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personal goodness or personal wealth. It was a demand for service : “follow me” ; that is, one must allow the Lord Jesus Christ to be Master o f the life. It was a demand for surrender to Another as Ruler of the life. Such demands would sound harsh to the young man, as they do to many today. But Jesus loved this young man, hence, He would desire his highest good. The young man proyed, as those who shrink from, making such surrender to the Lord today also prove, that he did not own his posses sions ; they owned him. Jesus did not teach that poverty brought life, and that riches brought death, but He did teach that any thing that is given first place in the life is the god o f that life. III. T he R ejection of I nstruction (22). The young man went away “sorrowful,” and well he might ! As he turned away, he took with him his good record, his high aspirations, his fine character, and all his goodness ; but with all these excellent qual ities he took also a deep, lasting, bitter dissatisfaction of heart and soul. He chose the path that ends in the ruin o f the soul and the loss o f all earthly possessions. While he thought he was acting rightly, he was actually disobeying the first com mandment of the living God. W e might well ask ourselves : What are we doing ? IV. T he A pplication (23-30). The Lord taught the peril o f riches. This is a subtle and insidious danger. It comes to all, rich and poor alike. The effort to obtain riches imperils one’s relation to God, and after wealth is obtained, the holding of it presents the same peril. The Lord also revealed the peril of re liance upon human goodness, a danger which is likewise subtle and insidious, coming to all alike. We are to remember that there is one good, that is, God, and only One. No usurper must be allowed to take the Lord’s place in the life; God in Christ must be first in all things and at all times. Points and Problems 1. It would be hard to find another New Testament passage more seriously misin terpreted than the story in today’s lesson. No progress at all can be made until we see clearly that what we have here is not merely a rich man trying to secure eternal life, but one who was trying to get it by the wrong way, namely, the way o f human works. 2. By reading the three Gospel records, we may find several things about the man. First, he was a “young" man (Matt. 19: 22). Second, he was a “ruler” (Lk. 18:18). Third, he was “very rich” (Lk. 18:23). Fourth, he was a legalist in religion, want ing to know “what good thing shall I do” to get eternal life. Fifth, he was sincere and earnest, no hypocrite, else Jesus could scarcely, have “ loved him” (Mk. 10:21). 3. Notice how he came to our Lord. First, he came running (Mk. 10:17). Sec ond, he came kneeling (Mk. 10:17), an at titude only of respect, not o f worship, be cause the conversation indicates he thought of Jesus only as a Man. Third, he came asking for religious guidance (Matt. 19: 16). 4. The great mistake made by interpre ters is to assume that the young man’s ap proach was right. As a matter o f fact, practically every time he opened his mouth, he was wrong. First, he was mistaken in his thought about Christ, thinking Him only a “good” Man (Matt. 19:17). Second, he was mistaken about eternal life, suppos-
do, for this young man thought himself to be good, and he could not turn his back on himself. Then the Lord referred the inquirer to the law itself. It is to be noted that it is only the second table o f the law that the Lord mentioned — the one dealing with man’s relation to man. This reference should have silenced the young man. But in the ignorance o f human nature, he claimed to have kept all these command ments from his youth up. His answer showed that he had not allowed the law to deal with him. Even though he had ac tually obeyed the law’s demands concerning his personal relationship with his fellow men, it does not follow that such obedience would necessarily make him right with God. This is a very common and subtle error. What the young man lacked was, in a word, obedience to authority. The law had said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The young man had broken that law, for as the event reveals, he was his own god; he acknowledged, or would bow to, no higher authority than himself. The Lord concluded His instruction with the amazing command, “ Sell that thou hast, give to the poor, . . . and come and follow me.” It was a demand for separa tion, that is, one must leave all —whether
unsaved, to the Lord Jesus, and he went away in the same condition. The young man’s question revealed that, in spite o f all his possessions, material and moral, he was dissatisfied in heart. The question also showed the man’s ig norance. He was mistaken in the person of Jesus Christ; he thought the Lord was a mere teacher—not One who had absolute authority to speak eternal truth. He was mistaken in the power of man; he thought he could do something to obtain eternal life. He did not realize that eternal life is a gift which cannot be received through doing. Furthermore, he was mistaken in the principle o f eternal life ; he thought it was something to have, rather than some thing to be. And finally, he was mistaken in the matter of the true approach to G od; he thought he could put God in his debt— such a debt that nothing but eternal life could cancel it. In all o f this reasoning, the young man revealed that his heart was full of legalism and that his religion was mere natural religion. II. T h e R eply G iven (17-21). The Lord at once reminded the young man that only One is good, that is, God. If the young man were willing to acknowl edge the goodness o f Jesus, he would have to acknowledge also the deity o f Jesus. But this, apparently, he was unwilling to
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