Our passage tonight is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verses 15 through 35.
That can be found in page 877 in your pew Bible.
I'm going to go ahead and read the whole thing so you can follow along with me.
Luke 18, verse 15.
And a ruler asked him,
Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said to him,
Why do you call me good?
No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not murder.
Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness.
Honor your father and your mother.
And he said,
All these I have kept from my youth.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him,
One thing you lack.
Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
And come, follow me.
But when he heard these things, he became very sad,
for he was extremely rich.
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said,
How difficult is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God?
For 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.
Those who heard it said,
Then who can be saved?
But he said,
What is impossible with man is possible with God.
And Peter said,
See, we have left our homes and followed you.
And he said to them,
Truly I say to you,
There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children
for the sake of the kingdom of God
who will not receive many times more
in this time and in the age to come eternal life.
And taking the twelve, he said to them,
See, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and everything that is written about the Son of Man
by the prophets will be accomplished.
For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles
and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
And after flogging him, they will kill him,
and on the third day he will rise.
But they understood none of these things.
This saying was hidden from them,
and they did not grasp what was said.
Well, tonight we are confronted with the question.
We are confronted with the ultimate question of all of reality.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
How do I enter the kingdom of God?
How can I be saved from my sins and go to heaven
and be with God forever?
And I would like to present three things that we need
from the text tonight.
We need to recognize the kingdoms.
We need to repent of our idols.
And we need to receive salvation.
So we need to recognize the kingdoms.
You know, in our house,
we have five children in our family,
and sometimes more.
And Mona and I have installed a government in our house,
and it has rules,
and it has sanctions,
and it has...
There's a paradigm.
And within our house, however,
there's another little government that exists,
and it's run by the little people
that live in our house.
And so we'll find ourselves from time to time,
as parents do,
coming in on the tail end of the argument.
Usually it's downstairs.
It's in the basement.
And by the time we perk up
and hear the end of the discussion,
someone is saying something extremely ugly
to someone else
that violates the parental government's paradigm
of grace and mercy and kindness.
In fact, kindness is just a word
that Mona and I blurt out at our house,
although we just walk around saying,
kindness, kindness, kindness.
So when I dig into what's happened
and what caused such an outrage,
I usually get a story
about why the person
that was just annihilated by verbal assault
deserved what they got.
And my typical response is to get down,
on eye level,
and say,
well, Sam,
are you getting what you deserve?
And then there's a big pause,
and then there's a sort of a weak,
no, sir.
I say,
did Jesus die on the cross for your sins?
Yes, sir.
Well, I think we can have some grace
and mercy for this sibling.
And the point I'm trying to make
is that there are,
there's a kingdom,
and then there's a kingdom within the kingdom.
And if we're going to enter the kingdom of God,
we need to be able to see the kingdom of God
and discern which kingdom we're in
before we can even get started.
The broad context of our passage today
in the Gospel of Luke
is Jesus is on a three-year march to Jerusalem
where he's going to die for sinners.
And on the way,
he's constantly teaching and preaching
about a lot of things,
but one thing that he keeps preaching about
is the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of God.
And even in our passage tonight,
we have how to enter the kingdom of God.
And I would like to suggest
that the kingdom of God
and the kingdom of man sit side by side.
Then they have competing value systems,
they have competing worldviews,
and they have competing paradigms.
And Jesus is constantly confronting
and exposing that people close to him,
such as his disciples,
and people on the outside,
and people, religious leaders,
and just about everyone he comes into contact with
is operating under the kingdom of man paradigm.
So, even as we look at our passage tonight,
we see right off the bat
in our first story
that the disciples have a kingdom of man paradigm
operating when they deal with this situation
where the parents are bringing children to Jesus.
So, here's Jesus.
He is on his way
to give up his life
for murderers,
liars,
tax collectors,
the dregs.
And
meanwhile,
his disciples are guarding him
from infants and children
because
they think
that Jesus
is too important
to care about
unimportant
members of society
such as
children.
You know,
Jesus is drawing huge crowds,
right?
He's,
he's,
he's a rock star
at this time.
He's healing people.
People,
people are,
crowds and hordes of people are coming
and the disciples are kind of along for the ride.
They're,
they're on team Jesus,
you know,
and they're like the bouncers now
and,
and they're,
they,
they guard Jesus from all the little people.
And
I think that
when we keep in mind Jesus' mission,
it sharpens,
it sharpens
the,
it sharpens
the distinction
and the absurdity
of this,
of,
of the,
of
the disposition
of the disciples.
And how did Jesus respond?
When the disciples were
pushing parents away
that would have infants in their arms
to bring them to Jesus,
they're like,
no,
Jesus too,
he's too busy,
he's too important.
Um,
how did Jesus respond?
Well,
first of all,
obviously he said,
don't do that,
stop that,
let the children come to me.
But then he turns to them
and he says,
you must become like these unimportant children
if you're even going to be saved.
Jesus is always dropping
these
bombs on,
on,
on the paradigm
of the kingdom of man.
They're,
they're,
I think they're designed
to,
to wake us up,
to wake up the disciples,
to wake us up to,
they're like smelling salts.
It's like,
you know,
one minute the disciples are like,
Jesus is too busy,
you can't go to him.
The next minute Jesus is like,
if you even want to go to heaven,
you're going to have to become
like these unimportant children.
Whoa.
In the kingdom of God,
everyone is in equal need of Jesus.
God is not choosing people
or loving people
based on their status
or based on their
performance.
And these stories
that Luke gives us
are intentionally designed
to communicate
that fact.
The next story
we have is
Jesus interacting
with the rich ruler.
So right out of the gate,
the rich ruler
comes to Jesus.
He was probably
part of the religious
ruling class,
obviously an important person,
obviously a prominent member
in the community,
well respected.
And he,
he also appears to be
a sincere,
he,
he's,
you know,
Jesus is always sparring
with different people.
Sometimes it's Pharisees
that are trying to trap him
and who,
who hate him
and are trying to bring him down.
This man doesn't fall
into that category.
I mean,
for we,
I think we should take him
at his word
that he's genuinely
coming to Jesus
with a sincere
question.
So he starts off
good teacher.
He calls Jesus
good teacher.
What good thing
must I do
to inherit eternal life?
He says
in the parallel passage
in Matthew.
So,
well,
what do we see
about this man's
paradigm?
What's the rich ruler
thinking?
He's thinking
God rewards
good people
with blessing
and honor.
People get
what they deserve
from God.
Salvation
must be earned
by doing
your part.
I'm a good person.
I am blessed.
I am approved
by God.
So he goes
to Jesus
and he says
good teacher,
I think
this is sort
of a
we're in the club
of good people.
I recognize
you're in the club.
Can you give me
any advice
about
is there anything
more that I need
to do
to kind of
seal the deal
for
getting into heaven?
right away
Jesus drops
the hammer
again.
He says
no one is good
except God alone.
Now,
I think that
when you're reading
the Bible
and the lines
just come
one right after
another,
some lines
there ought to be
like a big
space after
because they're
so profound.
You know,
it's like
you're reading
along and
Jesus says
no one is good
except God alone.
Why do you call
me good?
And then it just
keeps going.
You're like
wait,
wait.
We need to
stop and feel
the weight of
that.
That is
hammer time.
In the chapter
four,
Jesus,
there's a
passage
where Jesus
says that
when you
as a servant
of God
have done
everything
that God
has commanded,
you are to
consider yourself
an unworthy
servant.
That's huge.
That's the
kingdom of God
mentality.
That's the
kingdom of God
paradigm.
When you
serve God
and you do
everything
perfectly,
you are to
consider yourself
an unworthy
servant.
So you see
how out of
sync this
man is
with Jesus
and you see
how out of
sync the
disciples are
with Jesus.
And I
wonder if
you've ever
wondered,
because I
have,
why don't
the disciples
get it?
You know,
there are so
many passages
in the Bible
and you hit
them and you
wonder how
can you not
get it.
For example,
right after
Jesus
institutes the
Lord's Supper
coming up in
chapter 22,
he literally
gives his
disciples
tokens of
his body
and his
blood that
is going
to be
broken and
bled out
for them.
They leave
and the
disciples start
arguing over
which one of
them is the
greatest.
kings.
Now,
this is the
clash of
kingdoms,
kingdom
mentalities.
So,
we have a
problem.
So,
the first
item on our
to-do list
is to see
the kingdom
if we're
going to
enter it.
The problem
is we
can't see
the kingdom
on our
own.
We cannot
do item
number one.
Jesus said
to Nicodemus,
truly,
I say to
you,
unless one
is born
again,
he cannot
even see
the kingdom.
But we
do need
to see
it if
we're going
to go
there.
Okay,
so we
also need
to repent
of our
idols.
If we're
going to
enter the
kingdom of
God,
if we're
going to
be saved,
we need
to repent
of our
idols.
My father
used to
take me
fishing in
Rhode Island.
And if
you've ever
been on the
coast of
Rhode Island,
you know,
they have
these huge
rocks out
there.
And he
would take
us, my
siblings and
I, out
fishing.
And we'd
get out in
the rocks.
And it
was our
job to
find the
mussels and
crack them
and tie a
string on
the mussels
because we
were going to
hunt these
little crabs
about that
big.
And then
when we
got the
crabs,
my dad
would take
them and
do horrible
things to
them and
put them
on hooks
and then
the fishing
would begin.
But we
loved the
crabbing.
We didn't
care about
the fishing.
To us,
this was so
fun because
the water
would come
up into
the cracks
and get
trapped.
And then
we'd drop
the mussels
into the
cracks.
Well,
sure enough,
after a while,
the crabs
would come
out and
they'd grab
a hold of
the mussel
that you have
on a string,
which,
by the way,
isn't hidden.
We're not
talking about
dental floss.
We're talking
about full-on
like,
you know,
they grab
on and
you pull it
out of the
water and
they are
clinging to
that thing
and not
letting go.
And I
remember as a
kid,
and then you
take it and
hang it over
the bucket and
they're still
clinging onto it
and you have to
go like this
just to even
get them off.
And I remember
as a kid
thinking,
I mean,
I know they're
just crabs,
but I mean,
how stupid
do you have
to be?
Like,
if something's
pulling you
out of the
water,
that's not
a good sign.
You need
to let go.
You need
to stop.
And in a way,
this story is
sort of a visual,
I think,
for the human
heart with
regard to
idols.
The heart
clings to
what it
loves,
even if
clinging to
what it
loves is
bad for you.
Even if
clinging to
what it
loves is
going to
end in
death.
There's a
power at
work with
idols,
a supernatural
power that
is outside
of our
control.
Let's take
another look at
the rich young
ruler now.
I'm going to
reread verses
18 through
23.
And a
ruler asked
him,
good teacher,
what must I
do to
inherit eternal
life?
And Jesus
said to
him,
why do
you call
me good?
No one is
good except
God alone.
You know the
commandments.
Do not commit
adultery,
do not murder,
do not steal,
do not bear
false witness,
honor your
father and
mother.
And he
said,
all these I
have kept
from my
youth.
When Jesus
heard this,
he said to
him,
one thing
you still
lack,
sell all
that you
have and
distribute to
the poor,
and you
will have
treasure in
heaven,
and come,
follow me.
But when
he heard these
things,
he became
very sad,
for he was
extremely rich.
Notice in
verse 22,
one thing
you lack,
one thing.
What is it?
What is the
one thing?
Could Jesus
possibly be
telling this
man that
the one thing
he lacks is
to go and
do this good
deed of
giving all
his money
away,
and if
he does
that,
that one
deed is
going to
secure
his entry
into heaven.
Meanwhile,
Jesus is
marching to
Jerusalem
where he's
going to
bleed to
death on
a cross
and die
a horrible
death.
That's not
what Jesus
is saying.
The one
thing that
the rich
ruler
lacks
is Jesus.
Come and
follow me.
What's in
the way
is this
muscle on
a string
that you
are on.
let go
of your
wealth
and status
and grab
hold of
me.
But this
idol has
a power
on him.
It has
a grip
on him.
To give
it up
would mean
to give
up his
whole
worldview,
to give
up his
whole
life.
It would
mean
losing
the honor
and respect
that he
probably
worked hard
to develop
and his
status.
Quick
sidebar
here.
I think
this is
obvious,
but I
feel like
we need
to
acknowledge
that
this is
for us
as well.
Jesus
forces all
of us
to choose.
Jesus
will not
take
second
place
in a
human
heart.
We all
face this
same
dilemma
as
the
rich
ruler.
We
cannot
cling
to
wealth,
status,
power,
self-sufficiency,
our
intelligence,
you fill
in the
blank,
you fill
in the
blank,
and cling
to Jesus
as Savior
at the
same
time.
It's
not
possible.
Let's
continue
verse 24
through
27.
Jesus
seeing
that he
had
become
sad
said,
how
difficult
it is
for those
who
have
wealth
to
enter
the
kingdom
of
God.
For
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.
Those
who
heard
it
said,
then
who
can
be
saved?
But
he
said,
what
is
impossible
with
man
is
possible
with
God.
Notice
verse 26.
Then
who
can
be
saved?
The
disciples
are
thinking,
if this
devout,
holy,
good,
there's
no reason
to doubt
this man's
claim on
the surface
of things,
that he
was a
good man
that was
obeying
the laws
of God.
And in
the eyes
of the
disciples,
God's
blessing
him.
He
has
money,
he
has
wealth,
he
has
status,
he's
good,
God
has
rewarded
him.
And if
this
man
can't
be
saved,
what
hope
is
there
for
us
fishermen
who
are
hanging
out
in
the
bars
and
everything
until
Jesus
came.
If
he
can't
be
saved,
what
hope
is
there
for
any
of
us?
And I
think
that
this
is,
I
think
Jesus
is
saying
exactly,
now you're
getting
it.
Why
do
you
think
I'm
here?
Why
did
I
come?
It
is
impossible
for
people
to
save
themselves.
Verse
27.
It
is
impossible
to
be
saved
by
the
power
of
man,
by
your
own
power.
And
Jesus
is
telling
the
rich
man,
you
can't
save
yourself.
And
Jesus
is
telling
the
disciples,
you
can't
save
yourself.
And
Jesus
is
telling
us,
we
cannot
save
ourselves.
Look
back at
verses
15 and
17
with
me.
Now
they were
bringing
even
infants
to him
that he
might
touch
them.
Truly
I say
to you,
whoever
does not
receive
the
kingdom
of
God
like
a
child
shall
not
enter
it.
So
if
we
connect
the
infants
with
the
children,
then
what
Jesus
is
saying
is
you
have
to
become
like
an
infant
in
order
to
receive
the
kingdom
of
God.
Now
I
think
this
is
an
important
distinction
because
I
do
think
it's
true
obviously
that
we
need
a
child
like
faith
to
receive
the
kingdom.
We
need
to
trust
Jesus
and
children
are
trusting
and
I
think
that's
great
but
I
actually
believe
what
Jesus
is
saying
here
is
no
you
need
to
be
like
an
infant.
How
many
of
you
have
ever
held
a
two
day
old
baby
in
your
hands?
Their
necks
go
like
this.
I
mean
they
are
helpless.
They
are
utterly
helpless.
They
can't
even
hold
their
head
up.
Let
alone
they're
not
going
out
and
getting
their
own
food.
They're
not
going
to
go
rent
an
apartment.
They
are
helpless.
And I
think
Jesus
is
saying
you
cannot
save
yourself.
You
must
become
in your
own
estimation
spiritually
speaking
like
a
infant
like
a
helpless
what
do
infants
do?
Here's
what
they
do.
They
receive
things.
They
receive
milk.
They
receive
blankets.
And the
only other
thing they
do is
cry to
get
what
they
receive.
And I
think that's
what Jesus
is teaching
us here.
I think
that
task
number
one,
we
can't
make
ourselves
see the
kingdom
of God,
let alone
enter it.
Task
number
two,
we
can't
change
our
own
hearts
and
turn
from
idols.
we
can't
do it.
And this
is actually
very good
news,
I think,
as we're
going to
see in
just a
second.
But
when we
read this
passage,
Jesus
comes out
as the
Savior.
He's
the Savior.
How do
I know,
how do we
know that?
Well,
look what
Luke does.
These
juxtapositions
of stories
are not
random,
they're not
accidental,
right?
First,
we get
the story
about
becoming
like an
infant,
and you
must receive
the kingdom.
Then we
get the
story of
someone who
if anyone
was going
to earn
it,
this guy
was going
to earn
it.
And he's
even sad
that he
can't do
it.
He's a
good guy.
We
probably
like him,
you know?
And he
can't get
in.
And then
we're left
kind of
hanging,
and the
disciples
literally
say,
well,
then who
can be
saved,
and how
are we
going to
be saved?
And Jesus
says,
it's impossible
with you,
but it's
possible with
God.
And then
we look
at verses
31 through
33.
This is
so incredible.
taking
the
twelve,
he said
to them,
see,
we are
going to
Jerusalem,
and everything
that is
written about
the Son
of Man
by the
prophets
will be
accomplished.
For he
will be
delivered
over to
the Gentiles
and will
be mocked
and shamefully
treated
and spit
upon,
and after
flogging
him,
they will
kill him.
and on
the third
day,
he will
rise.
Can you
imagine
if Jesus
pulled you
aside
into a
quiet place
with a few
of your
friends
and looked
you in
the eyes
and said,
I love
you,
I know
you,
I understand
you and
your problems.
Instead
of serving
me
to earn
my friendship,
I am
going to
serve you.
I am
going to
get on
my hands
and knees
and wash
your feet.
I am
going to
go all
the way
with my
love for
you,
holding
nothing
back.
I am
going to
allow
wicked
people
to spit
in my
face
and whip
me
and pin
me to
a tree.
I am
going to
die for
you
and set
everything
right again.
You will
not have
to pay
for your
sins.
I am
going to
pay for
your sins.
I am
going to be
raised from
the dead
and one
day bring
you home
to live
with me
forever.
Can you
picture that?
You know,
the disciples,
we have it
in our
passage,
they still
didn't get
it.
Jesus has
told them
that several
times and
they still
didn't get
it until
they saw
him later
and they
saw it
all come
down.
And you
know,
I think
that is
meaningful
for us.
I think
this is the
answer to
what must
I do
to inherit
eternal
life.
we must
not try
to save
ourselves,
but rather
we behold
Jesus Christ
as a
beautiful
savior
and we
receive him
as a
free gift
of God.
The
apostle Paul
says,
the gospel
is the
power of
God
to everyone
who believes.
if your
idols have
a power
over your
heart,
the gospel
has a
greater
power.
And it's
this power
that enables
us to see
the kingdom
of God
and it is
this power
that changes
our hearts
and enables
us to repent
from our
idols.
And then
when we're
saved,
we keep
seeing Jesus.
we keep
repenting
from our
idols
and our
sins.
And this
is a
dynamic
that goes
on.
Let me
conclude
by reading
the promise
that Jesus
makes in
verse 29
and 30.
Truly I
say to
you,
there is
no one
who has
left house
or wife
or brothers
or parents
or children
for the
sake of
the kingdom
of God
who will
not receive
many times
more in
this time
and in
the age
to come
eternal
life.
So I
think on
top of it
all,
Jesus is
saying,
hey,
if you
still have
a little
of the
kingdom
of man
paradigm,
it's like,
hey,
is this
going to
be worth
it?
Is this
trade
going to
be worth
it?
Jesus
is so
gracious,
he's even
saying,
listen,
this is
going to
be a
huge
payout,
a huge
payout
in this
life and
of course
in the
life to
come,
eternal
life with
Jesus
forever,
which is
beyond
our
imagination
to conceive.
That's
what the
Bible says.
All right,
let me pray
for us.
Our
Father in
heaven,
we thank
you for
such a
glorious
savior.
We pray
that if
we're
tempted
to get
right with
you by
being good
and trying
harder,
that you
would show
us Jesus,
you would
show us
him vividly
so that
we would
love him
and trust
him and
receive salvation
from him.
Thank you
for
giving us
everything
that we
need so
richly and
so abundantly.
In Jesus'
name,
amen.
Amen.