Matthew 19:22……Ready

Matthew 19:22……Ready

19:22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (For additional Expository Notes See Book)

Extended Sermon 

“Warns against finding our identity, security, and significance in stuff, rather than in a relationship with God.” ⇒ ,,,,,,,,(To be Continued)

“Calls for not getting disappointed when people reject our witness, even Jesus didn’t get what He wanted out of witnessing.” ⇒ We need to remind ourselves when people reject our witness, it’s not us their rejecting but Jesus. This man was face to face with the Lord, God in the flesh and still rejected Him. So don’t get discourage when sometimes you preach, share your faith and invite people to give their life to the Lord. Because it’s really God their rejecting.

“Demonstrates how you can have all the money and success and still be sorrowful and depressed.” ⇒ When Jesus asked him to sell all his belongings and follow Him, the man’s sorrow was palpable. His wealth had become a barrier between him and the true joy, peace, and completeness that can only come from Jesus. This story illustrates that material wealth, no matter how abundant, cannot replace the spiritual fulfillment that only God can provide. The man’s sorrow underscores the profound truth that possessions alone do not equate to happiness, and that true contentment is found in surrendering to God’s will and trusting in His plan for our lives.

“Teaches how oftentimes when Jesus calls us to something it can seem cruel and unfair, but His doing it because He loves us.” → Whatever Jesus calls us to sacrifice and walk away from He’s doing it for our own good, not because He’s being mean, but because He loves us. It is common to feel that when Jesus calls us to give up something, it can seem harsh or even unfair. However, this perception overlooks the deeper purpose behind His call. Jesus does not ask us to surrender the things we hold dear out of cruelty or indifference; rather, He does so because of His profound love for us and our good. He knows that the things we cling to—whether possessions, relationships, or sources of comfort—will only hinder our relationship with Him. Jesus’ invitation to let go is not meant to deprive us, but to free us from what cannot fulfill and guide us toward what is truly best for us. There’s times when we first start reading the bible. It’s like either were going to have to change our mind or the bible’s is going to have to change. The bible can feel arbitrary at times. It can feel sometimes like God is just calling us to give something up to make sure we don’t have too much fun. Remember every call for hard obedience is a loving God. Behind every prohibition is a blessing. So if you ever feel that God is cruel to command something, look at the cross because that’s where we see not a cruel God. But a kind God, a loving God, a merciful God who sent His Son to die so we could have life. Which means whatever God commands it’s always for our ultimate good.

“Warns how you can be emotionally stirred, but stirred enough to act on what you know is right and true.” →  It’s possible to hear a powerful message, feel convicted, and even experience regret or sorrow, but still leave unchanged. Many times, people feel the weight of what God is asking them to surrender, but the comfort of their current situation or fear of what they might lose holds them back from fully responding. This hesitation can keep someone from moving forward in faith, even when their heart knows what is right. True transformation comes when conviction leads to action. It’s not enough to simply feel remorse or acknowledge what needs to change; we must choose to take steps toward surrender and obedience. Otherwise, like the young man who walked away from Jesus, we risk missing out on the joy and fulfillment found in fully following Him. True discipleship is built not on the shifting sands of emotion, but on the solid ground of obedience and faithfulness to His Word. If emotions brought you to Christ be careful because they can also take you away as well. There are a lot of flighty Christians in the church today. They were emotionally stirred, they came to Christ because they got excited or because they got afraid, or there was some other emotion that brought them to Christ. But there can also be an emotion that takes you away from Christ. You’ll get angry and leave the church because the pastors message made you feel bad. You wanted a pleasant message, a confirming message, a comforting message, a assuring message. But when you get a message that says there’s something wrong with you. That you’re a sinner who’s going to Hell unless you repent. That’s when you get offended and say I had enough and leave. There are a lot of people heading for Hell. Not because they refuse to believe what the Bible says about God. Not because they refuse to believe what the Bible says about Jesus. But because they refuse to believe what the Bible says about them.

Additional Notes & Applications

Calls for reminding ourselves when people reject our witness, it’s not us their rejecting but Jesus. This man was face to face with the Lord, God in the flesh and still rejected Him. So don’t get discourage when sometimes we preach, share our faith and invite people to give their life to the Lord. And when it doesn’t work out, we’re so disappointed and hard on ourselves. Thinking maybe we didn’t say the right thing or do the right thing. Taking all the responsibility on ourselves. But what this story shows us is that even Jesus sometimes didn’t get what He wanted out of witnessing.

Teaches instead of feeling sorrowful for giving up material possessions and missing out, we should rejoice in the knowledge that in Jesus, we have everything we need. We must continuously remind ourselves: “That’s right, I have everything because I have Jesus. Nothing can get me down. No layoff, no bankruptcy, no family breakup, no abuse, no health issue, no disaster, no unexpected bills, no heartbreak, no downturn in the economy, etc.”

Some praise the man’s honesty in not being a hypocrite in pretending to live up to the standards he knew he could not attain. Others assume the man went back to his religious ways or kept searching for something to fill the void in his life only to die and face eternity in hell.