How to Obtain Eternal Life
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2014 · 8 June 2014
Tonight we're looking at Matthew 19:16-22. Perhaps you have had that experience where someone is led to Christ by you and you see no change in their life, nothing really happens differently and they don’t even connect with the church. Maybe you've been struggling with why that happens. God is going to give you the answer to that this evening.
Matthew 19:16-22, “Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 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.” 18 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,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 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.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Notice in verse 16 that the young man asks about how to obtain eternal life. The term "eternal life" is used about 50 times in Scripture and is essentially the heart of all evangelism. In other words, we try to get people to seek eternal life, to receive eternal life. In fact John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
And here comes a young man who walks right up and asks Jesus that very question. Most of our work in evangelism is to get somebody to this point. If you can just get the person to say "what do I need to do to inherit eternal life", all you have to do is to add: believe, sign the card, walk the aisle and get baptized. You've got him right where you want him to be.
But this young man ignored the whole process of the normal pre-evangelism effort. Like how do you know there's a God, how can you believe the Bible and on and on. He walked right up and asked Jesus the question about eternal life. Now, that question appears on several occasions in the New Testament. Not only asked by this young man, but also asked by a lawyer and also by a group of people in John 6.
Jesus acts very different from what we are used to. But, oh how we much do we need the truth in this text. We have many contemporary unbiblical modes of evangelism with its decisions, and its aisle walking and the advice to just believe. And this is leading people into the delusion that they are saved when in fact they are not.
So how does one obtain eternal life? Well, first of all, it's necessary to know what you want. He knew he didn't have it. Matthew tells us that he was young in verse 20 and that he was rich in verse 22. And in Luke 18:18 it says that he was a ruler. Most likely he was a ruler of the synagogue, a Jewish religious leader, devout, honest in relationship to Judaism, young, wealthy, prominent and influential.
As far as the culture of his day, the religious environment of his day, he had everything. And that's why in verse 16, Matthew says, "Now behold," It was amazing to Matthew that he would come and admit that he didn't have eternal life. He had not found permanent peace, joy and hope. He was basically coming on the grounds of a felt need. He was restless and anxious in his heart. There was a sense of being unfulfilled.
Paul says that our citizenship in the kingdom obtains a divine character and we all of a sudden come alive to God and that life never ends. But our life also has a quality of existence that is special, not just the quantity. I can now respond to God. Before I was saved I was dead in sin, totally unresponsive to the God’s environment. When I became a Christian, I was given the capability of responding to the divine environment forever.
Secondly, this rich young man knows what he wanted so he felt deeply the need. Now many people who don't feel any need for eternal life. They really don't care to be alive to God and they really aren't interested in it. And we can say they're not desperate enough. This guy not only knew what he wanted but he also felt deeply the need.
Thirdly, to obtain eternal life it is also necessary to seek diligently. The prophet of the Old Testament, Isaiah said in Jeremiah 29:13, “if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.” Well here is a diligent seeker. You say, "How do you know that?" Well, in the parallel passage in Mark 10:17, it says “one came running, knelt before Him.” Now he humbles himself. He's serious, motivated and anxious. He doesn't mind losing face with all the people who thinks he's a spiritual example already.
Fourthly, in obtaining eternal life he came to the right source. You know, there are lots of people looking hard for eternal life but they are looking in all the wrong places. Why does Satan creates counterfeit religions all over the face of the earth? So that people go chasing after the wrong thing. Jesus not only was the source of eternal life, He is that eternal life.
No doubt he had heard of the power of Jesus and His teachings because he comes to Him and says ‘master or teacher.’ Mark and Luke tell us he called Him "good." It's added here in Matthew, but it wasn't in the manuscripts of Matthew. And he said, agathos, meaning good on the inside, good morally, in nature and in essence. You perhaps know the secret of getting eternal life.
He did not think that Jesus was God or the Messiah. He was struck with the power of Jesus' teaching and the power of His life that he thought surely this teacher has to have the secret to eternal life. And even though he didn't know who Jesus was in the fullest sense, he certainly did come to the right place.
In verse 16, he asks, "What do I need to do to get eternal life?" And Jesus' answer is amazing. Jesus actually puts up a wall in front of this guy. Verse 17, "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." Only God is good and Jesus said, so go on out and keep His commandments. There's no new information, there's no secret way.
Why would Jesus say that? Because, this guy is coming to Jesus seeking salvation based on his felt need only, because he has anxiety and frustration instead of joy, love, peace and hope. And that means there is something missing. What is it? His sin issue. This young man has no idea how much he has offended a holy God. His desire for eternal life is wrapped up in himself, instead of thinking more about how much he has angered a holy God.
So, Jesus confronted him with the fact that he has violated God’s law. Salvation is for people who want to turn away from the sinful things of this life and turn to God. And they need to repent, confess that sin and affirm their commitment to live for His glory. They must know that unless they are willing to forsake all things in this life, they can't be His disciples.
And when Jesus says to him, "You keep the commandments," He is asking this young guy to compare himself against the divine standard so that he will see that he comes up short. All evangelism must compare the sinner against the perfect law of God so he can see his own deficiency. Look at Paul in Romans in chapters 1, 2 and 3 affirming the sinfulness of man before he ever gets to salvation.
The rich young ruler had no understanding of his offending God, so he had no remorse. There has to be remorse, you have to be begging God for forgiveness. There needs to be a sense of meekness. There needs to be a sense of mourning being overwhelmed by your sin. You see, he didn't have that. A holy and pure God will not tolerate evil at all.
And look at this young man’s answer in verse 18-19, "He said to Him, “Which ones?” So, the Lord responds by giving him the last half of the Ten Commandments in reverse. “Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
You know, the Ten Commandments are divided into two parts. The first half deals with God, the second half deals with man. In other words, man's relation to God is the first half, no idols, never take His name in vain, all that. The second half deal with man. Jesus gives him the second half which are easier, right? They are both impossible to keep but the second half is less impossible. Otherwise he wouldn't have said, "Well, I have kept all those."
In other words, you might think you did the second half. So Jesus gives him the easier half of the impossible. And then adds a little one at the end just to make it really difficult, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." So, Jesus compares him to the Ten Commandments, against the law of God. You have to understand that it is God that you're sinning against.
Now we cannot preach grace until we have preached law, right? Because nobody will understand what grace means unless he understands what the law requires. No one understands mercy unless they understand guilt. So Jesus compares the guy to the commandments of God, where it says that we have to keep them all.
But in verse 20, "The young man said to Him, All these things have I kept." The Jews saw everything on the outside and they never dealt with the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 5, I know you don't think you murder but when you hate someone, you murder in your heart," right? And I know you don't think you commit adultery, but when you look on a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery in your heart. And when you divorce your wives without biblical grounds, you commit adultery as well.
In other words, Jesus says to them all through Matthew 5, on the outside you look good but on the inside you are full of evil. The Ten Commandments were simply external pictures that were to be indicative of hearts that were right. The point is that this man did not understand the internal character of God's law. And so he thought he was really okay. What he was saying, in effect, was "I don't have any real sin.
Listen, this man couldn't be saved because he didn't understand the real meaning of salvation, which is a sinner coming to God and asking forgiveness, right? If you don't think you have sinned, you can't be saved. This is the way how self-righteous religion works. It's very self-deceiving, it's very self-convincing. Now, the Bible says at this point in Mark 10;21, "Jesus looked at him and loved him." There was something genuine in him. He really was a religious person. And Jesus loved him and Jesus is not willing that any should perish.
God must be at work through the Holy Spirit as an element in true salvation. It isn't some pre-salvation human work. We know we are dependent on the Spirit of God for it and that's the mystery of how the Spirit works in the human will as well.
So, Jesus goes even another step in verse 21, "He 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.” Jesus is actually saying, "Are you going to do what I want you to do? Who runs your life? Do you or do I?" And He gives him a test. Jesus gives him a command and says when you're done with this first command, come right back here and keep on following Me.
True salvation includes a submission to obey the Lord. A person coming to Christ does not understands fully all that that confession may mean, but all the Lord is asking for here is the willingness. The sin of this guy was a sin of covetousness, it was a sin of indulgence, it was a sin of materialism, wealth and all that stuff. And he was indifferent to people who were poor and people who were in need.
Do you have to give away everything to be a Christian? No you don't. The Lord didn't say that to other people. But do you have to be willing to do whatever the Lord asks you to do? Yes. And it is different in different cases. But the Lord took us right back to the principle of Luke 14:33, the people who are My disciples are the people who forsake all.
Jesus knew this was most important to this guy. For some people it might be a car. For some people it might be a girl. For some people it might be a job or a career or a certain sin they want to indulge in. For this guy, it was his money and his possessions. And the Lord put His finger on it and said, "Are you willing to give every bit of that up?"
Jesus knew right where his heart was and He was saying, "Unless Jesus Christ is the number one priority in your life, there's no salvation coming to you." Now, salvation demands these two things. Number one will you acknowledge your offense to God and number two will you turn from your sin? And if you're not willing to do it on those terms, Jesus doesn't take you.
In Matthew 13 you have two parables, verses 44 to 46, you have the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price. Those refer to the salvation that's offered in the Kingdom. And in both cases, you remember the man sold everything he had, bought the field to get the treasure and the guy sold everything he had to get the money to buy the pearl, so all it cost you is everything you have.
People do not understand the full implications of the Lordship of Christ. Salvation involves a commitment to giving up everything else. Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart you will be saved.” There's a price for salvation, all you have, all you possess for your Lord.
And what was his reaction? Verse 22, "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions." He went away. Why? What was more important to him than Christ? Possessions. He could not come on those terms. He went away sorrowful because there was some honesty in his heart. He really did want eternal life, but he wasn't willing to pay the price.
He came for eternal life and he left without it. Oh what a sad, sad thing. And so we learn a lot, don't we, from this story about how we should present the gospel and what our Lord expects. And the more we become like Christ, the more we are willing to tell others about Jesus so that there is a possibility they will repent and are saved.
What will you say when someone comes up to you and asks you why you are a Christian? Will you talk about the hard subjects such as sin and punishment as well as mercy and grace? Oh Lord, give us the understanding and willingness to work for You whenever and wherever You call us. Let's pray.