SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/15/2023 11:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Response to Jesus”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:20-22
Message of the verses: “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 verse 21 our Lord speaks to the young ruler in an
attempt to make this self-centered man face his true spiritual condition: “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.’” Let us for a moment look at the highlighted word
“complete” as in this context it is used as a synonym for salvation, as it
frequently is in the book of Hebrews, where the same basic Greek word is
translated “perfect.” Let us look at
some of those verses in Hebrews.
Hebrews 7:19 “(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on
the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw
near to God.”
Hebrews 10:1 and 14 “1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow
of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never,
by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect
those who draw near.” “14 For by one
offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
Hebrews 12:23 “to the general assembly and church of the
firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of the righteous made perfect,”
MacArthur
writes “Jesus was saying, ‘If you truly desire eternal life, prove your
sincerity by selling your possessions and giving what you have to the poor.’ If he truly lived up to the Mosaic command to
love his neighbor as himself, he would be willing to do what Jesus now
commanded. His willingness to obey that
command would not merit salvation but it would be evidence that he desired
salvation above everything else, as a priceless treasure or a pearl of great
value for which no sacrifice could be too great (see. Matt. 13:44-46).”
Here
is the ultimate test and that is whether or not the man was willing to obey the
Lord. Here is the real issue that Jesus
presented: “Will you do what I ask, no
matter what? Who will be Lord in your
life, you or Me?” This is what hit a
sensitive nerve. Jesus demands to be
Lord, sovereign over all. There was no
better way to find out if the man was ready to accept Christ’s sovereignty than
to ask him to give up his riches, to see if the riches own him or he had
control over them and willing to give them up to show that Jesus was truly Lord
over his life, and as stated before this is not what will save the man, but
will show that he is willing to do what the Lord desired for him to do, to be
Lord over his life. The Lord challenged
his wealth to force him to admit what was most valuable to him—Jesus Christ and
eternal life or his money and his possessions.
The latter was clearly the man’s priority, and therefore for him
salvation was forfeited.
MacArthur
writes: “The first part of Jesus’
command was quite capable of being obeyed in the man’s own power. But he refused to comply with it, not because
he could not but because he would not. He not only failed to keep God’s impossible
commands but failed to keep this one that was easily possible, proving conclusively
that he really did not want to do God’s perfect will and be spiritually complete.
“Mark tells us that as He gave the man that command,
‘Jesus felt a love for him (10:21). The
Lord must have felt for him as He did for Jerusalem as He looked out over that
great city and cried, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
and stones those sent to her! How often
I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, and you would not have it’ (Luke 13:34). Jesus was approaching the time when He would
shed His own blood for the sins of the rich young ruler, and for the sins of
Jerusalem and of the whole world. But as
much as He loved the man and desired for him not to perish, He could not save
him while he refused to admit he was lost.
The Lord can do nothing with a life that is not surrendered to Him,
except to condemn it.
3/15/2023 11:53 AM
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