This sermon was preached by Pastor Naftali Ogalo of Grace Baptist Church, Eldoret, Kenya for the Lord's Day, 15th August 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. We welcome you to join with us for worship at Grace Baptist Church, Eldoret. We are located within West Indies estate on Kago Street behind Kogo Flats, Eldoret Town. A good opportunity to bring God's word. And I want to draw your attention to what we want to learn today from God's word by giving you this introductory illustration. Those who have a relatively large measure of material possessions are generally viewed and referred to as people who are blessed by God, just because they have a little more, whatever they are. They may be having a vehicle or vehicles if he's a vehicle maybe of a different kind from the others and people would say, oh, he's blessed, look at his car or her car. Well, look at his business or her business. He's got a lot of money and so on. People say such a person is blessed. Then, unfortunately, there are the unbiblical preachers who add to the confusion. When they say, come to Christ and he will give you riches, he will heal you, he will give you whatever you want. Friends, simply people chase after riches because they think that that indicates God's favor. And all that is a lie. I urge you in two ways. One, to have an unbending conviction. Unbending conviction, in other words, Don't give in to such beliefs. And two, think biblically. So don't give in to any form of conviction, but two, think biblically. What does Christ say? What does the Bible say? Now, if you do that, if you think in those two ways, you will not be swept away in the kind of deception that is so common around us. And also, if you hang on these two points, then God, by His grace, will give you life in Christ. Well, let us see this from the word of God. My aim, honestly, as I preach is to show you the deceitfulness of riches. And particularly when people think that if someone is rich, then Somehow God's favor, God's special blessing is upon them, that somehow it is well with them. No. Well, let's go to this passage and learn God's word. Matthew chapter 19, verses 16 to 22. Matthew 19, I want to read from verse 19, no from verse 16, excuse me. So Matthew 19 from verse 16 to 22. This is what the Bible says. And behold, a man came up to him saying, teacher, what good did must I do to have eternal life? And he, Jesus, said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you'd enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? And 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 mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, all these I have kept, What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful. for he had great possessions. Well, let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, you are the one who gives understanding of your word. And we now plead with you to open our eyes and to see clearly what your word says, so that we are not deceived, and so that by grace we may find life. We may be right with you and be able to be members of your kingdom. Lord, please hear and be gracious. Help us that our eyes will be open to this deceitfulness of riches. Hear our prayer, in Jesus' name, amen. I bring therefore God's word from this passage, Matthew 19 from verse 16 to verse 22, and I'm calling it simply, Jesus' love or loving counsel to a rich young man, rich young ruler. Jesus' loving counsel to a rich young ruler. This passage that we are reading today is closely connected with what we have seen before. So I would not like you to miss or loose that connection. Put it this way, an easy way or easier way to remember chapter 19 of Matthew is simply this. This passage talks about three things, marriage, children and riches. Marriage in verses 1 to 12, children verses 13 to 15, and riches, verses 16 to 30. But of course, today we are going to look at verses 16 to 22. And it's a great passage, a passage on the question of riches and the answer that we need. So I want to show in this passage or from this passage three things. Three things that I would not like us to miss. One, many people feel the need. Many people feel the need. And so ask, what must I do to get eternal life? That is the main question that people ask. And many people do that. What must I do to get eternal life? Now, this is the most important question that honestly anyone can ever ask. And even as I preach this sermon, it's my hope, it's my prayer, that you will ask this question, what must I do to get eternal life? And that of course, we find in verse 16, and behold, man came up to him saying, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? What must I do? to be sure that I am right with God and therefore will enter heaven. This was the most urgent question that this man in our passage was concerned about. Let's understand who this person is. Who was he? Verse 22 of this passage actually tells us that he was a young man. Matthew 19, verse 22, we are told, when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession. So this was a young man. He was not an old man in his late years in life? No. He wasn't a toddler. No, he was a young man. But then there is something else we learn about him. In the two parallel passages, which I will be referring to again and again, in Mark chapter 10 verse 22, we learn that he was a rich man. Mark 10 22, this is what we read. In verse 22 we read, disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession. So this was a rich man, quite rich indeed. In fact, in the other parallel passage that is in Luke 18, verse 18, we are given another description about him. We are told in Luke 18, 18, and a ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So Luke captures the fact that he was rich. No, he was a ruler. Mark captures the fact that he was rich. and Matthew tells us that he was young. That is why we often refer to this passage as a rich young ruler. So I will be calling him, I will be making reference to him at times as a rich young ruler. Now, when we call him or when he's referred to as a young man by Matthew, There is a lesson there for us. Because though he was young, he had a longing to be right with God. His question was, what must I do? What must I do? And that is something I want us to understand. Dear young people listening to me, don't put off the matter of salvation. Don't say, well, but I am still young. When I'm old, I can think about salvation. No, here is a passage, someone who is young and concerned about his salvation. Don't put it off. Not at all. Don't put it off. Learn from this young man. And so he was a young man, but also he was rich, we are told. Mark said he had great possession. In fact, even Matthew tells us that. Matthew chapter our very passage 19 verse 22, we are told, for he, right at the end, for he had great possession. This was a rich young person. Unfortunately, riches blind people from the issues of life. Life to come, people don't think seriously about them because of riches. But this man shows concern. With his riches, he wanted something else. Many are not listening to this preaching now because they are away chasing after other things, business, work, pleasure, And this is a warning to young people, a warning to rich people, deceitfulness of riches. We learned about this many months ago in chapter 13 of Matthew, chapter 13, verse 22. So here was a rich man, but he came asking a question about salvation. But there's something else about this man. He was religious. He was religious. Verse 20 tells us, when the Lord Jesus tells him about the law and gives him a number of laws judging him, listen, would you be perfect then do these things? He says in verse 20, the young man said to Jesus, all these I have kept. What do I still lack? So here is a person who is definitely religious. He's morally upright because when you see the things that he claims to have done or the things he's keeping tells you he's morally upright person. He hasn't murdered anyone. He could not be accused of taking away another person's wife. No. He even says he does not steal. And so his riches, he must have worked hard for them. He wouldn't bear false witness. of anyone and has respect for his parents and his neighbors. So here is a person who is morally upright. Generally, therefore, he was accepted in the society. But that did not assure him of eternal life. Not at all. You see, People miss this, but religion will not commend anyone to God for eternal life. Religion, and when I talk of religion, I talk of things, nothing bad in themselves, but things which people tend to hang on, things people refer to. Church attendance, there's nothing wrong with that. Baptism, nothing wrong with that. Keeping commandments, nothing wrong with that. Giving to the poor, the needy. Again, that's good. These things do not commend us to God for salvation. That's the point we must get hold of. There must be a top priority. As this person, he had a top priority and he tells us, in fact, in the book of Mark, Mark chapter 10, verse 17, Mark captures him doing this. He ran up and knelt before Jesus. Then he asked his question. So this was a top priority in this man's life. And this must be the urgent question for all this morning. Oh, please don't shake it off. Don't postpone it. Please don't. What must I do to get eternal life? But then in the second place, we see this. Many people are sadly mistaken in their seeking after eternal life. Many people are mistaken sadly in their seeking after eternal life. Under that, we see taught or captured in verses 18 to 20. And there are two things that come up under that, showing us how sadly people are mistaken. You see, because, for one thing, people are mistaken in the whole idea of God's goodness. God's goodness. People are mistaken. Look at verse 17, Matthew 19, verse 17. And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. Okay? There is only one who is good, the Lord Jesus tells him. Mark captures the same question and reports it this way. Mark chapter 10, verse 18, the parallel passage, that Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Now granted, this is a difficult verse. What exactly did Jesus mean? Now, many good people, many good preachers, many good commentators, people differ on this particular verse to what its meaning is. But also, as much as good people differ, also some ungodly people use this passage, this verse, to try to show that Jesus is not God. Obviously, they are wrong. They are wrong. Jesus is not, in this passage, denying His deity, no. For remember, the Bible teaches us that Jesus says clearly, I and the Father are one, in the Gospel of John. And we don't need to go far because in our very passage here, The Lord Jesus himself in verse 21, the Lord Jesus tells this young man something that surely can only add up to the fact that Jesus is God. Because he tells him in verse 21, Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me." So the Lord Jesus Christ puts himself at a very central place. This young man's perfection, this young man's eternal life, which Jesus had told him, if he would be perfect, then Let him relinquish various things. Let him then come and follow the one who alone will complete him. That is Jesus. No one else can complete us, can make us perfect, but God. And therefore Jesus is God. And so that does not need to be debated. Now, We move on and we see that in Matthew, this very chapter, verse 19, verse 16, verse 17, the man actually thought himself to be good. The man is talking in a way to indicate that he's good enough. All he needs is just a little more goodness. from another good person. That's really what he's saying here. When the Lord Jesus then tells him, look, why are you talking about good? No one is good but God alone. And then when Jesus says, listen, think of these commandments, he actually says, those ones I've done, I've done them, kept them. What do I still lack?" So he sees himself as pretty good. But true goodness is in God alone. And that goodness is received not by doing something to merit it. No. but as a gift that is freely received. So here is a man who is mistaken in the whole idea of the Lord's goodness. He's got no proper understanding. But that is not the only thing that this person is suffering from, no. Secondly, This man has a very shallow understanding of God's law. Honestly, the Lord Jesus sitting before him, various commandments, the number of the 10 commandments here, that is with a purpose. Here is a man who does not understand the law of God. verses 17 to 20, when the Lord Jesus says, keep the commandments, he then says, which ones? And Jesus responds, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear a false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor us yourself." And so we see that this man actually says, well, all these I have kept. What do I still lack? Now that is the man. This man, the Lord Jesus directs him to the Ten Commandments. Now, he actually reveals sincerity. He says, no, these things I have kept. He's sincere. But you know what? He is sincerely ignorant in his answer. When he said, all these I have kept, and in fact, Mark, the parallel passage adds by telling us, all these I have kept since youth. Since when I was a young toddler, I was brought up keeping these laws. What do I still lack? You see, he is showing a self-righteous attitude. In fact, he here, he is like the Apostle Paul before his conversion. The things which later in Philippians 3, verse 7, the apostle Paul came to realize and he says, I had to forgo, I had to abandon those things completely. Self-righteousness. You see, this rich young ruler was ignorant of the work of the law in the heart. You see, because the law comes with the knowledge of sin. The law brings about the knowledge of sin, should bring about that. But of course, when people have a shallow understanding, mistaken understanding, they will not see that. That's why we must think biblically. That's why we must think with the mind of Christ. You see, ignorance of the law and ignorance of the gospel will generally be found together. Someone has rightly said, when you don't understand the law of God, you will not understand and appreciate the gospel. So here, We see this man ignorant of the nature of the law. And as such, he was also ignorant and very unprepared of the blessing the gospel would bring. And so friends, many people still have no understanding of the law of God. Many people still have very shallow understanding of the law of God. And it needs to be emphasized that salvation is never through keeping the law. Let me illustrate. You see, I often would ask people, please tell me, What makes you think that you will go to heaven? Usually I would begin, are you hoping to go to heaven? Oh yes. So what makes you think you will go to heaven? And so often people would tell me, well, I try to do good. Of course, I keep the law of God. When I press them on, they may say, No, not perfectly. I've not kept the law perfectly, but I'm trying. They may choose to say, well, I have trouble with this and with the other, but on the other side, I really try. Now, they actually think they're going to heaven by keeping the law, by doing good. That will not do. Salvation is never through keeping the law of God. As we have said earlier, that actually comes from Romans chapter three, verse 20. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And so, one must pray that the Holy Spirit would show them their own sinfulness, God's own holiness, and urgent need of Christ. Now, those things are necessary. And unless we come to that awareness, no, we will not have genuine salvation. That needs to be said and underscored. And so, we have seen then two very important things. That one, many people feel the need and so ask, what must I do to get eternal life? A good question must be asked and asked urgently. And then in the second place, I've now shown you that unfortunately many people are sadly mistaken in their seeking after eternal life. Well, in the third and final place then, let me show you that eternal life comes through the way of repentance and faith. Eternal life. comes through the way of repentance and faith. And that we read verses, oh, verse 21. Let me read that. Then we seek to understand it. Verse 21, Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come. Follow me. You remember the great and urgent question, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Jesus sets before the rich ruler, the rich young ruler, what I am calling the basic requirements. If you like, the irreducible minimum that which can never be reduced below. You see, I've given this illustration before. If you have children and you really want them to feel that they are participating, let's say in high jump, what you do is you put a rope for them, but you put a rope low enough, quite low for them that they can actually jump through or walk through the rope. And when they do, then you say, good, you've done it. Now a child will be happy. When we lower a standard so that a person passes through, I mean, such a person will be happy. But here we are having irreducible minimum. There is something that you cannot reduce beyond that if someone were to have or is to have eternal life. What is it? There are two things. One, repentance, and two, faith. repentance and faith. You see, in our passage, if you would be perfect and mark the parallel passage, Mark chapter 10 verse 21 says, one thing you lack, one thing you're missing, you have come short of this one thing and without it, no eternal life. And so Mark tells us what kind of a heart, by the way, what kind of a heart attitude Jesus had toward this person when he was telling him, repent and believe. How was Jesus? What would we say was, true about Jesus as he spoke to this young man. In fact, Mark chapter 10 verse 21 captures it when Mark tells us, Jesus looking upon him loved him and said, and that's what Jesus said, go sell what you have. We are told it was from an attitude of love Now that is important. That's crucial. Let's learn that. And by application, by way of application, may I say this. Friends, when we preach and challenge you to repent and believe, we do not hate you, but we love you. We love you. We are taking after our Lord Jesus Christ when we proclaim the gospel. In this passage, Jesus had love for this young man when he told him, go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. In other words, you will have eternal life and come follow me. Now, you may raise an objection that you do not see the word repent, the word faith in that passage, in that verse 21. But let me prove to you that when we use or when we draw the conclusion that the irreducible demand if one would be saved is repent and believe. From verse 21, look at it. You see, as we are thinking about repentance, the call to abandon, the call to renounce, the call to forsake all that this man possesses, He is told to drop everything, to let go of everything. In fact, sell and give out. What was the Lord Jesus Christ saying? He is telling this man, I must have the first place in your life. And you have not been doing that. You have other things in your life. You have your possession in your life. In fact, that is your idol. Your reaches are your idol. And so, let go of those things. Turn away from them. Repentance is to turn away is to forsake, is to abandon. You must turn away. You must repent. So he had to repent of his sin. But it's not only that. There is also faith in this passage or demand of faith. It's not only to to let go of the things that he's holding and gluing himself to. He's also called upon to humble himself and to follow. How do we see that? Or where do we see that? You see, the Lord Jesus, having told him to go sell all that he has and give to the poor, then the Lord Jesus tells him, You will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. After you've done that, then follow me. And the point therefore that must be brought out is this. This is a call to humbly follow Jesus as Lord and Savior from now henceforth. And so we see those two things. You young man, you must turn away, you must abandon, you must forsake your possession. They are your idol. When you have done that, then in faith, in humility, in trust, you follow me. Hence, This is what this man is told. Turn away from your idle riches and come follow me, faith. You see, this particular demand Jesus lays on this man is not the general description to be applied to all men. No, let's get it clear and right here. This was appropriate to this person in his riches. He was charged with the sin of idol worship, which in his case was riches. Let me apply that. What is your idol today? What is your idol today? What must you get rid of in true repentance? And you know your own situation. You know the sins of your own heart. And I say this in deep and genuine love and concern. There are many of you who have been listening to these sermons now for over a year, close now to a year and a half. And I have sought to bring this to you every Lord's Day as the Lord has enabled me from an attitude of love because I desire that you would be saved. But I ask, therefore, what is that idol that you hold so dear, that you need to truly repent of? Could it be pride? Could it? Could it be a pursuit after excellence? In whatever way that would feature itself, you are pursuing excellence. You want to be on top, whether at work or at school, in college, and that preoccupies you. Could it be? But let me go deeper. Could it be you have an idol which you nurse, which you protect bitterness in the heart? Whatever may be raising it, but you are bitter at heart. And that is your idol, you protect it, you nurse it. Dear young people, could your idol be the fear to stand alone as a young person to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ there at college, there in your class? before your colleagues. Your idol could be a wish to remain relevant and acceptable among your peers and so you are constantly found compromising You know what your idol may be. You know what? A great encouragement from this passage, and as we borrow from the parallel passage in Mark, Christ's love. Christ loved the rich young ruler when he told him, repent, Abandon your idol, which is riches. Let go of that. Come and follow me. Christ loved him. And you know what? Christ's love to you should strongly encourage you to repent of any and every idol you hold, then turn to him in faith. But as I finish, let me say this because it's a part of the passage and we cannot, in any good conscience, leave it. Look at verse 22. In verse 22, We read this, when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. And so here in verse 22, we see sad and disastrous reaction of this man. He reacted in a sad way and in a very disastrous way. In fact, while Matthew says that he went away sorrowful, Mark tells us he went away disheartened and looked adds that he went away very sad. So you can see, sorrowful, disheartened, very sad, all describing how this man went away. At the saying of the Lord Jesus, where in love he told him, sell everything you have, let go of those things, repent of them. and believe in me, follow me." That saying cut into this man's heart. And he says, uh-uh, Jesus, you are asking too much. Oh no, I'll not stoop that low. And so he went away. in what we would call with a long face. He went away depressed. He went away very sad. Now, why? Why? Why with such good words? Why would he go away sad and with a long face and very sad? Why? Well, our passage tells us because he had great possession. plural, great possessions. In fact, Luke chapter 18 verse 23 says, he was extremely rich. You see, here, the man was before the very foundation of life, the very one who was talking to him. is the one who said, I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. That is what the Lord Jesus says. Yet this young man turns and goes away depressed and very sad. What? How could that happen? because he was tied to his riches and his riches tied to him. Oh, my friends, listen. Riches are a trap. Riches are a trap. If they come, if for whatever reason you get rich, don't cling to them. Attend to those riches in terms of money, material, brain, fame. Attend to those riches very loosely. Don't hang on them. Because when the demand comes upon you to let go of them, then you'll be broken at heart like this man. So let me ask you, have you been seeking the way of salvation? Have you? If the answer is yes, then here it is set before you. Repent of your sin. Whatever your idol is, that is your sin. Repent of your sin. and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be made to receive eternal life. You will receive it. You'll be made right with God. Or, my friend, will you also turn and go away sorrowful? Will you? Let us pray. Oh Lord, help us to learn from your word, as we have seen, to learn that riches are deceptive. May we not crave for riches. May we not yearn for them. Instead, help us to yearn and long to enter life. If you bring riches, may we not put our trust in them at all. Help us to learn to be content with such as you've given us, but help us to long to be right with you, and so be prepared for heaven. Lord, I pray, those who have listened to me, indeed to your word, Lord, may you help them to very seriously ask this urgent question, and to give themselves no rest, and to give you no rest, till it is well with their souls that they have eternal life. May they not run away sorrowful. Lord, hear our prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.