Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Rich Young Man and the Cost of Following Christ: Self-Righteousness, Idolatry, and Eternal Life (Matthew 19:16–22)

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The Rich Young Man and the Cost of Following Christ: Self-Righteousness, Idolatry, and Eternal Life (Matthew 19:16–22) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking, where we take your sources and
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  uncover the truth within. So imagine you have the absolute
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  ultimate spiritual resume. Right.
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  The kind of resume that just looks flawless to everyone
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  around you. Yeah.
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  Absolutely flawless. You possess perfect morals.
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  You have immense wealth, you hold unquestioned social
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  authority, and, you know, a completely spotless public
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  reputation. The kind of person who gets the
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  best seat at any dinner party. Spot on.
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  Now imagine you walk right up to the gates of the Kingdom of
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  Heaven, and you hand that flawless resume to the one who
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  holds the keys. And you just expect him to usher
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  you right in. But instead, you watch as he
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  takes that resume and just tears it to pieces right in front of
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  you. It is a shocking image, I mean
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  truly jarring for most people to consider.
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  It really is. Today we're looking at why the
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  Creator of the universe rejects the most qualified people on
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  Earth. We're going to examine a
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  historical account from the 19th chapter of Matthew's Gospel.
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  Yes, the account of the young, affluent man who approaches
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  Jesus Christ. Right.
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  And on paper, this individual looks like the absolute ideal
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  candidate for eternal life. By all human metrics, he is
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  completely blameless. He is the guy every single
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  religious institution would want on their board of directors.
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  So our mission for today's discussion is pretty
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  straightforward, yet it cuts right to the bone.
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  We are going to dismantle the illusion of human merit.
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  And we are going to look at the crushing weight of the divine
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  law too. Yeah, and finally, we are going
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  to look at the absolute necessity of Christ's sovereign
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  grace. Now, if you were listening to
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  this right now, you might assume this is just a simple financial
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  lesson about the dangers of possessing too much money.
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  Oh, people make that mistake all the time.
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  They reduce it to a budgeting seminar.
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  They really do. But as we pull back the layers
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  today, you are going to see how this historical encounter
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  exposes the hidden idols residing in every single one of
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  our hearts. That is the essential context we
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  must hold in our minds as we approach this text.
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  We are not looking at a scandalous rebel here.
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  Right, she is not a criminal. No, not at all.
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  We are not looking at a tax collector, a thief, or, you
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  know, some notorious public center.
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  We are looking at highly respectable lostness.
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  Highly respectable lostness. Wow, that is a striking phrase.
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  Well, it fits him perfectly. This man is morally serious, he
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  is outwardly disciplined, and he is genuinely spiritually
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  curious. He represents the absolute
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  pinnacle of human achievement. Yet he gets turned away.
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  So to grasp his fundamental error, we have to look at who
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  Jesus was speaking to right before this encounter.
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  The literary placement in Matthew's Gospel gives us the
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  interpretive key. Just a few verses earlier, in
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  Matthew 19, verses 13 through 15, little children are brought
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  to Jesus. And the disciples try to turn
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  them away. They do.
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  The disciples are operating under the assumption that the
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  Messiah's time is far too valuable for societal
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  nonentities. They actually rebuke those
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  bringing the children. Because in the 1st century Roman
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  and Jewish world, children possessed 0 status, didn't they?
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  Absolutely zero. They were not cherished in the
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  way modern society cherishes them at all.
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  Under Roman law, they lacked any legal or social standing until
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  they came of age. They were essentially just
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  property. Pretty much, but Jesus
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  forcefully corrects his disciples.
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  He blesses the little children, stating that the Kingdom of
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  heaven belongs to such as these. So what is the connection there?
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  Why point to the children right before the affluent man shows
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  up? What we must understand about
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  children in this specific context is that they bring
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  absolutely 0 moral resume to the table.
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  They have no accumulated merit whatsoever.
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  They cannot offer any religious achievements.
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  Exactly. I mean they come in total
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  helplessness. They are receivers, not
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  achievers. The Kingdom of Heaven is given
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  exclusively to those who come completely empty handed.
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  You have to possess nothing to offer in exchange for divine
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  favor. I want to build on that dynamic
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  because it sets up the entire conflict for the rest of the
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  text. Go ahead.
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  It is a crucial contrast. Think of a highly exclusive
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  event. Picture the most restricted gala
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  in the entire world. There's a velvet rope, a
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  towering security presence and an admission standard that
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  nobody seems to fully grasp. A completely impenetrable guest
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  list. Right now imagine a group of
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  toddlers wandering up to the entrance.
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  They have no VIP pass, they have no social status, no bank
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  accounts, and they have absolutely nothing to offer the
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  host of this gala. Yet the doors swing wide open
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  for them, Yes. They are ushered right in and
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  given the absolute best seats in the house.
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  Then the absolute young man walks up and he is holding what
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  he considers to be the ultimate VIP pass his.
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  Flawless moral record. Yeah, he possesses unblemished
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  morality, top tier education and massive social standing.
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  He assumes he is an absolute shoe in he.
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  Assumes the host will take one look at his credentials and just
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  roll out the red carpet. But instead his pass is totally
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  rejected. So if you are listening to this,
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  you have to ask yourself, why do we instinctively side with the
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  VIP? That is the $1,000,000 question.
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  Right. Why do we, as readers and as
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  human beings, naturally assume that the guy with the polished
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  resume is the one who deserves to gain entry?
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  Well, we instinctively side with the VIP because fallen humanity
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  naturally misjudges spiritual reality.
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  We operate entirely under a system of visible metrics.
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  We really do. It is how our whole society
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  works. Think about how we are
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  conditioned from infancy. You cry, you get fed.
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  You get excellent grades on a test.
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  You receive praise from your parents.
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  You work hard at your job. You receive a promotion and a
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  salary increase. Precisely our entire
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  neurological reward system and the structure of human society
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  is wired for transactional merit.
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  So we did project that unto God. Yes, because these visible
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  attributes like competence, wealth, morality, success, they
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  win favor in human societies. So our natural instinct is to
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  project that exact same meritocratic system onto the
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  courtroom of God. We assume that if a person is
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  respected in the community, if they pay their taxes, if they
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  abstain from public scandals, then they must surely be
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  acceptable to the Almighty. But the contrast Matthew sets up
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  here completely obliterates that assumption.
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  The contrast is between helpless dependence and religious self
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  assurance. The children versus the affluent
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  man. Right.
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  The children are brought to Jesus.
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  They do not negotiate their standing.
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  The young man, however, approaches Jesus with incredible
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  religious self assurance, believing he can negotiate his
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  eternal standing. He believes he can negotiate
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  based on his personal competence.
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  He believes he can qualify. This highlights a massive
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  theological reality. The Kingdom of Heaven is not
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  entered through visible competence.
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  It is received exclusively by those who recognize their total
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  spiritual bankruptcy. So when we admire the young
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  man's resume, we are really just betraying our own inherent
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  legalism. Yes, our brains literally lack a
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  natural category for unearned grace.
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  So with that self assured not sure in mind, the man finally
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  speaks to Jesus and his opening words pretty much give away his
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  entire theological framework, don't they?
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  They absolutely do. In verse 16, he asks teacher,
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  what good deed must I do to have eternal life?
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  I want to highlight the Greek focus here because the
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  vocabulary is incredibly revealing.
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  He uses the verb poyosho, which translates to Must I do right?
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  Correct, and he uses the adjective agathon meaning good.
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  So his entire question is structured around his own agency
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  and his own inherent capacity to produce a specific superlative
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  action. He is entirely focused on his
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  own performance. He is not asking for mercy.
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  He is not throwing himself at the feet of the judge asking for
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  a pardon. He is asking for a task.
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  He assumes that eternal life is a wage to be earned, a reward
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  for sufficiently impressive action.
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  He is treating salvation like a commercial transaction.
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  OK, let's unpack this with an analogy.
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  It is like a man trying to fix a house with a completely
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  shattered foundation by asking the inspector what color he
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  should paint the front door. I love that analogy, it captures
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  his blindness perfectly. Right.
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  Imagine you buy a house and the inspector tells you the concrete
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  slab is cracked down the middle, the structural beams are rotting
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  away, the ground underneath is a sinkhole, and the entire
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  structure is moments away from absolute collapse.
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  Total structural failure. Yeah, And your response to the
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  inspector is OK, I hear you. But what if I put a fresh coat
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  of eggshell white on the front door?
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  Will that fix it? He is asking for a cosmetic
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  supplement when he desperately needs a structural resurrection.
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  Exactly, he thinks he just needs a minor touch up.
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  And to take your house analogy a step further, the young man
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  isn't just asking about paint colors, he is asking the
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  inspector to praise him for mowing the lawn while the house
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  burns down. Oh man.
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  That is devastating. It is that transactional view of
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  religion is the very heartbeat of the Pelagian instinct.
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  Pelagianism. We should probably define that
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  for those listening who might not be familiar with the term.
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  Right. To give some historical context,
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  Pelagius was a British monk in the late 4th and early 5th
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  centuries who argued against the teachings of Augustine.
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  And what did Pelagius teach? Pelagius taught that human
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  beings are born basically good, or at least morally neutral, and
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  possessed the inherent free will to choose God and achieve
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  salvation through rigorous moral effort.
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  So he completely denied original sin.
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  Completely. Now, the young man's question
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  obviously predates Pelagius, but it shares the exact same
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  synergistic core. He believes salvation is a
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  cooperative venture. A trade of human effort for
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  divine acceptance. Yes, he brings his Agathon, his
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  good deed, and God gives him eternal life in exchange.
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  This mindset violently opposes the Reformed doctrine of total
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  depravity. And total depravity as
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  articulated in the Westminster Standards doesn't mean a person
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  is as evil as they could possibly be in their outward
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  actions, does it? No, not at all.
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  That would be utter depravity. Total depravity means that the
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  corruption of the Fall has extended to every single part of
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  our being. Our mind, our will, our
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  affections. Precisely, therefore, we are
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  completely incapable of producing any spiritual good
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  that can merit salvation. So the young man thinks his
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  spiritual gas tank is just a few drops low and can be topped off
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  with one more good deed. He fails to realize that he does
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  not have a slightly deficient engine.
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  He is suffering from total spiritual death.
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  He is a corpse asking what exercise routine will bring him
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  back to life. Hold on, I have to push back
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  here. I am trying to put myself in the
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  shoes of a skeptic listening to this.
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  OK, let's hear it. If this doctrine of total
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  depravity is true, and this man is completely spiritually dead,
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  entirely incapable of producing any good thing, then why does
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  Jesus engage him on this level? That is a very fair question.
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  Isn't it a bit cruel? I mean, if I see a man who is
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  paralyzed from the neck down and I asked him to run a marathon
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  just to prove he cannot do it, that seems mocking.
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  It does seem that way on the surface.
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  Right. So why would the Savior of the
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  world play this kind of theological game with a man who
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  is blind to his own condition? Why doesn't Jesus just
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  immediately tell him you are totally depraved?
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  You can do nothing. Stop trying.
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  That is a brilliant challenge, and it cuts to the heart of how
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  Jesus operates as the Great Physician.
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  Jesus does not mock the man. Rather, he employs A pedagogical
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  method designed to shatter the man's illusions.
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  So Jesus is diagnosing him. Yes, if a physician has a
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  patient who vehemently denies being sick, handing them
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  medicine will accomplish nothing.
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  The patient will simply throw the medicine away because they
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  do not believe they need it. They have to see the proof of
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  the disease first. Exactly.
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  The physician must first use diagnostic tools like an X-ray,
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  an MRI, a blood test to prove the existence of the terminal
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  disease. Jesus is preparing to use the
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  divine law as that MRI but. Before he administers the
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  diagnostic test, he must first define the terms of the
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  examination, right? Yes, because the man is asking
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  about the paint color Jesus strikes at the shattered
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  foundation itself in verse 17. Jesus replies, Why do you ask me
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  about what is good? There is only one who is good.
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  Christ establishes a massive theological boundary here.
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  He really does. The young man use the word
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  Agathon as if goodness were a manageable human commodity.
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  Jesus stops him immediately. He strips away the man's
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  relative grading curve. Oh, we all love to grade on a
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  curve. Human beings absolutely love it.
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  We love to compare ourselves to other sinners, to feel
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  acceptable. The sociology of comparative
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  morality is fascinating. We say things like, well, I
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  might have a terrible temper, but at least I've never robbed a
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  bank. Or I might be greedy, but I
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  donate a portion of my income to charity.
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  We always find someone worse to make ourselves look better.
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  But by pointing to God as the sole standard of absolute
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  goodness, Jesus destroys the curve entirely.
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  Entirely If God alone is the standard of agathos, then any
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  deed offered by a rebel Sinner is, as the prophet Isaiah
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  declares, filthy rags. Jesus forces the man to lift his
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  eyes from his horizontal comparisons with other fallen
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  men and look vertically at the blazing, unapproachable holiness
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  of God. And that vertical look changes
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  everything. When you set the standard at
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  absolute unblemished divine perfection, every single human
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  achievement turns to dust instantly.
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  It leaves zero room for boasting, but looking at Jesus's
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  statement, there is only one who is good.
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  I have to ask about the implications of who is speaking.
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  The Christological implications. Yeah, if Jesus is the one
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  telling the man that God alone is good, isn't he also making a
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  massive claim about himself? It seems like Jesus is backing
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  the man into a logical corner. He absolutely is.
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  He is basically saying if you are calling me good and you
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  acknowledge that only God is good, do you have any idea who
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  is standing in front of you? Yes, the Christological angle
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  here is staggering and unavoidable.
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  Jesus is not denying His own goodness, rather He is pressing
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  the man to recognize the logical conclusion of his own
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  vocabulary. If only God is good and Jesus
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  embodies perfect goodness, then Jesus is God Incarnate.
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  Precisely. Jesus is the very embodiment of
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  the divine goodness the man is asking about.
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  By setting up this absolute standard, Jesus is preparing to
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  show that human goodness is entirely bankrupt.
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  There is no moral ladder a human being can climb to reach heaven.
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  The ladder is completely broken. By establishing God's perfect
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  holiness, Jesus leaves room for only one possible solution for
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  humanity. Imputed righteousness.
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  Yes. Inherent righteousness is the
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  goodness we produce ourselves. Imputed righteousness is the
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  goodness credited to our account by a substitute.
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  So if we cannot produce the required goodness, it must be
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  credited to us by someone who possesses it inherently.
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  Spot on. A high view of God's holiness
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  instantly silences human boasting.
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  Before the man can understand his desperate need for a Savior,
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  he must understand the impossibility of the standard.
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  So once that absolute standard of God is established, Jesus
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  decides to hand the man the X-ray you mentioned earlier.
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  He wants to show him exactly how far he falls short of this
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  divine perfection. Right.
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  Jesus points him directly to the law.
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  In verses 18 and 19, Jesus lists specific commandments.
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  He says you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery,
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  you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor
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  your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as
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  yourself. Notice the specific selection of
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  those commandments. That is what is fascinating to
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  me Here. Jesus deliberately pulls from
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  the second table of the law. These are the commandments that
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  govern human relationships, horizontal interactions.
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  Outwardly, these are the areas where a respectable affluent
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  citizen would appear to excel. He is giving the man a test he
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  thinks he has already aced. The surgical precision of
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  Christ's response here is breathtaking.
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  Jesus is operating firmly under the Mosaic covenant.
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  In this interaction. He is using the law lawfully.
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  Like it says in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 19,
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  Section 6. Exactly.
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  The law is of immense use to unregenerate men, to awaken
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  their consciences and show them their utter inability to fulfill
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  its demands. The Apostle Paul later describes
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  this specific function in his Epistle to the Galatians,
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  calling the law a schoolmaster. Or a strict tutor designed to
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  shut us up under sin and drive us to Christ Jesus meets the man
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  on his own chosen battleground. The man wanted to discuss human
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  deeds, so Jesus provides the ultimate divine metric of human
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  deeds. But notice the intentional
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  glaring omission in that list. Yes, Jesus lists the horizontal
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  commandments, but he leaves out the 10th commandment.
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  You shall not covet. He sets a diagnostic trap.
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  He presents the external boundaries of behavior to see if
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  the man understands the internal spiritual nature of God's
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  demands. Jesus is testing whether this
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  young ruler grasps the the law requires internal purity, not
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  just external compliance. And the man walks right into the
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  trap. Without a second of hesitation,
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  he replies. All these I have kept.
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  What do I still lack? I want to focus on the Greek
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  word used here for kept. It is ethyl AXA which translates
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  to I have guarded or I have strictly observed.
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  It is actually a military term. Really.
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  So the man thinks he has built a defensive perimeter, A fortress
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  against sin, Yes. He thinks he has stationed armed
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  sentries at the gets of his life to keep murder, adultery and
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  theft out. But if you are listening to this
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  and analyzing his response, you have to notice the massive
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  contradiction. Here, it's a glaring
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  contradiction. If he truly believes he has
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  guarded the law perfectly, if he really thinks his moral fortress
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  is impenetrable, why is his conscience still bothering him?
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  Why does he immediately ask, what do I still lack?
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  Right. A person who has achieved total
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  moral perfection should be at absolute peace.
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  They should be resting in their achievement.
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  But he is restless. He feels a void.
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  You have hit upon the fundamental restlessness of the
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  legalistic heart. Outward morality cannot quiet
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  the soul before a holy God. The man treats the law as a
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  checklist of external behaviors. He views his perimeter as secure
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  because his physical hands have not shed blood, his physical
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  body has not committed adultery, and his physical pockets hold no
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  stolen goods. But he totally misses the
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  spiritual standard Jesus set forth earlier in the Sermon on
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  the Mount. In Matthew 5, Jesus clarified
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  that unjust anger is equated with the guilt of murder and
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  internal lust is equated with the guilt of adultery.
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  The law is not a superficial fence meant to keep behavior in
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  check. It is a blazing fire that
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  consumes the hidden motives of the heart.
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  The man's conscience is restless because deep down the image of
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  God within him knows that a checklist is insufficient.
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  He feels the incompleteness. His wealth, his authority, and
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  his strict observance of societal rules have not
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  purchased peace for his soul. His question what do I still
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  lack? Proves that self righteousness
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  is a cruel, unrelenting taskmaster that never ever says
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  it is finished. Now the tension in the narrative
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  reaches its absolute peak. The trap is set.
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  The man has claimed moral perfection.
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  He has admitted his internal restlessness.
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  And Jesus springs the trap. He moves the crosshairs from the
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  second table of the law, the horizontal human relationships,
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  straight to the first table of the law, the vertical
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  relationship with God. In verse 21 Jesus says, if you
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  would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the
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  poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
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  Jesus uses the word tileos for perfect meaning, complete or
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  whole. He is telling the man you want
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  the final piece of the puzzle. You want to know what you lack
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  to be whole. Here it is.
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  The Greek syntax here is devastating to the young man's
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  worldview. Jesus issues 5 rapid fire
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  imperatives, five of them. Yes, hypeage, which means go
• 19:38
  puliosong, which means sell, dos give, Duro come and Akulu say
• 19:44
  follow. This is a demand for total
• 19:46
  absolute divestment of his earthly security.
• 19:48
  We need to be very clear here. Systematically, though, Jesus is
• 19:51
  not instituting a new universal requirement that every every
• 19:54
  single Christian must embrace absolute poverty to be saved.
• 19:57
  No, if that were the case, he would contradict other parts of
• 20:00
  scripture where wealthy believers like Abraham, Job or
• 20:02
  Joseph of Arimathea are commended for their faith.
• 20:05
  So Jesus is targeting the specific cherished idol of this
• 20:09
  specific man. Precisely.
• 20:10
  He intentionally omitted the commandment against coveting
• 20:13
  earlier so that he could expose it.
• 20:15
  Right now the issue is covetousness.
• 20:18
  The man is breaking the first commandment.
• 20:20
  You shall have no other gods before me, because his bank
• 20:23
  account is his functional. His wealth provides his
• 20:26
  security, his identity, and his comfort.
• 20:29
  Jesus demands the wealth, not because God needs the money, but
• 20:32
  because the man's heart is chained to it.
• 20:34
  This proves that sin is fundamentally doxological.
• 20:37
  As John Calvin famously stated, the human heart is a perpetual
• 20:41
  factory of idols. We are worshipping creatures.
• 20:44
  We cannot exist without worshipping something.
• 20:46
  Sin is not just breaking an arbitrary rule, it is an issue
• 20:49
  of worship. It is taking the supreme
• 20:51
  allegiance, love and trust that belongs to the Creator alone and
• 20:55
  giving it to a created thing. I want to pause and consider how
• 20:58
  shocking this would be to the original audience.
• 21:01
  Wealth was seen as a direct blessing from God.
• 21:04
  OK, here's where it gets really interesting.
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  I want to contrast this moment with modern church culture for a
• 21:10
  second, because the application here is massive.
• 21:13
  Oh, this will be good. Let's hear it.
• 21:15
  Imagine this wealthy, young, highly influential leader
• 21:19
  walking into a typical market driven, seeker sensitive mega
• 21:24
  church today. The leadership would likely fall
• 21:27
  over themselves trying to accommodate him.
• 21:30
  They would put him on the Finance Committee immediately.
• 21:32
  Right. They would ask him to speak at
• 21:33
  the Young Professionals Conference and they would
• 21:35
  certainly never say anything to offend him or risk losing his
• 21:38
  tithe. They would try to find a
• 21:39
  comfortable middle ground. They would say just give 10%,
• 21:43
  keep your portfolio growing, maintain your lavish lifestyle
• 21:46
  and let's partner together for the Kingdom.
• 21:48
  But Jesus does absolutely none of that.
• 21:51
  He looks at the ultimate cultural influencer and tells
• 21:54
  him to liquidate everything, give it to people who can offer
• 21:57
  him nothing in return, and become a homeless itinerant
• 21:59
  follower. It is shocking.
• 22:01
  That contrast exposes the absolute bankruptcy of the
• 22:05
  modern prosperity gospel and pragmatic church growth
• 22:08
  strategies. The prosperity gospel views
• 22:11
  wealth as a sign of God's favor, a reward for sufficient faith.
• 22:15
  It teaches that God wants you wealthy, healthy and successful
• 22:19
  by worldly standards. But Jesus views this man's
• 22:22
  wealth as the very idol that is damning his soul to hell.
• 22:26
  Christ does not lower the bar to boost attendance numbers.
• 22:29
  He does not negotiate the terms of discipleship to keep a high
• 22:32
  net worth individual in the congregation.
• 22:34
  He demands total surrender. This demonstrates a core tenet
• 22:38
  of Reformed theology regarding the nature of saving faith.
• 22:42
  Justification cannot coexist with cherished idolatry.
• 22:45
  You cannot hold the hand of Christ while your other hand is
• 22:48
  tightly gripping a false God. Christ demands the throne of the
• 22:52
  heart. The modern church often tries to
• 22:54
  sell Jesus as a helpful additive, a way to make your
• 22:57
  already successful life just a little bit better, a little more
• 22:59
  peaceful, a little more fulfilled.
• 23:01
  But Jesus presents himself as the sovereign Lord who demands
• 23:04
  the absolute death of self. He exposes the idol not to be
• 23:08
  cruel, but to show the man that his hands are far too full of
• 23:11
  earth to grasp heaven. Faced with this absolute demand,
• 23:14
  faced with the requirement to surrender his functional God,
• 23:18
  the man makes a devastating choice.
• 23:20
  It is a heartbreaking conclusion to the encounter.
• 23:23
  Verse 22 says when the young man heard this, he went away
• 23:26
  sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
• 23:29
  He does not argue, he does not yell, he does not try to debate
• 23:33
  theology or negotiate a lower percentage.
• 23:36
  He just walks away. The phrase Matthew uses is
• 23:39
  apulthan lipomenos, which translates to He went away
• 23:42
  grieving. This is a vital moment for us to
• 23:44
  understand the severe difference between conviction and
• 23:47
  conversion. The man was convicted.
• 23:49
  He felt the heavyweight of Christ's demand, he understood
• 23:52
  exactly what was being asked of him, and it caused him genuine
• 23:55
  emotional pain. But his sorrow was worldly
• 23:58
  sorrow. In Second Corinthians Chapter 7,
• 24:00
  the apostle Paul distinguishes between godly grief that
• 24:03
  produces A repentance leading to salvation and worldly grief that
• 24:07
  produces death. We see worldly grief in figures
• 24:09
  like Esau, who wept bitterly after losing his birthright but
• 24:13
  never truly repented. This man had worldly grief.
• 24:16
  He was sad because he realized he could not have both his
• 24:19
  cherished idol and eternal life. But when the decisive moment
• 24:23
  came, he loved his gold more than the King of glory.
• 24:26
  He was pierced by the truth, but he remained unchanged by it.
• 24:31
  His sorrow is tragic because it shows a man standing on the very
• 24:33
  threshold of the Kingdom, looking directly into the eyes
• 24:36
  of the Savior of the world and deciding that the price of
• 24:39
  admission is simply too steep. The brutal irony of that final
• 24:43
  phrase for he had great possessions is staggering.
• 24:46
  He thought he possessed great things, but in reality his
• 24:49
  things possessed him. He was an absolute slave to his
• 24:52
  portfolio. If you examine your own
• 24:54
  surroundings, you have to ask, how often do we see this exact
• 24:57
  same scenario play out today in our own pews?
• 25:00
  We see people who desperately want the benefits of Jesus.
• 25:03
  They want the support of community, they want the
• 25:05
  psychological Peace of Mind. They want the assurance of
• 25:08
  heaven when they die. But they absolutely refuse the
• 25:10
  Lordship of Jesus. They want a savior to rescue
• 25:13
  them from hell, but they do not want a king to dictate how they
• 25:17
  spend their money, how they conduct their careers, or what
• 25:19
  they view on their screens in private.
• 25:21
  They want grace without obedience.
• 25:23
  We see it constantly because it is the natural default condition
• 25:27
  of the unregenerate heart. We willingly trade invisible
• 25:31
  eternal realities for visible perishing metals.
• 25:34
  We trade the immortal glory of the Triune God for the fleeting
• 25:38
  comfort of a retirement account, social status, or personal
• 25:43
  autonomy. This man's choice highlights the
• 25:45
  absolute blindness that sin causes in the human intellect.
• 25:49
  He was offered treasure in heaven.
• 25:51
  He was offered intimate fellowship with the Incarnate
• 25:53
  Son of God. And he chose dirt.
• 25:55
  He chose metal that rusts and garments that moths destroy.
• 25:59
  It is spiritual insanity, but it is the insanity that governs
• 26:02
  every human being apart from the regenerating grace of the Holy
• 26:05
  Spirit. He preferred what he could see,
• 26:08
  count and control over a life of helpless dependence on Christ.
• 26:11
  This is the tragedy of a highly moral life without a regenerated
• 26:16
  heart. You can keep all the rules of
• 26:18
  civil society, you can be respected by everyone you meet,
• 26:21
  you can be a pillar of your community, and you can still
• 26:23
  walk away from Christ because your heart is captured by a
• 26:26
  rival lover. As the disciples watch this
• 26:29
  affluent, upstanding, morally impressive man walk away, they
• 26:33
  are completely terrified. They watch the guy with the
• 26:35
  ultimate VIP pass get turned away the door and they asked the
• 26:38
  most logical question possible in verse 25.
• 26:42
  Who then can be saved? If this guy, who has the vast
• 26:45
  resources, the intense moral discipline and the clean public
• 26:48
  record cannot make it into the Kingdom, what hope do a bunch of
• 26:52
  uneducated, impoverished Galilean fishermen have?
• 26:55
  This reaction from the disciples leads us directly to the sole
• 26:58
  remedy for the human condition. Jesus looks at them and says
• 27:01
  with man this is impossible, but with God all things are
• 27:04
  possible. That specific statement is the
• 27:06
  hinge upon which the entire gospel swings.
• 27:09
  The disciples understand the terrifying implications of what
• 27:12
  just happened. If salvation requires a purity
• 27:14
  of heart that detaches completely from all earthly
• 27:18
  idols, then no human being can save themselves.
• 27:21
  Every human heart harbors idols. Jesus confirms their terror with
• 27:25
  man. It is completely impossible.
• 27:27
  You cannot earn it. You cannot buy it.
• 27:29
  You cannot guard your behavior well enough to achieve it.
• 27:32
  Your resume is useless. Where the young man failed, and
• 27:35
  where every single one of us fails, Christ triumphed.
• 27:39
  This is the Christological resolution of the text.
• 27:42
  Jesus is the true Agathos, the only one who is truly good.
• 27:45
  He is the true Telios, the only one who is perfectly complete.
• 27:49
  The young man refused to sell his earthly possessions.
• 27:52
  But consider the reality of Christ described in Philippians
• 27:55
  2. Christ actually did what the
• 27:56
  young ruler refused to do. Christ emptied himself of
• 28:00
  heavenly glory. He did not consider equality
• 28:02
  with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking
• 28:06
  the form of a servant. This touches on the Reformed
• 28:08
  doctrine of Christ's active and passive obedience.
• 28:11
  In his active obedience, Jesus lived the life of perfect
• 28:14
  adherence to the law that we could never live.
• 28:16
  He loved God perfectly and loved his neighbor perfectly.
• 28:19
  And in his passive obedience, he went to the cross to endure the
• 28:23
  wrath of God, paying the penalty for our covetousness, our
• 28:27
  idolatry, and our self righteousness.
• 28:29
  Salvation is possible with God because God the Son accomplished
• 28:33
  it on our behalf. So what does this all mean for
• 28:35
  our worship? I am curious about how this
• 28:38
  historical encounter impacts the physical practices of the
• 28:41
  Church. That is a brilliant transition.
• 28:43
  How do we take this crushing theological weight, the
• 28:45
  impossibility of human merit, and the necessity of Christ's
• 28:48
  perfect obedience, and apply it to how we gather and worship as
• 28:53
  believers today? How does this text shape our
• 28:56
  actual liturgy? We connect this directly to the
• 28:58
  Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in Reformed Theology following
• 29:01
  the Westminster Confession, chapters 21 and 29, Section 7.
• 29:05
  The Supper is the visible word. The preaching of the gospel is
• 29:08
  the audible word declaring the promises of Christ to our ears,
• 29:12
  and the sacrament is the visible confirmation of those promises
• 29:15
  to our eyes, our taste, and our touch.
• 29:17
  Think about the stark contrast between the affluent young man
• 29:21
  and the communion table. The affluent man was commanded
• 29:24
  to give his wealth to the poor and he refused, walking away in
• 29:27
  sorrow. At the Lord's Table we see
• 29:29
  Christ, who freely gave his very body and blood.
• 29:32
  For the spiritually bankrupt. Jesus is the host of the meal,
• 29:36
  and he provides himself as the feast.
• 29:39
  This brings us to the practice of fencing the table, which is a
• 29:42
  necessary and loving practice in our churches.
• 29:44
  Fencing the table is the pastoral act of warning those
• 29:48
  who are clinging to their idols. Those who are cherishing secret
• 29:51
  sins, trusting in their own righteousness, or living in
• 29:54
  unrepentant rebellion. Right.
• 29:56
  Warning them not to partake lest they eat and drink judgement
• 29:59
  upon themselves. It is a pastoral warning to not
• 30:02
  be like the young ruler trying to hold onto your gold while
• 30:05
  simultaneously reaching for the bread of life.
• 30:08
  You must drop your idols to receive the bread.
• 30:11
  But for the true believer, for the one who recognizes their
• 30:13
  spiritual poverty, who comes like the helpless children we
• 30:16
  discussed in the beginning, resting entirely in the imputed
• 30:19
  righteousness of Christ, the sacrament is an immense comfort.
• 30:23
  It confirms the promises of the gospel through the real
• 30:26
  spiritual presence of Christ and the sacrament.
• 30:29
  The Holy Spirit nourishes our faith.
• 30:31
  Assuring our doubting hearts that his perfect obedience is
• 30:35
  fully credited to our account, and His death has fully
• 30:39
  satisfied the wrath of God against our specific idolatry.
• 30:43
  We come to the table not as achievers presenting a resume,
• 30:46
  but as helpless children receiving a free gift.
• 30:49
  That brings us to the core lesson of everything we have
• 30:51
  discussed today. Salvation is never a cooperative
• 30:54
  venture of human merit. It is never God doing his part
• 30:59
  and us doing our part to meet in the middle.
• 31:01
  It is an act of sovereign grace from beginning to end.
• 31:04
  It requires the absolute surrender of our false gods, our
• 31:06
  functional saviors, to the exclusive Lordship of Jesus
• 31:10
  Christ. You cannot buy your way in, you
• 31:12
  cannot behave your way in, and you cannot negotiate your way
• 31:15
  in. You can only come empty handed.
• 31:17
  Before we finish, I want to leave you with a final thought
• 31:19
  to ponder an angle we have not fully examined yet.
• 31:22
  We spent all our time looking at the wealthy man who walked away,
• 31:26
  but consider the disciples who stayed.
• 31:28
  They had already given up their Nets, their boats and their
• 31:30
  livelihoods to follow Jesus. They had achieved the physical
• 31:34
  poverty the man rejected. Yet when Jesus warned them about
• 31:37
  the difficulty of entering the Kingdom, they were still
• 31:40
  completely terrified it. Forces you to wonder.
• 31:43
  If you have already sacrificed your material wealth or your
• 31:47
  earthly comforts for God, what invisible spiritual resumes are
• 31:51
  you secretly building in their place?
• 31:53
  Are you trusting in your own sacrifice rather than the
• 31:55
  sacrifice of Christ? Take a hard look at the things
• 31:58
  in your life you are terrified God might ask you to give up.
• 32:01
  Is your fear of losing them the very proof that they already own
• 32:04
  you? Thank you for joining us on this
• 32:07
  deep dive on Reformed thinking.