Threading the Needle

Let me read it out loud for us.

Luke 18, verses 18 to 34.

Luke 18:18–34

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.

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.

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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

So before we start, I just want to apologize.

I don't have remote access right now to the slides,

so you're not going to see slides.

You'll just see that screen the whole time.

But I'll try to read to you the things that you need to know as it comes up.

We've all experienced in our life various forms of

and varying degrees of privilege.

In our world, privilege opens doors.

It gives you access to places and people that others might not have access to.

It tips the public perception in our favor.

It confers power on those who possess it.

But in our passage for today,

we learn something about God's kingdom that is surprising.

It teaches us that God's kingdom is not like any other kingdoms of this world.

It's an upside-down kingdom that even the rich and the powerful cannot enter.

In fact, it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God

except through faith in Christ the King.

That's really the main point of our passage.

And first, we're going to go through and talk about

the upside-down kingdom in verses 18 to 30.

And then we'll talk about an unlikely king in verses 31 to 34.

A ruler approaches Jesus in verse 18 and asks him a question.

And Luke usually tells us when he uses that word ruler

what kind of ruler it is,

whether it's a ruler of the synagogue in Luke 8

or a ruler of the Pharisees in Luke 14.

And when he doesn't specify it,

he's usually referring to the members of the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin is the highest Jewish ruling council.

It rules on religious matters and political matters

and legal matters in the Jewish society.

It's the highest ruling body among the Jews.

And later, they're mentioned in Luke 23 and 24 as well

and simply referred to as the rulers.

And so it's probably a member of the Sanhedrin

that has come down from Jerusalem to interrogate Jesus.

And this would explain why Jesus assumed

that this ruler knows the commandments of God in verse 20.

And so if we consider that,

this ruler is a VIP in every measure.

He had religious standing.

He had political standing.

He had social standing.

And as we find out in verse 23,

he had economic standing.

Since he was extremely rich.

He has all the privilege that you can imagine in this world.

And he asks Jesus,

good teacher,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And to hear someone like this address Jesus,

to address him as good teacher,

and to seek his spiritual direction,

really must have been quite flattering to Jesus,

if you think about it.

Right?

Here is this great member of the Sanhedrin,

seeking Jesus out,

asking for his advice,

calling him good teacher.

But Jesus responds with a correction in verse 19.

He says,

Why do you call me good?

No one is good except God alone.

In the original language that this is translated from into English,

the personal pronoun me is in an emphatic possession.

It's in the front for emphasis.

So really we should read it as,

Why me do you call good?

No one is good except God alone.

And when he says that,

Jesus is not denying that he is, in fact, good.

He is good.

He is the Son of God,

the second person of the Trinity,

the triune God who alone is good.

He's a member of that,

so he is good.

But Jesus is here intentionally challenging

the rich ruler's shallow understanding of moral goodness.

Because this ruler only sees Jesus as a rabbi,

a human teacher,

and yet he is calling him good teacher.

This is what I call the PGP delusion,

the pretty good person delusion,

which is very common.

It's an epidemic.

Everyone that you talk to thinks they're a pretty good person, right?

Of course, then what's the need for hell,

and what's the need for heaven

if everybody's a pretty good person?

And many people in this world see themselves that way,

and especially religious teachers,

esteemed religious teachers like Jesus

were considered good people.

But this member of the Sanhedrin

really should have known better

because Psalm 53,

part of the Jewish scriptures

and part of our Old Testament,

says this,

The fool says in his heart,

There is no God.

They are corrupt doing abominable iniquity.

There is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God.

They have all fallen away.

Together they have become corrupt.

There is none who does good,

not even one.

This is what the scriptures that this ruler believes says.

There is not one man in this world

that is good in an absolute sense,

that God is good.

Only God is perfect.

Only God is good in that way.

Yet here is this ruler thinking

that he can attain eternal life

by doing good.

He thinks he can make the cut.

And Jesus kindly but firmly reminds him

that no human being

can be called good

in an unqualified sense.

That's precisely why Jesus had to come to save us.

As Jesus said in the preceding passage,

it's not those who trust in their own righteousness

that are saved,

but those who humbly entrust themselves

to what only God can do

to Christ's work of salvation on the cross.

Like a child,

it's only they who will be saved.

So we are not good people.

We are not good people,

but the good God has sent his son

to be the good teacher

to show us the way of salvation.

And so this ruler really unknowingly

is acknowledging a profound truth.

Yes,

Jesus in fact is good

in a much more profound sense

than you understand.

He is the son of God,

the chosen one,

the messianic king,

and he has come to save you.

And if this ruler really understood that

and knew who Jesus was,

he should have left everything behind

to follow him.

But as we see in the following verses,

he doesn't have that faith in Jesus.

This ruler's question

is exactly the same question

that the Jewish legal scholar

asked Jesus earlier in Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And Jesus answers that question

in much the same way

by pointing them back to God's law.

It says in verse 20,

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 these commands come from

the Ten Commandments,

the famous Ten Commandments,

which is a summary

of the entire Old Testament law.

The first four of the Ten Commandments

deal with how we ought to love God

with our whole heart.

And the second half,

the last six of the Ten Commandments

deal with how we should love

our neighbor as ourselves.

And that's why the command

to love God with our whole selves

and love our neighbor as ourselves

is called the greatest commandment

because it sums up

the entire law of God.

And Jesus here only lists

the second half of the Ten Commandments,

the parts that deal with

our love for neighbor.

And that's not because

loving God is not important.

It's not because that's less important

than loving our neighbors.

In fact, we can't love our neighbors

rightly unless we love God.

But it's because,

as Jesus taught in Luke 10,

our love for God

is concretely expressed

in our love for neighbor.

1 John 4, verses 20-21

1 John 4:20–21

put it this way,

If anyone says,

I love God

and hates his brother,

he is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother

whom he has seen

cannot love God

whom he has not seen.

And this commandment

we have from him,

whoever loves God

must also love his brother.

Similarly,

our love for God

whom we cannot see

is evidenced,

it's demonstrated in

our love for the neighbors

whom we do see.

And so here,

Jesus uses the last commandments,

the second half

of the Ten Commandments

as a test.

Interestingly,

the Tenth Commandment

which says,

you shall not covet

is omitted from Jesus' list.

It's possible

that Jesus sees that

as the one command

that the rich ruler

is failing to keep,

but I don't think

that's what's going on

since Jesus doesn't

explicitly say that

in this passage.

I think it's more likely

that he's just listing a few

as representative

of the entire Ten Commandments

which happens frequently

in other parts of Scripture.

They'll list three or four

of the Ten Commandments

and say that

that represents the whole.

And the rich ruler's response

in verse 21

exposes his prideful delusion.

He says,

all these I have kept

from my youth.

Now,

when he says that,

he's not saying,

well,

I was a really bad kid,

but hey,

I cleaned up my act

when I grew up.

That's not what he's saying

because Jews believe

that the people

were only held accountable

for their moral actions

from their youth.

It's around 13 years of age.

And so what he's saying

in essence is,

well,

then I'm blameless

because I've kept it

from my youth.

He's saying,

well,

if that's the standard,

then I don't have anything

to worry about.

I'm all set.

And when Jesus heard this,

it says in verse 22,

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 and follow me.

Jesus contrasts

the one thing

that the rich ruler lacks

with all that he has.

He seemed to have it all.

Political power,

social clout,

religious standing,

and extreme wealth,

which is the focus

of this passage.

But the abundance

of his wealth

was precisely

what caused

his spiritual lack.

As 1 John 3, 17 says,

if anyone has

the world's goods

and sees his brother

in need,

yet closes his heart

against him,

how does God's love

abide in him?

Similarly,

the rich ruler's

lack of generosity

toward the poor

revealed the lack

of love

for his neighbors.

Now,

does that mean

all of us

have to give up

all private ownership,

all of our possessions,

in order to get

into the kingdom of God?

I don't think

that's what this means.

I don't think

this means

that Christians

can't have

or use money at all.

It does not mean

that in order

to get into heaven

we all have to take

a vow of poverty

and beg for a living,

which some Christians

in church history

have done.

And we can see

this clearly

in the following passages,

which we'll look at

next week,

about the story

of Zacchaeus,

who is a rich tax collector

who does get saved.

And Jesus doesn't tell him

to give up all of his possessions

and follow him.

There's a reason

why Jesus makes this

the criterion

for entry into the kingdom

for this particular man,

for this rich ruler.

It says in verse 23,

But when he heard

these things,

he became very sad

for he was

extremely rich.

Jesus knew

that the love

of money

was the one thing

that held

this rich ruler

back from

wholeheartedly

following God.

Jesus' invitation

to follow him

is the standard way

to describe discipleship

in the Gospel of Luke.

A disciple

is someone

who follows Jesus,

who learns from him

by watching him,

imitating him,

and listens to his instruction.

And instead of responding

with joy

at Jesus' invitation

and gladly leaving it all

behind to follow Jesus,

this is an opportunity

of a lifetime.

And yet instead,

he turns away sad

because he loves

his money

more than he loves

Jesus.

He was unwilling

to relinquish

his extreme wealth.

This is a picture

of what Jesus

warned us about

in Luke chapter 16

Luke 16:13

verse 13.

No servant can serve

two masters,

for either he will

hate the one

and love the other,

or he will be devoted

to the one

and despise the other.

You cannot serve

God and money.

This rich ruler

was trying to serve

both God and money,

and Jesus makes it clear here

that you have to make

a choice,

either one or the other.

Even though this

rich ruler

was otherwise

a law-abiding Jew,

even though he was

blameless in some

other respects

of the law,

he lacked one thing.

Money was the one thing

he could not renounce.

And this is a choice

that faces all of us.

What is the one thing

that you lack?

What is the one thing

that you're not willing

to give up for God?

Who is the one person

that you love

more than you love God?

Is your academic performance

or your career advancement

the first priority

of your life?

Is ensuring the future

success of your child,

making sure that

she outshines

all of her peers,

is that the overriding

goal that takes

precedence over

your child's

and your family's

and your own

wholehearted pursuit

of God?

Is appeasing

or pleasing

your boyfriend

or girlfriend,

your husband

or wife,

your parents,

your boss,

or your professor

or advisor,

is that more important

to you

than pleasing Christ?

or as what's in view

in this passage,

is earning

and saving money,

more and more money,

so that you have

financial security

and a deposit

to enjoy life

in the future.

Is that

your most pressing concern?

All of these things

must be second

to Jesus.

Jesus must be first.

If you're going to call

Christ your Lord

and King,

we have to subordinate

all of our other

allegiances to Him.

Notice this.

I take comfort

and warning

from this passage often.

Notice that Jesus

does not negotiate

the terms of discipleship

as this rich ruler

turns away in sadness.

He's uncompromising.

He doesn't say,

oh, hey, hey,

just don't go just yet.

Let's talk some terms.

I see that you follow God

in a lot of other ways,

so here,

I'll lower the bar

for you a little bit.

It's okay

if you don't leave

your money behind,

if you still love it.

Just follow me a second.

Jesus does not do that.

He doesn't say,

I'll turn a blind eye

to that one thing

that you still lack.

He says,

one thing you still lack,

sell all that you have.

That's the only way

He can test

His true allegiance.

Sell all that you have

and distribute to the poor

and you will have

treasure in heaven

and come follow me.

You cannot follow me

until you renounce

your love of money.

You cannot be my disciple

as long as money

is more important

to you than me.

If your greatest desire

in life

is for earthly treasure,

then you cannot

by definition

have God

as your greatest treasure

and that's what it means

to be a Christian.

If we live

for the treasures of earth,

we cannot expect

to have treasure in heaven.

And seeing that

the rich ruler

had become sad,

Jesus laments

in verse 24

how difficult

it is for those

who have wealth

to enter the kingdom of God.

It's hard

for wealthy people

to enter

the kingdom of God.

It's highly unfortunate

that we live

in one of the richest parts

of the entire world.

24-7 Wall Street

which publishes

financial news

and opinion pieces online,

they reviewed

median household income

for all the data

from the U.S. Census Bureau

for 381 U.S. metro areas,

the cities

and he concluded

that Boston,

Cambridge, Newton,

this metro area

is one of only

five U.S. metro areas

where most households

earn at least

$85,000 a year.

It's one of the five

richest cities

in the entire country.

What that means

is this,

it's hard

for our neighbors

and our friends

to enter the kingdom

of God

because of their wealth.

Do you really get this?

As Christians,

we should know better

than to dream

of getting rich

and living large.

It is difficult.

That's what you daydream about.

If you daydream about

getting rich

and living large in life,

that is a spiritual emergency.

you're in grave trouble.

It's difficult

for those who have wealth

to enter the kingdom of God.

Why in the world

would you want to be rich?

Don't desire to be rich.

1 Timothy 6 says very clearly,

those who desire to be rich

fall into temptation,

into a snare,

into many senseless

and harmful desires

that plunge people

into ruin

and destruction.

For the love of money

is the root

of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving

that some

have wandered away

from the faith

and pierced themselves

with many pains.

Thus falling into temptation,

into a stare,

into many senseless

and harmful desires

that plunge people

into ruin

and destruction,

does that sound

enjoyable to you?

There will be people

from our circles,

from our church,

that succumb

to this temptation

in the years to come.

Brothers and sisters,

let's not fall

into the temptation.

Don't desire to be rich.

It breaks my heart

every time I go sit

at a Starbucks somewhere.

I invariably find somebody

scratching lottery tickets.

And sometimes

they're not wealthy.

Sometimes I see poor people

that have asked me

for money

that I've given money to

scratching lottery tickets.

That's where their hope is.

Yet it's dragging them away

from the Lord,

from eternal treasures.

If you work hard

and steward your resources well

and wealth is the incidental result

of that,

great.

In that case,

use your money generously

for the kingdom of God.

Give sacrificially

to the advancement

of the gospel.

Give liberally

to the poor.

Do that.

But don't ever desire

to be rich.

Don't ever love money.

Jesus continues

his explanation

in verse 25.

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.

The camel

is the largest animal

native to that part

of the world.

It can be about

seven feet tall,

complete with a giant

hump or two

in its back.

So you can imagine

trying to get that

through an eye of a needle.

And it's supposed

to be a silly image

but also a shocking image

that warns us.

It's impossible

for the camel

to go through

an eye of a needle.

And so is Jesus saying

that rich people

can't be saved?

Well, that can't

possibly be.

So Jesus must be

trying to say something else.

That's kind of how

we tend to rationalize it.

In order to improve

Jesus' teaching

and make it more

palatable to our sensibilities,

some people suggest

that there was

in Jerusalem,

in ancient Jerusalem,

a certain gate,

not the main gate,

but a side gate

that was so low

that in order for a camel

to enter through it,

it had to kneel

and humble itself

and it had to

unburden itself,

take whatever is

on its back off

before it can go

through the gate.

And some people say

that that's what this means.

Well, it doesn't mean

that it's impossible

for rich people

to get into heaven.

What it means is

that you have to

kind of lay it aside

and then enter

the kingdom of heaven.

That's what this

is referring to.

It's a romantic speculation.

The only trouble

with that interpretation

is that there's

no evidence whatsoever

in all of history

for such gate

existing ever

in Jerusalem.

And it seems

to have been invented

in the 11th century

and it was a speculation

based on

an earlier teaching

that was allegorizing

this text.

The point of Jesus'

illustration

is not that,

well,

it's actually

pretty easy to get into

as long as you just

lay aside your wealth

and enter in.

The point of this

teaching is that

it's impossible

for the rich

to enter the kingdom

of God.

A camel cannot go

through the eye

of a needle.

And that's confirmed

by verses 26 to 27.

Those who heard it said,

then who can be saved?

But Jesus said,

what is impossible

with man

is possible

with God.

That's precisely

Jesus' point.

It's impossible

for the rich

to enter the kingdom

of God.

The allure of money

is so strong,

the distractions

that it creates

is so numerous,

the temptations

that it multiplies

is so enticing

that it's impossible

for the rich

to be saved.

As Bible scholar

Daryl Bach

puts it,

wealth can shrink

the door of the kingdom

down to an impassable

people.

The self-focused

security

of the wealthy

is a padlock

against kingdom entry.

In fact,

we can broaden

that further.

It's impossible

for any man

to enter the kingdom

of God

with his own merit

and in his own strength.

But here

is hope.

What is impossible

with man

is possible

with God.

He's saying

God alone

can wean rich people

away from their

love of money.

God alone

can wean us

away

from the various

idols of our hearts.

As Jesus

speaks of salvation

as something

that is humanly

impossible in this way,

Peter seeks

assurance from him.

In verses 28

to 30,

he says to Jesus,

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.

As we saw

earlier in Luke chapter 5,

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Peter,

James,

John,

Levi,

all left

everything behind

to follow Jesus.

And that's the key.

It's not leaving

everything behind

that saves you.

It's laying it behind

so you can cling

to Jesus

and follow him

that saves you.

And many ancient Jews

were disowned

by their families

for following Christ.

And this happens

today

to many Christians

in parts of the world

where they face

ostracism and persecution

for following Jesus.

So to some believers,

following Christ

may literally mean

having to leave

house or wife

or brothers or parents

or children

for the sake

of the kingdom of God.

But for most of us,

this is not literally true.

But even if this is not

literally true for you,

to be a Christian

is to be a person

who has left house

or wife

or brothers or parents

or children

for the sake

of the kingdom of God.

in the sense

of subordinating

all of these

responsibilities,

commitments,

allegiances

to following Christ

first and foremost.

You might own a house.

You might have a spouse,

a sibling,

a sibling,

parent, or child.

But none of them

must be the controlling

center of your life.

Your priorities

and purposes

must be submitted to

and oriented

around Christ.

And that requires

sacrifice.

But it's worth it.

Because look at the rewards

that Jesus holds out to us

in two parts

in verse 30.

We will receive

many times more

in this time,

that's the first stage

of our reward,

and in the age to come,

eternal life,

that's the second stage

of our reward.

Now these two stages

correspond to the

already but not yet

nature of the kingdom

of God

that we have spoken

about multiple times

throughout the gospel

of Luke.

The kingdom of God

has come in a real way.

It's broken into our world

through the coming

of Jesus.

And it's established

by Him.

However,

it's not fully

consummated yet

that will happen

when Christ returns.

So because we live

in this already

but not yet reality,

we in this time

already experience

many times more

the blessings of God.

But in the age to come

we will experience

eternal life.

And Jesus assures us

of this.

He says,

Truly I say to you,

He's saying,

I assure you,

I guarantee it,

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.

Those who give Jesus

the primacy

that is due to Him

in their lives

become part of

the family of God,

the church.

And as the church

lives out its calling

as the family of God,

as they share their lives

and possessions

with each other,

we may lose our homes

as our exclusive

private property

but we gain

a hundred more homes

in the homes

of our Christian brothers

and sisters.

We may lose

our spouses,

siblings,

parents,

and children

but we gain

hundreds more

in the family of God.

And some of you

have already experienced this.

You have found

in the church

the family

that you have never had

in your birth homes.

That's what Jesus

is talking about.

He said earlier

in Luke 8 verse 21,

Luke 8:21

My mother and my brothers

are those who hear

the word of God

and do it.

We receive many times

more in this life

and in the age to come

we will also be given

eternal life.

In short,

Jesus is assuring us

whatever you give up

for God,

no matter how much

you sacrifice

for the sake of the kingdom,

what you gain

from the Lord

will be far greater.

And for many of us,

following Christ

and being devoted

exclusively to Him

also will make us

more devoted

people in our homes,

in our families.

because we're putting

God's priorities first

instead of being selfish

in our homes.

Perhaps you're not

a follower of Christ yet.

You're weighing

the costs of discipleship

and you're wrestling

with that one thing

you still lack.

Keep thinking about that.

What is that one thing?

You're considering

whether or not

you're willing

to pay that price

to follow Christ.

Perhaps you've already

counted the cost,

you've decided

to follow Christ,

but you keep

being lured back

by the treasures

of this world

in your backsliding.

The costs

of following Christ

are high,

but they're nothing

compared to the rewards

that Christ

holds out for you.

Last summer,

I saw

that an American,

not American,

sorry,

Amsterdam,

a Dutch art dealer,

and historian

named Jan Six.

He purchased

a painting

at Christie's.

It's a famous

British auction house.

And the painting

was entitled

The Portrait

of a Young Gentleman.

And the artist

behind the painting

was reputedly

one of the disciples

of the great

Dutch master Rembrandt.

And the pre-sale

estimate of this

painting was

$20,000 to $27,000.

Crazy, right?

How a painting

could be that expensive.

But get this,

Jan Six paid

$172,000 for it.

About seven times

the value

of that painting.

So you might say

that he was ripped off.

But the art dealer

was on to something.

The young gentleman

in the portrait

is wearing

a velvet coat

with an ornate

white lace color.

And Jan Six observed

that the way

the lace color

kind of curls

at its edges

as if you can put

your finger under it.

It was a clear

giveaway that this

was no ordinary painting.

That no disciple

of Rembrandt

could have

painted such a thing.

He believed

that it was also

a little bit too early

to have been done

by a follower

of Rembrandt.

And so he

gandered out,

shot out $172,000

to buy it.

And it has paid off

in spades

because the portrait

is now being hailed

by art historians

as the first

previously unknown

painting of Rembrandt

to surface

in nearly half a century.

It was actually

by the Dutch master.

And guess how much

the last Rembrandt painting

was auctioned off

for at Christie's,

the exact same place?

$33 million.

The art dealer

paid a very high price

for that painting,

but what he gained

was far greater.

He was willing

to pay the price

because he knew

what it was

really worth.

Likewise,

only those people

who see God

truly

as the infinite,

priceless treasure

that he is,

they're the only ones

that can forsake

earthly treasures

to follow him.

Truly,

I say to you,

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.

Some of you

are in the midst

of this

suffering

and sacrifice.

You live daily

in the trenches

of bearing the costs

that you have counted

to follow Christ.

But when it's hard

for you,

remember what you

are gaining.

Remember what you

laid aside

these things

for.

Remember why

you are fighting

for holiness.

Remember why

you are saying

no to the pleasures

of this world.

Remember why

you are saying

yes to disrepute

in this world

because you see

Christ is worth it

because he is

the priceless treasure.

And you will have

him

now

and his family

now

and in the age

to come

for eternity.

you will get

to enjoy him.

But how

does this change

take place

in us?

How does that

reorientation

take place

since it's impossible

for the rich

to give up

their riches?

Taking his

twelve disciples

aside,

Jesus instructs

them in verses

thirty-one to thirty-three,

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.

The Son of Man

is a term

that Jesus

frequently uses

to refer to himself

indirectly

and it highlights

the fact that

he is not only

the Son of God

but he is

as he's described

in other parts

of the gospel

but he's also

the Son of Man.

He's God

who took on

human flesh,

took on humanity.

So he could

identify with us.

So he could

take on our sins

upon himself

and represent us

to God the Father.

And this is now

the fourth time

Jesus is predicting

his imminent suffering

and it's a reference

to his death

on the cross

and all of these things

will be fulfilled.

He will be delivered

over to the Gentiles

in chapter 23.

He will be mocked

and he will be shamefully

treated.

He will be killed

on the cross

but on the third day

he will rise

again

victoriously

from the dead.

And interestingly

each of the four

predictions

of suffering

that Jesus

makes in the

gospel of Luke

they assign

responsibility

for his death

to different

human parties.

In chapter 9

verse 22

he said

it's the Jewish

elders

and chief priests

and scribes

who are to blame.

And then in chapter 9

verse 44

he says

the hands of men

are to blame.

And then in chapter 17

verse 25

he said

this generation

is to blame.

And here

in chapter 18

verse 32

he says

the Gentiles

the non-Jews

the nations

are to blame.

Now these four

predictions

then implicate

Jews

Gentiles

this generation

and humanity

in general.

People throughout

history

have tried

to single out

Jews

or Gentiles

or Pontius Pilate

or people

of Jesus'

generation

for being

exceedingly wicked

and ignorant

and for killing

Jesus

but that's only

partially true.

They were all

guilty

yes

but we

are all

guilty

because it's

for our sins

that Jesus

had to die

on the cross

and we see

that agency

in what

Jesus says

here.

He says

see we are

going up to

Jerusalem

and everything

that is written

about the

Son of Man

by the prophets

will be

accomplished.

that's a

passive

it's called

a divine

passive

the agent

of that

accomplishment

is God

himself.

He wrote

about it

through the

prophets

hundreds of

years before

and he

is now

bringing it

to fruition

and to

fulfillment

through the

hands of

men.

It's God

who is

doing it.

Remember

what Jesus

said earlier

no one

is good

except God

alone.

We all

lack

something

there's one

thing

we still

lack

maybe more

than who

can be

saved.

That's

the natural

follow-up

question.

And Jesus

answered

it's impossible

with man

but possible

with God

and how

will you

God

make this

possible

and Jesus

says

I will

die

on the

cross

for your

sins

so that

people

who will

never

otherwise

return

to God

can come

and find

forgiveness

and find

eternal

life.

that's

what we

read in

the assurance

of pardon

today

in Psalm

130

if you

O Lord

should mark

iniquities

O Lord

who could

stand

but with

you there

is forgiveness

that you

may be

feared

I wait

for the

Lord

my soul

waits

and in

this

word

I hope

my soul

waits

for the

Lord

more than

watchmen

for the

morning

more than

watchmen

for the

morning

O Israel

hope

in the

Lord

for with

the Lord

there is

steadfast

love

and with

him

is plentiful

redemption

and he

will redeem

Israel

from all

his

iniquities

none of

us can

stand

before God

but God

had promised

that he

would himself

come

to redeem

his people

and that's

what he does

through his

son Jesus

the son of

God comes

as God's

representative

he

he comes

as our

king

and he

who should

reign over

us

who should

subjugate

all of

humanity

to his

authority

instead

goes to

the cross

to die

for our

sins

so that

we might

believe in

him

and willingly

follow him

as this

rich ruler

did not

do

it's so

countercultural

and it

defies the

expectations of

the disciples

in such a

way that

it says

they didn't

understand

any of

this

in verse

34

I mean

not that

they didn't

understand

the words

that were

coming out

of Jesus

mouth

they understood

exactly what

he was

saying

that he

was going

to suffer

and die

but they

didn't

understand

how this

was supposed

to be

the

fulfillment

of the

promises

of God

and the

prophecies

of redemption

and salvation

Jesus had

to do

that

because

it's

impossible

to get

camels

through the

eye of

a needle

becoming

a political

I guess

just a

king that

will overthrow

the Roman

empire

on behalf

of the

Jewish

people

that would

free them

from political

oppression

but they

would not

have delivered

them from

their spiritual

oppression

their slavery

to sin

and death

he would

not

wean

their hearts

off from

the idols

of their

hearts

it's

when we

confess

Jesus

Christ

as our

Lord

and believe

in our

hearts

that he's

the one

who died

and was

raised

for our

salvation

that's

when we

become

one with

Christ

through

faith

so that we

become

partakers

of his

death

and resurrection

and they're

born again

into the

family of

God

and filled

with his

spirit

that's

the only

way

that camels

go through

an eye

of a

needle

and it's

when we

live in

light of that

objective

reality of

what Christ

has done

that we

more and

more subjectively

experience that

freedom

in our

experience

so have you

beheld the

glory of the

Lord Jesus

Christ

do you love

him

more than the

idols of the

earth

you have to

look at the

cross where

Jesus bled

for you

look at the

empty tomb

where Jesus

was raised

from the

dead

victoriously

before you

then let

go of the

idols of

this world

let go of

your love

of money

and take

hold of

Jesus for

salvation

that's the

only way

I want to

conclude by

sharing a

verse from

one of my

favorite hymns

it's called

hast thou

heard him

seen him

known him

a 19th

century hymn

written by

Ora

Roman

it goes

this way

what has

stripped

the beauty

from the

idols of

the earth

not a

sense of

right or

duty

but the

sight of

peerless

worth

teen

swear

where

sunt

we

are

STEVE

we

do

you

you

you

I

you

you

you