Luke 18:15-34

Our passage tonight is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verses 15 through 35.

Luke 18:15–35

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.

Luke 18:15

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,

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,

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,

on the paradigm

of the kingdom of man.

They're,

they're,

I think they're designed

to,

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.

Whoa.

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,

wait,

wait,

wait.

We need to

stop and feel

the weight of

that.

That is

hammer time.

In the chapter

four,

Jesus,

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,

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,

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.