SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2023 7:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Intro to Matt. 19:16-22”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:16-22
Message of the verses: “16 And behold, one
came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may
obtain eternal life?" 17 And He
said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only
One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments." 18 He said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said,
"YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT
STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS; 19 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 20 The young man said to Him, "All
these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?" 21 Jesus said to him,
"If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give
to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow
Me." 22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved;
for he was one who owned much property.”
In John MacArthur’s commentary he entitles this
chapter “How to Obtain Eternal Life,” and so that should give us a clue to what
we will be looking at as we move through these verses.
If
we look at Luke 14:33 we will get some info that is needed to better understand
what Jesus was telling this man. “"So
then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own
possessions.”
There is a story that MacArthur told in his sermon
on this subject and he relates it in his commentary and so I will add it to
this SD. “Some years ago the young man
in the seat next to me on an airplane asked, ‘Sir, you wouldn’t know how I
could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, would you?’ Taken somewhat by surprise by his openness
and seeming readiness for salvation, I told him that he needed to receive Jesus
Christ as his Lord and Savior. He said, ‘I’d
like to do that,’ and we prayed together and rejoiced in his decision. He was on his way to a new job near our
church, so he was baptized and began attending services. But some months later I was extremely
disappointed to discover that he had developed no interest at all in the things
of the Lord and was living in such a way that it was apparent he had not been
transformed. He soon disappeared from
the church and has never returned.” Now
as I remember listening to the sermon on these verses it was not there about
him leaving the church, so these things must have happened between the time the
sermon was preached and the time that the commentary was written.
I
have had the opportunity to lead people to the Lord and some of them after a
while have not been living for the Lord afterwards. A person can only give the truth of the
gospel to a non-believer and then help them to grow, but they cannot actually
save a person that is up to the Holy Spirit of God to do that.
In
our verses above we can see that our Lord gave this person a test. He had to make a choice between Christ and
his possessions and sin, and the truth is that he failed the test. No matter what he may have believed, because
he was unwilling to forsake all, he could not be a disciple of Christ. Salvation is for those who are willing to
forsake everything is how MacArthur puts it.
“The
incident recorded in Matthew 19:16-22 gives insight into how some people who show
great interest in the gospel never come to a saving relationship with Jesus
Christ. This young man went away from
Christ not because he heard the wrong message or because he did not believe but
because he was unwilling to admit his sin, forsake all that he had, and obey
Christ as Lord.”
Lord
will we will begin to look at “The Request of Jesus” from 19:16 in our next SD.
3/5/2023 8:08 AM
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