In our text is a young man that any mother would be proud of. He was intensely dedicated. He was obsessive with doing the right thing. He sought out any opportunity to improve his character. He was well aware of what religion taught him. He directed himself to achieve new goals. He had every intention to walk upright. As a result of these things, he sought out Jesus. It would seem that he was not satisfied with his current spiritual condition. He asked Jesus what he should do.
The response he received from the Lord at first seemed elementary. He replied that he had done all of those things for years. Then Jesus put his finger on the pulse of the man’s problem by saying that he should liquidate his financial assets to give to the poor. This was the one area that the man could not accept. We are unaware if Jesus really wanted him to give away everything he had or if Jesus was testing him. Either way, the man could not accept the reply told him. He walked away. As he did, we can note that he made several mistakes.
Immediately this rich man misjudged the person of Jesus. He approached the Lord asking what some might call a theoretical question. He view Jesus as some type of a guru. He only saw Christ as a good master. That is such a vague term but probably many other people could be worthy of that title. He attributed to Jesus the quality of goodness which was a verification of only how he saw the Lord. He called him master but what was he a master of? He did not grant the likelihood of his divinity.
Because he had such a sterling character that he gained by good works, he misunderstood his own question. He assumed he could continue his earthly path of self-righteousness. He never had an understanding of the path to eternal life. He saw his own efforts of good works as a continuation of further good works to eternal life. This man did not comprehend the distinct separation between human effort and what was needed to go into the realm of the spiritual world.
Because he had high regard for himself the man assumed he was actually able to accomplish the stipulations of righteousness. It never entered his mind that his soul was blemished, his good works amounted to nothing. When a person comes to Christ as Savior, the first thing he must do is to recognize how terribly short he has fallen from the glory of God. He needed to admit that eternity did not wait for an intellectual answer because he was unprepared to stand before the throne of God on Judgment Day. None of his good works were valid since he equated good works to innocence. This made him unavailable to answer the call of following Christ.
Christian Writer 