In the sermon 'Righteousness and the Law', Jason Dohm explores the biblical account of the rich young ruler who approaches Jesus with a question about how to attain eternal life. Jesus challenges the young man's understanding of goodness and righteousness by emphasizing that only God is truly good and that adherence to the commandments is necessary for eternal life. The sermon underscores two types of righteousness: righteousness by the law and righteousness by faith. It highlights the inadequacy of self-righteousness and the impossibility of achieving salvation through human efforts alone. Jesus' directive to the young man to sell his possessions and follow Him exposes the idol of wealth in the man's heart, illustrating the broader theme of idolatry that prevents individuals from fully embracing the gospel. The law serves as a tutor, leading individuals to recognize their need for Christ and the righteousness that comes through faith. Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes that salvation is a gift of God, not attainable by works, and calls for a personal examination of one's affections and idols.

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 it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.' When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Surely 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. Let's begin in prayer. Father, I thank you for your Word.

Your people, Your people, day after day and week after week, are desperately in need of it. We would have our minds renewed. So that the world would want to press us into its own mold. There is something that labor so mightily in the opposite direction to connect us with higher thoughts and higher ways. And it is your Word and it is your Spirit.

It comes alongside your word to quicken and help and illuminate. Father, I pray for help today in preaching, I pray for help in hearing, and that your own great purposes would be fulfilled among us today. God, we want to be a people so trustful, sitting at your feet, looking to you for something good, something that would bless us, something that would help us to be free of all of our own thoughts and ways. Bless us, Lord. We're not ashamed to ask You to bless us.

To pour out Your Spirit on this place. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, our text this week is Matthew 19 beginning in verse 16, and we'll sort of kind of go through verse 26. Mostly through 22, We're going to split up the balance of Matthew 19 into two weeks. This week, the range of verses has us talking about two kinds of righteousness.

And Next week, the range of verses has us talking about two kinds of riches. So Jesus is drawing a contrast between these kinds of righteousnesses and between these kinds of riches. And it's a blessing, it's a blessing that God is helping us to think rightly. We grab for the wrong kind of righteousness and end up with nothing. And we would grab for the wrong kind of riches and end up with nothing.

And so here in Matthew 19, Jesus is making war against the wrong kind of righteousness and against the wrong kind of riches. In the first two verses that we have here in Matthew 19 and verses 16 and 17, there's a question for Jesus about how to gain eternal life. It actually, the account actually begins very abruptly, And it just says a man came to Jesus. And then off we are into the dialogue immediately. There are two really substantial long parallel texts for this.

The first one is in Mark 10 verses 17-31. And then there's another one in Luke 18 verses 18-30. So Matthew and Mark and Luke all give a lot of space to this, give a lot of verses to this interchange. And it being in all three of the synoptic gospels, it tells us this is really important. These are really important things that are being brought to us.

And God thought so much of these things that He devoted a lot of space in these three Gospels to this. In Mark 10, the account begins this way. Now as Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him, and asked him, and then he starts into the question. So we get none of this in Matthew. But in Mark we see that there is a man coming with some sense of earnestness and some sense of urgency.

Jesus is on the road and this man runs out to him and he kneels before him and he asks him this question. And I have to say, this is really refreshing. We've had so many dishonest questions from the scribes and the Pharisees. They have questions for Jesus, but they are not honest questions. They are just trying to trip Jesus up, to trap him into saying something that would be harmful from him.

And here comes this man, just as Jesus is walking down the road, no crowd around that we know of. And he comes running out and he kneels to him and he asks Jesus this question with so much earnestness and with so much urgency. Here in Matthew in verse 20, we read that he is a young man who is asking the question. And in Luke 18, Luke records that he is a ruler. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that he is rich, he is wealthy, he has great possessions.

So in almost every Bible that has headings, the heading will be, the rich young ruler. And that's just taking bits and pieces from these three accounts. But what you have here is a man who has the world by the tail. He's rich, lots of resources. He's young, he's in the prime of his life.

He's a ruler, he's already attained to some sense of status, he's already achieved, and he's the golden boy. He has the world at his feet. He's the proverbial good man. There's no even discernible vices in this man that would cause us to say that he's a wicked man from the outside looking in. He's a good man.

He's one of those guys that is so likeable that just seems to have everything under control, everything managed. This is the kind of man who is coming to ask this question of Jesus. In short, he has got his act together. He is a rich young ruler and he has a question for Jesus. And here is the question, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So on top of having resources, on top of being young, on top of having attained some status, He also believes in God.

He believes in the Scriptures. He believes in eternal life. And he recognizes that there's something about Jesus. That Jesus has heavenly wisdom. So if He's got a question about eternal life that Jesus is the right person to be asking.

And he just wants Jesus to tell him what to do. As we're going to see, this is a man who is neck deep in self-righteousness. He thinks well of himself. He thinks that he is doing quite well on the category of law keeping. But there is some sense in this man's soul, apparently, that he feels that even so, even though he has all of these compartments of life under control, that there's something that's lacking.

And so he just wants to know what to do. What is the good thing that will get me over the final hurdle into eternal life? And despite having his act together, he's got this nagging doubt. And so, he feels like somehow he hasn't done enough and there's uncertainty. So in verse 17, Jesus responds to this question.

And Jesus comes and responds in two ways. The first way is he attacks the foundations of the question. And the second way is he gives a direct but incomplete answer. So let's look at this first way in which Jesus responds to the question in verse 17. He is attacking the foundations of the question and specifically what this man thinks is good.

Jesus says, why do you call me good? Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. Jesus recognizes that this man isn't calling him good teacher because he understands his identity. It's not coming from a proper understanding of the identity of the Messiah of God who's before Him.

It's coming from an inappropriate and improper understanding of what good is. So this man is right for all the wrong reasons. Lucky guess, rich young ruler. Jesus is a good teacher, but it's only because he's God. And this man isn't coming and calling him a good teacher because He understands the identity of the Messiah, but because he has such a low view of what is good.

And we're going to see this play out in the scope of our verses. Because not only does he think Jesus is good as a teacher, he thinks He's good as well. Jesus is essentially saying, man, you don't understand good. Why do you call me good? There is no one good but God.

And Jesus is beginning this all-out assault on the self-righteousness that this rich young ruler has come to the table with. And it even permeates the presuppositions of his questions. His sense of self-righteousness, of being acceptable on his own merits before God, even forms the foundations of the question. So Jesus is attacking that foundation. This man, though he believes in the Scriptures, though he believes in God, though he believes in eternal life, missed Genesis 821.

In Genesis 821, it's after the flood. Now we know of the wicked condition of the earth before the flood. And we know that God has wiped off the face of the earth every human being except for eight. Only eight are left. And so only the good people are left.

Only the best people are left. And yet, as they're coming off the ark, offering a sacrifice to God, Genesis 8.21 says this, and the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. This is the offering that Noah and his family is making. Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth." So the flood waters had purged this escalating violence and wickedness that was getting worse and worse and worse and worse and though everyone was killed except for eight people, God says the root of the problem is still there just like it was before it started raining. And the root of the problem is that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

The rich young ruler missed Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20. For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. This is the wisest man who ever lived. This is Solomon. And Solomon's assessment is there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

The rich young ruler missed Jeremiah 17 verse 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The heart is desperately wicked. So when Paul starts to say these things in the New Testament, starts to say that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that there is none good, no not one. Paul isn't creating New Testament theology.

He is expositing biblical theology. You can find it in every book of the Bible. The corruption is in his heart. The corruption isn't on the outside. The corruption is on the inside.

And it will drag this corruption that is there, that is inherent in the human heart, will drag every single one to hell except for the grace of God." So Paul is just drawing on the wealth that there is to draw from in the Old Testament, not creating new theology when we get to Romans. So first, Jesus in verse 17 just attacks the foundations of the question. That this man thinks good. His standard for good is so low. That everyone's good.

Good teacher, what good thing must I as a good person do to attain to eternal life? Secondly, Jesus gives a direct but an incomplete answer to the question. What I want us all to see is that Jesus is taking this conversation somewhere. Jesus is not reacting to the rich young ruler, but he has a road map for where this conversation is going. And he's taking the rich young ruler somewhere to show him what is in his heart.

Here's Jesus' direct but incomplete answer. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. You want to know what it takes to enter eternal life? Just keep the commandments. Simple answer.

Accurate answer. Just keep the commandments and you'll live. And Jesus is drawing on Leviticus 18 verse 5. Where God says, You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.'" There it is.

Leviticus 18, verse 5. If a man does them, he lives. Therefore keep my statutes and my judgments. That's how you can live, Leviticus 18.5. Leviticus 18.5 is so prominent in the Scriptures.

Nehemiah quotes it in Nehemiah 9, an exact quote of Leviticus 18.5. Ezekiel quotes it in Ezekiel 20, an exact quote of Leviticus 18.5. Paul quotes it in Romans 10, an exact quote of Leviticus 18.5. Paul quotes it again in Galatians 3, an exact quote of Leviticus 18.5. God wants us to know that that's a way to live is to keep the commandments.

Now look at verses 18-20. Matthew 19, 18-20. The rich young ruler 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?

In your outline, the section under these verses is called the world's worst analysis. The worst analysis in the history of the world. The rich young ruler wants to eliminate any doubt. Jesus says just keep the commandments and you'll live. And he wants to make sure that there's no disconnect here, that he really understands what Jesus is saying.

And so he asks, which ones? And this is probably our first uh-oh moment in the text. Uh-oh. Which ones he doesn't understand. When Jesus says if you want to know how to have life, keep the commandments.

And you ask which ones you don't understand. But Jesus answers. Okay, the sixth one, the seventh one, the eighth one, the ninth one, the fifth one, I don't know why it's out of order, I don't know, six, seven, eight, nine, five, And the second greatest commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. Keep those. Here's what Paul says about the second greatest commandment.

The first greatest being, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But the second greatest commandment is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. This is the one that Jesus gives us in this list. Here's what Paul says of the second greatest commandment in Romans 13 verse 9. Romans chapter 13 verse 9.

For the commandments, now listen, it's almost exactly the same list as Jesus is using. Paul uses it in Romans 13.9. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and If there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So Paul gives the same list, and then at the end of his list he says, and if there is any other commandment, it's summed up under this heading, love your neighbor as yourself. It's a catch-all commandment.

It's a higher level commandment that all these other commandments report into and explain in detail. So there is no relief in this list. If you think Jesus has given the rich young ruler any relief, then we go to Romans 13, 9 and see that in the second greatest commandment, all the other commandments are rolled up and put at the feet of the rich young ruler. Obey all the commandments. What does the rich young ruler say?

All these things I've kept from my youth. All of them. The sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the fifth, and the second greatest commandment. I've done all that since my youth. What do I still lack?

Shocking. Shocking. Shocking ignorance. Jesus has already been teaching that the commandments aren't just about what you do. They're about what you think.

They're about the thoughts and the intents of your heart when no one else is watching, when no one else is looking, when no one can see what's going on inside that brain of yours, and in what you say, every part of life, Everything you think, everything you say, everything you do, the law is pointed towards it. At this point, when Jesus has said this, Keep these commandments, and it's all of them. A person with eyes to see and a person with ears to hear is crushed by that answer. Crushed. Laid low.

Completely humiliated. Completely left without hope that they can ever enter eternal life. If that's the way to life, I can never have it. Never have it. And so at this moment the person with eyes to see, the person with ears to hear, stops looking to himself for a way to get to life and starts throwing himself on the mercy of the judge.

This is how you know whether you've been given eyes to see or ears to hear. Have you stopped looking to yourself for a way to life so that you're laid low, humiliated, left without hope, that you can enter eternal life so that you say, there's no hope here. Oh God, have mercy on me. But this rich young ruler doesn't say that. He says, I've kept all these things.

Since I was a little boy I've kept all these things. And he's just laid out there for the world to see that he doesn't know himself and he doesn't know the law. He doesn't understand the content of his own heart and he doesn't understand what the law really means and what the law is really pointed at. And so his self-righteousness has survived the first wave of assault. Jesus is assaulting this man's self-righteousness.

And he's been able to withstand the first assault and say, yep, I've kept those. Listen to James 2, verses 10 and 11. James 2, 10 and 11. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble at one point, He is guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder.

Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. This is the righteousness through the law that Jesus is speaking of. This is living by law keeping. It means all the law, all the time, no exceptions. All the time, no exceptions.

In your actions, in your thoughts, in your words. The first exception puts you on the wrong side of the line with no way to get back With no way to get back When you go before the judge and you say Yes, I murdered but I brought along my character witnesses. And they're here to testify of the thousand good things I've done. What judge will say, okay, you can go. How will you make your way back, murderer?

Well, now, murder's hating your brother in your heart without a cause. Murder's calling your brother a fool. And you've done that just one time in a long life. And you find yourself on the other side of that line with no way to make yourself not guilty. Because it's not pile up good things to offset the bad things.

It's you're guilty for the bad things. And one will do it. Just one will do it. This is why legalism is so devastating. Understand this.

This is why legalism is so devastating because it accepts those terms. It acts like it wants those terms Because it dumbed down the standard so far that a person thinks it can meet the standard. And so the person starts to think that it wants fair. If you get fair, you'll die in your sins. You must have mercy.

You don't need fear. The rich young ruler thinks he wants fair. And he's ready to sign up for these terms. All the law, all the time. No exceptions in your thoughts, in your words, in your deeds.

No one can live with those terms. No one can live with those terms but the rich young ruler doesn't have eyes to see and he doesn't have ears to hear so he says It can't be as easy as just keeping the law. It can't be that easy. What else? Heaven help that man.

If you think the law is doable, You don't understand the law. When Jesus says the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the fifth, the second greatest commandment, if you are not crushed by that, then you don't understand the law. The law has been given to crush you, to bring you to your knees so that you know that you're so hopeless, that you just stop pretending, stop trying to earn favor with God, because it's not possible. Turn to Galatians 3. The hardest decision this week was Romans 10 or Galatians 3 or Philippians 3.

I landed on Galatians 3. But Paul just explodes out what Jesus is doing here. And it's so clear when you look at Galatians 3 and then go back and see what Jesus is doing in Matthew 19. Exactly what's happening here. Galatians 3, let's start with 1-14.

Galatians 3 verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish?

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham." And the scripture, for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed.

So then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of The works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. For the just shall live by faith.

Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. There we are back in Leviticus 18 verse 5. The man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Paul is setting before us two kinds of righteousness, and we see it so clearly in verse 2.

Righteousness by the works of the law, and righteousness by the hearing of faith. And then he develops both kinds of righteousness. And he says what Jesus is saying. Righteousness by the works of The law is doing the law. All the time.

Every law, without exception. And that the righteousness of faith is a completely different category of righteousness. There is no crossover and overlap in synergy between these kind of righteousness. It is either one or it is the other and they cannot be mixed. Now this is not Old Testament versus New Testament.

Paul says Abraham believed God. Abraham is in the Old Testament. Way back in the Old Testament. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. So you are saved the same way that Abraham was saved.

So it's not Old Testament, New Testament. It's not even Old Covenant, New Covenant. You're saved in the same way as Abraham. It's Adam and Eve versus all of their posterity. Adam and Eve could obey and live.

All of their posterity are part of a race in rebellion. A family in rebellion to God. Born at enmity. Born at war with God. Verse 7, only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

Salvation by grace alone through faith alone does not originate in the New Testament. It originates with those who believed God and it was credited to them as righteousness. Verse 10, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them. You will choose. You will choose a righteousness.

Do you want righteousness by the works of the law? If you do, Then it's all the law, all the time, no exceptions in your thoughts, in your words, in your deeds. Madness. Insanity. Now look at verse 19.

Galatians 3, 19. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin. That the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law. Kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Look at verse 21 again.

If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been given by the law. Law cannot. Law does not impart life. If you think for one minute that you can get life from the law, you're just mistaken. It's not possible.

It wasn't given to impart life. Instead, the law confines you. All. You and you and you and you. It confines all under sin.

It wraps you up, condemned. It's a tutor to bring you to Christ. It's teaching you That you can't trust yourself. That you're not righteous. It's teaching you.

It's a teacher. It's teaching you to abandon the insanity of self-righteousness. To Stop thinking that you can achieve life through the law. It's teaching you. You fail and you fail and you fail and you fail and you fail.

And it's teaching you that self-righteousness is loss. That self-righteousness is loss. Jesus is using a law just this way with the rich young ruler. He is, Jesus is working to confine this man under sin so that the law will be a tutor to teach this rich young ruler that he's not as rich as he thinks he is, that he's not as young as he thinks he is, that he hasn't achieved what he thought he has. He thinks he's rich.

He thinks he has need of nothing, but he's poor. He's blind. He's naked. And Jesus is bringing the law to bear to teach him these things. And yet, so far, the rich young ruler has been able to deflect.

He's been able to deflect, but he won't be able to continue to deflect. Verses 21 and 22. We're back in Matthew 19, verses 21 and 22. 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." When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Jesus says, if you want to be perfect, okay, you've obeyed all these commands? I would have expected Jesus to go right back into his sermon on the mount where he actually shows him what the law expands out the law, but he doesn't do that. Jesus just goes right over the top of his reply. He says, okay, if you want to be perfect, NASB translates it this way, if you wish to be complete, not quite complete yet, so if you want to be complete, in Mark's account, Jesus begins His statement about selling all His possessions with, one thing you lack, go sell your stuff.

Luke records Jesus saying, you still lack one thing, one thing missing, not quite complete, go sell your stuff. Then come back and follow me. You'll have treasure in heaven. That's what you came for, right? Good teacher, what good thing Must I do?

That I can have eternal life? That's what you're here for, right? You want to know what you can do to have eternal life. So Jesus has answered it incompletely. Okay, just keep all the commandments.

You can have life that way. No, Jesus, I still feel like I'm lacking something. Okay, well here's the one thing you can do to have eternal life. Go sell all your stuff and come back and follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven. You can have life by doing that.

Jesus puts his finger right on the idol. You see, there can be all kinds of outward conformity and outward obedience to the law of God. You can manage your sin so that your neighbor doesn't know very much about it. But when it comes to your affections, Jesus can always put His finger right where your affections are. He knows.

He knows what's in there. You can fool me. I'm the easiest. I'm a sucker. You can fool me.

But Jesus always knows right where to put the finger, and that's exactly what He does. Just with surgical precision, goes right to this man's idol. Oh, a law keeper! Then sell your stuff. Let's talk about your affections.

Not the outward structure that you so carefully built up so that you can feel righteous and look righteous. Let's talk about your affections. Sell it all. Just Convert all that earthly treasure into heavenly treasure. That's what you're here for.

Heavenly treasure, right? Eternal life. So just make the conversion. Convert it. Take your earthly treasure and convert it into treasure where moth and rust will never be able to get at it.

Just go make the conversion and come back. You'll follow me. I'll teach you a few things about this heart of yours. Just go bet the farm. Get rid of all your stuff.

In Mark, he actually says, take up your cross and follow me. Mark records that Jesus actually said that as part of this conversation. Go sell all your stuff, take up your cross, come back here and follow me. Jesus said this in Matthew 6 24, no one can serve two masters. Either he'll hate the one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money. Okay. Loyalty. You wanted it simple. You wanted to know what to do.

Okay, let's probe on loyalty. What master are you loyal to? Go get rid of that stuff. It doesn't have a grip on you, right? Here is what should scare us to death and give us comfort all at the same time.

Jesus always has the ability to act with laser-like precision and put his finger on our idols. And if you've been a Christian for a while, you know that Your dealings with idols are not a one-time event. As Calvin says, the human heart is a factory of idols. It's just spitting out one after the other. You smash an idol, it'll be back.

Or one of its cousins will be back. Vying for the affections of your heart. And Jesus is going to put His finger on that again. If you want to be left alone with your idol, forget it. You'll have no part in the kingdom if you want to be left alone with your idol.

Because Jesus knows what it is and He will put His finger on it and say, let me have that idol. Go sell your stuff. Jesus exposes this man as a self-deceived liar. He's so self-deceived that he'll tell Jesus that he obeyed the law. So Jesus goes straight to idolatry.

Straight to the affections of the heart. Straight to the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before Me. And He takes idolatry out of the realm of a carved thing that you put on the mantle and starts talking about affections. Now what is Jesus' disposition towards this man?

This man who's deceived himself so much that he's even lying to Jesus. Mark 10, 21, our parallel text in Mark. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, One thing you lack, Go sell your possessions. Though this man is an idolater, though this man is so self-righteous that he doesn't even know that he's self-righteous, when Jesus looks at him, he doesn't despise him, he doesn't disdain him, he loves him, and he tells him the truth. And every time that God comes and puts his finger on our idol, it's not because he disdains us as idolaters, it's because he loves us, He wants us to be free of those idols.

Jesus told us what salvation looks like in Matthew 13, 44. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. That's what salvation looks like. When Jesus says, go sell all your stuff, you can't wait to get home. If you've got eyes to see, you don't trudge home sorrowful.

You run home to start the stuff sale. You can't get rid of the stuff fast enough. Because you've seen the value of the treasure in the field. If you think, all I've got to do is sell this stuff. It's hardly worth anything anyway to have this immense treasure that you go home and for joy over it you sell all that you have.

This rich young man treads his home full of sorrow. It's not what salvation looks like. Jesus has told us what rejection of the Gospel looks like. Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word, and he becomes unfruitful. We're seeing one of the seeds unfold before our eyes. Seed sown, good seed, the best sower, and it's choked out by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Now next week we're going to look at verses 23-30 in depth. But now we'll just touch on it because it has to do with this doctrine of salvation that Jesus is putting before us and the two kinds of righteousness.

The righteousness by the works of the law and the righteousness that comes by faith. The disciples now want to know who in the world can be saved. If this man with his act together, the man with the resources, the man who's in the prime of his life, the man who's already attained to something, the man who believes in God, The man who believes in the Scriptures. The man who is seeking after eternal life, can't attain to eternal life. Who in the world can be saved?

Jesus says it's impossible with man. But all things are possible with God. Salvation is impossible without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing you can do. There's no law keeping.

There's no way that you can buy approval with God apart from the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. And Taylor read more of Ephesians 2, but we'll go back to Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 for just a second. Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God. Not of words, lest anyone should boast. God has designed a world, a universe, a life for you that will strip away Pride and boasting.

And you'll be left with just thankfulness. That He's given you a gift of faith. Of imputed righteousness. The law keeping that you should have done, but didn't. Jesus did.

The paying for sins that you couldn't do, Jesus did. So there's a double imputing. There's a double imparting of things to you. Paying the debts that you couldn't pay and living the life that you couldn't and did not live. When God gives you a gift like that, you're like Paul in Philippians 3.

What things were gained to you, those things are loss. Those things are rubbish. Those things are dung. You may gain Christ. You start looking at your stuff differently.

Your reputation differently. Your human autonomy differently. It's rubbish. The praise of men, differently. It's dung.

Security, differently. It's loss. Pleasures, differently. They're nothing. A particular relationship, it's nothing.

Nothing will stand between you and the Gospel because you'll sell everything for joy over it. And it takes us out of play land, where we say, I'm the planting of the Lord. Meanwhile, the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches are choking. Are we playing or are we the planting of the Lord? A few concluding remarks.

First, the doctrine of salvation is not theoretical. It's not a classroom activity. It is eyeball to eyeball with Jesus Christ about your affections. Heaven forbid that we should just fill our minds with facts, as if the doctrine of salvation were that. It is you doing business with Jesus Christ about your failure to keep the commandments.

Now what are you going to do? You're across that line. You have no way to get back over it again. Now what? Throw yourself on the mercy of the judge.

We were in the nursing home on Tuesday night. And in closing, the appeal, the gospel appeal had been made very strongly. But just in closing, I just started naming names of the people that were sitting there. Because the doctrine of salvation is not theoretical. It's eyeball to eyeball.

And we should name names so that people don't think It's a classroom activity that we're embarking in. It's the destiny of your soul. You have a name. And you will spend eternity in heaven or in hell. And the difference will be whether you throw yourself on the mercy of the judge, or whether you try to hold on to, cling to some sort of self-righteousness, and you bring God's standards down to where you can get over it, as if God will be fooled by that on the Day of Judgment.

Secondly, many things are good in themselves, but are well short of salvation. And we get comfortable with them. We get comfortable with knowing the law and having an outward obedience to the law. We get comfortable in having affection for spiritual things and liking to be around the people of God. We get comfortable with attending the meetings and encouraging the saints and being part of the life of the church.

But for the unregenerate, those things actually become dangerous because everything gets comfortable and we lose sight of the fact that something must be done about our sin. Heaven forbid that we would be comfortable in our sin and be dulled to the crushing nature of our rebellion to God because we are around things that have a facade of religion. Finally, J.C. Ryle says this, One idol cherished in the heart may ruin a soul forever. One idol cherished in the heart.

Now we don't know exactly what happened to this man, But he doesn't repent in the story. If things didn't change for him, if these punches that Jesus has thrown to him for his good never landed and he never repented, then this one thing cherished in his heart, this idol that he clung to, ruined his soul forever. What is the thing that Jesus can't have? What is it? Can't touch that Jesus.

Can't have that Jesus. Won't sell my stuff, Jesus. What is the thing that would send you away sorrowful when Jesus starts messing with it. You better pay attention to that thing. You better do business with Jesus Christ about that thing.

Because you can fool me and I can fool you, but neither of us can fool Jesus. He knows what's in our hearts. He knows the things that have our affections. Not the things that we talk about, but the things that we love in our hearts. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for confronting us in our idolatry. That you look upon idolaters with love, put your finger on the idol, and you call for it. God help us, help us to be free. Help us to be free. Help us to be those who go away and for joy over it sell all that we have.

Pray that it be so in Jesus' name, Amen.