the day in which he walked the earth or maybe on the words of this preacher right here, hear Jesus say, follow me. Matthew, Mark, and Luke wanted you to read of this man's sorrow three times. And it's just the case. There probably is nothing more sorrowful than to believe you could keep your human good deeds and all your stuff and still be found in God. Each one of these disciples had heard Jesus say, follow me. You can read about their stories, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel. But one of the disciples of Jesus I really want you to have a mind for. One of the disciples who heard Jesus utter these two words, this rich young man, was once a rich young man himself. It is the name who this gospel account was written after, Matthew. Matthew, you see, was once a rich young man. He was a rich young man. He was a tax collector. Prior to following Jesus with those other disciples, he was a pretty wealthy young man. But one day, Jesus came upon Matthew at his tax collection booth and said these two words, follow me. And you know what it says about Matthew. Luke 7, 28 says, and leaving everything, Matthew left everything. and followed him. And so I can't help but to wonder, when Matthew looks upon this rich young man, what was he thinking? What was Matthew thinking as he saw this rich young man? My question is, why did Matthew obey the command and this rich young man disobey? Matthew had many riches and possessions. The rich young man had many possessions. But the answer is universal, actually. It's the same answer for why everyone follows Jesus. It's not complicated. The answer is this, to Matthew and to every true believer, every true follower of Christ, take this down, mark it. Here is why you go with Jesus, because Christ is enough. Christ is enough, and I don't mean enough like He just barely gets you through. I mean that Christ is better than everything. He's infinitely glorious, infinitely valuable. He is the most supreme treasure you could lay hold of. He is enough. So to Matthew, when Christ came upon his tax booth, a desire was awakened. You could say a love was awakened within him. At one point in his life, here's Matthew at the tax collection booth, loving money and riches so much that he would bear the disgusting title of a tax collector in his day. He's willing to go through all that. That's how much he loved the world, how much he pursued the treasures of this worldly life. But then Jesus shows up before his eyes. And in that moment, when Jesus says, follow me, nothing else mattered to Matthew. Nothing else was more valuable. Nothing would ever be more rewarding than Jesus. And nothing would be worth more than him. Whatever it would cost him, as it shows in the Gospel of Luke, Matthew would say, let it all go, and I'll go with Jesus. He would treasure Christ. The difference between Matthew and the rich young man is the same difference between everyone who is going to heaven and everyone who is going to hell. The difference is that to a follower of Jesus, Jesus is the richest treasure. Are you hearing me, people? Jesus is the richest treasure. He is the all in all, the lovely of lovelies, the greatest imaginable. He's greater, more glorious, more blessed. He is worthy, better, valuable, more valuable. That's why Matthew went. That's why all the disciples went. That's why disciples are still going. That's why you and I must go with Christ. It's because He is the greatest treasure. Amen? Have you seen Jesus? Do you know Him this way? Is He more valuable than anything you could own or possess, grab with your hands, purchase with your wallets? Cash in your hours for is Jesus worth more than all of that to you. Is he worth more than that to you? Because here's the main thing, take it down. The thing I want you to know today, the thing Jesus wanted the disciples to know in his day when he was walking on the earth as he was training them. He wants you to know this, a man who treasures earthly riches. as a man who cannot follow Jesus and go to heaven. A man who treasures earthly riches is a man who cannot follow Jesus and go to heaven. And I use the term man, it's men and women both, but Jesus wanted this young man to be on the disciples and your minds this morning. So I want to lay down some principles And when it comes to following Jesus to explain this, these aren't all the principles to following Jesus, but they are some of them. And I probably will just get through one today. Otherwise, well, we'll see how it goes. Hang in there, y'all. So let me give you this first principle. And it just piggybacks on what I've already told you. Following Jesus, number one, following Jesus is first about being fully satisfied in Jesus. First, satisfied in Jesus. I could say this a number of ways. Following Jesus is first about delighting in Jesus, being in love with Jesus. being content in Jesus, rejoicing in Jesus, exalting in Jesus, following Jesus is first about being raptured up into the person and the character and worth of Jesus. It means when you read of this command, follow me, when you read it in the Gospels, or you hear it on the voice of a preacher, maybe like me saying, follow Jesus, It means that you find nothing in all of heaven or on the earth or in all the universe, nothing compares to Jesus or competes with him. That's what being satisfied in Jesus means. Man, the devil don't want me to speak to you this morning. Too bad. I want to look back at this young man with you. Let's do it together. Let me explain this. Jesus is asked by this young man for the deed to eternal life. He's asked by the young man for the deed to eternal life. What must I do to get into heaven? The man knows he doesn't have eternal life, and so he asks Jesus, what must I do? Jesus tells him to do six things to keep six commandments. Well, really it's five commandments with a summary These commandments make up the second table of law as I shared with you in the communion meditation He says do not murder do not steal do not commit adultery do not bear false witness against your neighbor and Honor your mother and father and then he summarized it by saying love your neighbor as yourself. I Those five make up five of the six of the second table of the Ten Commandments. Now let me tell you about the characteristic of those five commandments. They're really something special. Those five commandments that I just read to you that Jesus told this man to do. By the way, this man says he's done all those, he's kept those things, and yet he's still lacking. These five commandments, and Jesus doesn't protest that. He doesn't make a contest of that with this young man. But these five commandments are, are you ready? Visible commandments. you can see someone doing these commandments and achieving them. You can't. I know the spiritual nature of the law reaches down to the heart, but I'm just saying on the outside, a neighbor of this man could see this man doing these commandments and say, yeah, he's done it. He's never killed anyone. He's a one woman man. He's never committed adultery. You know, he's never stolen, so his riches he's gained through honest work and fair business practices. Springtime, I guess. He's a rich man, so maybe he's taking care of his mother and father, you know, supporting them. He's never purging anyone in court. All those things are obvious to see. You can do all those things. But there is a sixth commandment. And actually, my friend Donna brought this up to me this week. Something that I laid my eyes on and said, whoa, that is some treasure that I need to bring out of here. The sixth commandment is, do you know what it is? or the sixth or the tenth commandment, the final commandment, is you shall not, do you know, covet. You should not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, your neighbor's children, male servants, female servants, donkey, ox, or anything that is your neighbor's. You shall not covet any of it. Coveting means a number of things, right? It means, for one, it means looking at your neighbor's things and saying, I wish I had what he has. I wish I had what she has. I wish that he didn't have it or she didn't have it. I wish that I had more of what he or she has. It also means to look on your own stuff and say, Say a prayer for me. And to say, I don't like what I have. Or what I have is just not enough. I don't like what I have or what I have is just not enough. And that's kind of what, that's what coveting means. I don't like what I have for property, for my wife or a husband. I wish I had something different. But this is why the commandments hold together as one law. And I'll tell you one more characteristic of coveting. The Bible teaches in Colossians 3, 5 that covetousness is idolatry. It says those words. Covetousness is idolatry. To covet means to put another God before the Lord your God. That is why James would tell us to break one commandment is to be guilty of breaking them all. And let me tell you why this is important for this young man. When this young man is told by Jesus to forfeit his stuff and follow him, he's brought to the decision of service. He's brought to the decision of worship. Idolatry is the attempt to serve another God or another master. And so the question is, when Jesus says, quit your stuff, sell all you have and follow me, The question is, what will this man worship? This is God in the flesh commanding this man, follow me. For whom will this man live? Whom will he fear? What is he going to lay down his own life for? What will he find perfectly satisfying and totally glorious? Well, we know the answer. What did this man choose? He chose his stuff. He chose his stuff. He walked away and he was sorrowful for he had great possessions. You know, this is a great lesson for us. It's one of those teachings that stretch out way far, further beyond than we could ever see on this page. Because as I mentioned to you last time, when it comes to this command to follow Jesus, to close with Christ, to be one to Christ, to enter into his kingdom. Following Jesus is that command of conversion. You know, believe in me and be saved. Come to me. People. The reason that people refuse this or disobey this command. It's always very simple. It's because of that treasure principle. What do you love? What do you treasure? No one ever turned aside from Jesus. Nobody ever disobeyed this command because they weren't intellectually satisfied with the arguments for the existence of God. Or they weren't satisfied with some sort of rebuttal about the truthfulness of Scripture. Nobody ever turned away from Christ because men and women were reasoning over the nature of suffering or evil. and couldn't get that right. People don't turn away from following Christ because of those reasons. And even you hear the excuse, you know, I wouldn't follow, I don't want to follow Jesus because all the Christians and all the churches, they fail in their hypocrisy and it's a huge turnoff for me. And that's, you know, that's why I don't follow Jesus. People, those might be there, but those are peripheral. That is not the reason people turn aside from following Jesus. That's not the reason people disobey Him. It's very simple. People turn aside from following Christ because they love something else more. That's what it is. It's very basic. They love something more. It could be earthly riches, wealth. It could be sex. It could be some sort of lifestyle. It could be human approval. It could be a life of ease. It could be just wanting to do life by your own priorities or be your own God and not having anyone ever tell you what to do because you view yourself as the most important person. Whatever it is, These earthly possessions, these earthly riches, mean more and have meant more to so many billions. On the day when Jesus came and said to them, follow me. I pray that is not you this morning. Pray that it is not me. Right now, pray that it's not you. Paul wrote in Philippians 3, verses 7 through 8, The Apostle Paul is a lot like this young man, I think. Although we know the Apostle Paul converted and he wrote these words, whatever gain I had, I counted his loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I want to take this this principle out to help you who are in Christ. Maybe you're maybe you're in a bit of a dry spell or a drought in terms of your zeal for Christ, or in terms of keeping His commandments, or maybe you're having trouble being generous, or maybe fighting sin, or maybe you just have some sort of bitterness in you, some foulness about you, and you're like, I believe in Jesus, but what is going on? Why can I not make progress right now? Why am I having a hard time obeying? Why am I having a hard time loving others, loving God, singing to Him, rejoicing in Him, doing what He says? Why are these things happening? And I could give you a laundry list of things to do and practical steps to take to overcome these things. But I think we just need to come back to this basic principle. You need a vision Jesus once again a glorious vision of Jesus you need to be your eyes need to be brought before just like we sang open the eyes of my heart brought before him so you would see once again his infinite worth his infinite beauty his infinite goodness Because when you have that majestic vision of this one here, this Jesus, shown to you in the gospel, you get that zeal back and you're like, what would I not do for Christ? Where would I not go for Him? What is something I could immediately just give my life to for His own sake right now? Because Christ is worth it! Amen? The propulsion, the inspiration, the source, the fuel source of zeal for the Christian life is not just more steps to take or things to do. It is the very worth of Jesus Christ himself, y'all. It's who he is. He is worthy of all of your allegiance, all your obedience, all your love, all your worship, all your going, all your serving. Jesus is worthy of it all. And that is what I think we just have to remember here is that Without that vision of Christ, that vision that Matthew got, that vision that Peter got, and Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Nathanael, and all the disciples, and every disciple who's ever lived. People, we won't follow Jesus if we find other things to be more captivating than Him. He is truly the captivating one, the captivating Savior. Have you been one to Him? Have you been one to Him? Following Jesus is first and foremost. You could say first and last about beholding Jesus, treasuring Him, everything in between, delighting in Christ. Well, we have an outline to get through, and I don't think I can do it. This point here is just, I just want to drive it home, I just want to think about it with you. I just want you to dwell on the worth of Christ. How do you get this majestic vision? You know, this past week in my study, I was just thinking about this, and I came across this verse, Ephesians chapter 3. It's in Ephesians chapter 3. I did put it in your outline later on, and the Apostle Paul was writing. He said, God appointed me the least of the apostles, to preach to the Gentiles, meaning to preach to everyone, all the nations, to preach to those outside of the Jewish family, to preach to them. And he says this phrase, the unsearchable riches of Christ. The unsearchable riches of Christ. It doesn't mean these riches are are hidden or you'll never be able to find them. It means they are so deep. They're so unexhausted. You could if there was a mountain of Christ's riches, you could mine it for eternity and you'll never be able to pull out all its worth. All the containers in all the world and all the universe could never hold. The riches of Jesus Christ. And I begin to think, how do I even comprehend such a statement? And if I'm supposed to be like that, how do I communicate the riches of Christ? Because I believe what Paul said. His riches are unsearchable. They are inexhaustible. You cannot grab them with just one hand. One of Christ's riches could seal your heart to God's throne forever and ever. and there are unsearchable riches." Isn't that amazing to think about? That's how worthy this Savior is. So I begin to just look on down for the riches of Christ. Colossians 2, verse 3 says, "...in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." And I begin to think, what can I say about the riches of Christ? These unsearchable ones. Where can I search them out? And it's pretty obvious, you know. I'm sitting there studying Matthew, and you might be new to this church today, but I want you to know for four years I've been teaching the gospel of Matthew to this people here. We've got a long ways to go yet. But the thing about Matthew, when I started to embark on this, you could say this journey of teaching this awesome gospel, Is that, you know, I started it because, you know, it's a new chapter, new church, new pastor. You flip the page of the Old Testament, it's a New Testament. We'll learn about discipleship, we'll learn about following Jesus, we'll learn about growing in Christ, all those things. But as I just reflected and looked back on it, every single time I'm brought to a new paragraph, a new sentence in the Gospel of Matthew, you know what I'm brought up against? Brought right before my eyes. the very person of Jesus Christ. And everything he says, everything he does is like another treasure, another wealth, another coin, another shimmer of glory that God gives to us to study in his son. And each part of Christ, he can't be parted out, but each time we come to a new thing, a new paragraph, it's like a whole nother eternity of riches just pours out of Christ as we study him. Do you know it? Let me just go back with you for a second. This is how I'll spend the remaining time with you. Just go back with me to the very beginning of Matthew's gospel. An angel meets with a young man named Joseph. It says your wife's going to have a son and you're going to name him Jesus. You know what Jesus means? It means the Lord saves. Not only that, but this baby shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. That means the name of Jesus is rich, isn't it? What other name is sweeter than Jesus? What other name is richer than Jesus? It's the name of Jesus that the church is built. At the name of Jesus, what do we sing? What do we say? The kingdom of darkness falls down. At the name of Jesus, people are healed. At the name of Jesus, people are saved. At the name of Jesus, people are helped. At the name of Jesus, we know that God is with us. Jesus' name is rich. But what else do you find? How about this? That he was just born at all. Think about this. A baby, whether he's in the womb or four days out of the womb, this is God and man, two natures, perfect, without any mixture of sin, in a human. God so that Jesus could bring God to us, man so that Jesus could bring us to God. His very birth was rich, even though it was in a manger, even though shepherds came to worship Him. His very birth was rich. You can keep on going. Matthew says that He's the fulfiller of prophecies. That everything He does, every step He takes, there's some prophecy being fulfilled in Jesus. That means Jesus' life is the very rich fulfillment of God's promises. But as he grows up, where does he go? Do you know where he lives? He lives in Nazareth of Galilee, Galilee among the Gentiles. He's baptized in the Jordan River, in a river of sin and sinners. So what do we find about Jesus then? We find that his humility is rich, isn't it? Isn't his humility rich? That he ministered among the poorest, among the Gentiles, among the outcasts, that he was the son of a carpenter, God Most High, being raised in a carpenter's household. Why is this? To show that he's a friend of sinners. His humility is rich. His purity is rich. You remember, he's tempted by Satan, and the devil himself tempts Jesus for 40 days. How many times did Jesus sin during those 40 days? Not once! His purity is rich. His teachings are rich. The Sermon on the Mount, every word, every sentence, every utterance, you could study it out for millenniums and not exhaust what he says. And yet it's so simple and gets right at the heart, proving that if you build your life on his words, you will be like the wise man who builds his house on the rock. Jesus' power is rich as he goes throughout and he casts out demons and raises the dead with just a touch. Or when he calms the sea with just a word. Or he multiplies loaves and fishes with just a blessing. I don't know if fishes is a word, it's fish. Just a blessing. How rich is the power of Jesus. How rich. then also is the willingness of Jesus. Do you see his mind for people who were suffering, people who were lost in their sins? He was willing to forgive the paralytic, willing to raise him up, to walk on his two legs. Do you see how rich his willingness is when he comes upon crowds and says, these people are like sheep without a shepherd. They are lost. I will be their shepherd. You see how rich he is in his willingness when he says, come unto me, all you labor and who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. So willing to receive people, so willing to offer his mind and his heart. Isn't he rich? Are there more riches to behold? Yes, there are. We're just barely scratching the surface. We're in like the first 10 chapters of Matthew, y'all. He's rich. How about this? He's rich in his relationship with God the Father. God the Father looks upon Jesus and says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus is rich in glory. Although you don't notice it, but there's a passage in Matthew where Jesus takes a few disciples up the mountain and peels back the humanity and shows the glory of God and His transcendent and resplendent beauty. This glory that He's coming again with for us to behold on the day of His second coming. He's rich in His resolve too. We've read of two times when Jesus has declared that He is on the way. He is going to Jerusalem. He's going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die at the hands of sinful and wicked men. And then He will be raised on the third day. He is rich in His resolve. to declare and to make happen the necessity of the atonement which would purchase freedom from sin and forgiveness and a right relationship with God to all who believe in Him. This isn't just, like I tell you, it's not just beliefs or words. This is the very person of Christ. He is the treasure. of all who believe. He is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field. Have you found him yet? Is he your treasure? Well, you might say, how then? How then can Jesus be my treasure? How can I look upon him? How can I be a Matthew and not like this rich young man? How can I look upon Jesus and say, you, Jesus, mean more to me than anything else? And this is the hard part. To abandon those earthly loves and to put your love on Jesus Christ is something that you cannot do in your own strength. You can't do it. You'll always love something else more. God even says it, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are impossible. The way you get this obedience to honor the command of Christ, to go after and follow Him, the way this treasury of Jesus' person is achieved and won to you is one simple reason. Because Christ Jesus purchased it on the cross. When He died and shed His blood for your forgiveness, And then he was resurrected to give new life to all who come to him, seeking forgiveness from their sins and a right relationship with God. And in his resurrected glory, as he stands now in heaven as your great high priest, you come to him and believe in his sacrifice. He pours out his spirit and awakens that love, that love to Christ within you. So that you could say, Jesus paid it all. All the infinite treasury of God's worth, all of it is shown in Jesus Christ, and He made the ultimate payment, and He is the richest affair, the greatest treasure, and He laid His life down and sacrificed Himself. So now, guess what? I can have Him. I can be saved in Him. I can hold fast to Him in love. If it's true that this Jesus, this One who commanded the rich man, who told him the way to heaven, if this man knows the way to heaven and has made this way by dying on the cross and going through the grave, then you know what? I will follow Him wherever He goes, and wherever He leads, I'll go with Him. Whatever the world has to offer, whatever I gain, it's gonna be okay if it goes, because I get to go with Christ. Is Christ your treasure? Is Christ the one who is infinitely more valuable to you than anything else? Of course, God gives good things. Of course, God meets your needs. Of course, by His own hand and from His own heavenly throne, He gives every good and perfect gift. But you know what this young man wanted? This young man wanted eternal life and a heaven without Jesus. And the question you should be asking yourself is, if you got to heaven and Jesus were not there, Would that be okay with you? For you who follow Jesus, for you who know Jesus, for you who treasure Jesus, you would say, may it never be. That can't be the case. And you know what? You're right. Because Jesus, when He prayed before He was about to die, He said these words, and He prayed this to His Father who was in heaven. The high priestly prayer, John 17 verse 3, He says, Father, This is eternal life. That they, his disciples, all who would come to him, all who would follow him, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. That's eternal life. That is by definition eternal life, to know Jesus Christ. Do you know him? Do you treasure him? Do you delight in him? Is he your all in all? Amen.