Mark 10:17-22
There came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): One of the most popular beliefs of the day is that God loves everybody, and the very fact that it is so popular with all classes ought to be enough to arouse the suspicions of those who are subject to the Word of Truth.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Notice the expression of Jesus beholding this young man, and as it is said, “loved him.”—It should be carefully distinguished what this “love” meant, from the love Jesus beareth to His people.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Remember, this young man already thought himself to be quite good, and that he had kept all of God’s commandments. But listen to the very first words Jesus said unto him—“Why callest me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” Then Jesus told him to keep the commandments.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “And he answered and said unto Him,”—with a great deal of pertness—“Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” The sense is, that Jesus looked upon him, when he expressed himself in such a pert manner, and had a compassionate concern for him; He pitied him for his ignorance of the law, in its spirituality and large extent; and for his pride and vanity, his conceit, and his glorying in himself: wherefore, in order to mortify him, and abate these swelling thoughts of himself—“He said unto him, one thing thou lackest…” This young man’s reigning sin seems to have been an overweening affection for the things of this world; his riches were his idol, on which his heart was set, and in which he trusted.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Now the Scripture strongly suggests that this young man never picked up that cross, and followed after Jesus. So then, how did Jesus “love” him? Jesus loved him enough to show him the truth of his sinful condition before God, by revealing his covetous love for the things of this world.
ROBERT HAWKER: The love here spoken of, differs altogether from the special affection the Lord Jesus bears to the persons of His redeemed, which are the gift of his Father, the purchase of His blood, and the objects of the everlasting love of God the Holy Ghost, in whom He puts the influences of His sovereign power and grace to make them wise unto salvation, through the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The other day I saw a little tract bearing this title, “It is certain that God loves you.” And I burned it, for I was afraid that somebody who had no right to it, might see it and believe that it was true. I do not believe that God loves every individual who might pick that tract up in the sense in which such an individual would understand the expression. I know that God loves, in a certain sense, all the creatures that He has made. But such love as that gives me no comfort, as long as I am an unreconciled sinner under condemnation, because I have not believed in God’s dear Son!
A. W. PINK: No matter how a man may live—in open defiance of Heaven, with no concern whatever for his soul’s eternal interests, still less for God’s glory, dying, perhaps with an oath on his lips—notwithstanding, God loves him, we are told. So widely has this dogma been proclaimed, and so comforting is it to the heart which is at enmity with God, we have little hope of convincing many of their error.
JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): They think God loves them because they love themselves; and though they know they have sin, yet they think God will not be so ill, as to reckon with them; they think they are sure that God loves them, but they cannot give a ground for it.
A. W. PINK: That God loves everybody, is, we may say, quite a modern belief. The writings of the church-fathers, the Reformers, or the Puritans, we believe, will be searched in vain for any such concept…It has been customary to say “God loves the sinner, though He hates his sin.” But that is a meaningless distinction. What is there in a sinner but sin? Is it not true that his “whole head is sick,” and his “whole heart faint,” and that “from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness” in him?” Isaiah 1:5,6. Is it true that God loves the one who is despising and rejecting His blessed Son?
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): If ever anyone knew the love of God, if ever “the love of God” was preached and understood by anyone, that one was Jesus Christ.
A. W. PINK: If it be true that God loves every member of the human family then why did our Lord tell His disciples, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father…If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him,” John 14:21,23? Why say “he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father,” if the Father loves everybody? The same limitation is found in Proverbs 8:17—“I love them that love Me.” Again, we read, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity”—not merely the works of iniquity. Here, then, is a flat repudiation of present teaching that, “God hates sin but loves the sinner;” Scripture says, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity,” Psalm 5:5! “God is angry with the wicked every day,” Psalm 7:11. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God,”—not “shall abide,” but even now—“abideth on him,” John 3:36. Can God “love” the one on whom His “wrath” abides?
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): So long as our thoughts are cast in the mold of divine truth, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, we shall be kept from expressions, which, though something like scripture, are not according to it. In these days, we need to watch lest we take up the Lord’s Word with mere natural effort, instead of in heartfelt dependence on the Holy Ghost; and to dread lest we traffic in favourite doctrines, instead of setting forth the infallible testimonies of Holy Scripture. It is a blessed fact that “God commendeth his love toward us,”—His saints—“in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8; but that is very different from going up to an ungodly man, and saying, “God loves you.”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Our Lord’s method must ever be the pattern and example for all preaching—We are to speak “the truth in love.”
A. W. PINK: With the exception of John 3:16, not once in the four Gospels do we read of the Lord Jesus—the perfect Teacher—telling sinners that God loved them! In the book of Acts, which records the evangelistic labours and messages of the apostles, God’s love is never referred to at all! But, when we come to the Epistles, which are addressed to the saints, we have a full presentation of this precious truth—God’s love for His own. Let us seek to rightly divide the Word of God and then we shall not be found taking truths which are addressed to believers and misapplying them to unbelievers.
