Surprising Tales Of Heaven and Hell Part 2 (Luke 18:15-30 January 9, 2011)

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1 Surprising Tales Of Heaven and Hell Part 2 (Luke 18:15-30 January 9, 2011) The longer I have been a Christian the less certain I am about who will be in heaven. I have seen men and women who at one time were sold out for Jesus walk away from the faith. I have seen men and women I thought were too hardened come to faith in Christ. And I have realised just how surprising the work of God in salvation is. Over the past few weeks in Luke we have seen Jesus teach about the Kingdom how it had already come and will one day come in its final form. Then He began to teach about entrance to the kingdom. Listen to these verses. Luke 18:17: Luke 18:25: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. 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. Last week we began to at a number of surprising tales of heaven and hell. Powerful stories. Shocking stories about entering the kingdom. Jesus tells us about two men who by all human rights and reason should be headed to heaven but neither make it. 1

2 He tells about one man who should be headed to hell for his sins but he ends up in heaven. He tells about one group no one thinks are on their way to heaven and says you have to be like them to get into the kingdom. Then he meets two men who don t fit the stereotype of someone going to heaven a blind beggar and a tax-collector but they find salvation. These stories destroy the logic of salvation. They are indeed surprising stories of heaven and hell. What is the point of these shocking stories? We saw last week in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax gatherer that Jesus teaches that Salvation Comes Through: Unmerited Grace Grace is by definition unmerited but because we are so hard-wired to think that we should be able to earn some merit I emphasised the word unmerited. Now we come to the second lesson. Look with me at Luke 18:15-17: Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Jesus gives this lesson to teach that Salvation Comes Through: 2

3 Unfettered Faith What is the point of this passage? Quite a few scholars have argued that the point of this passage is that infants can have saving faith. Many paedobaptists have used this passage to teach that infants babies can have a form of faith that saves therefore they should be baptised. First, infant baptism is not even remotely in view here. Second, these children are not mere babes in arms. The word translated infants is the Greek word This is a word that covers children from babies to young children. For example in 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul writes: From childhood you [Timothy] have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Childhood here is Obviously not a babe in arms. Timothy was old enough to understand the Scriptures that gave him the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Also, in the parallel passages in Mark and Matthew, the word used is a more general word that refers to infants and babes up to a child around twelve years of age. But crucially, Jesus is not teaching about the kind of faith children have. He is teaching about the kind of faith believers should have we must have a childlike faith. Look at this passage. The parents were bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. Children were socially unimportant. Barely above the family dog in terms of the social pecking order. The disciples weren t going to have these unimportant beings bother their master. So they rebuked the parents and others who brought these children to Jesus. But, the disciples selective memory was in operation again. They had forgotten what had so recently transpired. In Luke 9:46-48: An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, 3

4 and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great. The kingdom does not work on the social pecking order of the world. So when Jesus saw the disciples block the children, He was indignant. Listen again to His words: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Jesus is talking about faith childlike faith. Every parent learns about childlike faith. It is so refreshing, so pure, so genuine. When your children are young they sit on your lap and you read them the great stories of Scripture. They hear about God creating the world and Adam and Eve. They listen with wrapt wonder as you tell them about Noah and the worldwide flood Abraham trying to sacrifice Isaac Moses and the burning bush. They walk with Moses through the Red Sea. They are with Daniel in the Lion s den. They know Jesus healed the sick, walked on water and raised the dead. They know Jesus rose and the tomb was empty. They don t question or doubt they know this happened. They have a big view of God He can and does anything. They have a faith that says my God will supply all my needs. But, unfortunately for every parent another day comes a time of transition from childhood to adulthood. And their pure, unadulterated faith faces challenges. They are taught to question. It might be the teacher at school who usually does not set out to undermine your teaching but as they talk about history, billions of years, evolution, the consensus of science they raise doubts about creation and miracles and even God Himself. Then comes the atheist kid in the class. In the classroom, the playground or today it is often on Facebook he openly challenges the faith of your child. How can you believe that? Only fools deny science and accept religion are you a fool? You are just blindly following your parents think for yourself. And your children begin to wonder what is real what do I believe? And they question everything. 4

5 Finally, they have to make a choice a bridge all must cross and the choice comes down to whether they choose to have faith unfettered faith. What do I mean? Most of us have been to debates between Christians and non-christians. Many of us would have been to or seen a video of John Mackay debating an atheist on creation. What stands out is that two men one a Christian one an atheist can take exactly the same information fossil records, geological columns, carbon-dating and one is absolutely convinced the evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of creation and the other cannot see anything other than the evidence proving evolution. I have a bias but to me the evidence is so weighted to creation it seems crystal clear to me. But I have friends who look at the same data and are stunned that I don t see the hand of evolution. So how do we resolve this? We can t go back in time and so ultimately it becomes a test of faith. Do we accept the Word of the One who was there who did create everything or do we reject this? Do we place our faith in God or man? The Christian walks by faith and not by sight. You were not there when God created the world, or when the floods covered the earth, or when the Red Sea parted, or when fire came down on the prophets of Baal. You were not there when the virgin conceived or the blind man walked or the dead came to life. You were not there when the stone was rolled away. How do you prove that Jesus is God and His death atones for all my sins? These are truths we accept through unfettered faith a childlike faith that says I believe in the Word of God. If we wait for proof if we search for understanding we will grow old and wither and not find it. God has spoken and told us these things are so and the question is this do we have the kind of childlike faith that accepts these as true? On this hangs heaven and hell. 5

6 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. R.C.H. Lenski in his commentary on the parallel passage in Matthew wrote about this faith: As the flower in the garden stretches toward the light of the sun, so there is in the child a mysterious inclination toward the eternal light. Have you ever noticed this mysterious thing that, when you tell the smallest child about God, it never asks with strangeness and wonder, What or who is God? I have never seen Him but listens with shining face to the words as though they were soft loving sounds from the land of home? Or when you teach a child to fold its little hands in prayer, it does this as though it were a matter of course, as though there were opening for it that world of which it had been dreaming with longing and anticipation. Or tell them, these little ones, the stories of the Saviour, show them the pictures with scenes and personages of the Bible, and see how their pure eyes shine, how their little hearts beat. That is the type of faith we are talking about here. Pure, unadulterated childlike faith. When all is said and done, we do not enter the kingdom with our manuscript in hand proclaiming, I finally worked it out God exists, Christ is King, now I have worked it out I believe. No we come like the wide eyed child with a simple, unquestioning, humble acceptance of Christ. We are like Alfred Ackley who penned the hymn He Lives. The last words of the chorus are these: You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. For all who come with that type of childlike simple trust the kingdom of God is theirs. Jesus makes it very clear that the way into the kingdom is through unmerited grace and unfettered faith and ultimately both are a gift from God. What happens next is that Jesus moves from the abstract to the concrete. He meets a man a flesh and blood example who seems to have it all faith, sacrifice, righteousness but in reality he does not have unmerited grace and unfettered faith. Look with me at Luke 18:18: And a ruler asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Mark tells us that he was a very wealthy man. Matthew and Luke tell us more. 6

7 Matthew tells us that he was a young man and Luke informs us that he was a ruler. This title of ruler probably refers to his position in the local synagogue. In other words this man who arrived in front of Jesus had it all. He was young, wealthy, influential and respected in his community. He is usually known by the title of the rich young ruler. What is surprising is that this man who is a leader in the religious community realised that he lacked eternal life. Being an educated, well-schooled Jew he would have known all of the conventional Jewish wisdom regarding salvation. Obey the law and the teachings of the law and salvation is yours. What s more, as we will see, this young man had kept the law about as well as was humanly possible. Yet, despite his upbringing and training, he still lacked salvation and he knew he lacked it. How did he know this? Most likely as he read through the Old Testament Scriptures speaking of salvation, he realised that he did not have the Spirit-breathed joy, love and desire for God that the Word indicate accompanies salvation: He might have read passages like Psalm 42:1-2: As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. He knew than he didn t desire God beyond everything. This man may have been a wealthy leader in the synagogue, but his life indicated a lack of salvation. This shows real insight. Just as amazing as the fact that he realised his spiritual lack is how he sought to remedy it. He came up to Jesus. Don t gloss over this fact. Jesus was reviled by the authorities of Israel. He was seen as a heretic, a deceiver and a threat. They wanted to kill Him. But, this man came to Christ. Not only did He come to Him, but he knelt before Him and addressed Him as Good Teacher. To kneel before someone was to acknowledge the fact that they are superior in wisdom and authority. Also, he addressed Christ as Teacher. This was a formal term of address to a respected Jewish teacher. To help you understand the significance of this, consider the fact that the Scribes were known as the teachers of Israel. They would never follow the teaching of another, especially someone who had not been trained in the Rabbinic schools. This man who came to Jesus was a leader in the synagogue, possibly a Scribe himself. So, for him to come to a Galilean carpenter and address him as Teacher shows an amazing 7

8 humility. This man must have heard Jesus teach and seen His miracles. He knew that this One had the answers he was seeking. Note as well that he came publicly. He came in front of many witnesses to ask for the way of salvation. Nicodemus also came, but he came privately and under the cover of night. This man was so desperate he didn t care who saw him pleading with Christ for the way of life. For someone in His position to come and humble himself publicly was an enormous step. He was saying that the leaders of Israel did not hold the answer to the most important questions of all. He was admitting that Christ had the answers. In fact, this young man sacrificed more than most of us ever will. He was burning his bridges. He could not continue on as a leader in the synagogue. His life would never be the same. He was willing to sacrifice his authority and position in the hierarchy of Israel. In other words, here is a hot evangelistic prospect. How many people have come up to you begging to be told the way to eternal life? How many have come prepared to sacrifice their position in society to become a Christian? I have never met someone I would consider as prepared for the gospel. Most evangelism courses are designed purely to bring someone to this point of desiring salvation. Almost every course I know of would tell you that you have succeeded at this point. Just tell him to pray a prayer. To bring Jesus into his heart. To trust in the cross of Christ. Then send out the prayer letter letting everyone know that another sinner came to the Lord through your ministry. But look at the response of Jesus. It was radically different to what any evangelist I know I would do. Verses 19-20: 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. Far from clinching the deal, Jesus is putting up barriers to this man coming into the Kingdom. Jesus didn t just want another conversion notch in His belt. He didn t want a report in the Galilee Times of the number of decisions made in the Perean Crusade. Most evangelism classes would have flunked Jesus. He was about to let a hot prospect off the hook. But Jesus knows that this man wants to merit some grace and is not willing to walk by faith. 8

9 Christ begins by correcting this man s understanding of who he is addressing. Look at the words this man used: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He addressed Christ as Good Teacher. Jesus responded with: Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. Jesus is making sure this man knows who he is addressing. You call me good but remember only God is good. Do you realise that I am God? This is one of the clearest places where Christ makes His claim of equality with God. But there is another problem this young man wants to do something to earn eternal life. He is confused he lives a very good life but still it is not enough. He comes to Jesus for advice. Jesus responds with what seems at first an odd statement. Keep the Law. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother. Is this good theology? How many evangelists do you know who would do this? When someone wants to know how to be saved, do you tell them to keep the Law? Yes you do! What is the purpose of the Law? In Galatians 3:24 Paul reminds us that the Law was a tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. Jesus wants to see if this man understands his need of unmerited grace. It is useless to present the gospel to someone unless they realise they are sinners who are incapable of helping themselves. This man failed to grasp his hopeless condition. Like all men, the young ruler was a sinner. And as a sinner he could never please God. There was nothing he could do that would merit eternal salvation. He should have known this. Psalm 14:3 is crystal clear: There is no one who does good, not even one. This young man thought of goodness as a comparative term. He was good in comparison to others. He helped more old ladies across the road. He obeyed his parents better. He didn t cheat on his taxes. If anyone could earn the right to eternal life, he could. If he thought that he could do something to earn eternal life, then Christ would show him that he could not. 9

10 You know the commandments In other words keep the Law. If he kept the Law perfectly he would earn eternal life. He would be justified if he kept the Law. This man gives a staggering answer in verse 21: And he said, All these I have kept from my youth. What a display of self-deception. No one can keep the Law. But as far as he was concerned, he had kept the Law! Matthew records his words as: All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking? I ve done that. Is that all you have to offer? This man was a ruler of the synagogue. He knew the teachings of the Pharisees. In his mind he had kept the Law. He had not murdered, raped, committed adultery or stolen anything. No one could bring an accusation against him in a court that would stand. The problem is that he had totally missed the inward purpose of the law. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows the reality of what it means to keep the Law. While he had not committed adultery, he had looked on a woman to lust after her. He might not have murdered anyone, but he had hated. Like every man ever born, he had broken the law at every point. He stood condemned and damned. Psalm 143:2 makes this perfectly clear: For in Your sight no man living is righteous. This man was deceived. He failed to realise his wicked sinful heart. He failed to recognise his absolute moral bankruptcy before God. He failed to realise his inability to please God. He did not understand his need of unmerited grace. He wanted to merit it what must I do? In short he failed to realise his need of a Saviour. If he could do it himself, who needs saving? It is only as a man reaches the point of utter helplessness, when he realises his destitute state before God that he is in a position to cry out for salvation. This man wanted to do it himself. This man did not understand his moral bankruptcy so Jesus shows him one area his life is deficient. Verse 22: 10

11 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. Here Jesus confronts both the concept of grace and faith. This young man does not keep all the Law money is a god. He does not understand that he is but a steward of God s resources. So much of the Law speaks about helping widows and orphans ministering to the poor. But this man thought tithing fulfilled his whole obligation to the Law. And this same comment exposes his lack of faith. He had come to the one place salvation can be found but his faith only extended so far. He would not walk away from everything and trust God alone. He did not have the childlike unfettered faith that God would supply all his needs. His faith was in his bank account what it could buy. Remember, the disciples had walked away from jobs and family everything trusting Jesus. When Jesus sent them out in Luke 9 He told them to Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. They had to walk by faith. This young man was willing to sacrifice a lot. He was willing to give up his position of leadership in the synagogue, his authority over the people and his place in society. Where he drew the line was over his possessions. That is why Christ told him to go and sell all he possessed, and give it to the poor. That was the thing that stopped him following Christ. That was what stopped him from storing up treasure in heaven. Verse 23: But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. He had to decide would his faith be in God or in money. When you are poor that decision is still hard but nowhere near as hard when you are extremely rich. 11

12 It is almost as if this man was saying, Lord ask anything of me, anything but not that. The Scriptures list many commands of those who would choose to follow Christ. Forsake family and friends. Lay down your life. Give all your possessions to the poor. These are not absolutes. But, what they do is to show the heart of a true disciple. A true disciple would willingly and cheerfully forsake anything to have God. Nothing else matters. I can t help comparing this man s response to that of Zaccheus. Without any prompting, Zaccheus said: Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. Those who are Christ s will make whatever sacrifice is necessary for the sake of the Kingdom but they know it is not really a sacrifice. In Philippians 1:21, Paul proclaimed the heart of Christianity in nine words: TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN. This is the gospel brothers and sisters. Don t think you can give God most things. For some of us, giving up our lives would be OK. But, don t touch my family. For others, the area we won t give up is similar to the rich young ruler. Don t touch my stuff. Don t make me poor. The cost is everything we walk by faith. An earnest seeker. A man willing to pay a huge cost a cost more than most of us have paid. A man who would be an elder or deacon today in almost any church. But, a man not willing to pay the full cost everything. We never hear of this man again. Verses 24-25: 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. The more stuff you have in this world the harder it is to trust Jesus instead of stuff. If you are talented, good job, good bank account it is easy to trust that and hard to trust Christ. We think we merit grace. We default to trusting stuff. But salvation is by unmerited grace through unfettered faith. 12

13 Rich men and women can be saved Abraham, Job, David, Joseph of Arimathea but they made the difficult choice to trust in God not riches. The more you have the harder it is. How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God! The word means exceedingly difficult. Nearly impossible. So what is so deadly about a few coins or a little plastic note? Actually, nothing. The deadliness comes when we love it, when our hearts are captivated by it. In 1 Timothy 6:10, Paul clarifies this by saying: For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang. Money is no more than a representation of human power and resources. Money represents independence from God and self reliance. Who needs to ask God for their daily bread when the fridge is full and the bank account is healthy? Who needs to trust God for the future when the superannuation account and the insurance policies cover every exigency? As stewards, we have a responsibility to use the resources entrusted to us for God and His Kingdom. Any wealth we have is not ours, it is God s. Any time we think of anything we have as ours not God s then we have placed a barrier between ourselves and the Lord. There is something stopping us from being totally given over to the Lord. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and money. 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 was the largest beast of burden known to the Jews. The eye of a needle was the small opening on the end of a sewing needle. How impossible is it to pass a camel through the eye of a needle? Absolutely impossible! And that is the point. Camels don t fit through needles. In the same way, it is not just difficult for a rich man or indeed any man to get to heaven, humanly it is impossible. It is impossible for a rich man, indeed, it is impossible for any man to enter the Kingdom of God. No one will choose God over this world. Man is lost and absolutely incapable of loving God. He will not forfeit the pitiful baubles of this world to receive the riches of eternity. Camels will glide through the eye of a needle long before any man will choose God over this world. Verse 26: 13

14 Those who heard it said, Then who can be saved? OK, if it is impossible for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle, and camels will fit through the eye of a needle easier than a man will enter the Kingdom then who can be saved? Can anyone ever enter the Kingdom of heaven? What a tremendous question? Here is the essence of the gospel. Here is the climax of all Scripture. Who can be saved? Look at the way Jesus answers this question. Verse 27: But he said, What is impossible with men is possible with God. Salvation is impossible, absolutely impossible with man. No man can merit salvation. The Pharisee in the parable couldn t do it the rich young ruler couldn t do it but God will give the gift of unmerited grace. No one can have childlike faith. You can t just conjure up such faith but God will give the gift of unfettered faith. He opens our eyes we see the truth. He allows men to trust Him and stake their lives on His word and believe every syllable of Scripture. What man cannot and will not do God can and will do. Without doubt the disciples sat listening to Christ. They saw a devout, righteous man willing to sacrifice much fail to enter the kingdom and wondered at their own salvation. They had realised they were sinners. They had walked away from everything. They needed to know did they have unmerited grace and unfettered faith? Peter was never one to die wondering. See, we have left our homes and followed You. Matthew tells us that he added, What then will there be for us? Jesus tells them. Verses 29-30: 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. Some men and women do go through the eye of the needle. They sacrifice much but it is worth it. 14

15 Sometimes we look at the cost and it can be a heavy cost. Loss of loved ones, loss of homes, even martyrdom. But it is worth it. To live is Christ, to die is gain. We gain Christ, we gain heaven we gain everything. Sometimes we look at the cost but the reality is that we should look at the gain. On December 4, 1857, David Livingstone, the great pioneer missionary to Africa, made a stirring appeal to the students of Cambridge University. There he made these comments: For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People will talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. 1 To live is Christ to die is gain. We enter the kingdom by unmerited grace through unfettered faith and they we gain everything. This is our gospel. This is our life. 1 Cited in John Piper, Desiring God, (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1986), pp