INTRODUCTION

Belief in some kind of future life, or life after death, or a tendency toward such belief, seems to be. implanted in the human mind by the Creator. Only in the Bible, however, do we find reliable information concerning man's fallen nature and concerning the divine provision of grace in Jesus Christ for the salvation from eternal ruin to eternal bliss of all who trust in Him. Life here on earth is very short and eternity is infinitely long. Wisdom demands preparation in this life for the best position open to us in the life to come.

Outline of this lesson follows:

1. Desire, Matthew 19:16-19. 
a. Longing for life, 16. 
b. Lord of life, 17. 
c. Laws of life, 18-19. 

2. Defeat, Matthew 19:20-22. 
a. Mistaken morality, 20. 
b. Master's mandate, 21. 
c. Mournful mammon, 22. 

3. Difficulty, Matthew 19:23-26. 
a. Financial failure, 23-24. 
b. Faithful facility, 25-26. 

4. Degrees, Matthew 19:27-30. 
a. Rewards related, 27-29. 
b. Roles reversed. 30.
 

NOTES ON THE TEXT:

DESIRE, Matthew 19:16-19.

Here we have Matthew's account of the rich young ruler's encounter with Jesus, and of Jesus' comments to His disciples in this connection. The same episode, with a few additional details, is recorded in Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18: 18-30.

At least we may commend this inquirer for having some desire for a better and eternal life. Almost everyone, no doubt, has some such desire; but men have different notions as to what is good and better, and as to the comparative values of different levels of life. To provide effective motivation, the desire for eternal life must be stronger than all earthly desires combined.

Longing for Life, 16.

Naturally men would like to get to heaven on their own terms. This rich man evidently had heard enough about Jesus to consider it worth his while to seek some guidance from the "Good Master." The word translated "Master" here really means "Teacher." Sad to say, multitudes of people, like this young ruler, pretend to recognize Jesus as a great and good Teacher; but their longing for life is not strong enough to make them accept His teachings.

Lord of Life, 17.

Yet if Jesus is truly the Good Teacher (as indeed He is), then He is God, because this fact is an integral and essential part of teaching. He always gives the right answers, because He is truth incarnate [John 14:6]. So if a man wants to know what good thing he must DO in order to have eternal life, the answer is simple: Keep the commandments of God.

Clearly enough, Jesus is the only Man in history Who perfectly succeed in this task. All other men must learn to recognize their own failure and lack of merit before they are ready to trust in the merits of Christ as their sufficient Savior.

Laws for Life, 18-19.

Apart from Christ, the curse of God is upon "everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" [Galatians 3:10]. But this young man, like most other people, instead of recognizing his obligation to obey all the commandments of God, thought that he might cheat his way in with a partial obedience, and so he asked, "Which?"

Even so, Jesus quoted more than enough of God's laws for life to convict the man of sin, if he had been better acquainted with himself and with the Scriptures.

DEFEAT, Matthew 19:20-22.

Jesus was not the kind of that softens and compromises the message so that it can be easily "accepted" by unrepentant sinners. When the stern message of truth is rejected by the sinner, this is not a defeat of the truth or of the witness; it is a defeat of the soul that rejects the truth. See II Corinthians 2:14-16; Isaiah 55:10-11.

Mistaken Morality, 20.

Twice, here, and in verse 22, Matthew refers to this man of wealth and station as "the young man." No doubt he was a young man of good moral character by human standards, but it was in the rashness and ignorance of youth that he mistook this morality for perfect obedience to the commandments of God. Nevertheless he did realize that somehow he still felt short of divine demands; hence the question, "What lack I yet?"

Master's Mandate, 21.

Generalities can sometimes be more easily evaded than specific applications. Jesus had a way of applying the commandments of God's Word to details of everyday life. It was easy enough for the young man to claim that he had loved his neighbor as himself from his youth up. But now Jesus put him to a practical test: did he love his neighbors enough to distribute his wealth to the poor? Beyond that, did he love God enough, or even trust God enough, to choose treasure in heaven rather than treasure on earth? Most important, did he love this "Good Teacher" enough to forsake all else and follow Him?

Mournful Mammon, 22.

So it was demonstrated again that "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" [Matthew 6:24]. The rich young man "went away sorrowful" -- but he went away.

DIFFICULTY, Matthew 19:23-26.

Evidently then the rich have more than ordinary difficulty in entering the kingdom of God. There is no reason to suppose that the camel mentioned here is anything other than a literal camel; there is no reason to imagine that the needle is anything other than a literal and ordinary needle. Jesus meant to declare and illustrate a human impossibility, and that is exactly what he did, infidels to the contrary notwithstanding.

Financial Failure, 23-24.

Rich men are naturally inclined to trust in their riches to get them anything they desire, though even in this world there are some things that money cannot buy. Some rich men may never experience financial failure while life and health remain, but their wealth will finally fail them as death approaches, and all that money will help them not at all toward the kingdom of heaven.

Faithful Facility, 25-26.

"Who then can be saved?" To some extent, at least, the disciples understood the meaning of Jesus' words. But for the moment they seemed to forget that the salvation of rich and poor alike is impossible apart from the saving grace of God. And God never fails to accomplish His purpose, though it seem impossible to men. Failure of human resources makes room for faith in God, and God is able quite easily, on the terms of His Word, to translate believers into His kingdom.

DEGREES, Matthew 19:27-30.

Finally we note that there are degrees of reward for the saved, as well as degrees of punishment for the lost. God "will render to every man according to his deeds" [Romans 2:6].

Rewards Related, 27-29.

Getting into God's kingdom in purely a matter of divine grace, but rewards in that kingdom are related to our faithfulness in His service. Too many Christians do not know or understand this distinction. The true apostles of our Lord made extraordinary sacrifices, and their eternal rewards will be proportionately greater than most. But there are rewards -- hundredfold rewards -- for every faithful and sacrificial followers of Jesus. The everlasting life to be inherited is a fuller measure of the same quality of life already possessed by genuine believers [John 6:47].

Roles Reversed, 30.

But the Lord Himself is our Judge, not the world, not even the so-called Christian world. And He judges according to the eternal verities of His Word, not according to the fleeting fancies and fashions of men. So Jesus warns us that many Christians of first rank in their own eyes and in the eyes of their fellows will appear as last in His eyes, while many other Christians ranking last in the fame and esbroiteem of this world will be found in first place with Him.

CONCLUSION [Matthew 5:19:

Certainly this statement of Jesus does not mean that all commandments are of equal importance: He expressly refers to "least commandments."

More certainly yet, it does not mean that the least important commandments are to be blown up and emphasized out of all proportion while the more important commandments are neglected.

Plainly the truth is that faithful servants of God will rightly divide His Word, will emphasize what the Bible emphasizes, but will not feel free to neglect even the least command of God. Such faithfulness will be rewarded with high position in His kingdom, while unfaithfulness to the least command will lead to the least position in that kingdom.
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[From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, July 9, 1976, Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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