(Mat. 19:16-22)

2. How Good Are You? (Mat. 19:16-22)

3. (Luke 18:18-24) • Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'" And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth." So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! (NKJV)

4. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • The Rich Young Ruler Thought He Was a Good Person • He Was Self-Deceived! Requirements: • (Matthew 22:35-40) Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (NKJV)

5. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • The Rich Young Ruler Thought He Was a Good Person • He Was Self-Deceived! Requirements: • (Matthew 22:35-40) Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (NKJV)

6. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • The Rich Young Ruler Thought He Was a Good Person • He Was Self-Deceived! Requirements: • (Matthew 22:35-40) Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (NKJV)

7. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • The Rich Young Ruler Thought He Was a Good Person • He Was Self-Deceived! Requirements: • (Matthew 22:35-40) Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (NKJV)

8. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • What Jesus Told the Rich Young Ruler: • Love the Lord w/all His Heart • Love neighbor as self • Irony: This law-keeping “good man had not done either!”

9. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • What Jesus Told the Rich Young Ruler: • Love the Lord w/all His Heart • Love neighbor as self • Irony: This law-keeping “good man had not done either!” • (John 14:15) • "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

10. Jesus Asks, “How Good of a Person Are You?” • What Jesus Told the Rich Young Ruler: • Love the Lord w/all His Heart • Love (poor) neighbor as self • Irony: This law-keeping “good man had not done either!” • (1 John 3:17) • But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

11. Does This Apply to Us? • (Luke 18:24) • "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”

12. Where We End Up: Heaven or Hell • If we get to Heaven it will NOT be because of the things we have done: • (Ephesians 2:8) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, • But if we go to Hell it WILL BE because of the things we have done! • (Revelation 20:13) • The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

13. How Good Are You? • (Isaiah 64:6-7) • But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities. (NKJV)

14. Why do so many assume they will be saved like the thief on the cross rather than like the rich young ruler? Thief on the Cross: "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Rich, Young Ruler: "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.“

15. Sacrifice Defined: The Macedonian Churches • (2 Corinthians 8:1-4) Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. (NKJV)

16. Christian Sacrifice Defined: CHRIST! • (1 John 3:16) • By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (NKJV)

17. Jesus Teaches the Level of Commitment it Takes to Be a Christian • (Mat. 19:16) “…what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" • Mat. 19:17) “…if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.“ • “Which ones?” (Mat. 19:18)

18. Jesus Teaches the Level of Commitment it Takes to Be a Christian • “if you if you want to be perfect…” (Mat. 19:21) • ““Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.“ (Mk. 10:21) He told Him to do essentially three things: 1. Give up all you have… 2. Come, follow me (forsake all others in your life that you have allowed to come before Me)… 3. Take up the cross

19. (Mark 10:22) But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Why did he walk away sad?

20. “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mk. 10:24) Trusting In Riches • “If I give it up, I will ___________.” (i.e. starve to death, lose the house, my children won’t have clothes). Why did he walk away sad?

21. “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mk. 10:24) Trusting In Riches • Every excuse we may use shows that we trust riches rather than God! Why did he walk away sad?

22. (Matthew 19:29) "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. Why did he walk away sad?