Wednesday, April 27, PM

18 through 34 tonight Let's begin with a word of prayer father.

I thank you for the time You've given to us thank you for the meal the opportunity to feast with brothers and sisters in Christ to rejoice and the abundance that you have given to us to fellowship for your glory in Your name and to now read the word together and to study and to consider your truth.

We pray that you would Grant us grace and joy and ability by your

Holy Spirit to Follow the Lamb wherever he goes And that we would sing the song of the redeemed

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen Luke chapter 18

And be reading verses 18 through 34 Now A certain young ruler or a certain ruler asked him saying good teacher

What shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him why do you call me good?

No one is good. But one that is God 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 things I have kept from my youth

So when Jesus heard these things he said to him you still lack one thing

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 this he became very sorrowful for he was very rich And when

Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful he said How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God?

For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God And those who heard it said who then can be saved

But he said The things which are impossible with men are possible with God Then Peter said see we have left all and followed you

So he said to them surely I say to you there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children

And for the sake of the kingdom of God Who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come eternal life?

Then he took the twelve aside and said to them behold We are going up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the

Son of Man will be accomplished for he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon and They will scourge him and kill him and the third day.

He will rise again But they understood none of these things This saying was hidden from them and they did not know the things which were spoken

So last time we were looking at this passage. We considered the interaction between Jesus and the rich ruler and We considered the response that Jesus gave to this man's question

Dealing with the wrong presuppositions that this man had As he comes and says good teacher what must

I do To inherit eternal life there are some obvious issues with His understanding the wrong assumptions are baked into the question

Hard to answer a question full of wrong assumptions without first dealing with those wrong assumptions on the front end

So Jesus does that is why do you call me good? There's no one good, but God He knows that this man looks at him that the rich ruler looks at Jesus of Nazareth as a good teacher.

He's not Looking at Jesus as the Son of God This man has in his mind categories which do not exist one category namely is

Good people Right, so that's a wrong assumption that man in and of himself

Due to his efforts or due to his experiences or due to what he possesses that this some some man can be good

Before the sight of God or as the Bible tells us there is none righteous. No not one

So that's a wrong assumption that this rich ruler has he also has a wrong assumption that there's something that he can do to inherit eternal life

There's some some way to To earn eternal life. This is also a wrong assumption

This is also a category that doesn't actually exist so Jesus deals with these wrong presuppositions by correcting him about the

No one is good except for God God is the standard man It's not the standard don't look around at different men and try to find

Standards for what it was right and wrong only God is the standard and he reveals that standard in his word so let's look at his word and look at the

Ten Commandments and by this we can see that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and so Jesus confronts him with the law namely the part about having no other gods before me and not coveting and this man, of course is very greedy and He idolizes his wealth and he's unwilling to repent of that Jesus exposes the unwillingness to repent in the life of this man and this man goes away

Sorrowful because he was very rich and now

Jesus takes this encounter and makes a teachable moment for his disciples and When Jesus saw verse 24 and when

Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful He said how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God What are the reasons

For this well when we look at the context Jesus has rebuked his disciples for refusing the infants being brought to Jesus Some parents are bringing their little ones to Jesus that he would bless them and Jesus wants to do that.

He's willing to do that the disciples think Jesus is more important too important too busy and they're and they're

Refusing the arrival of these little ones and Jesus rebukes his disciples and says no

Let the little ones come to me do not forbid them for if such as the kingdom of God explaining

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it now a little child a little infant or a toddler

Does not come with a resume They don't have anything to offer they're not going to contribute anything but extra labor and extra mess

To a family or to a church family Right and Jesus says this is how you enter the kingdom of God.

This is how you enter the kingdom of heaven Humbly recognizing you've got nothing with which to impress

God This is one reason why Jesus says it is difficult for those who are rich through for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God for it is easy.

It is a very normal temptation To consider one's wealth and have a sense of security capability have a sense of worth and Capacity for making a big impact and so on.

I've got something to offer if I have riches that is a normal a common

Temptation, but it is also a false presupposition So Jesus has

Warned about that He's also told a parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector both wealthy men

Pharisees were generally wealthy in that time and tax collectors tended to be very wealthy in that time

Just ask Zacchaeus in the next chapter Okay, both wealthy men

Both are in the in the temple and what happens there the Pharisee pats himself on the back

He's a very capable well -endowed man. But what about the tax collector? He does enter the kingdom of heaven, but only in his abject humility before God.

I've got nothing to offer Be merciful to me the sinner So Jesus is just acknowledging that it is difficult for those who have riches to enter into the kingdom of God now

This is a surprise It is a surprise to the disciples and and Jesus is working against the cultural grain here

Because it was assumed that those who had great wealth were greatly favored by God And so the wealthiest were the closest to heaven

So to make sure that the disciples don't miss his point As he's telling them something that is hard for them to believe as he's telling them something that they are sure

To find some way in their heads to equivocate and to make their way around Well, surely he didn't really mean that to make sure that they don't miss it.

He says the following verse 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

Then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God So now they can't squirm their way out of it

Now they can't wiggle out of what he says. This is impossible for them to ignore now He says it is easier for the largest moving thing you have ever seen with your eyes

To go through the smallest opening you've ever seen with your eyes Then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven now, he's got their attention

Verse 26 and those who heard it said well then who can be saved If the rich can't be saved then who can be saved right

Well, let's consider that question let's consider the The dynamics of that question just for a little while well who then can be saved hmm

Now we've been talking about someone's wealth

Indeed someone's wealth status not just the fact that they have

Riches and then can do things with them. I Do imagine that the rich ruler would have been willing to give 10 % of his riches to the poor if that meant eternal life

So he can do things he wanted to do something to inherit eternal life, but there's also simply this matter of the status

The rich man, it's hard for him to enter the kingdom of God now

How are? We doing today in our culture? in dealing with wealth and wealth status as it pertains such ideas as Justification and salvation as a whole sanctification

How are how are the ideas of wealth and wealth status playing into how we understand?

being saved Any thoughts

So in Certain arenas of false teachers and mysticism the name it claim it or the blab it grab it group

You are truly spiritual if you have a lot of wealth Right see see how much faith

I have because I have all this money Okay so We have that at work and we have the

That gospel that false gospel being preached not only in America, but also throughout the third world and marring the mission work

Any other connections that we could make? That's right so in a in a

You know man left to himself Is always going to invent some kind of legalism

When it comes to salvation so if it isn't well the rich are the ones who are holy and close to God and Not only savable, but doing saved things well, then

It's those who are not wealthy That are the holy ones All right, so there's still wealth status is connected to These themes even in our culture

There is a great sense of justification by poverty All right

That if you're poor then it doesn't matter what you do or what you say or how you live all of it is completely justified and acceptable

Now the scripture doesn't say that Scripture says that God does not show partiality and those he places in puts in position of judge

Judges are not to show partiality to the poor or to the rich who obviously have a better opportunity to bend justice not by not by the force of a mob but by graft by bribery and corruption in that way

So so the Bible says that God is not does not show partiality And he doesn't want those in his

Working in his ministry of the civil government to show any kind of partiality either

Now of course it bleeds over into the teachings in churches that your wealth status has some sort of bearing on Your justification salvation or sanctification

Right so that's part of the prosperity teaching, okay So When when we look at what

Jesus is saying Jesus is taking on the biggest cultural assumption had to do with wealth and Salvation and he takes it head -on and totally blows it apart

No, it is not true that the wealthy are closest to God in fact

It's impossible Don't think of wealth as being Associated with salvation

Jesus says to his listeners, and we ought to Recognize that in yet another dynamic in our culture wherein the very very wealthy in our society are also

Justified in every sense of the term in our cultural sense In that the ultra wealthy can do no wrong

If you're wealthy enough you never get canceled right And if you're in and everybody who has wealth not only are they fully justified and however they live and whatever they're into That's perfectly fine after all look at how much wealth they have

But they also are being put forth as saviors in our day right and Elon Musk himself is playing the part of Savior Trying to save culture trying to save Free speech or trying to save the planet trying to save the future

By the use of his money. He's playing Savior Okay now

Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle Then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God those who heard it ask a very sensible question a wonderful question a

A slow arcing pitch right down the middle well, then who can be saved?

What a great question Jesus said the things which are impossible with God Impossible with men are possible with God so that which cannot be done by men can be done with God Well the answer is well who can be saved if if the ones we think that are most likely to be saved by their own

Merits by their own excuses or by their own Power if they can't be saved who can be saved is impossible for men to be saved except with God only

God can save If God doesn't save us we ain't getting saved You can be the wealthiest most upstanding kind and generous well beloved person on the

Face of the whole planet, but you are not going to be saved unless God saves you

It's impossible with men. It is possible with God. Just like the old hymn says it takes a miracle

It took a miracle to save my soul Now of course

Peter speaks up Peter's the one who always speaks up Peter didn't like awkward silences

And Peter said see we have left all and followed you we recall that Many of them left their vocation left their trades left their their family businesses

We have left all and followed you So we said to them Assuredly I say to you there is no one

Who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children? For the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many more times

Many times more in this present time and in the age to come eternal life

So putting things into perspective What the rich ruler would have given up to follow

Jesus would have been costly indeed And what the disciples had given up to follow

Jesus was costly for them as well But Jesus assures Those who follow him at just like in the parables

What you're giving up? To buy the field with the treasure buried in it. It's well worth the exchange

What you're giving up to acquire the pearl of great price is quite worth the exchange

I Don't know if some of you have suffered The loss or the fracturing of relationships in Your family and friends and acquaintances because you want to follow

Jesus I Don't know if some of you have often left homesteads behind and places behind because you need you need to do the right thing and follow

Jesus But What have we been given in Christ What have we been given in the

Holy Spirit? What have we been given in the joys and the fellowship and the family of the church? What have we been given?

bounty A bounty haven't we I know that I have and not only

In this present time, but in the age to come eternal life. So If if you if you find the math hard to do and here and now the valuation of what we gain in the following of Christ Over it against what we give up Then at least consider of eternal life

Consider the bounty of everlasting life with God in this exchange

I think it was a W Tozer who said that At the conclusion of every obituary of a child of God the

Lord himself declares henceforth There's there's more to come so far

So far, these are the blessings but there's yet more To come.