Give your whole self to Jesus. The rich young ruler had many advantages, but his pride and dishonesty before God held him back. His wealth became a hurdle to his salvation, and he wouldn’t let it go. That was his false god. Remember, when you give everything to Jesus, you never truly lose. Did you know that? You gain so much more. He blesses you now and in the future.
Jesus isn’t setting rules for salvation; He’s showing the young man’s true character. His refusal to follow reveals two things: he isn’t innocent under the law because he values himself and his possessions more than others (see Matthew 19:19), and he lacks real faith, which means being willing to give everything for Christ (Matthew 16:24). Jesus isn’t advocating for salvation through good deeds; He’s asking this young man to put Him first. The young man fails this test (Matthew 19:22).
We really need the truth in this message. There are many modern, unbiblical ways of sharing the gospel. Our mass evangelism, with its quick decisions, statistics, and rush to come to Jesus, creates a false sense of security for many who think they are saved when they are not. We must turn to this passage for its crucial guidance.
Exodus 8:1-9:35
Matthew 19:13-30
Psalm 24:1-10
Proverbs 6:1-5
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New Testament: Matthew 19:13-30
Summary:
Let the Children Come to Me
The Rich Young Man
Overview: Matthew 14 – 28 – Click Here
Grace to You
Anyone who’s in any kind of ministry at all, and even people who are lay people like yourselves, perhaps, out sharing Jesus Christ, have those occasions where someone prays a prayer with you, or someone is led to Christ by you, and you see no change in their life, nothing really happens differently, and they never ever connect up with the church in any ongoing sense at all. And if you’ve been struggling with why that happens, then I think you’re going to find the answer to that in the message this morning.
I don’t think I really understood fully why that happened until I understood this particular story that’s here in Matthew 19. The passage before us gives us an insight that I think is extremely valuable. We might even say that Matthew 19:16 to 22 is an illustration of another truth, and that truth is very clearly articulated in Luke 14:33. And maybe in the margin of Matthew 19:16 to 22, you ought to write Luke 14:33, because I believe this explains the meaning of that verse.
Luke 14:33 says this: “So likewise, whosoever he is of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be My disciple.” Now that is a very straightforward truth. Unless you forsake all that you have, you cannot be the Lord’s disciple. Salvation is not for people who pray a prayer necessarily, or people who think they need Jesus Christ, it is for people who forsake all. There is an abandonment of everything in genuine salvation. And that, I think, is the essence of what our Lord is teaching us through His encounter with the young man in Matthew 19. ….
I guess I have to say this has got to be the hottest evangelistic prospect in the gospel so far. I mean this guy is really ripe. He is ready. But the amazing thing is he goes away without ever receiving eternal life. And the reason he goes away is because he is not willing to forsake everything.
Jesus actually set up an insurmountable barrier for the man. Instead of taking him where he was and just getting him to make the quote/unquote “decision,” Jesus stops him dead in his tracks and makes it impossible for him to get saved on those terms, which he had already had come to.
Now you say, “What kind of evangelism is this? Jesus would have flunked the evangelism seminar. He doesn’t know how to get closure. He doesn’t know how to draw the net. He doesn’t know how to sign the guy up. I mean you get a guy coming along saying, ‘I want eternal life,’ you’ve got a hot one. You don’t want to lose it.”
But, oh, do we need the truth that’s in this text. We have so many contemporary, unbiblical modes of evangelism. Our mass evangelism with its decisions, statistics, and its aisle-walking, and its “hurry up and come to Jesus,” and “just believe and there’s nothing else” kind of approach is leading all kinds of people into the delusion that they’re saved when, in fact, they’re not. And so we must go to this passage for its very important instruction.
Matthew 19:26
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