Matt 19:17 He said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep*~ the commandments."
The world and all religions are convinced that anyone can decide to be good enough for heaven, but the issue is that we will all face a holy God for His acceptance. Jesus had just told His listeners “little children” should not be hindered from coming to Jesus “for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (19:14). Then this rich young ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (19:16), as though one good deed would out-weigh all his bad deeds.
Earlier in the conversation Jesus had said that heaven is so easy to enter that a child will easily find it. Now Jesus’ response to the inquiry of this rich ruler is harsh because he knew what was in his mind and heart, as He does all seekers. There is only one way to come to God.
Jesus’ opening remark corrected the ruler’s wrong view of Jesus’ deity and eliminated all human hope of ever being good enough to become acceptable: “There is only One who is good,” referring to God. Was there a pause to see if he would respond with something like, “That is why I called you ‘good’ – You are God in human form and I am not worthy?” But there was no such response.
So Jesus gave him a second test, “If you want to enter into life, immediately decide to keep or obey the commandments.” He wanted to see if the rich ruler would admit his failure to be holy and confess his sins. He was using the law to produce conviction of sin and a sense of desperate unworthiness in the man’s heart, but pride quenched the Spirit’s work again.
When the young ruler asked, “Which one?” he revealed his desire to brag about his self-righteousness. Jesus quoted five of the ten commandments concluding with, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (19:19). Blinded by his own ego, pride, self-importance and self-delusion he boasted that he had always obeyed these commandments. He refused to recognize he was a sinner and by no means would he ever admit to such disobedience.
The first sign of a lost person is found in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” The truth is that he had disobeyed all these commands and selfishly had ignored the needs of his “neighbor.”
With one final attempt to break through his pride, Jesus said to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor, then “come and follow me.” The difficulty the ruler felt in being unwilling to sell his possessions, should have revealed his covetousness (violating the 10th commandment) to confess, “Lord, I see how selfish and covetous I have been. I’m a sinner by every measure in the commands of God’s Word. Can there be any mercy for such a sinner as I?” That should have been his question.
Instead he went away sorrowful, but not with the sorrow that leads to repentance, rather he left with the sorrow of unwillingness to be broken, which leads to self-centered remorse and self-pity. There was no change. His love for money and possessions revealed his disobedience to the first and tenth commandments (Ex 20:3, 17). If he would have come as a child in simple faith despite his unworthiness, he would have been welcomed, forgiven and freed. Have you learned that no one can be good enough for God?
Psalms 69:5 O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You.
For a year's daily devotional of these Bible studies, order a copy of the book Truths to Live By at Branches Publications for your copy.
The world and all religions are convinced that anyone can decide to be good enough for heaven, but the issue is that we will all face a holy God for His acceptance. Jesus had just told His listeners “little children” should not be hindered from coming to Jesus “for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (19:14). Then this rich young ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (19:16), as though one good deed would out-weigh all his bad deeds.
Earlier in the conversation Jesus had said that heaven is so easy to enter that a child will easily find it. Now Jesus’ response to the inquiry of this rich ruler is harsh because he knew what was in his mind and heart, as He does all seekers. There is only one way to come to God.
Jesus’ opening remark corrected the ruler’s wrong view of Jesus’ deity and eliminated all human hope of ever being good enough to become acceptable: “There is only One who is good,” referring to God. Was there a pause to see if he would respond with something like, “That is why I called you ‘good’ – You are God in human form and I am not worthy?” But there was no such response.
So Jesus gave him a second test, “If you want to enter into life, immediately decide to keep or obey the commandments.” He wanted to see if the rich ruler would admit his failure to be holy and confess his sins. He was using the law to produce conviction of sin and a sense of desperate unworthiness in the man’s heart, but pride quenched the Spirit’s work again.
When the young ruler asked, “Which one?” he revealed his desire to brag about his self-righteousness. Jesus quoted five of the ten commandments concluding with, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (19:19). Blinded by his own ego, pride, self-importance and self-delusion he boasted that he had always obeyed these commandments. He refused to recognize he was a sinner and by no means would he ever admit to such disobedience.
The first sign of a lost person is found in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” The truth is that he had disobeyed all these commands and selfishly had ignored the needs of his “neighbor.”
With one final attempt to break through his pride, Jesus said to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor, then “come and follow me.” The difficulty the ruler felt in being unwilling to sell his possessions, should have revealed his covetousness (violating the 10th commandment) to confess, “Lord, I see how selfish and covetous I have been. I’m a sinner by every measure in the commands of God’s Word. Can there be any mercy for such a sinner as I?” That should have been his question.
Instead he went away sorrowful, but not with the sorrow that leads to repentance, rather he left with the sorrow of unwillingness to be broken, which leads to self-centered remorse and self-pity. There was no change. His love for money and possessions revealed his disobedience to the first and tenth commandments (Ex 20:3, 17). If he would have come as a child in simple faith despite his unworthiness, he would have been welcomed, forgiven and freed. Have you learned that no one can be good enough for God?
Psalms 69:5 O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You.
For a year's daily devotional of these Bible studies, order a copy of the book Truths to Live By at Branches Publications for your copy.
I really like this post, Don! We can't keep "the rules" can we? How thankful I am for God's grace! I love your blog :0)
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