WWUTT 2206 A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Mark 10:23-27)

Jesus said to his disciples, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Now there are all kinds of explanations as to what this camel is or the eye of a needle is, but the answer is easy when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Mark, we've been in chapter 10. Last week, we had started

Jesus' conversation with the rich young ruler. We're gonna pick up where we left off last week, Jesus now teaching his disciples after that exchange, but let me go ahead and read the section again.

So this is Mark 10, starting in verse 17, and I'll go through verse 31 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And as he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and began asking him, good teacher, what shall

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 murder.

Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud.

Honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.

And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, one thing you lack, go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

But at these words, he was saddened and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property.

And Jesus looking around said to his disciples, how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

And they were even more astonished saying to him, then who can be saved?

Looking at them, Jesus said, with people it is impossible, but not with God.

For all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, behold, we have left everything and followed you.

Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel's sake, except one who will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children in farms along with persecutions.

And in the age to come eternal life, but many who are first will be last and the last first.

Now I wanna review what it was that we read last week with Jesus' conversation with this rich young ruler.

And then we're gonna see the first part of what Jesus teaches to his disciples about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

And then we're gonna come back to the rest of this tomorrow and finish up that last part that Jesus says, talking about, truly

I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or farms who will not receive much more in this life and even in the life to come.

And these things will come with persecutions. We will consider that portion tomorrow. But let's review once again, this exchange that Jesus has with this rich young ruler.

Now, as I said last week, we don't know much about this man's identity. He was likely a scribe or a

Pharisee. And that's part of the reason why Jesus says to him, you know the commandments.

The fact that he's referred to as a ruler would indicate that he is of the teaching class.

So either a scribe or Pharisee, probably not a Sadducee, could have been because he was wealthy and the

Sadducees were generally wealthier than the Pharisees. But Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife.

And this man is asking about exactly that. What do I have to do to gain eternal life?

So it could be that maybe as a Sadducee, he's having his mind changed. I wanna know how to have eternal life.

Or it could be that he's a mere Pharisee or lawyer or scribe and just happens to be very wealthy at what it is that he does.

Maybe he has gained this wealth from his parents. Maybe he has acquired it because he's a shrewd businessman.

Those things are not said to us. By the way, speaking of this man's identity, some have said that this could be the

Apostle Paul. And that's nothing but conjecture. There's no indication that we have that Paul ever met

Jesus during his earthly ministry. Paul referred to himself in 1

Corinthians 15 as one who is untimely born. He was appointed an apostle later than the rest of them, but he also calls himself that because the rest of the apostles knew

Jesus during his earthly ministry and Paul did not. So it's very unlikely that Paul was this rich young ruler.

And once again, that would be nothing but speculation. We have no evidence in scripture that would actually point us to that.

So this is simply an unnamed young man. And it's not uncommon for unbelievers, those who end up rejecting

Christ, for their names to not be mentioned. I think also of the account of the rich man and Lazarus that we have in the gospel of Luke.

We only know the rich man by that position. We don't know him by his name, though we know the poor man

Lazarus by his name. So this isn't unusual for this rich young man to not be named.

It's necessary for us to recognize that he is young and he is wealthy, because that has to do with the lesson that Jesus teaches his disciples after they have this conversation.

So he calls Jesus good. Jesus responds to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

And as I pointed out last week, this isn't Jesus denying that he is God. This is

Jesus challenging the young man in that he would call Jesus good, though he is not ready to call him

God. So Jesus knows this man's heart and that's why he responds to him in this way.

You're gonna call me good, but you're not ready to call me God when no one is good, but God alone.

This account, by the way, this exchange that Jesus has with this young man, there's a lot of this story that tends to get twisted or misinterpreted.

It's almost like any verse that you pull out of the exchange between Jesus and the rich young ruler. Somebody has taken that and has made it to mean something that it doesn't mean.

So then in verse 19, you know the commandments once again, and here's how Jesus exposes to this young man that he's not as good as he thinks he is.

So he goes through all these lists of commands. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.

And the young man is sure that he has kept all of this. I am a law keeper.

So since I have done all these things from my youth up, then hey, I've made it.

I've succeeded at the thing that you're telling me I'm gonna have to have in order to enter the kingdom of God, I've kept the law.

Amen to that, Jesus. That's what he's saying before him here. Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.

But there were some commands that Jesus left out. He didn't mention coveting and he doesn't mention the first table of the law, which has to do with loving

God. You'll have no other gods before me. Don't make a graven image. Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. That first table of the law was not mentioned here. Nor did

Jesus mention coveting because coveting points back to the first table of the law. So Jesus says to him, looking at him loved him, was willing to tell him the hard truth and said to him, one thing you lack, go and sell all you possess, give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and then come follow me.

And as I said last week, this does not mean that it is therefore said to all of us that we must give away all that we have in order to enter the kingdom of God.

This was the challenge that Jesus was giving to this rich young man. Now, it might be that you have to give something up in order to follow

Jesus. Maybe there is something material that you're clinging too closely to.

Perhaps you love the idea of riches though you're not rich yourself and your life is about pursuing wealth though you don't yet possess it.

That's something that you're going to have to put to death. What do you need to give up in order to follow

Jesus? So there's a challenge there for all of us though don't take this narrative as something normative as though to say the command is therefore you have to give away all your stuff, sell all your possessions, give it to the poor and then follow

Jesus and you will have treasure in heaven. There are plenty of people that will do that very thing, will give away all they have and will not inherit eternal life because they did it for their own self -righteousness and not for Christ.

So don't think that the act itself is therefore salvific. This is Jesus once again challenging this young man's heart whose heart is not really for God.

He's asking Jesus this question because he wants to know how can I be successful in this world and in the next one?

I have all this wealth, I still have my youth and when this life is spent up, how can

I have eternal life? How do I get to take my stuff with me? My success here on earth, how do

I take it into the next existence? And so Jesus says to him that you must give away all that you possess, give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

Now it's often said in teaching on this passage that Jesus went straight to the 10th commandment.

He left out, do not covet. And it was trying to point out to the young man, you covet and so you must give up all that you possess and confront that sin, that command that you have not kept.

There's one command that you haven't kept. And if you want to confront that, you are going to have to give away everything that you have, but it really goes deeper than that.

It's more than just you covet, although that's certainly true, but Jesus was confronting more than that.

Because remember, the first thing that he says to the young man is why do you call me good? There is no one who is good, but God alone.

Are you ready and willing to serve God? Are you going to give up everything that you have for Christ?

Because really the sin that the young man was committing was that he was placing himself above God, his stuff above God.

He loved material possessions more than he loved the Lord. And that's what

Jesus exposed by his teaching him the law. And when we share the gospel with people, it is good for us to do the same thing.

This is the way of the master method that Ray Comfort uses. When he will use the law to show a person that they're not as good as they think they are, just as Jesus did with this rich young ruler.

Have you ever told a lie before? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever looked at somebody with lust?

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, that's adultery. Have you ever hated someone or called them names? Also in Matthew 5,

Jesus says, it's the same as if you've murdered them in your heart and you're guilty of the fires of hell. Have you ever used the

Lord's name as a curse word? And he'll just use half of the 10 commandments to show them you're not as good as you think you are.

So if by this standard, God is gonna judge you on that day, according to the 10 commandments, will he let you into heaven or will he send you to hell?

Will you inherit eternal life? Just like this rich young man was asking about.

And so Jesus uses the law to expose his sin and does so in love that he might see he's not as good as he thinks he is.

And the only way that he is gonna enter heaven is by another way, not by his ability to be good or keep the law.

And that's what Jesus is gonna go on to teach his disciples about as we continue. At these words, the young man was saddened and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property.

That 10th commandment, do not covet, is the one of those commands that confronts the heart.

Where things like do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, all of those things are external.

Like you can see if a person has committed adultery or stolen something or something like that, but you can't look inside a person's heart to see if they've coveted.

And that last commandment goes right back to the first. For if you covet, then there is something that you desire more than God and you have therefore worshiped other gods instead of the

Lord God. In Colossians chapter three, beginning in verse five, the apostle Paul says, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.

So coveting is having other gods before God. That 10th commandment goes right back to the first.

And again, that's what Jesus was showing the rich young man that he did not love God. And so by his own merit, he was not going to inherit eternal life.

The rich young ruler, instead of recognizing what he needed to give up in order to have eternal life, he just walks away sad because he had much that he didn't want to leave.

And so Jesus looking around said to his disciples, how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.

Now I read to you last week, Paul's instruction to Timothy in first Timothy chapter six about the wealthy in his congregation, teach them not to put their trust in riches.

For it's through this pursuit of wealth that people have gone astray and pierced themselves with many pangs.

So those who are wealthy, it is harder for them to know that they're going to have to give up the love that they have for this world in order to enter the kingdom of God.

And you don't see it very often, do you? Stories or accounts of those who are rich and famous, giving up all that they have and leaving it to follow

Jesus so they have eternal life. You rarely ever hear stories about that, about those who are rich and powerful and famous, giving up their fame and glory and all that wealth and power that they have on earth.

You rarely hear stories about them giving it up and following Jesus. Completely in fulfillment to what

Jesus says here. The disciples were amazed at his words, verse 24, but Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Now that statement has been twisted to mean some other things other than what Jesus actually said.

So he says, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle there are some who have said that this is in reference to a small door in the city gate.

And that small door in the city gate was called the eye of a needle. And so whenever a merchant with his camel came a little bit too late and the gates of the city were already closed, the only way that he could get into the city was through that small door.

The gates would be closed at night to keep all the ruffians out, the raiders and the bandits and all that stuff.

And so if he gets there late and he's gonna have to go through that small door, well, now he has to unpack his camel.

He has to take all the stuff off the camel and the camel is gonna have to go through that little door on its knees.

And that's called a camel going through the eye of a needle. The thing is, it's a cute explanation but there's no historical basis for it.

There's actually no historical evidence that there was a small door in the city gate. Although there were small doors in the city gate, but none that were referred to as the eye of a needle.

And even though it's tedious, it's annoying to have to unpack your camel and try to get that beast through a door on its knees, that might be obnoxious, but it's still doable.

It's not impossible, you can still do it. Then there's another explanation for this.

Maybe, maybe a camel is a very large rope. It's a huge thick rope, a kind of rope in Jerusalem during those days that was called a camel.

And how hard it is to get a big thick rope like that through a needle, through the eye of a needle, right?

Well, once again, it might be cumbersome and tedious but it could still be done.

You just have to unthread that rope and fit it through the needle a thread at a time. It's time consuming, but it can still be done.

And what Jesus is saying here is that it's impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

It is more doable for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

And just look at the disciples reaction to that. They take him literally because Jesus meant it literally.

He's taking the largest living creature in Jerusalem which is a camel and fitting it through the smallest opening, the eye of a needle.

And there's no way to get that big animal through that little opening and have it survive the trip.

And look at the disciples reaction to this. They were even more astonished and said to him, then who can be saved?

And Jesus says to them, yeah, with man, it's impossible. It is impossible, not just tedious, not just time consuming, it's impossible.

It can't be done. A camel can't go through the eye of a needle and live. It's impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

How does the rich man enter the kingdom of God? By the righteousness of Christ. But that's not what the rich young man looked for.

He was looking for his own righteousness, not willing to give up what he had and what his heart desired in order to follow

God and enter the kingdom with the righteousness of Christ. That's what

Jesus is pointing his disciples to. If a rich young ruler can't enter the kingdom of God, then what hope is there for any of us?

That's what was going through the disciples' minds. Because in Jerusalem, when somebody was wealthy, then it is automatically assumed he is blessed by God.

And this man is also a law keeper. He's done all of God's law perfectly, at least according to his account.

The disciples weren't testing him on that, but Jesus exposed that he wasn't really keeping it perfectly. He thought he was though.

He's even a teacher in Israel. He has great wealth. So it looks like this man is so good,

God is rewarding him with great wealth. And here's Jesus telling his disciples, it's impossible for him to enter the kingdom of God.

And so the disciples' reaction to that is like, well, if he's not getting in, none of us are getting in. Then who can be saved?

It's not too unlike the way we consider things today either. We will look at Bible teachers who are rich and powerful and successful, and we will think, well, that person's going to heaven.

And if that person rich and powerful can't make it into heaven, I mean, what hope is there for me?

It's one of the reasons why when you confront these false teachers, when you expose somebody who's like a

Benny Hinn or a Kenneth Copeland or a Joyce Meyer or a Beth Moore or a T .D. Jakes or something like that, and you expose their false teaching, well, the people that follow them are greatly vexed by that because they see you saying, well, if all the stuff that they do, teaching and having such great success in that, and they're very charismatic and I like them, if that person that I like is not making it into the kingdom of God, then what hope is there for me?

And that's part of the reason why they don't like so much that you would confront the false teacher that they really, really enjoy.

But no one gets into the kingdom of God through their great success in Bible teaching.

Wealth is not evidence of the favor of God being upon that person. Well, right now, we've even got that going on politically, right?

Because Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. There are millions of people in the United States that are sure that God's blessing is upon this man.

I mean, he certainly showed Donald Trump mercy and saved him from the bullet of that assassin, most definitely, but just because that happened does not mean

Donald Trump is a Christian man that is gonna enter the kingdom of God. We'll even look at people politically in this way.

We'll see that because they have this great success or they say the right kind of words, well,

God must surely be with them. And you've probably seen the paintings of that president or that politician with a version of Jesus behind him somehow that kind of helping him along and whatever political work it is that he is doing.

We even apply this very thing politically. But man cannot enter the kingdom of God on his own merit.

The only way that we are getting into the kingdom of God is with the merit of Christ applied to us.

Jesus said, with people it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.

It is God who makes it possible for us to enter into the eternal kingdom and dwell with him forever.

It's God who has made the way. It is God who has opened that door, who has made the gate large enough that we can get through it.

Because otherwise it would be like a camel going through the eye of a needle and we would never be able to enter the kingdom of God if God had not made the way through Jesus Christ.

So look to Jesus, put your faith and trust in him. And if you know him as savior and Lord, then great will be your reward.

Now, Jesus will go on with the disciples to talk to them about, here's what you receive if you have given up this, and that's the portion that we will look at tomorrow as we finish up this particular section.

Let's conclude with prayer. Heavenly father, I pray for your conviction upon our hearts.

Is there anything in our lives that we must get rid of in order to follow

Jesus and receive the kingdom? May we not covet and put things in front of God and think that I have to have this in order to be satisfied, but we give up all to follow

Christ and only through him do we receive the kingdom of God. Help us also to be emboldened with the message of the gospel that we would share this with others, showing them they're not as good as they think they are.

Everyone thinks that they are right in their own eyes, as said in judges, as said in Proverbs, but the law exposes to us the sinfulness that's in our own hearts and our need for a savior so that the people that we share this with would recognize that Christ is that savior and only by faith in him can a person be forgiven their sins and enter eternal life.

Forgive us our sins and lead us in that way in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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