This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Matthew chapter 19, day 4. We're going to look today at
a conversation that Jesus had with a rich young ruler. We find out some more
details about his life from some of the other gospels.

Here we just know that he's a man who came to Jesus, and he's talking to him
about faith. And in this story, we're going to see that this is a man who is
either going to walk towards faith or walk away from faith, beginning in verse
16. Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to
get eternal life?

Why do you ask me about what's good? " Jesus replied, "There's only one who is
good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

Which ones? " the man inquired. Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and
mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.

" "All these I have kept," the young man said, "What do I still lack? " Jesus
answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And then come follow me.

" When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth.
Now before we look at this man's story and this conversation, first remember
what we looked at yesterday and then what we're looking at today. Yesterday we
looked at some children, and today we're looking at a ruler.

The children, those who expected to be sent away, were the ones who were
welcomed. And here we have this ruler, one who expects to be welcomed, who we're
going to see in the end, is sent away. The truth of the matter is, God works in
ways that are different than we work.

And it's because he works not on the basis of appearances, he works on the basis
of faith. And this man could have walked towards faith, but he doesn't. Through
this entire conversation, this man is walking away from faith.

Not just at the end, he walks away from it throughout the whole conversation.
Jesus gives him open door after open door. Just look through this conversation
together with me and let's see the decisions for faith that this man could have
made and how he walked away from faith instead.

Jesus says, the man comes and says, "Hey, good teacher," and Jesus says, "Why do
you call me good? " The man had come to talk about the good thing that he could
do, and Jesus starts by talking about himself, "Why do you call me good? " The
man could have walked towards faith in that moment by saying, "I want to know
the one who is good.

" He could have started to think about a relationship with God, but instead he
walks away from faith. He gets caught in what Jesus said about the commandments,
"Which ones do I have to keep? " He says he keeps focusing on keeping the rules.

When you focus on the rules, you're walking away from faith. When you focus on a
relationship with Jesus, you're walking towards faith. The conversation
continues, "Which ones, which rules?

" Jesus says, "Well, here they are. Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't
steal, don't give false testimony, honor your parents, love your neighbor. "
Now, those of you that are experts in the Old Testament might have noticed he
didn't mention all ten of the Ten Commandments.

He mentions four of them, and then he adds another. It's very noticeable to me
that he left out, "Do not covet," which may have been a rich man's greatest
struggle. So he talks about these commandments, and the man in this moment could
have walked towards faith by humbly recognizing his faults, but instead he walks
away from faith by making spirituality into some competitive scorecard, maybe
like everything else was in his life.

How do you become rich? Sometimes by competing with other people. How do you
become a ruler?

Sometimes by competing with other people. It's okay to have a competitive bone
in your body, but when that begins to rule your life, direct your life, direct
even your relationship with God, then you're walking away from faith. I'm
better.

I win. I'm with God. You're not.

That's where this man was headed. He's walking away from faith. Now, he does
take one step back towards faith here.

When he says at the end, "What do I still lack? " In his mind, he knew he'd done
everything needed in his mind, but in his soul, he knew he was still lacking
something. What do I still lack?

When you look to build your selfish pride, you walk away from faith every time.
When you choose humility, you walk towards faith. And this man, in wanting to
come to God, was trying to build his selfish pride.

I've kept the commands even better than others, instead of recognizing his need
of God. So then Jesus continues the conversation, and the man continues to walk
away from faith. Jesus says, "If you want to be perfect, sell everything that
you have and follow me.

" Now, notice very carefully here the words "be perfect. " Jesus is not telling
us here that everyone has to sell all they have to be a believer. There are many
people who have become followers of Jesus who didn't sell everything they had.

So what's happening here? He is challenging this man's idea that being close to
God could be attained by some human perfection. "If you want to be perfect,
here's what you've got to do.

" And then he challenges him to do the one thing he knew he would never do. He'd
never sell it all. This man could have taken a step towards faith here, not by
selling it all, but instead by saying, "I'm not perfect.

" Remember, Simon Peter, Jesus' disciple, when Jesus did the great miracle of
the catch of fish, his first words were, "Depart from me. I'm an unholy man. Not
I'm perfect.

I deserve this, but I'm unholy. " This man could have walked towards faith by
saying, "I'm not perfect. " But instead, he walked away from faith by, in this
case, walking away from Jesus.

And notice, Jesus lets him walk away. He doesn't chase after him, saying,
"You're rich, you're young, you're a ruler, you'd be a great follower. You'd
bring many other people in to be followers.

Let me give you a different offer. " No, he lets him walk away. He lets him make
his decision.

And God will do that in your life. He will let you make your decision. Now, this
makes it very simple what it means to be a person of faith.

You want to walk towards faith, you walk towards Jesus. You want to walk away
from faith, you walk away from Jesus. Now, the disciples get involved in the
act.

They've got some questions about what's going on here. So, after the man walks
away in verse 22, then in verse 23, Jesus says to his disciples, "I tell you the
truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell
you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God.

" When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, and they asked,
"Well, who then can be saved? " Jesus looked at them and said, "With man, this
is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. " Now, what's happening
here?

Jesus is challenging his disciples to walk towards faith. They had the belief
that everyone else did in their day, that if somebody was rich, it meant that
they were blessed by God. They were in God's good graces.

So when Jesus says, "A rich person, it's impossible for them to get into the
kingdom of heaven," they say, "Well, then who could be saved? " Because riches
show God's blessing. If you're poor, you don't have God's blessing.

So if the person who has more of God's blessing can't be saved, how can the
person who has less of God's blessing? Now, they were obviously thinking wrong,
and Jesus is challenging their thinking here. They're obviously, in one sense,
walking away from faith.

They believe that riches were a sign of God's blessing and favor, but Jesus says
it's not the riches. In fact, the riches could never get you to God. A rich man,
if you're trying to get in through your riches, the riches of your money, the
riches of your good works, the riches of your good looks, the riches of whatever
good thing you have in your life.

If you're trying to get in through your riches, it's as impossible as a camel
going through the eye of a needle. It's pretty impossible. How could it happen?

Only God could do that. I don't know if God made the needle bigger, or he shrunk
the camel, or he did some kind of a physics--I don't know how God could do it,
but God could do anything. And God can take you and I, who have no right to
stand in God's presence because of our sin, and through Jesus, he can bring us
into his presence.

It's with God. It's not with us. It's not with our riches.

So you walk towards faith and realize that without God, salvation is absolutely
impossible. So here we have this discussion, Jesus and this rich young ruler,
about walking towards faith, walking away from faith. If you're not yet a person
of faith, it's an encouragement to you to walk towards faith.

Don't walk towards more rules. Walk towards a relationship with God. Don't walk
towards your own pride, making yourself feel better about yourself.

Walk towards humility, admitting who you are. Don't walk away from Jesus. Walk
towards Jesus.

Start a relationship with him right now. In fact, as we pray together today, I
want to encourage you to do that. And just say to Jesus, "Jesus, I trust you.

I don't want to walk away from you. I don't want to trust in myself. I don't
want to trust in what I have.

I trust in you to forgive me. I don't want to be like the man in this experience
that Jesus just had. I want to be a different man, a different woman.

I want to be the one who, instead of walking away, sits at your feet, trusts in
you. So right now, I trust you for salvation. I trust you to do the impossible
in my life, to forgive me, to put me into your kingdom, to call me a child of
God.

I trust you, Jesus, to save me, to begin a relationship with you. In your name,
I trust you. Amen.

Make sure to join us tomorrow, our last day of Matthew, chapter 19. We're going
to take a look together at what it means to leave it all to follow him.