Give it Up | Matthew 19 Part 2

Nothin' But Fine: Bible Talk with Emily

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 is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

Which ones?” the man inquired. Matthew 19:16-18Why didn’t Jesus say obey all the commandments when the guy asked which ones? Doesn’t that seem like a dumb question with an obvious answer? But Jesus doesn’t list all the commandments. He leaves out: no other gods before me, no idols, do not misuse the name of the Lord, and remember the sabbath and keep it holy. What do these have in common? God. This guy was keeping all the commandments concerning people, man to man (murder, steal, covet, false testimony, respect). He was being a good person. Doing what was right. Jesus sums up these four by saying to him that all he needed to do now was to sell all his stuff and follow Me. Meaning if you love me, prove it. Verse 22 shows us how the young man felt about this. “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (emphasis mine). This guy had been feeling really good about himself. Oh, I keep all those commandments. He just knew Jesus was going to congratulate him on a job well done. That he had met all the requirements. I mean he was a great guy. But his heart wasn’t right. Read the rest of our show notes on our website Nothin' But Fine.

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