Matthew chapter 19:16-22

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,  honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth...

What do the so-called righteous believe?

A pretender talks about what he has done to be good, and a believer talks about what Jesus has done to set him free…




The so-called righteous believe that they can be saved because they are ‘good’. They believe that the key to entering heaven’s gates is that they live a ‘good’ life. What does God see when he looks at these people? He sees their deaths and their destruction.




Why doesn't God see anything good in self righteous people? He sees their fallen human nature, He sees their pride in living a ‘good’ life, how they love to soak up the compliments of the people around them, who see them as righteous, but if those same people could see their hearts, they would fall back away from them in horror.




Everyday, 'good' people lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, become addicted to pornography, do drugs, and engage in criminal activity; they live their lives just like everybody else. They believe that their good deeds for the church will save them from the pit of hell, but what they don't realize is that they have already been assigned to the pit of hell because they will not allow Jesus to come into their lives and cleanse their hearts…




You know these people - they are conservative politicians, tv evangelists, well known pastors of huge churches, the elders in your church, ‘Mr Goodman’, the one in your church that everyone looks up to. These people live in your neighborhoods, they are involved in various community outreaches and programs. They will tell you that they tithe and give huge donations to christian charities.



Many people go to them for help or for advice - they are believed to be very spiritual, yet the Lord knows the real status of their hearts. They are filled with religious rules and traditions, but there is no room in their hearts for the one who created them…




They believe in Jesus Christ intellectually, but they do not believe it in their hearts. They became members of a church or joined some religious foundation without professing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.




What is worse are the people who have professed Jesus Christ publicly, yet the words that they professed have never really touched their hearts. That is why the Word of God states that we must observe a person’s character and actions to see if they truly believe what they profess.




You cannot truly understand completely what is in my heart, and I cannot fully understand what is in yours. Only Jesus truly knows who His children are, and there are some truly excellent pretenders in the christian world today. We have no right to judge a person’s final destination. Today they could be walking down the path to the pit of hell, and tomorrow you could find them in the church, confessing their sins and asking Jesus Christ to come into their hearts. We must be patient and allow the Lord to do the work that is needed to touch everyone’s lives and then to give His love that goes straight into their hearts.



This is one way that you can tell if someone is a pretender or a believer - ask them about their lives in Jesus Christ. The pretenders will give great speeches about how good Jesus Christ is, and they will tell you how good they have been. They will boast about their good deeds or their wealth, but they will never say anything about how Jesus Christ has changed their hearts or their minds.




A true believer will never talk about money or good deeds, they will tell you a simple story about what Jesus Christ means to them. They will speak from the abundance of their hearts, they will tell you love stories about Jesus, because they are in love with Jesus Christ. They know that Jesus loves them with all of His heart. They may not have a lot of money, in fact they could be poor, but they will be filled with satisfaction and joy, because they know that the God of heaven knows them. When you are loved by the God of heaven, you will never feel insecure or inferior compared to what other people may have or what they do.




The key is love - does the person love Jesus or is their focus upon what Jesus can do for them? That is the world’s focus, and so many people in the world are destroyed and sent to the pit of hell because they believed all of the devil’s lies; their focus was always upon getting money, power and influence. Those things never satisfy for long, and you cannot bring anything that you achieve in this life into the next one except for the love of Jesus Christ that resides in your heart.



What must you do to be truly saved?

Accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart right now, confess your sins and repent of your past ways, and ask Him to forgive you. He will enter your heart and change your whole life. What is more important, money or love? Your answer to that question will determine your eternal fate, so please consider your answer thoroughly before you give it…

Prayer of Salvation

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.

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