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Reading Luke 18:24-30 where Jesus confronts the young ruler about his wealth and self-righteousness, challenging him to give it up and follow Jesus to have eternal life. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. We cannot depend on the stuff that we have or the things that we've accomplished here.
On earth.
We need to trust in what Christ has accomplished for us when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 18, reading of this exchange between Jesus and a rich ruler. Let me start reading here again in verse 18, and I'll go through verse 30.
Hear the word of the Lord. And a ruler asked Jesus, 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. Now you'll notice on this exchange that eternal life bookends this pericope, as we call it, this section of scripture, verse 18, the ruler asks Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And at the end, Jesus tells his disciples, you will receive eternal life. But it is not by our works that we attain this or by our wealth, like the rich young ruler was attempting to do. He thought that by his works and his wealth, he had done enough and being told to give.
It all up.
He walked away sad because he had many great possessions. The disciples were even stunned by this. If this guy can't get into the kingdom because of his wealth and his works, then who can be saved? And that's when Jesus tells them it's impossible with man.
But all things are possible with God. There is a fellow by the name of John Mark Comer. He's a false teacher. I've warned about him before. I got a question about him back in April. I didn't give a whole lot of details though, because I knew very little about him at the time.
There were enough red flags though, that I was able to say, be very careful with John Mark Comer because of the company that he keeps and some other things that I've seen his name attached to. Well, I've had the chance to listen to more teaching of his since then and being as popular a teacher as he is.
We're going to address some of the problems in the Friday Q &A. So this coming Friday, by the way, if you have a question for the broadcast, you can email it to us, or you can send it via voicemail. Go to our website, www .utt .com and follow the buttons there.
Be able to get a question to us if you would like to have it answered on the Friday Q &A. In one of the messages that I listened to from John Mark Comer, he references this story. He actually reads the Matthew equivalent.
So what's in Matthew chapter 19, the parallel to this one in Luke 18. But John Mark Comer is insistent that the gospel is actually in this story. Not really. We'll look at the text. But first, hear this from this teacher up in Portland.
This, as we just read, is full of surprises. If your Bible is still open to Matthew 19 and verse 16, that opening question from the young man of privilege, teacher or rabbi, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?
Now, for those of us who care about preaching the gospel, this is the dream question, right? I mean, this is what we secretly kind of hope our coworker or our friend or Aunt Sally or whatever will ask us, you know, John Mark.
So tell me, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Well, let me tell you, Aunt Sally or whatever. And based on my church experience, and I know a ton of you did not grow up in church, but a lot of you did.
And if your experience was anything like mine, I know what Jesus is supposed to say here. He's supposed to say something like, do. You don't need to do anything.
That's religion.
That's man earning his way to God. That's works-based righteousness. That's not the gospel. I'm about to do it all for you on the cross. All you need to do is believe. But does Jesus say that?
No.
In fact, his reply is quasi-heretical, or at least it's a bit of a head-scratcher. Basically, what does he do? He tells the man to keep the Ten Commandments. All these I have kept, the man says in verse 20.
What do I still lack? Interesting. Jesus doesn't disagree that the man has kept the Ten Commandments. And both the man and Jesus are aware that there is something more than the Ten Commandments. That whatever salvation is, it's not less than morality, but it's a lot more than morality.
Then Jesus tells him to sell all his possessions and come apprentice under him. Now, that's just not what Jesus is supposed to say. That is theologically, in my opinion, and pastorally malpractice. That's dangerous.
You could really get down a weird road with that, Jesus. You have to be careful around Jesus. He will just mess up your good theology.
Now, without going on, because he starts to get kind of wordy from that point in trying to explain some of the logistics of what Jesus is saying here. But to cut to the chase, Comer is saying that this actually undoes everything that we have typically heard in an evangelical presentation about the gospel, that we are saved by grace through faith alone and not by our works.
And Comer is using this response that Jesus gives to this young ruler to say he actually does tell the young ruler it is by his works. And Comer completely misses the point of this exchange. Jesus is actually using the law to show the young ruler that he's not as righteous as he thinks he is.
Remember that the apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, I believe it's verse 8, that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. So there is a way that we use the law to expose sin. This is also in Romans chapter three, that through the hearing of the law, every mouth may be stopped.
We cannot declare our righteousness before God because the law reveals to us that we actually have not kept it. That's one of the things that the law does. When we read the law, we see I've failed at this point, failed at this point, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
That's why Jesus gives this to the young ruler who is insistent that he has kept all of the law, but there's still something that he lacks. And Jesus challenges him with that thing that he has yet to do, showing him you're not as righteous as you think you are.
Give all that you have to the poor and come follow me and you will have eternal life. The way that Comer said it was come and apprentice under me, okay, but follow Jesus, knowing him, worshiping him, putting faith and trust in him who would go to the cross and die for sin as an atoning sacrifice and rise again from the dead so that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus was showing the young ruler that his works fell woefully short and he should not be boasting in them the way that he was or even putting his hope in either his works or his wealth. So let's come back to it.
We've got a section to finish here. I'll pick up where we left off yesterday, Jesus telling him, sell all that you have distributed to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me again.
He's challenging the young ruler here the way that he did when he first responded to the young ruler. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Do you know who you're addressing and what you're saying when you say, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
So he was challenging the young ruler from the get-go, from the moment that this guy comes up to Jesus and asks him, really wants to be justified by this popular teacher. Tell me that I've done enough, that I've got it all.
Look at me and approve of me so that I know that I'm going to enter the kingdom of God. But Jesus doesn't give him what it is that he wants. In fact, tells him words that deeply wound him because he's too in love with his stuff.
He's not in pursuit of God. He's in pursuit of himself. As I said yesterday, despite the fact that he is a teacher being a ruler in the synagogue and yet he is not even searching for God or teaching people, this is the way to get to.
God.
And so once the young ruler walks away sad, Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. The apostle Paul said at the end of first Timothy chapter six, to warn those who have wealth not to put their trust in riches.
He didn't tell Timothy, hey, tell all the rich people that are in your church to get rid of their wealth because that's not how you enter the kingdom of God. You got to give it all away to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven.
Now, we just simply warns Timothy that those who are wealthy have a greater temptation to put their dependence upon money, their possessions, what it is that they have accomplished. And they think that by their accomplishments, they've done enough.
God has given them blessing and they will inherit eternal life. Instead, they needed to be generous with what it is that they had received. God had indeed blessed them with that, and so they needed to bless others with it.
But by no means does Paul say, tell them they got to get rid of all their stuff. That's one of the ways that this exchange gets misinterpreted and misapplied, that we all have to live in poverty. And if there's anybody who is rich, well, then he is not going to enter the kingdom of God because Jesus said it's impossible for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.
I had somebody say to me recently how hypocritical John MacArthur was because MacArthur would preach against prosperity preachers, and yet his net worth was in the millions of dollars. And I simply asked the person, is it a sin for MacArthur to have had millions of dollars?
I don't really know what his net worth was, frankly. I'm just kind of responding to the argument that this guy was making. And he goes, well, no, but it is hypocritical that he blasts these prosperity guys, and yet he has all of these millions.
I said, where did he get his millions? He didn't get millions of dollars from his church. He got millions from his book sales, if indeed he does have millions of dollars. So is it wrong for him to write books and they become big sellers and he makes profit.
Off of that?
And they had to agree, no, there's nothing wrong with that. And I said, okay, so really what you should be examining is how he used that money. Because we know the way that the prosperity preachers use the money.
They lie, first of all. Their message is false. They're promising people health and wealth and can't deliver it. So it's all based on a lie. But then through this manipulation, they get money from people and they build these multimillion dollar empires.
MacArthur has been living in the same house he's had since 1980. And whatever expense it has, however valuable it is, is because the land has accumulated in value in that period of time, not because he actually spent that much money on the house.
And so anyway, through this conversation, he recognized the folly in comparing somebody like MacArthur to these prosperity preachers. But all that to say, we don't give up our wealth in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Poverty is not how you get into the kingdom. There are a lot of poor people, lots and lots of poor people who are going to hell and their poverty is not what will get them into the kingdom. The rich young ruler could give away all he had.
And if he does it with wrong motives, then it would be for absolutely nothing. I mean, the apostle Paul confronts that in first Corinthians chapter 13. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but I have not love, I gain nothing.
So we need to have the right motivation even when it comes to giving up all we have and giving it to the poor. The young ruler needed to do more than that. He also needed to follow Jesus. Now Jesus challenges him on his wealth because once again, the young ruler is putting his dependence upon that stuff.
That's why he doesn't want to give it up because he thinks that this will save him and he doesn't want to have to give up his life of comfort that he has in order to have treasure in heaven. That takes real faith.
Remember previously, Jesus said, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Well, the young ruler wasn't willing to have that faith like a child. He wanted to depend on his stuff, not on things that he could not see, not treasure in heaven.
He wanted his treasure on earth. And so because he was so ensnared by his possessions, Jesus 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.
Now I've already taught on this when we were in Matthew and in Mark, and here we are in the same account in Luke chapter 18, the camel and the eye of a needle are not some other kind of object. This is not an idiom or a euphemism for something else.
Like some will try to say that a camel is actually a reference to a large rope and the eye of a needle is a small door in the city gate. Yeah, it's hard to get a camel through that, but you can get it through the door on its knees.
And so it's a picture of piety, of a rich man having to be humble and he doesn't want to do that. And so that's, that's the comparison that Jesus is making. No, he's taking the largest living creature in Judah and comparing it with the smallest opening.
That's what he's doing. Largest living animal, the camel, the smallest opening, the eye of a needle, and you can't get that large beast through that small opening and have it survive the trip. The disciples understood exactly what Jesus was referencing because of their question.
Verse 26, they said, who then can be saved? Because they understand exactly literally what Jesus is saying about the camel going through the eye of a needle. If it's impossible for that animal to go through the eye of a needle and survive, then who can be saved?
A rich man can't enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. A man just like this guy who had this great morality and this great wealth, and even he's not getting in because of those things.
And so the disciples say, then who can be saved? And Jesus' answer to them is what is impossible with man is possible with God. And again, what the young ruler was not willing to do was look to God, look to God for salvation, look to God for righteousness, look to God for the true treasure.
But where was this young ruler looking? He was looking at himself, his own righteousness. He was looking at his own stuff and believing that that was treasure. He was not looking to Christ. Jesus gave him the answer to how he can have eternal life.
Follow me, give up the stuff you're so dependent on that you're so ensnared to that you trust in that won't deliver you. Give up your righteousness, your self-righteousness. Give up the stuff that you have, follow me and you'll have everlasting life.
It is impossible for man to attain by his works. Even if the young ruler had given up his stuff, he would not have been able to attain eternal life. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ. What is impossible with man is possible with God.
Now hear Peter's response and Jesus' promise to his disciples in verses 28 and 29. Peter said, see, we've left our homes and followed you. We've left everything to follow Jesus, hoping that Jesus is going to respond with, then you have eternal life, Peter.
This is Peter's teacher's pet response. Well, that guy wouldn't give up his stuff, but we did. We gave up our homes and everything. And we didn't even have the kind of stuff that this rich young ruler has, but we gave it up to follow you.
And so Jesus says to them, verse 29, 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. So for the purpose of advancing the message of the kingdom, as the disciples have been commissioned to do, and as they will be commissioned to do again in the great commission, they've given up all these things for the sake of the kingdom, to spread the message of the kingdom and to attain the kingdom, a kingdom of heaven, not a kingdom on earth.
Those who have given up for this purpose, they will receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life, Jesus says. So consider again, they've given up house, wife, brothers, parents, children.
Now that doesn't mean that you leave your spouse. It doesn't mean that you abandon your children. But what it does mean is that for the sake of the kingdom, there will be those who will turn on you. They will not want to go along with you.
Peter actually did not give up his wife. He was still married, if you recall. And we know that he remained married. His wife didn't leave him because the apostle Paul makes a reference to the fact of Peter having a wife.
So Peter was a family guy. Some of the disciples were family guys. And then there were others that did not have families. John, as far as we know, the apostle John never got married, but some of them did.
Remember previously that Jesus has said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple, meaning that they put their ultimate trust in Christ.
Their greatest and highest love is Jesus. So that even whatever relationship they would have with father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, even his own life would look like hate by comparison.
So the disciples had given up all of this, all of their comforts to follow Jesus. And sometimes those people would just turn their backs on them anyway, because they wanted to have nothing to do with Christ.
And Jesus says, you will receive many times more in this time. You will receive houses, siblings, parents, children. How would they receive those things? Well, through the spiritual family of God that we are a part of.
And in our church, I can say of my church family, we share what we have. We open our doors up to one another. We will stay in each other's houses. We feed each other. We enjoy Bible study and get together in one another's homes.
When I left my church family in Texas, which we love that family, we loved our church family in Kansas. Did not leave with any bad blood between us in any way, shape or form, but then went on to another church to do the ministry that God was directing us to do.
And we just end up coming into another church where we find more family, more brothers and sisters in the Lord, developing relationships with these that we'll know for a little bit of time on this side of heaven.
But when we get to eternity, we will all be together with God in glory, praising Christ for what he has done for us. He did die on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead so that whoever believes in him, not tries to attain salvation by works, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith will be counted as righteousness.
Jesus paid it all. Jesus accomplished it all. And we don't get in by our works or our wealth. We get into heaven on the borrowed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which he has given to all who put their faith and trust in him.
And now we've been adopted into the family of God by the blood of Jesus. And we have so much more family as a result. We have it on this side of heaven and in the, in the life to come or in the age to come as Jesus puts it here, we have eternal life.
That's how to have eternal life, faith in Jesus Christ. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read. I pray that it would be a continuous reminder to us that we would not put our hope and our trust in the stuff that we do, the stuff that we have, but we put our trust in Jesus and what he has accomplished for us.
He paid the price for our sins. He is the one who is preparing a place for us in the eternal kingdom that we would have treasure in heaven. So help us to set our minds on things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
May we also want to share this message with others so that they too would hear the good news of the kingdom and live. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.