Introduction
Many people today have a distorted understanding of God and the path to salvation. Specifically, many of us do not read and meditate on the Word of God, which leads to the belief that we need to perform good deeds in order to be saved by the Lord God Almighty. To clarify what is truly required for salvation, this blog article analyzes two Bible passages: one from the Gospel of Matthew and one from the Gospel of John.
Comments on Matthew 19:16-22 and on John 14:23-24
To understand what good we need to do to be saved, we will meditate first on the Bible passage narrative found in Matthew 19:16-22, called “the rich young man.”
Matthew 19:16 and behold, one having come to Him, said, Teacher, what good shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
This passage tells us how some people think they can do some good deeds that are worth being counted as deserving to be in heaven. The perfect deed has been done already; the innocent Lamb of God has already shed His blood to cover the world of sin. For us, only one thing needs to be done: trust, believe, and accept the deed the Lord Jesus has done. Then, come to the foot of the cross under the blood of the Lord Jesus and repent, be baptized, and follow His teaching.
17 And He said to him, Why do you ask Me about what is good? One is good; but if you desire to enter into life, keep the commandments.
This teaching shows us the Trinity of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The verse also proves that time has no meaning for the Lord because the Lord already knows what will happen to him (the young man). The Lord’s answers will always point out to who He is.
18 He says to Him, Which? And Jesus said, You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19 Honor the father and the mother and love your neighbor as yourself.
Notice how the conversation starts in these verses. The man did not come first to glorify God; his inner heart was shown in the question. He asked, “What good shall I do?” not “What can God do?” This question was very self-centered. Besides, in those times, all the commandments of God were taught from childhood. He learned the commandments but did not practice them, and then came to ask the question, “What good shall I do?” Many of us today do not learn the commandments; we have the Bible, but we do not read and meditate on the teachings of the Bible, and we end up making simple or big mistakes against the teachings of the Bible.
20 The young man says to Him, All these I have kept. What still do I lack?
“What still do I lack?” The man’s answer to the Lord shows that he, himself, has doubts about his salvation. If he had kept all the commandments, he would not have doubted entering eternal life. We, all believers, should ask ourselves if we keep all the teachings of the Bible and compare the answers.
21 Jesus said to him, If you desire to be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in the heavens; and come, follow Me.
This person, because of the riches of this world, has a hardened heart to follow the Lord completely. This verse is close to all of us because when we ourselves think we have things, our hearts do not completely rely on the Lord. If we cannot let go of the things of this world, the riches become a chain on our legs, and we can’t walk far in faith as that chain gets heavier and heavier. We must see with our inner eyes (the eyes of the soul) and heart that the riches of this world mean nothing in the world to come.
22 Now the young man having heard the word, he went away grieving; for he was one having many possessions.
This verse shows what this man is about; the earthly riches captured his heart. Great sorrow takes hold of a person when the person must give up the riches of this world. This young man is an example for all to see; to follow the Lord Jesus and leave the riches is not easy for anyone to do.
In this passage of Scripture, the Lord Jesus gives answers to two important questions related to the salvation of our souls: “Teacher, what good shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” and “What still do I lack?”
Firstly, answering the first question, the Lord Jesus clearly states that only God is good, and God has done everything necessary for the salvation of all souls on earth, since only He can do good deeds. Every human on this earth should know that the perfect good deed has already been done: the innocent Lamb of God has already shed His blood to cover the sins of the whole world. The Lord Jesus is One with the Father, and He is the only way to the Father. Thus, the Trinity of God, together, did the good deed of providing salvation for all humans. Only by faith in the Trinity of God can one be saved. There is no other good deed one can do to be saved; the grace of God saves us, and the only good deed we can do for our salvation is to repent and fully give our hearts to the Lord Jesus and believe in the work that He did on the cross of Calvary, and believe that He is the Son of God and One with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, answering the second question, the Lord Jesus points out that we must follow Him with a humble heart. We must not doubt the salvation by the grace of God; if we come to the Lord from our hearts, He receives us all regardless of who we are; the only thing remaining for us is following Him, by letting go of the things of the world, read and meditate on the Word of God, go baptized in the water in the name of the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and let our lives be guided daily by the Holy Spirit.
The difficulty for this man, as for many today, to be saved was that he didn’t come with a humble heart to the Lord, instead, he asked what he could do. However, there is nothing more we can do; the grace of God saves us through faith in the Trinity of God. We must go to the Lord with a humble heart, ask for forgiveness in the name of the Lord Jesus, give our hearts to Him, and worship the Trinity of God.
In John 14:23-24, the Lord Jesus explains how we can give our hearts to Him through our love for Him. In doing so, we also receive the love of the Father. Consequently, both the Father and the Lord Jesus will make their home with us.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make a home with him.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” So, as the verse clearly tells, if you love the beloved Son of God, you will keep His teachings in your heart; but, when you keep His word, you must also read and meditate on the Holy Bible; the Holy Bible has all the teachings, and those teachings will make your heart ready to receive Him as well.
“... and My Father will love him.” Give attention to what the verse has said to all true believers. The beloved Son of God has told all that the Father Himself will love you because you love the beloved Son of God. And this is the way the Father shows love to anyone: when that person meditates on the Holy Word, that person will realize the peace in their heart, and during that time, within the heart, they will have great joy because the Father Himself is also happy with that soul. The root of all happiness for the soul is the Holy Word of God.
“And We will come to him.” Give attention to the word “We”; this refers to the Trinity of God, and at the same time, the Spirit of the beloved Son of God will also be there.
“… and will make a home with him.” When the heart of a true believer becomes home for the Lord, that heart of the blessed one will receive the greatest joy of life, which will also make the faith grow. The home is the place where God will dwell and also will make that home the proper place for receiving all praising of the soul; the request the soul will ask for the Lord to dwell in will receive the answer, and deep in the heart of true believers, it will acknowledge the answer they have received, which they can feel by the soul, not by the feeling of the head itself; that feeling will be deep down until the person cannot tell where that happiness comes from. Therefore, to decorate the heart to be the home of the Lord, all believers should put the praises in the heart that glorify the Trinity of God; the words used for glorifying the Trinity of God will decorate the heart of the soul itself for the Lord.
Here, one might ask how the Lord lives in our hearts. Here, we should not think in physical terms, but rather in spiritual terms. The heart of the true believer is like a palace, which will have many rooms in it, and each room will be used for a different purpose as well, because that heart has become the home of God to dwell. That is the will of the Father to live in our souls when we open our souls to receive Him; the Father uses the Holy Bible to be the path for humans to get in touch with the Holy Spirit; through the Holy Bible, the Holy Spirit will work in the heart of the reader, and when that heart has invited the Holy Spirit to be their guide, the Holy Spirit will use that invitation and put Himself to join with the soul itself.
The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the beloved Son are in the Holy Word itself. Also, let all believers remember one thing as well: the Holy Bible is the living word; God has spoken every word in the Holy Bible; the word never dies, always is alive and has life; the word itself has life and gives life to all true believers; if you truly believe you can feel the word is alive; general people will not have that feeling, only the true believers will gain that feeling, which is a gift from the Father Himself when you have meditated on the Holy Word.
We can also say in another way: the Holy Bible is a path of the connection between the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ with the true believer when they meditate on the Word; when you meditate, you have connected your soul to the path that the Lord guides you. The Word that the Living God has spoken, that word has life in itself; the Holy Bible is the true living word of God, and every word in the Bible is alive. Therefore, you must first connect with the path before you can connect with the Lord.
24 The one that loves Me not, keeps not My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but of the Father who sent Me.
“The one that loves Me not …” As the verse tells all readers, when you do not love the beloved Son of God, you will not keep what He has taught in the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is not an ordinary book. The Holy Bible will give life to all who meditate and follow because the root of the Holy Bible is the Trinity of God; no other book can give you life as the Holy Bible gives you. This saying in this verse is not repeating the verse before, but the Lord has shown the opposite; the verse before has told about you having faith and doing, but this verse has said the opposite that when you do not love the beloved Son of God, you will also not love His teachings; but His teachings are not from Himself, they are from the Father. The beloved Son of God wants to make sure that all readers pay attention to the difference between these two verses, and the verses will talk to you when you pay attention to the differences.
Here, the Lord Jesus wants to make it clear that the Father and the Holy Spirit will not come to those who do not love Him. The idea of the verse is that some might think that somehow the Father will come to them regardless of whether they love or not the beloved Son of God, but that is not true. When verse 23 says, “We will come to him, and make a home with him,” this applies only to those who love the beloved Son of God and keep His teachings.
“… but of the Father who sent Me.” The beloved Son of God has told all true believers the truth; the Word that He is teaching to all humans is not His own word but of the Father who sent Him to teach that Word; let all true believers think of that as well; if the Holy Bible has the words from the Father, then every word in the Holy Bible would give life to all that meditate and believe in that word.
Conclusions
In conclusion, as stated in John 14:23, "If anyone loves Me," the path to salvation begins with fully giving our hearts to the Lord Jesus and loving Him. To love Him, we must believe that He is the Son of God and part of the Holy Trinity. We must also trust that His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary is sufficient for our salvation. It is essential to humble ourselves before the Lord and surrender our hearts to Him. By following His commandments, we can find peace with the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit—and gain true salvation for our souls. For more understanding, please read our blog: “Teachings about how to be a Disciple of the Lord Jesus”.
Meditation Tasks:
- Let us examine our hearts to see if we have fully given them to the Lord Jesus and if we truly love Him from the depths of our being.