So, I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 19 this morning. Matthew chapter 19, page 980, and we're continuing our study in the gospel of Matthew this morning. We're looking at verses 13 through 30. Actually, it's verse 26, but we'll read through verse 30.
Then children were brought to him, that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and went away. And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, 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 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Then Peter said in reply, see we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, in the new world when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first
There will end the reading of God's wonderful word.
If you remember, the disciples had asked Jesus at the beginning of chapter 18 about greatness, and his answer to them had not quite set in yet. It had not quite set in yet. You remember, when they asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom?" they were thinking about this. They they were concerned that Jesus had just said he's going to go die. Who's going to fill that void? Who's going to be the great one among us? And then Jesus took a little child, and he said a little child before them, and essentially said, "Let me teach you about greatness. Whoever humbles himself like one of these little children is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives me." So he had already given some really important teaching on this and the importance of the mission and going and seeking after the lost. Well, this has great implications for understanding ministry, doesn't it? That what he's teaching here about children and if they're going to go out with the gospel if we're going to go out with the gospel, if we're going to be effective with the gospel then they have to understand precisely who it is that enters the kingdom.
Who enters the kingdom of God? If their understanding of Christ's kingdom is that only the great enter into it, then their own misunderstandings of this will show in the ministry by whom they give their attention to, right? I mean, this is a pretty big point to correct, because by default, we're going to give our attention to the rich. James 2 said, it Is it not the rich not the poor is it not the rich who exploit you?" What we have here today is Jesus showing us and illustrating and teaching through two examples to train his disciples and utterly upend their natural way of thinking about who is saved, who enters the kingdom, what kind of person.
The problem is they still haven't accepted how one enters. And when I say that, what I mean is actually enters eternal life, not just on that day, but now. This is what Jesus talked about, entering life now. And if this doesn't become clear to people, if this doesn't become clear to us, doesn't become clear to me, you're going to be We're going to be nothing but Pharisees in the ministry. We're going to be nothing but pharisees in the ministry we're going to be those kind of workers in his kingdom always pulling away the wrong people with harsh, judgmental spirits. That's what that's going to look like. And Jesus is really concerned about this.
The message of Jesus today is so clear. This is do you know, this is a side point. I probably shouldn't get into side points, but I think my first sermon in the Escondido URC when I was in seminary was the rich young ruler. You can find that on the website. Don't listen to it. It's utterly awful. But it was my candy cane sermon in seminary. You run around preaching the same sermon over and over, and Darcy said, "If I ever hear that sermon again, I'm going to go crazy." So it's good she's in the nursery today.
But Jesus's point is really clear. If anyone who enters the kingdom of God enters as helpless, they are the insignificant. They are those who completely depend upon his strength to be brought into the kingdom by sovereign grace and sovereign love. And anyone who will not enter the kingdom this way will not enter it. This is a really basic point this text is showing us today. This is what we're looking at.
The outline is very simple: Jesus explains to his disciples how people enter into his kingdom and are saved, how they do not, and then how it's made possible. That's a basic outline of this. I think you'll see that follows from what we have here.
As we return to chapter 19 this morning, you'll notice that just following his teaching on marriage, we now have a tie to children. That's important. I could say more about that. But this is purposeful. Jesus is focused on the children. And we read that children were brought to him, that he might lay hands on them and pray. What a beautiful scene! What a scene to contemplate! As Jesus was teaching, some parents kind of pushed their way, obviously, through the crowd, And they had their little children with them, and they wanted Jesus to bless them. They wanted Jesus to pray for their children. We know in Luke that these were actual infants, infants that were brought to him. They were carried by parents and brought right up in front of Jesus.
The disciples witnessed this, of course, and they proceed to rebuke the parents for doing this. And Jesus is angry! Jesus is righteously angry. He's worked up about this. We see that they, still after all the last teaching on the last in the last chapter, are all concerned about status. They're all they haven't understood the concept yet of what salvation is and who enters it. And so you can understand why he's displeased. They see these children brought to Jesus, and their attitude is: "Why would we waste our time on these? Why would we do that?" Because behind it is, "They're just of no real value to the project. They're of no real importance. Get them out of here. Let them grow up."
Receiving these insignificant children, and this is in their minds, does nothing for the greatness of the kingdom, right? It does nothing for the greatness of the kingdom. And you really see their thought process here. Jesus is bringing in he's talked about the powerful kingdom of god and on their minds is just this: this is then, if that's the case, not the people we should be wasting our time on? They can't even understand this stuff?" It's a status concern. Now, we all know this. there a lot of work. I said before: children are weak. What strength do they really have? Physically, they're incredibly weak. In society, they're insignificant. Today, they're viewed as a hindrance. So we're living in a new generation that doesn't even want to have them.
Children are typically scared. They hate the dark. They have little security. They are weak. They're helpless. They're small. They're insignificant. They're poor. They have total inability to sustain their own lives. You know, I remember walking into my children's room, and I still do, you know, and sometimes, you know, you'd see, I just think back in the past, see a little row of shirts, right? And you'd see a few coins in a piggy bank that grandpa gave them, and they can't get to the store to get their own food. They're totally helpless. I remember when we bought our last diaper. I remember that last Costco purchase. Darcy said, "This is the last one," and we partied! I mean, we really partied!
What do they have? What do they have? Total dependence! You ever thought of the witness of that? Of what the Lord's built in for us? This captures God's constant work with us. This is his work with us. This is what we are like, constantly!
Jesus has no time for this attitude. Jesus has no he's greatly displeased here. Here comes one of the most important statements about salvation made in the scriptures: "Let the little children context let the infants come You better not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God." This kingdom belongs to these. "My kingdom is given freely to these. Don't you dare forbid them."
Now, I hope you can feel the effect of that. He's worked up. But think of what what he just said: all the blessings of salvation belong to these. The Lord speaks of them here as having entered the kingdom. And the whole teaching here is covenantal. I mean, there's a big history to this. The children these are children of believing parents. Jesus never left the impression that children are not members of his covenant. Never. Covenant of grace, he always included them. you we get it right here from jesus that he never had to wait on entering the kingdom based upon their own decision for him. It's powerful. He puts his hands on them, and he blesses them, and he prays for them. And the message is clear: the assurances of divine favor and divine love rest upon believers and their children. This is just wonderful!
See it in principle: Christ gathers his church primarily from believers and their children. It's beautiful. And what an example! These helpless infants are received this way. To which I add: if this was his attitude so strong and so dogmatic about this how could we not give them the very sign of baptism, that is a sign of entrance into that kingdom? It's a powerful argument. "Though such belongs the kingdom but not the sign"? It doesn't work! Not to believers in their children! disciples won't accept this. The disciples will not accept this. So it's time for a painful lesson and how on how someone does not enter the kingdom, and what a refusal to receive the kingdom as a child or infant looks like. And so now we have the great contrast. This is how the scriptures work. This is what they do constantly for us to help us. Matthew juxtapositions this so that you see the contrast. He sets them side by side. And this is exactly what we have now, beginning at verse 16.
"And behold, a man came up to him, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?
What a contrast! What a contrast! That should make us pause from what we just heard. You can't miss it. In contrast to an infant, he's everything opposite. He's everything opposite. You can imagine the excitement on the disciples' face when they saw this. This well-known figure comes up. He's what society treasures. He's young. He has great wealth. Notice that great wealth he has. He's a ruler even of the people. He is position. He is status. He is everything you want to be in life. Matthew presents the strongest figure of accomplishment and success and money. "This guy will make the difference in the kingdom, right?" Do the rich or are they the most disconnected? I mean, just imagine the effect if Elon Musk walked in here today and he says, "I want to join the Escondido URC. I'm going to profess faith. I want to do that." Can you imagine the chatter afterward? Sorry to the three you're not going to get the same attention, right?
Something, though, has deeply troubled him. He has everything. He has everything. But he realizes he's not attained to eternal life. He's not a fulfilled person. Having everything, he knows he doesn't really have the most important thing, and it bugs him. It bothers him.
And notice where Jesus begins. "Why do you ask me about what is good? Why do you ask me what is good?" Of course, he's come to Jesus on his terms of good. "This is a good man who can tell me the way." He doesn't know him. There's no sort of faith like the Syrophoenician woman, son of David, have mercy on me." That's not there. It's just not there. I don't miss the contrast.
The kingdom of God is represented in the person of Jesus Christ. When he preached, he said, "Repent, believe in me. The kingdom of God is at hand." The kingdom embodied him, so that when you came to Christ, you entered the kingdom. That means that kingdom entrance is equivalent to saying, "This is how you're saved. This is how you're delivered." And this kingdom all over, Jesus spoke of he said it's graciously given to people. It's not anything merited. It's it's graciously kingdom member given. Remember what he said to the disciples? "And I bestow a king it's a language of a gift i bestow a kingdom upon you, just as my Father has bestowed on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom." And you receive that as a little child.
And that's the question: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Two verbs. We're not even on the same page. We're not even on the same page here. Do and inherit.
Again, I think it's important: this is not the question in Acts. "What must we do to be saved?" "How do I do to get into glory?" "What do I need to do?" On all accounts, this is the most moral man Jesus has ever come across, yet. He's what everyone would have said is a good person. You looked at someone like this, and you would think, "This is the man's God's got to be pleased with. Like, the Lord would have to be pleased with someone like this, right?" He loves his wife. Never committed adultery. He's not divorced. We just looked at divorce and remarriage. In general, he's in church on Sunday. He serves a lot. He does a lot. He's a good moral person.
What's troubling him is, "I don't have peace of conscience. How could I be so moral and still lack something? Something's missing in his life."
You ever feel like that? "I come here. I've been raised in the church. I've worshiped all my life. But I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. I have no sense of certainty. I don't really connect. I'm trying. I really don't know that I've really entered the kingdom or I'm going to heaven. What do you do with a person like that? What would you do with someone like that?" I mean, if I had this guy come into the church, and he's somewhat famous, and he's a model guy, but he was troubled with this, I certainly wouldn't make matters worse for him, right? That's not what you want to do to somebody like this. I mean, he's respectful. He's sincere.
And that's just what Jesus does. Christ doesn't do anything we think or how we would treat a person like this. He doesn't present him with a proposition to make a decision. "Hey, sign on the dotted line." I mean, Jesus is gospel-less at this point. Totally gospel-less with this guy.
Now, if someone's going to come to Christ with a question like this, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus is going to answer appropriately, knowing that no flesh is justified by the law. Then Jesus is going to answer with the law. And so he takes him to the law, and he lets the law begin to do its work.
"You know the commandments."
Jesus has a goal here in using the second table. He's taking him to the heart of his struggle. he's he's it's it's evangelistic strategy and it's for certain but it's Jesus's wisdom with the intention of the law: "Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness." He goes through many of those. You'll notice here in the second table: "Honor your father and your mother. You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Mark it kind of stands out: "Do not defraud." That's kind of an interesting one to throw in the midst of this, and it makes sense. Defraud is kind of a sinful coveting of holding on to things that could be used to help your neighbor. He's a man holding it back. He's a stingy fellow. And Jesus is reading him.
Did the disciples yet comprehend receiving the kingdom as a little child? Well, if they didn't, they're sure about now to hear the problem of why people don't.
Here's his answer: "And he answered and said, teacher, notice his answer that he gives. All these I have kept. What do I still lack? He even says in another gospel, "All of them I've kept from my youth."
You see what Jesus is doing? The law always has this first intention: to awaken a heart. To awaken a heart to sin. It's very important. This is what Paul describes in Romans 7: "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking the occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me."
What he's saying is this: "I was alive once in my own estimation. I was in a good place. The law had not come home to me, and I was alive that way. I thought well of myself, until the commandment came and it drove a dagger right into my heart, and I panicked, and then I died to myself."
"There was a time in my life," says Paul, "I didn't see a thing." I can testify to that. See a thing? People live this way generally. They think they're generally good people, and they've not considered on these terms. this is the point: on God's terms. God, here's the point, if you're going to come at him with that kind of thinking, here's the demand. "I demand perfect and complete obedience." And so for many, while they're not quite certain about heaven, what never really occurs to them is that on those conditions, they're headed right for hell.
We could do the same. "Now, I've never really stolen. I stole a squirt gun off my second grade teacher's desk. I don't know if it was Mrs. Kesting or not. She's sitting over there, my third grade teacher. She'll know. I've never committed adultery. I've pretty much honored my parents. I've never murdered. I've never, well, gossiped? I've done that. But, you know, I try to keep that under control."
You see what's happening here? Apart from the law, sin lies dead. And if you want to know the full weight of the law, study the Sermon on the Mount. I was dead. None of it hit home. How in trouble I am in this life!
And if you want to use Edward's sermon, in this state, you're right. You hang like a thread over the pit of hell.
This man had just been brought to the most important place he can come. And so Jesus takes the law, and he drives it in just like a dagger in the one place in his life that he won't see, he refuses to see, where sin has its strongest grip on him. And he does this with us.
"What do I lack? If you would be perfect, go, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. Wow. he took the 10th commandment, and he thrust it right into his heart.
Was Jesus serious? Kind of makes being an infant pretty attractive right now, doesn't it? They don't have the ability to put all these things first in their lives. They're not playing a game. He's dead serious. On these terms, if you want to play that game, keeping the law for salvation, this is what the terms are.
The rich become the example here. What is the problem with people who have everything in this life? What is the problem with people who have everything? I actually think we have all this backward. I think that's a hard life. We're always trying to attain to it. Why? So that you're independent and free and don't have to live paycheck to paycheck. Having everything, you don't have to worry about a dime. Jesus says for people like this, it's really hard for them to enter. Actually impossible. We try to immediately explain that away to a spiritualizing of it. No, no. He's speaking of rich. He's driving a point home. For people like this, they never think they need anything. And this is why their relationship to God is contractual.
Until maybe they say, "I know something's wrong. I don't have inner peace," because those things never give it.
I went street evangelizing in Escondido yesterday. That was something else. It was really eye-opening for me. Guess who would talk to me? All the broken, all the poor, all the needy, the drug addicts for sure. Guess who wouldn't give me the time of day? All the affluent. All the affluent. I was an intrusion to them.
If one relies on being a good person, and thinking that they just do more, that God will be pleased, he looks right into your hearts, and he takes the chief commandment that you're not wanting to see and that you're downplaying, and he drives it home and says, "Since you're self-sufficient, since you truly are trying to do this on your own terms, go home today. Now listen to this. Go home today. You want to play that? Here's what I require. Go home today. Sell your home. Empty your bank accounts, and give it all to the poor. Divest yourself of all this covetousness in your heart, and all this idolatry, and you'll have it. He's not joking. Those are the terms of the law."
Pick a commandment today. "Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Don't miss worship when it's called twice. You want to play this game? Love God. Give him your everything. That's the demand." And you see, beloved, when we begin to comprehend the righteous requirement of the law, you've got two choices. You've got two choices, right?
Here's one. "When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions." And there are many who will hear something like this in this sermon and walk away and say, "God's ways are hard. This is hopeless. I give up."
Now Jesus would have failed every evangelism handbook, day guide of our day, right? He just let the guy walk away. The confusion of the disciples: "We're fishers of men. What are you doing?" It was good for him to go home and to ponder this. Did he come back? Well, that's a good question.
So Jesus turns to his disciples. "Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven."
Now remember: was there any difficulty for the infant to receive it? Nope! I've convinced you of infant baptism, haven't I? Children were carried to him. No abilities. No nothing. This man carries himself to Jesus, having everything, and that was the problem, because he was unwilling to receive the kingdom with nothing in his hands. brings
Jesus says, "I tell you, 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."
How do you feel right now? That's an important question, isn't it? If I've done my job, I left those who've approached God this way in complete despair.
This is not to beat up the rich. This is just an illustration here. It is indeed an illustration of everyone who's rich in themselves. Martin Luther said, "If doctors and learned men won't hear me, then let them leave the doors open. I'll preach to the common people, the cobblers and the peasants, the widows and the orphans, who will gladly hear God's word." I'm thankful the professor's here listen so that's not a dig at them. But you get the point, right?
And you see it in the response of the disciples. They're greatly, the language here is strong. They are blown out of their minds. "What is this? They're bewildered, beyond. He just made it completely impossible for anyone to be saved on their own."
Now, that should have some kind of worrying effect on people. "We're all headed for hell if that we stay on those terms. Then nobody can be right with God." He wanted that effect. He wanted despair, coming to the realization that the requirement of the law is so great for us. It's impossible for sinners.
And you see, beloved, if the text left us here today, none of us would make it. But here comes the greatest news in the whole Bible. I'm just blown away by this.
"But Jesus looked at them and said, With man, this is impossible. It's indeed impossible. But not with God. With God, all things are possible.
I wonder if he smiled when he said that.
There's two responses. One is to walk away thinking, "I can't do this. You haven't listened to a thing we've been saying. It is to stay there." The other response is to have this word cut your hearts like an axe, right? And when the word cut their hearts, they said, "Sirs," in despair, or the Philippian jailer, "What must I do to be saved?" Or the Apostle Paul, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And the answer: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ."
God was standing there. God was standing there and had come to do what? He, Jesus, came to die on a cross to atone for sins, and he says to everyone, "Whoever believes in me will have eternal life."
That's where he wants us. Christ says, "I'm here. This is why I was sent."
The question that changes, it's no longer "What can I do to get to heaven? What do I need to do to be saved?" And the answer comes back: "Faith alone. Faith alone. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved from all your sins."
Think of how special this is. The promise today, to close this out, is to you and to your your children come in faith. bring Your children in faith your infants. To receive the kingdom. All those who come in faith are saved and have entered the kingdom.
Have you entered the kingdom of God today like a little child? It just takes away all the pride, all the smugness, all the Pharisee stuff. Come to him. Don't walk away sad. If you do, you miss the sermon. He shows you his hands and his side in the resurrection for a reason. The work is done for you. Believe. Believe in me, says Jesus, and you will be saved. Best news I could give an end on today.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this glorious text. Thank you for showing us the way. Help us, oh Lord, to come in faith, and then, oh Lord, to begin in this life to honor your law as a way of gratitude. May we not walk away sad, but may we always come to you believing, and thank you for giving us the message we need to hear not always what we want, what we need to hear that we might drop our knees and worship God who came to deliver us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.