The sermon titled 'The Soul Killing Idols of a Moral Man' by Scott Brown explores the encounter between Jesus and the rich young ruler from Matthew 19. The young ruler, despite his moral life and adherence to commandments, is challenged by Jesus to sell all his possessions and follow Him, revealing his attachment to wealth. This interaction highlights the misunderstanding of human goodness and the impossibility of achieving salvation through works alone. The sermon delves into the idea that true goodness is defined by God's holiness, not by human standards. It emphasizes the necessity of recognizing one's own spiritual bankruptcy and the need for a new heart, rather than relying on personal merits. The sermon also discusses the role of the law as a guide to reveal human sinfulness and drive individuals to Christ. Through this narrative, Brown illustrates the dangers of idols in the lives of moral individuals and the importance of prioritizing a relationship with God over material possessions.

Matthew 19, beginning in verse 16 through the end of the chapter. Now behold, one came and said to him, Good teacher, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

He said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness.

Honor your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me." But one day young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, assuredly I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Then Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left all and followed you, therefore what shall we have?

So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. Father God we come to you in great need of your Spirit, Lord, this morning. We come to you thirsty and hungry for your word.

Father God, I pray that you would open the eyes of the blind, the unstopped ears of the deaf. Father, that you would reveal and soften the hearts, Lord, of those that have a hard heart toward you. Father God, I pray that the preached word of God would be mighty, that you would fill Scott with power from above, that your word would be preached boldly and it would be received. Lord I pray that you would have a great harvest this day. Amen.

The subject matter of this text is vast and I really struggled with how to title it. On your paper you have the title, The Soul Killing Idols of a Moral Man. It could have just as easily been titled with God, All Things Are Possible. It could have just as easily been titled, you know, that you would receive a hundredfold both now and in the Kingdom of Heaven. So it covers so many critical issues, and so I had difficulty in titling this message.

But here what we find again is the Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, is teaching his disciples about the beauty and the glory of his kingdom. And of course that's the theme of the entire Gospel of Matthew. And so the Lord is with his disciples and a rich young man. And the Lord is continuing to instruct his disciples about the way things really are, not the way that they should be considered in their own brains. And so in the same way that they had a wrong view of marriage, and Jesus was correcting that, in the same way that they had a wrong view of children and Jesus corrected that and in the same way that they had a wrong view of singleness and He's corrected that now they learn that they might have the wrong view of the law They might have the wrong view even of human goodness and even riches themselves.

So the Lord here is coming to instruct His disciples in the way that they should go. And the Lord Jesus has had many conversations so far here in the Gospel of Matthew with different kinds of people and now in this conversation it's a very personal conversation seemingly one-on-one with a very successful young man and what the Lord Jesus does with this man is the same thing that he does in every conversation we've encountered him so far, and also in his conversation with you and I. He peers into our hearts. He sees what we're really thinking and who we really are. He cuts through the sham of even the words that we might say, goes to the heart of the matter, and deals with us in terms of reality instead of our appearance.

And so, you know, It's wonderful if you just track the way that Jesus relates with people. He meets Peter and he says to him, follow me. He comes across the Gadarene demoniac And he knows exactly what to do. He knows exactly to go to the heart of the problem. And he says to the demons, go.

That's it, go. He knows exactly what to say to the right person at the right time. To Nicodemus, he says, you must be born again. To the woman at the well, he says, go call your husband. To his disciples in a raging sea, he says, why are you so fearful, oh, you of little faith?

Jesus knows exactly what's going on inside of your heart. And he knows exactly what's going on in the heart of this rich young ruler who has come to him. And so we have this very personal encounter and a conversation with this rich young ruler who comes to him and he asks him how he might obtain eternal life. And again, the Lord Jesus cuts through the outward appearances in words and gets right to the heart of the matter of the life of this man. Now, The Lord Jesus Christ loved this man.

Mark tells us that. That he looked at him and he loved him. And then He explained his flaws and he showed him his real problem. And the Lord Jesus teaching here hangs really on three questions. Two from this rich young man and one from his own disciples.

And the text begins with these words now, behold. So there's something critical that's happening, something that's being identified, called attention to. You're sort of like putting a diamond on a black velvet background. Behold! So Matthew is very careful to say, this is so important.

Behold this matter. And then the first question comes in verse 16. Now, behold, one came to him and one came and said to him, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life." So here is this young man. Now, this is not a parable. This is a real conversation with a young man.

And this man was probably not more than 40 years old. And he came to the right person, didn't he? You've got to give him that. He came to Jesus Christ. He came the right way.

He came kneeling, actually. He came with really a right concern about eternal life. He was interested in absolutely what is the most critical thing. He even, he thinks much of being good. He is aggressively pursuing morality and personal improvement.

He has a spiritual orientation in his life. He is respectable. He is sincere. And he regards Jesus, I would say, highly, but not too highly. He seems to view him as just another one of the rabbis.

He's a good teacher. He indicates even that he seems to know that he falls short, that his current law keeping is inadequate. He doesn't seem to have perfect certainty about his salvation. He is a ruler, probably, of the synagogue. Luke tells us he's a ruler.

Matthew tells us he's young. Mark tells us he's rich. That's why we call him the rich young ruler. And you know, he comes and he asks the question that you just wish people would ask you on the street. Wouldn't it be so fantastic?

You know, if every time you're walking down the street or sat in an airplane or did anything that someone would say to you, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Wouldn't that be fantastic? This is the evangelist's dream right here. And You would also have to think, you know, wouldn't you feel so good if you could raise a son like this? Someone who is so principled, someone who is so passionate, someone who cared so much about his life, someone who is so successful, so orderly, so in tune with the things that he is interested in, so desiring improvement, not wanting to stay in the same place that he is.

He's the perfect poster boy for the personal improvement culture. He would fit in so well here, right here, because he is so professional. He is so successful. But something is missing in all of his passion, in all of his questioning. And While he asks the right question in a way, it's clear that even the question itself is flawed, and it betrays his fatal flaw.

It betrays his wrong view of salvation. He wants to buy salvation with his works. He desires a formula, a heartless formula, a repent free formula that gets him what he wants. This man had bought everything he ever wanted, and now he wanted something that he could not buy. And he's before the Lord Jesus Christ who has the gift, and he cannot buy it.

He's already acquired all the goodness money could buy in his life. And now he encountered a goodness that you cannot acquire in the way that he was acquiring things. He was looking for salvation in all the wrong places. And what's the heart of the problem? The heart of the problem really centers around one single word in this text.

Can you tell me what it is? It's a four-letter word. Good. Good. He was captivated by human goodness, particularly his own goodness.

And so this successful spiritual entrepreneur, while he was desiring what is good, he did not understand at all what it meant to be good. And so even in the midst of his question, there's this great contradiction buried within the question. What must I do to obtain eternal life? The subject was right, right? Eternal life.

But his whole way of thinking about it was wrong. Because he thought that it was something that He could do. There was a goodness that He could manufacture and perform that could give Him eternal life. And so He's really not all that confident in himself. One of the commentators said he was pathetically perturbed in his mind about his salvation.

He was unsure about his salvation. While he had desires for God and obedience, he knew that he did not have eternal life. It seems to me he understood that all of his feelings about God, his feelings about desiring to be good could not save him, and he was being dogged by the hound of heaven. Fortunately, he is before that great shepherd of the sheep who will come and teach him what goodness is all about. And then the Lord replies concerning this goodness in verse 17.

So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one that is God. Now, first of all, the Lord is not making a comparison with God as being good and he not being good. The language that's here just doesn't support that. He's not implying that he is not good.

The Greek syntax makes it very clear, the idea that God determines what is good. It's not a contrasting statement. But notice, first of all, how ignorant the rich young ruler was. Now some people think that he was a ruler of the synagogue and he obviously had lived a life that attempted to appeal to the Ten Commandments. We know that about it.

But he seems so ignorant about the most fundamental principle of salvation, That the standard is God, not man. Salvation in the Old Testament was always by faith, never by works. Abraham was justified by faith and no works. Romans proves that so clearly, so perfectly. And he did not even understand that Abraham was justified by faith, not the works of the law.

So he was, even though he was so professionally involved in Judaism, he was a baby in understanding the whole doctrine of salvation at that time. Now, Jesus says, why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. Now, here we have come to what is either the most wonderful news to you, or it is the worst and most terrifying news to you, and that is that God is good. It is terrifying that God is good.

Because if God is good, what does that say about you? You are not good. God is holy. God is pure. He dwells in unapproachable light.

But man is not good. So really, the most terrifying statement, perhaps, in the Bible is that God is good. Because since He is good, and since you know who you are, because you live with yourself every day, you know that you're not good. And so the contrast could not be more stark. What does a holy God do with those who are unholy?

Now, if you live around here and you talk to enough people who, almost anybody you talk to, they'll tell you that they're good. I've never met a bad person. I've never met a person who says they're bad. I only meet people who exalt their own goodness. I mean, they're better than Hitler.

They say. They say that. Is that really true? I don't think that's true. But this was the perspective of the rich young ruler.

He was good. And he just wanted to get better at what he was doing. But The most important principle that mankind needs to understand is that God is holy and man is evil. And man has an incurable disease. And that disease is impossible to cure by the goodness of man.

With man, it's impossible. With God, it is possible, as Jesus says. How do you know that you are evil? Well, you usually go through a calculus. Well, am I evil?

Well, compared to what? Well, I'm nicer than my neighbor. I'm better than my teacher. I'm more generous than my father. I must be good.

That's how we do it. We compare ourselves with ourselves. That's not the measure of goodness. The measure of goodness is God and His holiness. So if you compare yourself with Him, you recognize how hopelessly bankrupt you are in goodness.

And the rich young ruler did not understand that. And so he does not understand the goodness and the holiness of God. And so that's why he says, what good thing must I do? He doesn't understand anything about God's holiness or his own depravity. All of sin falls short of the glory of God.

And this is the critical flaw in his thinking. He overestimated the value of human goodness and he underestimated the holiness of God. And then Jesus speaks to him about his goodness and he actually answers his question at the end of verse 17, But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, You shall honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus here is quoting the second table of the law, And then he's also quoting the greatest commandment, which is also one of the case laws in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18.

And he's recommending to this man the fifth commandment, the sixth commandment, the seventh commandment, the eighth, the ninth. He leaves out the tenth and gives him the greatest commandment out of the case law in Leviticus 19. Now The truth is that salvation is by the law in this sense. If you were able to keep the whole law your whole life long, you would be saved. You would be fit for eternal life.

But the problem is that nobody ever kept the whole law their whole life. The Bible says that if you break one law, you've broken them all. So this calculus of law keeping cannot work for a man. The Lord Jesus Christ did keep the law. He never broke a single law, a single day, a single second of his life.

So Jesus here is, He is simultaneously legitimizing the Ten Commandments and the case law as a standard for righteousness, as a standard to know whether you are righteous or not, As a standard to know whether there's anything in your life that needs to be killed by that law. As a standard to help you know of the condemnation that you deserve for breaking the law. Now, we just said dispense with the idea that no one can be saved by the law because no one has ever kept the law. Now, you could be saved by the law if you could keep the law, but no one has ever done that except one. So in that sense, the law cannot save you.

Only a law keeper can save you. And of course, the Lord Jesus is appealing to the second table of the law. The two tables of the law are the first table explains your duties toward God, how you relate to God from the heart. And the second table of the law is how your duty is toward man, and how you're obligated to behave with your brother. And so the Lord is only quoting the second table of the law.

There's a really interesting court case going on right now in Roanoke, Virginia, where the ACLU is upset because the Ten Commandments were posted at the school. They want them taken down. But it's really interesting. The school administrators are arguing for a compromise, and that is to wipe out the first table of the law and only post the second. They understand the problem.

William Hendrickson said, the failure to observe the second table implies the failure to observe the first. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4.20. So here the Lord Jesus by asking the rich young ruler to consider these commandments, He's not legitimizing works righteousness at all. Just go look at Romans 320, go look at Galatians 3, 2, and 3.

Look all over Scripture that man is justified by faith, not by the works of the law. So Jesus is not doing that, unless he finds himself contradicting himself in other places in Scripture. He is saying that the law does matter to those who are saved by faith. Laws matter. They're helpful.

A friend of mine, a friend of mine told me that he played a little trick on his children. He got them all together one evening around the table. He said, we're going to play a game. And they were excited. And he got out four pieces of paper and he passed them out, they were blank, and he passed out pencils.

And he said, he said, okay, let's play. And they looked at each other and He said, well, Dad, what do we do? He said, there are no rules. You can do whatever you want. And they were so confused.

It just seemed impossible for them to understand. So they started playing tic-tac-toe. They really didn't know what to do. And they said, Dad, please give us the rules. Now these children are crying out for rules.

He has them exactly where he wants them. Because everyone knows that you cannot live this life without law. It's madness to even think of it for a second. And yet there are many people, Christians today, who say, the law has nothing to do with me. It makes no sense at all.

So the Lord is appealing to law for the consideration of this young man. It's legitimate to do that. It's legitimate to use the law to condemn. That's what the law is meant for. The law condemns all human righteousness, And it makes you completely bankrupt before God.

You have no argument of human goodness with which to argue with God for your unrighteousness. Because you've broken all the laws. And then the second question, verse 24, after Jesus says this, the young man's second question about his law keeping goes like this, all these things I've kept from my youth, What do I still lack? Remember we talked about the fatal flaw. His fatal flaw is that he actually did think that he was good.

He actually did think that he was keeping those laws. After all, he's a ruler of the synagogue. He spent his life refining his goodness. Jesus has just told him that no one is good, but God alone. But he just, he can't get over that problem.

He still thinks he's good, Even though Jesus has already told him, you're not good, only God is good. You know, he was just lying to himself about himself. He said that he had kept all those commandments. That wasn't even true. He was lying to himself about who he really was.

That is the problem with mankind. The devil, the father of lies, brings this to bear upon us. And we begin to think so wrongly about ourselves. Just like this man, we think that we're good, but we're not good at all. Now the tragedy of human goodness in this man's life is the same tragedy that exists when we exalt our own human goodness.

It turns out that our human goodness is nothing more than selfishness. We want to put a pretty outward appearance on ourselves. We want improvements. We want goodness. We want to be known for our good nature, how we do honor our father and mother, how we do all these things.

We don't lie. We haven't murdered anyone yet. So we're good, right? No. And the Lord Jesus is attacking this superficial understanding of life.

At the same time, he seems to be longing for a goodness that he doesn't have. He says he's good, but he knows he's not. So the Lord, He brings him to the bad news that he needs to know first, that no one is good but God. You cannot be saved until you know the bad news. You cannot understand what it means to receive a hundredfold in houses and lands and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters in this life.

You can't know that blessing until you know the bad news that no one is good but God alone. You have to come to terms with who you really are. That there's not a shred of righteousness producing good in you. You have good qualities, You're made in the image of God. There are good things, but none of these good things can save you at all.

So you have to know the bad news first. Jesus gives him the bad news. And then Jesus further answers the question, verse 21. And Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me." Now it sounds like Jesus is just giving him another law.

He's telling the rich drunk ruler to do three things. All of these things are fruits of repentance. They are not the purchase of salvation. Jesus knew that not only did he own riches, but his riches owned him. That was the problem.

Jesus knows his heart. Jesus sees how different he is from Nicodemus, how different he is from the woman at the well, how different he is from Peter, how different he is from the Gadarene demoniac. There is something gripping him. That is the issue. And so he tells him to do three things.

Go sell. Number two, give to the poor. Number three, come and follow me. So is this salvation by draining your bank account? Is that how you do it?

All you have to do is drain your bank account and give it to the poor? Is it that simple? No. It's not that simple. If it was that simple, Zacchaeus could have achieved all the righteousness he needed by selling, by giving back all that he had, but he didn't.

He only gave back a portion. Draining your bank account doesn't make you righteous. The Lord did not ask us of Job. He actually heaped wealth upon him. He did not ask of Abraham.

He was not required to liquidate his account. But God knew Abraham. And what did God ask of Abraham? He said, take your son, your only son, whom you love. God knows the heart of man.

And He knows the idols that grip the heart. He knows the soul-killing idols in the hearts of moral men and women, and they are different. This man's soul-killing idol was that his houses owned him rather than he owning his houses. And while he trusted in his moral riches to give him eternal life, he didn't realize that he was actually spiritually bankrupt, even though he was such a good and successful and faithful young man. And what the Lord Jesus tells him, really, is that he doesn't need a new law.

He needs a new heart. He says, follow me. That's the issue. He wasn't willing to follow him anywhere he would call him to go. That is the issue.

It was an issue of the heart. It wasn't necessarily an issue of the bank account, but his bank account was where his treasure was. For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So, he doesn't need a new law, he needs a new heart. And so the Lord has taken him to the great violation of the first and foremost commandment, that he does not love God from his heart.

We all know this, that when we were saved, there were so many things wrong with our lives. And I know this today, that there are so many things wrong with my life right now. But this thing that we do know is that man is justified by faith alone. A man is justified when he takes up his cross and he follows Christ in the midst of all of his imperfect law keeping, in the midst of all of his flaws, in his personality and his character and his deeds. But what makes the difference is that his heart desires to follow and he knows that there is no one good but God alone.

And that's how one enters the kingdom of heaven. And then we see the young man's sad conclusion in verse 22. But when the young man heard that saying, He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Now the word that Matthew chooses to use here is a word that indicates a great heaviness. In John 16 verse 21 the word is used for the sorrow of childbirth. In Matthew 5, Matthew uses the word in the sentence, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

He was mourning, though, the wrong way. It's a heaviness. In some places it indicates being irritated, disturbed, pained. That was his reaction. He was not happy with his news.

It's the same word in 1 Corinthians 7 beginning in verse 9. He says, Your sorrow led to repentance. It's this word, for you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death.

It was that kind of sorrow that the rich young ruler had. It was sorrow that produces death. It was a sorrow without repentance. It was a sorrow that exalted his personal goodness. It wasn't a sorrow of repentance and humility and recognizing complete bankruptcy.

It was the sorrow of pride and not getting what he wanted, not hearing what he wanted to hear. He sorrowed because his property owned him, and he did not own his property. We learn here that you can keep many of the commandments of God, and yet still be under the grip of your riches. It seems perhaps he couldn't give to the poor. We don't know that for sure.

Jesus commands him to do so, And he cannot do it. He cannot keep the commands of God. The truth about this man is though he really loved the second table of the law, he really did not like all of God's commandments. He didn't like Jesus' commandment to go sell all that He had. He was a faux antinomian.

He believed in the law only so far as it didn't mess with his life. But once it started messing with his life, he hated the law. And that's true of every Antinomian. It's quite universal that we accept the idea, thou shalt not steal. We like that law.

We don't want people breaking that law. We don't want people breaking the law of adultery. We don't want men going after our wives. But when it comes to a law that causes us to change, we start hating the law, and we start hating God as a result of that. It's because we are faux antinomians.

On the surface we appear so good, but we do not want God telling us what to do. And so we hate certain laws. And we say, I'm not under the law, I'm under grace. Meaning, I don't have to pay attention to those laws. The Lord Jesus said, I came not to destroy.

The law are the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. We know that the law ought to be our delight, as was with the Apostle Paul in Romans 7-22, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. That's the heart of a Christian. Paul says that if you hate the law, you know that you have a carnal mind.

In Romans 8-7, he says, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be." Paul said in Romans 13, 8, that love fulfills the law. Paul says to the Galatians that the law is not against the promises of God at all. He says is the law against the promises of God in Galatians 3.21? Certainly not. He says to Timothy the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

Solomon tells us that there are consequences, terrible consequences for forsaking the law. Do you believe in the book of Proverbs? Or do you think you're no longer under that? Those statements that are in Proverbs. Proverbs 7, we read, whoever keeps the laws of discerning sun.

In Proverbs 28, 9, we read, one who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Is that still true today? If you turn your ear away from the law. Solomon says that God will not hear your prayers. That's how important the law is.

John in 1 John 3, 4 says, whoever commits sin commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. If you say, the law has nothing to do with me, you're just saying that you love sin. At least if you believe what John has said, that he who commits sin commits lawlessness. John in 1 John 3, 24, he said, Now he who keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him, And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us John also says in chapter 2 verses 4 & 5 he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him by this we know that we are in him Proverbs 13 13 says, He who fears the commandment will be rewarded, but he who despises the word will be destroyed.

Jesus himself in John 14.15 said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. I've never understood why people say the Old Testament law means nothing to me. From Jesus to Paul, you take any category of scripture, and you have these same kinds of statements there. David said, happy is the man who keeps the law. David says, oh how I love thy law.

Paul says, is the law sin? Certainly not. He says to the Galatians, for I through the law died that I might live to God. I had been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." So we have to understand this whole matter of the law. On the one hand, God has given us the law as a guide. Spurgeon explained it this way, the law is, so to speak, Jesus Christ's dog To go after his sheep to bring them to the shepherd The law is the thunderbolt which affrights the ungodly men and makes them turn from the error of their ways and seek after God." He says the law is not a savior, but it's a guide. He said, what is God's law now?

It is not above a Christian, it is under a Christian. Some men hold God's law like a rod in terror over Christians, and say, if you sin, you will be punished with it. It is not so. The law is under a Christian. It is for him to walk on, to be his guide, his rule, his pattern.

We are not under the law, but under grace. Law is the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us. For the Spirit actuates us. The law is good and excellent if it keeps its place. He says the law will never congratulate you or make you proud of yourself.

The law is the most rigorous master in the world, he says. No wise man would love its service, for after all you have done, the law never gives you a thank you. For it says, go on, sir, go on. The poor sinner trying to be saved by the law is like a blind horse going round and round a mill and never getting a step further, but only being whipped continually. Yea, the faster he goes, the more work he does, the more he is tired, and much the worse it is for him." So you have to understand the purpose of the law to drive you to Christ, to show you your unrighteousness.

Not a shred of human goodness can save anyone. The Lord says there is none good, none. God is good. Only the goodness of a suffering Savior who poured out His blood for the sins of mankind, can atone and make man good in that sense. But then the Lord says more here in verses 23 and 24.

He gives an analysis to his disciples. So he's been speaking with this rich man And now he turns to his disciples and he's now instructing them. And he says, assuredly I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Next week, we'll be back into this text and we'll speak about wealth. We're not going to emphasize the matter of wealth here today.

That will happen next week. But what we learn here is about the impossibility of the salvation of the rich. Jesus is saying it's impossible. It's impossible with men. He gives the illustration of the camel and the eye of the needle.

Now, you've probably heard the same thing that I've heard many times, that there was a gate in the city wall of Jerusalem that was called the Eye of the Needle. And that a camel would have to, in order to pass through the Eye of the Needle, would have to get on his knees, if you can imagine that, And all of his baggage would have to be taken off. You'd have to be in almost a position of just getting low enough to get under the gate. And that's how hard it is for a rich man to get into heaven. I don't think that's what Jesus is saying.

I think that he's talking about a needle and a camel. And it's impossible. It is impossible for a rich man or a poor man or a good man or a bad man to get into the kingdom of heaven. It's only possible with God. You cannot do it.

You cannot get a camel through the eye of an eagle. You cannot get to heaven by draining your bank account. You cannot get to heaven by draining your bank account. You cannot get to heaven by keeping the second table of the law in your own mind. You cannot get to heaven.

You cannot inherit eternal life by being good. If you've ever tried it, please know, it's impossible. It is impossible. And when the disciples heard this, they said, Who then can be saved? They're astonished.

The disciples get it. The disciples were also thinking wrongly. The same way they were thinking wrongly about marriage. The same way they're thinking wrongly about divorce and childhood and singleness, now they discover they've been thinking wrongly about righteousness and salvation and eternal life and their Savior is now explaining it to them in great clarity. And they are astonished.

And they understand that you cannot be saved by the works of man. And they see the bankruptcy of their own heart. This has pierced their heart. Jesus Christ has just stabbed them with the threatenings and the thunderings and the condemnations of the law. He's just shown them they're absolutely hopeless, helpless, without an atoning sacrifice.

And they get it. And they say, who then can be saved? Obviously no one can be saved. Even a rich man can't be saved. Even a rich man where, you know, heaven is showing favor to Him.

Heaven has given Him wealth. Heaven has blessed Him. He is like Abraham. He is like Job, who has houses and lands and children and wealth. It's a sign of God's blessing, isn't it?

No, it's not. There's only one sign of the blessing of eternal life, And that is the sign of the sacrifice of the Son of Man. That you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, and you will be saved. I have known so many people who have tried to get their lives cleaned up. As I have an interest in fatherhood, let me tell you, I've known many men who come to me and they want to get better as fathers.

I think that's a good thing. It is a very good thing. But some of them have thought that all they had to do was become a better father and a better husband and a better entrepreneur and a better citizen and a better friend and all would be well. And after a while they find out how bankrupt they really are. I've seen some of them be saved when they were in pursuit of fatherhood.

Some of them I know today who came just like this rich young ruler on their knees, crying out, desiring sincerely to be better, hungering for it. And they're left with nothing because they're not hungry for Jesus Christ. They do not want to follow Jesus Christ. They are looking for righteousness of their own. But in their heart of hearts, they love their idols and they cannot let go of them.

And while by outward appearance they may take the very best qualities, no theft, honoring father and mother, no adultery, no murder, Take the very best of those things and pretend that they're not idolaters. When they know in their hearts They have an idol and they cannot follow Christ because of that idol. They have a soul killing idol existing in the heart of a moral man or woman who can be saved. And then Jesus answers the question in verse 26. And Jesus looked at them and said, by the way, Mark says that he looked, Jesus looked at the rich young ruler and loved him.

And here Matthew says, and he looked at them. I love that statement. He loves his disciples and he says, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Aren't you glad for that? Aren't you glad that it is impossible for you?

You know it's impossible for you. You know who you are. And you know the unrighteousness that exists. You know that eternal life can only come when Your heart has broken and you've repented and you say, Lord, I desire to follow You with all of my heart. I believe, Lord, help me in my unbelief.

Make me to be who You want me to be. The heart of the matter is introduced here in verse 26. And then Peter asks a question. Don't you love Peter's questions? Someday we'll itemize all of Peter's questions and just run through them, because they're fantastic.

You know what? It's wonderful that there are so many questions asked of Jesus. Because We become His students as He answers those questions. Peter asks, he says, see we have left all and followed you, therefore what shall we have? And Jesus says this, Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, and Mark adds, in this life, will receive a hundred-fold in this life and eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Here in this text we have such a treasure in this sense. We have on the front end such a disappointment of a man who turns away. On the other hand, you have the promise of Jesus Christ that if you follow Him, He promises to give you in this life a hundred fold in houses and lands and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and eternal life. God does desire to bless his children with things that are spiritually satisfying and good.

As he replaces the treasures that they have with his own treasure. Christ is better than rubies, and we must part with ours for his. Salvation is impossible without the mercies of God poured out upon repentant sinners. I'd like to bring us to a couple of applications. First of all, consider the reality of all of your evangelism.

Jesus Christ, the most, the wisest and most persuasive evangelist who ever lived, saw this man turn away. And I was talking with a man this week who's going to come and speak at our conference. And we were talking about what he would deal with. And what he said to me was so amazing. He said, Scott, we have evangelism all wrong.

We make a program out of it. And we say, go out and evangelize. He says, you know, There are two things that we need to understand. And the first is that Jesus Christ is the only evangelist. And the second is this.

Any evangelism that is not out of the overflow of love for mankind and obedience to God will always fall short. He said it's holiness. Holiness is the reason we don't evangelize. Holiness is the reason that when we do evangelize, nothing happens because we've not been with God. We're not bringing the kingdom of heaven.

And so he was just appealing to walk with Jesus, to be found in the secret place, to be a person of prayer, to set yourself aside, to be with God, to prepare yourself, because there are things that will not come out except by prayer and fasting. And consider the realities of evangelism in this whole matter. Secondly, here's a question. All of us have to consider this. Whether you're saved or whether you're not, you should still answer this question.

What does your heart cling to that keeps you from following Christ? We know what it was with the rich young ruler. It was that one thing. But even a poor man can cling to something that will keep him from following Christ. So it's not riches.

Is there a command of Christ that causes you to go away sorrowful? Jesus Christ gave him a command he didn't want to hear. Now is there a command that you do not want to hear? It's here. It's here, but you want to avoid it.

You don't like it. Jesus Christ has issued many commands. There are 613 commands in the Old Testament and 1, 050 commands in the New Testament. He has issued many commands and delivered many principles. And the question is, is there a command of Christ where you go away sorrowful?

Now, It may mean that you're not saved, but it may mean that you are being sanctified and Jesus Christ is putting His finger on an idol that needs to be removed. And only you can know the difference between those two things. But the heart can cling to things that keep us from following Christ. Things of the world that we love more than God. And this is not legalism.

And this is not legalism. It is not legalism to say, oh, how I love thy law. Here's what you do not want to hear. You do not want to hear the Lord Jesus say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, anomia, No law.

You should be terrified in the presence of people who say, the law of God has nothing to do with me. Because there will be those to whom Jesus will say, depart from you who practice lawlessness. And you should tell them in love. Let me leave you with an illustration and then a final quotation. Do you remember Elijah and Elisha?

I was talking with Dan Horton about this text last night and he reminded me of this. Elisha is plowing with oxen. Twelve yoke of oxen are before him. He is on the twelfth yoke. Elijah passes by him and he lays his mantle on Elijah.

And he left the oxen and he ran after Elijah and he said this, Please let me kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow you. And he said to him, go back again for what I have done to you. And Elisha turned back and he took the yoke of oxen and he slaughtered the oxen, he boiled their flesh and he used the oxen's equipment And he gave it to the people, and they ate, and then he arose, and he followed Elijah. And the Bible says, and he became his servant. That's what Jesus was speaking about to the rich young ruler.

But he did not, He did not slaughter his oxen. He went back to kiss his father and mother. He did not give of the meat that he had had to the poor as Elisha did. He did not follow Elijah. He did not follow Christ.

He did not become Jesus Christ's servant as Elisha became Elijah's servant. And that's really the whole matter that's before us. If anyone wants to have eternal life, let him follow Jesus Christ. For the last few days, all I could think of walking around my house was that song. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I'd rather be His than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by His nailed pierced hand than to be the king of the vast domain and to be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause.

I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to His holy name. And then, perhaps one of the most beautiful stanzas in the song. He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom.

He's sweeter than honey from out the comb. He's all my hungering spirit needs. I'd rather have Jesus and let him lead. And lead He will a hundredfold in this life and eternal life to come. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, Lord we thank you for this ruler who came to you. We thank you for your disciples who have asked you these questions so that we might understand how we might have eternal life. Amen.