The Word

The New Covenant

🌟 Scriptures 🌟

The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-26

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

🗣️The Message📜

 When the young rich man came to Jesus wondering how to have eternal life, Jesus told Him that he had to follow the commandments. When the rich man asked which ones, Jesus told him, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But Jesus excluded the first commandment which included not having any other gods except The Lord our God. The rich man was pleased to tell Jesus that he had been doing those commandments since his youth, but when Jesus asked Him to give up all of His riches and follow Him he went away sad because His riches were more important than eternal life, were more important than God.  When I read this all I could think about was The Holy Spirit. When Jesus died and rose on the third day He sent a helper, The Holy Spirit which He said in John 16:13 would guide us into all truth and He would not speak on his own; he would speak only what he hears, and will tell us what is yet to come."  The Holy Spirit came along with The New Covenant which our Lord Jesus purchased with His blood. In this passage, Jesus was in the place of The Holy Spirit. Before Jesus came and brought the new covenant, people knew the law, but many forgot about the Love they should have for The Father which was mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Jesus knew before this young rich man came that he was lacking love for The Father, but Christ never just told him instead, Jesus pointed out how he was good at serving and loving people, then when the man asked what he still lacked Jesus gave him an opportunity that would allow him to be a servant to God and not to people or to himself, but he refused it. The Holy Spirit will sometimes ask us to do things that aren't written anywhere but which edify God's law which is Love, first for Him and then for others. God doesn't just want some of us He wants all of us. In Matthew 13:44 when the man found the treasure or The Kingdom of Heaven he sold all he had and bought the field, there was a very high price for this field, so much so that he had to sell all he owned to purchase it but he was just happy to have found This treasure because he knew it was worth more than anything else he had. The man in this parable knew what The Kingdom of God or eternal life was worth so when he found out the price of the field he sold everything to have it. The rich man didn't understand the worth of The Kingdom of God and went off sad. Many today are led by The Holy Spirit to do some things that would require them to let go of the world, the people know it's the right thing to do, but their heart is stuck in this world so they go off sad and live a life that leads to death instead of following God and living a life that leads to eternal life. They obey their flesh instead of obeying God. Why is this? Because they aren't obeying the most important commandment, "Matthew 22:37: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" The Word of God says in John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commands." Now Jesus didn't come to condemn but He came to save. When Jesus told them that it was almost impossible for a rich man to get into Heaven the disciples became frazzled and asked, then who can be saved? Jesus responded by saying, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. When a person gets saved they don't just automatically start loving God it is a process, but it starts with submitting to Him, allowing Him to guide you, learning who He is, and following Him. The disciples were following Jesus and learning about Him so it was easy to grow in trust and love for Him, for the Father, but the rich man didn't want to submit he wanted to continue his life of serving his flesh and man which only led to death. Jesus is no longer here with us physically, but he did leave The Holy Spirit and through Him, The Lord still speaks to us. So today everyone, look within yourselves and listen to The One who loves you, Listen to The creator of The Law, listen to The Holy Spirit that will lead you to all truth, that will lead you to life. Only if you let Him.

What were some things you had to give up coming to Christ?