I want to thank Pastor Gabe and
this congregation for having me. I can't tell you what a blessing
it is to be here with you. Thank you, Brother Paul, for
that song. What a blessing. We're going to look at the story
in Matthew 19 tonight of a young man Who, if he had just known
that, things would have been much different. And as Brother Bruce said, and
thank you for that beautiful gospel message, Brother Bruce.
Clear as a bell and the best thing I've ever heard. Like I'd
never heard it before. You said in your message, the
problem with man is our estimation of him is too low. That was this
man's problem right here in Matthew 19, verse 16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
In another translation of this, in another account of this same
story, what he asked was, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? And there's a problem with that
question. An inheritance is not received
based on what you do, is it? We just saw that in a message
recently. An inheritance is based on relationship
and choice. You have some relationship with
that person. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. And it's given by choice. It's given who you want
to receive it. Isn't that right? Fear not, little
flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you his kingdom. But what good thing shall I do?
And of all the possible answers to
that man's question, you think of all the different ways the
Lord could have answered that question. Who would have ever,
could you have ever predicted that he would have answered that
way, the way that he did? There's nobody good but one. It's the perfect answer. Isn't
it amazing? You see all the different situations
that the Lord orchestrated that are recorded in his word. Have
you ever thought about what's the perfect thing to say in this
given situation? What's the perfect thing to say?
Just look at what he said. Perfect. The perfect answer to
this question. Why are you calling me good? I'm not saying it's perfect based
on my understanding of what perfect is. I know it's perfect because
of who he is. And by his grace, I see this.
Our Lord just taught this young man the first two things he needed
to know before entering into a conversation regarding measuring
up to God's standard. That's what this conversation
is about. What do I got to do to get where I need to go? How
can I be good enough to deserve eternal life? All right, here's
what you need to know. First of all, if you ain't God,
you ain't good. This is the perfect answer to
that question, isn't it? Because this man thought he was
good. That's evident from the text. Unless you're God, you
ain't. You're wrong about yourself now. If you're going to enter into
the kingdom of God based on merit, doing something, then you must
be good. It's not about doing good. It's
about being good. And let me be clear, this man
asked now, he said, what must I do? And our Lord spoke of what
he must be. He said, would you be perfect?
We're going to get to that in a minute. If you're going to
do something, you're going to have to be something. Is that
right? You're not going to get clean
water out of a dirty fountain. Adam, before the fall, was good.
But no man since the fall has been good. And therefore, there's
nothing you can do to deserve or inherit eternal life. Nothing.
With men, again in the same text here, with men it's impossible. It's impossible. The more you
do, and including and especially your religious attempts to be
good and to measure up to God's standard, because God hates your
religious self-righteousness more than anything else. The
more you do, the more you owe. And the second thing that's clear
from what our Lord answered this man here is this. First, he told
him something about himself, about the man, told him something
about himself. If you're not God, you're not
good like you think you are. And the second thing that's clear
here, he answered this man the way he did to teach him this. If I'm good, then I'm God. You just called me good. Do you
mean that? And here's the thing about that.
If you know, here's the implication. If he's God, if he is, you said
I'm good, there's nothing good but God. So if I'm God, then
you'd be out of your ever loving mind not to sell everything you
have and give it to the poor and come follow me. You see what
he said? That that's the perfect answer
to his question. The perfect answer. And this
is the question. Who is this? Who is this? If you can see Christ and you
know Him for who He is, I'm not worried about you, about what
you're gonna do. Are you? You just gotta see Him. Look unto Him. Look upon Him
whom you've pierced with the eye of faith, God-given faith.
I'm not worried about you. The blind man in John chapter
nine was asked by the Lord, do you believe on the Son of God? And that man said, who is he,
Lord, that I might believe on him? Who is he? That's the question. And the Lord said, you've both
seen him? A man who just a little while ago wasn't seeing anything,
and there's a reason why now he can see anything. He said,
you're looking at him, and it's he that speaketh with thee. And the man who had been blind
said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. There's the difference. Who is he? Who is he? And that's
what this man couldn't see. He called him good, and you see
that answer our Lord gave. There's none good but one, that's
God. If I'm good, then I'm God. If we ever see him, we won't even bother to go back
and sell all our good, we'll phone that in. We'll never take
our eyes off of him again. Never look back. And this is
what our Lord dealt with in the text. Who is he and what is good? And having begun that way, he
added that last part in verse 17 there. There's none good but
one. That is God. Let me get over
there. I was talking and not turning a while ago. Matthew
19. In verse 17, look what he said. But if thou will enter into life.
Keep the commandments. You know what the what the Word
of God says about what God requires. And having answered him the way
he did, he adds that part now. If thou wilt enter into the life,
keep the commandments, not just one good thing. He said, what
good thing must I do? Not just one good thing, all
the good things. That's what you gotta do, all
of them. And if you're gonna get in based
on goodness, you, as Paul said in Galatians 5.3, you're a debtor
to do the whole law of God. It's not just one good thing.
And the man was ready for that, though, wasn't he? He was ready
for that. He came there thinking he was righteous. And so that
didn't intimidate him at all, did it? Didn't bother him a bit. It should have caused him to
despair of goodness. And it only didn't because he didn't know
what the law said. He knew the law, but he didn't
know what it said. Paul said in Galatians 4.21, tell me you
that desire to be under the law, don't you hear it? And that's
a rhetorical question, isn't it? The clear implication being
you don't hear it. If you desire to be under the
law before God, you don't know what the law is saying. You don't
know what the law requires. Apparently this young man was
not present in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount where he showed
how that it's in our heart, what we think in our heart. We break
God's law in our heart. It's not just our actions. This
man was proud of his actions. We're not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we're sinners. That's what our Lord taught in
that sermon. It's because of what's in our hearts that we
do what we do. We've already sinned in our hearts.
Or maybe he was there, and like so many, he just didn't have
ears to hear. Blessed are your ears, he said to his disciples,
because they can hear me. They hear me. But our Lord has
purposed to expose this man's hypocrisy right here on the spot.
Now that's what he does, and you think about this. The man
claimed to have never murdered anybody. Who's gonna prove otherwise
right there on the spot? He apparently hadn't done so
outwardly. Who's gonna expose his sin of being angry against
a brother and murdering in his heart? Nobody could do that,
and it couldn't be proven. If you've ever hated anyone,
you've killed them. God said, the Lord said, he claimed to
have never committed adultery. He said, I've kept all of these
from my youth up. Even though our Lord said, if you just look
on a woman, you've committed adultery in your heart. This
young man claimed here to have never lied. I shall not bear
false witness. When he said, I've kept these
from my youth up, he broke that one right there, didn't he? He
lied right there. But nobody could know that except
the Lord. And remember, our Lord is teaching not this young ruler
alone. This man walked away sorrowful. And you might think, well, boy,
this whole thing is a failure. This man walks away with nothing.
This whole thing. Paul said, whether it's the saver
of life or death, it's a triumph in Christ. If Christ is honored,
it's a victory. It's a win, isn't it? It's a
win. But nobody can know this man's
heart except the Lord. And remember, our Lord is teaching
all of them. His disciples, they had a question later, didn't
they? And the Lord's teaching them. They're watching all this.
So how will Christ expose this man's hypocrisy right here, right
now, on this day, when this man comes? How is he going to expose
his hypocrisy? Look at the wisdom of our Lord Verse 21 Jesus said unto him
if thou will be perfect Go and sell that thou hast and give
to the poor and Thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and
follow me you think about that question if God Almighty and
the Son of God God in human flesh. This man met the fountain. He met that day the one who gives
life to whom he will, just gives it to whom he will, at his own
sovereign discretion and pleasure. And he asked him, would you be
made perfect? Do you want to be perfect? And
this is what I was saying a while ago. This man said, what must
I do? The Lord's saying, it's what
you need to be. That's the issue. You need to
be something that you're not. If thou wilt be perfect. The problem is what you are.
There is none good. But our Lord asked this man,
will you be perfect? That's what this is about. A
sinner is what you are, not what you do. And being saved isn't
about what you do either. But look at what our Lord tells
him to do. Right here, Christ both exposes his sin and tells
him how to be saved in this one beautiful, perfect statement. If you would be perfect, go and
sell all you have and give it to the poor. he exposes his sin
in that the very first commandment that this young man just got
through saying, I've kept them all. You know what the first
one is? I am the Lord thy God, which has brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and thou shalt
have no other gods before me. So what did he tell him to do?
Go get rid of your gods and come follow the true God. Let's just
start with number one. You've kept them all. So he exposes
his hens here. Why did this young man go away?
Why did he go away? Verse 22, great possessions. Great possessions. What did our
Lord say in Matthew 6, 24? He said, no man can serve two
masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You can't
serve God and mammon. Thou shalt serve the Lord thy
God. No other gods before me. This young man had a God called
Mammon. And our Lord told him to leave
his God and follow the God, the true God, the one God. And he
could not do it. As our Lord says later in this
text, with men it's impossible. No man can come unto me our lord
said except the father which has sent me draw him Notice something here the lord
said that if this man would do this thing That as we've seen
it's impossible for him to do He'd be perfect If you can do what's impossible
you'd be perfect, but here's the thing about it It's not possible
and yet many have done it Many have done it. Isn't that right? The Lord said to his disciples,
how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of God. With
men it's impossible. Then what do you do? He went
and saved Zion's kids. And the only thing we know about him
is he was a rich man. Many have left everything and
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why? Because with God,
all things are possible. Salvation is not up to you. No. God hasn't done all he can
do. Aren't you glad? Because I still
need him to do some things for me. I'm glad he hasn't done all
he can do. How many many many millions upon
millions 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands Have
followed him. He said my sheep hear my voice
and what do they do? They follow me If you have if you have if you've
done that tonight you're perfect perfect And you know this, it's
not because that God accepts that one act as compensation
for all of the law that you haven't kept. Well, you haven't kept
the law, and that's bad, but if you do this one good thing,
it'll outweigh that. No, no, no, no, that's not what
this is. The reason he says this is because the way sinners are
made perfect is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when God in his infinite grace gives you faith in his
son, you're going to abandon every other hope, every other
trust, every other thing that you thought was valuable before,
and you're fixing to follow him. That's how you save sinners.
And when he does, he makes them perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. Guarantee you if God gives you
faith in his son faith to see him for who he is And again,
that's what we've been saying all night. Isn't it Bruce? You
just need to see him for who he is That's all If the Lord will give you eyes
to see Blessed are your eyes for they see You'll see and you'll
follow him and you'll be perfect If God gives you faith to see
Him for who He is, faith to see Him as the righteousness of God,
God's righteousness, wherein a sinner can stand accepted of
God. And if you're going to be accepted
of God, you're going to have to be perfect, aren't you? Perfect. Faith to see Him as the propitiation
for your sins. The fountains open for sin, and
it's open for unrighteousness. He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners. And if you come to him as a wretched,
vile, hell-bound sinner, and see him as he is, and lay hold
of him, see him as your sin offering, your propitiation here in his
love, not that we love God. but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the perpetuation of our sins, he'd be perfect. In order for that man to abandon
everything, sell everything he had, he had
great possessions. For him to sell everything he
had and give it to the poor and come follow Christ, he'd have
had to have thought awful highly of him, wouldn't he? Only God can make that happen. By faith, Moses chose the reproach
of Christ over all the treasures of Egypt. By faith. What a gift. What a gift. By grace are you
saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's God's precious, priceless gift. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Turn to John chapter 19. How does it make you perfect
to come to Christ, to follow him, to leave everybody and every
other hope, every other trust, every other security? That's
what those things were to him. And follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
How does that make you perfect? Well, I've got a rather lengthy
passage here. that I'll just read part of.
I want you to see it, one word. In John 19. I'll just read part
of it, because I know the flesh is weak, isn't it? My flesh and
yours. John 19, verse 17. Let's begin with verse 17. This is the one, this is that
fountain open for sin. This is the one that this young
man came to and was speaking with. It says, and he bearing
his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull,
which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified
him. And two others with him on either
side, one in Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was not to
the city. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. And then said the chief priests
of the Jews to pilot right not the King of the Jews, but that
he said, I am King of the Jews. The pilot answered, what I have
written, I have written. And then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now, the coat was without
seam, woven from the top throughout. And they said, therefore, among
themselves, let us not render, but cast lots for it, whose it
shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith
they parted my raiment among them. And for my vesture they
did cast lots. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother
and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas and Mary
Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. And then saith he to the
disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her into his own home And after this Jesus knowing that
all things were now accomplished. Why did I read all that? Just
want to see one word because this is the accomplishment of
it Scripture might be fulfilled
he saith I thirst now there was a vest set a vessel full of vinegar
and they filled a sponge with vinegar And put it up on hyssop
and put it to his mouth and when Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar. He said it is And he bowed his head And he gave up the ghost. This is one word that our Lord
uttered in verse 30 there. It is finished. It's one word.
And you know what it is? It's the verb form of the exact
same word that's in verse 21 of our text in adjective form.
Same word. Wilt thou be made perfect? Forget everything and everybody
else. And come follow me. If that will be perfect. To Leo. You see, our Lord didn't just
expose this man's sin here in our text, and that's the only
way he could have done it. Something something needs to happen right
now. We can't look into your heart today, but he's teaching
his disciples something he remembered. He could have exposed that man's
heart to him, but these disciples are looking and they're learning,
they're listening. They're hearing what our Lord said. And he's
gonna expose his problem right now, today. You follow me, you
leave it all and follow me. He exposed his sin, but I'll
tell you what else he did. He told him what salvation is.
Come follow me. He told him how he saved sinners.
If you will be perfect, abandon all that you are, all that you
have, all that you've earned by your own labors. That's what
that represents now, his labor. I've earned these things. I've
worked hard for these things. I can't just go sell them and
give it to the poor don't deserve it. I'm the one that earned them.
All your labors. And this is a spiritual lesson
now. all that you think you have earned,
and trust the Son of God. Can you imagine the trust that
would have been required to leave everything? As Ikea said, I'm going to restore,
I believe it's fourfold, wasn't it, to everybody I've ripped
off, and then I'm going to give the rest to the poor? I don't need it. I have everything.
That's what Jacob said. Everything. Hmm. Abandon yourself, all that you've
done, all that you are, all that you think. And trust the son
of God who is himself the goodness of God. He is the one good man. And my goodness, my perfection
is him and what he did. And had done and was doing and
when he said this word from the cross. He said it's finished
it's perfect and it was. When the Lord Jesus spoke that
word from the cross, he was certainly speaking of the work that the
father had sent him to do, no doubt. He had completed it to
perfection. Everything the father gave him
to do. The work of righteousness brought out by everything he
did. The work of redemption and being
our sin offering. He did what we couldn't do and
paid for what we did do. The satisfaction of God's justice,
the redemption of my soul, the souls of his people. That is
a completed perfect work. But you know what else he was
talking about when he said it's perfect? He was talking about me. He's
talking about you. If he did that for you. When
he said perfect. You know how I know that? Well,
that sounds like kind of a stretch, Chris. Well, it might if it wasn't
for Hebrews 10, 12. Listen to it. But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right
hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever. Everybody he sanctified Will
thou be perfect What do you have this evening
that would keep you from him a Righteousness Any other hope
is there anything that would keep you from the Lord Jesus
Christ Whosoever will save his life will lose it But whosoever
shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall
save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Christ is all. Christ is all. Christ is all. Thank you, brother.