The Tragedy of The Moralist | Matthew 19:16-22

Scripture

• Matthew 19:16–22

About this sermon

Introduction: To enter the kingdom of heaven one must humble himself and believe (trust in) Christ. You must believe Christ, not only about Christ. You must believe Christ about you. You must believe Christ about EVERYTHING. Is Jesus COMPLETELY trustworthy? If He calls you to relinquish EVERYTHING about life as YOU HAVE CONSTRUCTED IT, will you do it? DOES HE KNOW BETTER THAN YOU? As children are characterized by simple trust, so a man or woman must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. To state it negatively, pride in yourself — trust in yourself — shuts you off from the grace of God. God resists the proud but gives grace to humble, which clearly indicates that the grace of God is not found where pride is not relinquished. HOLD ON TO YOUR PRIDE JUSTIFY YOUR SIN DEFINE YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS CREATE YOUR OWN WAY TO SERVE GOD And you will never meet with the Grace of God in Jesus Christ. You will be found outside God’s kingdom and family. THIS IS NOT WHAT CHARACTERIZES PEOPLE WHO ARE BORN AGAIN. All this is tested when our worldview is upset BY TRUTH. All this is tested when Jesus confronts us with HARD SAYINGS. *We have seen the need for humility and simple trust in the matter of Christ’s teaching on divorce and remarriage. *We have seen that humility and trust illustrated by Christ’s acceptance of children. NOW WE MEET WITH AN INFLUENTIAL YOUNG MAN WHO MUST RELINQUISH WHAT HE HAS BELIEVED ABOUT HIMSELF AND ABOUT ETERNAL LIFE — HIS ENTIRE LIFE — IF HE IS TO EVER BE SAVED. And what is required of this young man is not unique to this young man. It is required of anyone who is to be saved. I. A MAN DEPENDING ON GOODNESS (vs.16) The first thing I want you to notice about this young man (and we know he was young from verse 20 and 22), is that he was fixated on the concept of goodness. This is something that Jesus specifically pushes back on. The young man asks what “good deed” he must do to have eternal life. And Jesus challenges his thinking. We learn from Mark and Luke that he also identified Jesus as good. Mar 10:17 And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Luk 18:18 And a certain ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus pushed back on the young man’s understanding of that as well. ESV Mark 10:18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ESV Luke 18:19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. JESUS WAS NOT DENYING HIS OWN GOODNESS. HE WAS CHALLENGING THIS MAN’S VIEW OF THE SON OF GOD. DOES HE SEE JESUS AS A MERE TEACHER, AND YET REFER TO HIM AS GOOD? Here is a man who think in the terms of GOOD MEN and GOOD DEEDS. In both cases, Jesus insists that his concept of goodness is mistaken. ONLY GOD IS GOOD. And as a result, SINFUL MEN ARE NOT CAPABLE, LEFT TO THEMSELVES, OF DOING GOOD (by God’s holy standard). That is what Jesus means in our verses. Why do YOU ask me about good deeds? Only God is good. ARE SINFUL MEN CAPABLE OF GOOD DEEDS — THE KIND THAT WOULD EARN ETERNAL LIFE (vs.16)? This is the reality that the moralist is BLIND TO.