Matthew 19:21

Matthew 19:21. If thou wouldest be perfect. Mark and Luke: ‘one thing thou lackest.' One duty still remained to make his obedience complete, judged from his own point of view. Not that he had done all except this one duty, but a test is proposed, to prove that the whole obedience lacked the proper motive.

Sell all thy goods. In his case love of his possessions was the great hindrance; in another it might have been something else. All we have belongs to Christ, but this command is not to be literally obeyed by every one. The gospel is here put in a legal form to reach the conscience of the young man; the ‘treasure in heaven' is not bought by voluntary poverty. (Comp, chaps, Matthew 5:12; Matthew 6:20.)

Come, follow me. The final test. Whenever property interferes with following Christ, it must be given up; and he who would be a Christian must be ready to relinquish it for Christ's sake, not to win salvation nor to buy a superior place in heaven.