Matthew 19:16–22:
“Now someone came up to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?’ 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.’ ‘Which ones?’ he asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’
The young man said to Him, ‘I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ But when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.”
I am exploring this passage as a warning to people who want to say Jesus does not really mean what He said—who want to blunt the force of the divine demand on this man. I am taking it verse by verse, and I am now combining verse 18 and verse 19, where Jesus begins to “lay it on him”:
“‘Which ones?’ he asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Jesus had said, “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” The man says, “Which ones?” because there are a lot. There are many commandments.
How do you keep up? How do you know you have not broken one of them? How do you know you have really loved your neighbor as yourself? How do you know you have truly honored your father and mother? “Do not give false testimony”—are you sure you have never shaded the truth? “Do not steal”—what if you have stolen before? “Do not commit adultery.” “Do not murder.”
Jesus is giving him these laws: “Do these things, and you will enter into life.”
You might ask, “Does this mean this is all about rule‑keeping?” Eventually, you will see it is not ultimately about rule‑keeping. There is only one thing in the end—believe in the One He has sent so that you may be saved (John 6:29; Acts 16:31)—but Jesus is coming to this man at his level, having a conversation with him as an evangelist. “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
But we know you cannot really keep the commandments. You can think you do, but from God’s perspective, when He “X‑rays” people, He finds many things undone.
Think of Cain. “Do not murder,”—but from the beginning, we see murder. Cain and Abel offered sacrifices; Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, Cain’s was not, and Cain was full of rage. He murdered his brother (Genesis 4:1–8).
“Do not commit adultery,”—but adultery has taken over the world. “Do not steal”—people steal every day. “Do not give false testimony”—people lie and twist facts. “Honor your father and mother”—many do not. “Love your neighbour as yourself”—we do not do this.
And you say to yourself, “I do not murder.” Jesus says, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not be angry at all” when He equates anger with murder (Matthew 5:21–22). And you might say, “I do not commit adultery.” Jesus says if you look with lust, you have already committed adultery in your heart (Matthew 5:27–28).
You may say, “I will repent now and not try to do it again.” But what about what you have already done? What about what has already happened?
This man said, “I have not defaulted in all these things.”
That is why I said yesterday that Paul wrote that the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24), so that we will be saved—that He will be our Saviour.
After lamenting, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” in Romans 7, Paul’s conclusion is: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25). Christ has to be the focus. Christ is the One telling this man, “Here are the commandments.” He asks, “Which ones?” It is as if he is saying, “I’ve got five minutes, Jesus—give me something quick.”
Jesus has the patience to have this conversation. He speaks to the man at his level, because the man is asking, “What should I do?” So Jesus answers from within that frame: “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.”
Have I loved my neighbor as myself? That is so broad—how do you know you have or have not done it? And God is the Judge. He is the One who will determine that.
This man does not want to reach the end and find out that something is missing, so he now comes up front: “What do I still lack?” As you will see, he is not willing and not truly ready.
And the reason I am exploring this passage is to say: do not blunt the force of the divine demand in the words of Jesus. Do not do to the words of Jesus what Jesus said the Pharisees did to the word of God—where they elevated their own rules, their traditions, and suppressed the commandments of God (Matthew 15:3–9).
Let us not be like them, suppressing the word of God. Let us not be like them, saying that the word of God “does not really mean what it says.”
I have listened to messages that try to recast this as, “He doesn’t really mean ‘sell to the poor’” Why? Because those teachers are coming from a materialistic bent that the Bible is trying to free us from.
They forget Jesus’ warning against covetousness: “Watch out and guard yourself from all types of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). They forget His words: “You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). They may for example, that giving lots of money to them is how you “prove” you don’t love money. But that is not what Jesus is saying.
God bless you. See you later.