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, 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.”
“Now someone came up to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?’”
Look at that word: gain. He wants to qualify. He wants to achieve it and be done. “I’ve done this, and now I’m done. I don’t want to be burdened by this uncertainty of not having gained eternal life, of what is still lacking, of what is left for me to do. I want the silver bullet.”
“What good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”
He wants it as an achievement.
But the Bible says no one can boast before God. God has decided to save through “the foolishness of preaching,” so that no one will boast before Him (1 Corinthians 1:21, 29). So that it can be only by grace.
But this man is not thinking grace. He is thinking works. “I want to gain it.”
A lot of the preaching we hear is like that: How do I gain it? How do I get it? How do I make it? How do I achieve it? Tell me the thing to do. Tell me what to do. Tell me how much I need to do. Tell me the steps.”
This man wants to gain it.
But Scripture will help us to understand that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, who gives generously (James 1:17). He is generous. He is kind even to the ungrateful (Luke 6:35). That is who God is. It is not a trade‑by‑barter. We come to Him depending on His mercy, on His grace.
In Jesus Christ the revelation of His grace and mercy becomes manifest. As it is written, we can come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)—because of Jesus, not because of us. It is Christ who has “gained” it. It is Christ who has done that thing. It is Christ who hung on the cross.
In John 3, Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that whoever looked at it lived, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). The poison of sin has entered into all and is leading to inevitable death, but those who look to Jesus will be saved.
Jesus is not unpacking all that in this short exchange. He is meeting the man at his level. We must situate this within the wider gospel message: that only Christ is Saviour, and only Christ can save us—not our rule‑keeping.
“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.’”
“If you wish to be perfect…”
Then: go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.
This is now the crux of the matter.
“Am I also supposed to go and sell?” The instruction is not to you; the instruction is to this young man. Jesus did not go around telling everybody they must sell everything. He gives this man an answer: “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
And we tend to forget the last phrase: “Then come, follow Me.”
That is it. “These things will not allow you to follow Me; therefore, deal with them.”
The instruction to “go sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven… then come, follow Me.” So it is not enough to sell everything and give it away. The issue is following Jesus.
The man came looking for “one thing to do,” not for Someone to follow. He wants to live life on his own terms. But you cannot live your life on your own terms.
Elsewhere Jesus says you must be willing to take up your cross daily and follow Him; otherwise you cannot be His disciple (Luke 9:23; 14:27). Carry your cross and follow Me. He is the salvation. He is eternal life.
So in a way, we might say: if you want to be “perfect,” if you want to lack nothing, if you want there to be “nothing still left to do,” then follow Jesus. The divine demand here is following Jesus. This man has other plans for his life.
Let this be an example to us: whatever that “thing” is in our own life, the writer of Hebrews says we should “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
For this man, its about his relationship with money, and how that hinders him from following Christ. Jesus says, “Go sell all you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven… then come, follow Me.”
In another place He says, “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth… but accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19–20).
“Let your life no longer be about yourself and just accumulating and being wealthy. Are you ready to change your image for My sake? Are you ready to abandon everything for My sake?” That is the divine demand.
God bless you. See you later.