Does Jesus Have Something Against Wealth?

I invite you, excuse me, to turn your Bible to the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 18 will be reading from verses 18 through 30 this morning. If you don't have a Bible, please find the one that's in the pew in front of you and you'll find on page 915. Luke chapter 18 verses 18 through 30. A certain ruler asks him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no one is good except God alone. You know the commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother. All these things, I've kept since I was a boy, he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, you still lack one thing to have and give it to him, follow me. When he heard this, he became very sad because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the kingdom of God. So who heard this asked, who then can be saved? Jesus replied, what is impossible with men is possible with God. Peter said to him, we have left all we had to follow you. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come eternal life. Here is the reading of God's Word, may you that to feed us this morning to feed our souls as we continue our worship. Let's return to the passage that we read with Mark just a few moments ago to Luke chapter 18, beginning with 18th verse. We studied this Jesus with this young man, wealthy young man, a ruler. We know from the other gospels that he was young, we know from this gospel he was wealthy in the ruler. This encounter can really needs to be divided into two parts. The first part we looked at last week. We come now to the last part of this where Jesus said something about wealth and its effect on folks like us. The two messages last week and this week are inextricably intertwined there together but each one will stand by itself. If you were here last week, you are going to tie a lot of this message into what was said last week. If you weren't here, get a tape and listen to it. It will help you in understanding this entire passage. Before we look at this, Luke 18, beginning with verse 18, let's pray and ask the Lord Jesus who was there with that young man who is here with us this morning. Let's ask him to teach us, let's pray. Our Father, we have all come here this morning with different needs, different emotions, different backgrounds. Our Father, there's some pressure in some of our lives that's almost unbearable. There's joy in other lives that cannot be kept inside. Our Father, there's anxiety, there's depression. There's worry, our Father there is wonder. We pray in these next few minutes that you would speak to each one of us where we are, Father. I can't speak. Stay with me, Paul said he could not speak so it would make any difference. He said that preaching was a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit, not of a man's oratory ability, not of a man's theology. It would be a demonstration of the power of your Spirit. Father, once more, we fall upon your grace and we pray that you will continue to change us in our lives as you have. We're not the same people we were. Father, we pray that change will continue, but Father, we pray that some of us will be changed for the first time in His name and for His glory. Amen. Jesus has something against wealth. CS Lewis said this. Listen to this. Quote. There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him, we've never meant it to come to that, we're still. Supposing He had found us. So it is a sort of Rubicon. One goes across or not. But if one does go across, there's no security against what will happen in Quote. That is what happened to this wealthy young man. He was dabbling in religion, then he stumbled across Jesus. Jesus, He had found Jesus, or wasn't that He had been found. He was on unsaid. Maybe if He had not encountered Him, He asked the right. What must I do? Sell your summer house. Sell it all, give it away to the poor, and you come and follow me. You want to find that Jesus? You want to find Him? Lewis said there is no security against what will happen when you do. Why did Jesus say that to this particular man? Because money was this man's God. He loved money. He loved what it bought. He loved independence that it gave Him. He loved the power that it gave Him. He loved the position that it gave Him. He loved the pleasure that it gave Him. Jesus did to Him what He does to all of us. He took what was first in that man's life. What was God in that man's life? And Jesus stood beside it and said, Give away your money. Put me in its place. Or keep your money. And I will leave. He does that to all of us. He chooses whatever it is in our lives. That's first. Remember in Romans 125, God said we have changed the truth of God for a lie. We have worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. It strikes right at the heart of our sinfulness. The first commandment is, I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me. And so Jesus comes and He chooses what is the main God in our lives. That which we made idle, an island. And He stands beside it and He says choose at that element in this encounter. But there's more in its justice and sterbing. Most of us in this room are as wealthy as that man was. Looking at what we have and own in the 21st century were just as wealthy. Jesus said to disciples, Is this man walked away? It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for ready to enter the kingdom of God. And most of us read that and we don't take it seriously. Thanks this ought to bother us up in sleep. Jesus said he was talking about us. He was looking at us in our will, in our money. And he was saying, It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for John Sartel to enter the kingdom. Can we be saved? Can we be saved in spite of our wealth? Does Jesus have something against wealth? Let's see what this passage says. First I want you to see a universal impossibility. Look at verse 26. Those who heard this ask, Who the end can be saved? Jesus replied, What is impossible with me and is possible with God. They saw the disciples saw the man's morality. They saw a man with high standards and obviously blessed of God with wealth. And as they saw him walk away, a moral man, a good man, blessed of God, they said, If this man is not saved, who can be? Jesus said, This is not unusual. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man to come into the kingdom. Is Jesus saying that is possible for me and without wealth to be saved? But it's impossible for me and with wealth to be saved. Is that what he was saying? Was Jesus saying it's harder for the omnipotent God to say rich people than it is for him to say poor people? Is that what he was saying now? That's not only terrible theology, that's ridiculous theology. The disciples were stunned when they heard Jesus say, This is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. They had been taught by the rabbis. The children, they had been taught by the rabbis that wealth was a sign of God's blessing. In fact, they had been taught if you keep the commandments as this ruler said he had since a child. If you keep the commandments and if you're faithful to God, automatically that kind of living will lead you to wealth. Wellth was a natural result of obedience the rabbis said. So wealth, especially when the man had tried to be obedient as this man had, was a strong indication of his salvation. Jesus said just the opposite. Wellth poses a huge threat to a person's salvation. The disciples were astounded. Here was a wonderfully moral man. Remember he had kept the commandments since he was a boy. He had been catechized. The sign of God's blessing rested on him. God had rewarded his obedience with wealth. So they said if this man can't be saved, who can be? It was then that Jesus said, What is impossible with men? But Jesus was saying it is impossible for anyone, for anyone to be saved. No man can be good enough. No amount of good deeds can save a man. No amount of money can buy his salvation. It's impossible. That's the message of scripture, is it not? Man is helplessly and hopelessly lost. Rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, educated, uneducated, it doesn't matter. It's impossible to be saved. Look at it, the man said, Get this in your mind. You'll not understand this passage until you understand this. They said who can be saved? And Jesus said, You're right, it's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. To understand this passage, you must grasp that is impossible for anyone to save himself. Being poor, the man less lost. Being rich does not make him more lost. Turn with me to Romans 3, 19. The third chapter of Romans, and the first part of Romans, Paul laying down this great theology, talks about man the sinner. He goes all over the world proving that every man, young and old, rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, is sinful from the inside out. Look at verse 19, he's beginning to summarize and he says this. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth, not some mouse, not the Gentile mouse, not the poor mouse, not the rich mouse, that every mouth may be silenced in the whole world be held accountable to God. Therefore, no one, no one will be declared guilty. I love that phrase, that every mouth may be silenced. A light way, a biblical way of saying, shut up. There's no excuses. No one is trying to talk and justify himself. The whole world is silent. There's nothing to say. Except, helpless, we're hopeless. The situation is impossible. Have you ever looked at someone and thought, maybe you've even said, that fellow cannot be saved. I cannot imagine him in the kingdom. I thought that about some of you.

You know, if you thought that, if I thought that, then I don't understand. If you thought that, you don't understand. You don't understand the gospel. The angels in heaven, do you know what they're thinking about you this morning? Do you know what they thought about you when you were born? Do you know what the angels are thinking? They're thinking. It is impossible that that person would be in the kingdom. And the angels would say that about give. They'd just say that about me. They'd just say that about Billy Graham. They'd just say that about John the Baptist. You see, in this passage, Jesus is not saying just that it's, or it's impossible just for the rich to be saved. He's saying it's impossible for anyone. You know, people, I would give anything. I would love to be able to preach so that helpless and hopeless people cried out to God to be saved. Again, in this congregation, sitting here this morning said, might as well come to you. Here in Whitfield's day, Whitfield was a great, great reform preacher. People came to the tens of thousands during preach. Ben Franken loved to hear Whitfield preach. There was a famous actor in England in Whitfield's day. In the actor, he was talking about Whitfield. And he said, I just wish I could say the word, therefore, like Whitfield says it. It was a great author. He was preaching in a seaport, in a church, of course, where there were many sailors. And to relate to them, he was describing a shipwreck. He was describing a ship going down. And he was describing it so terribly. There's such a terrible thing, an awful thing. And he lingered and he kept speaking about the ship going down, the ship going down. Of course, he was comparing it to sinners. He was using the illustration to say, that's how we are. And it became so real. And the situation became so impossible. That suddenly sailors stood up in the congregation and said, to the oars, me in, to the oars, I will all perish. I love that. They were making fun of it. I love that. I could preach like that. Jonathan Edwards preached in New England. Folks, do you think it's hard to listen to me? Jonathan Edwards read his sermons. He read them in a monotone voice, sometimes because he couldn't see the small writing. He would hold it up like this and read it. And he read it for an hour, or for an hour and a half. He was not preaching to the country bumpkins. He was preaching them and indicated. And do you know, there was a time when he, this reading his sermons in this monotone voice and people cried out in their pears. God hath mercy on us. And people were seen holding onto their pears, holding on. Because they feared they were slipping away in the judgment. But it wasn't the oratory of Whitfield. And it wasn't the brilliance of Edwards. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that came and convicted people that they were in impossible situations. When do people cry out to be saved physically? It's when they know that it's impossible to be saved. If someone thinks they can swim to shore themselves, they will not cry out. If someone has a rap that they can get in or paddle. So they can paddle. But if someone has no rap and no paddle and cannot swim, they will cry out why? Because salvation is utterly impossible. The disciples said, it can be saved. And Jesus said, you are finally understanding. It's not the obedience and it's not the money. It's not of yourselves. It is impossible. All of you. It's impossible. Look at this and see a universal impossibility. Secondly, see a fatal deception. Look at verse 24. Jesus looked at him and said, how hard it is for the rich thing of the kingdom of God. Indeed, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus was using a common idiom in his day. When someone, when the Persians wanted to say something is utterly, ridiculously impossible, they would say, it's easier for an elephant to go through the eye of the needle. There it is for this to be done. Some have tried to lessen the ridiculous nature of this illustration. And they said, well, Jesus wasn't talking about the eye of a sewing needle. He was saying the eye of the needle was a city gate. The city gates were narrow in some places so the enemy could not come through but one at a time or two at a time. And they said, Jesus was saying, it's easier for the camel to go through the city gate laden with the rich man's wealth than it is for a rich man to be safe. People, that's not what was being said. They didn't know from reading those accounts and from reading secular writers that they met the eye of an actual sewing needle. They were not trying to, Jesus was not saying, this is somewhat difficult. He was saying, now, it's impossible. He was saying, wealth places are man in great, great peril. So why did Jesus say that wealth placed a lost man and even greater? Because wealth usually brings, usually brings a fatal deception. Well, tells the man that he's independent. Well, tells the man he's not dependent on his job. He's not accountable to others. He does not worry about being late for work. He doesn't worry about insulting others. He's not dependent on them. They're dependent on him. People come to him for money. He doesn't go to them for money. Well, tells the man that he's powerful. There's power over people and power over situations. And what other requirements for entering the kingdom? Not that you'd be great enough, that you'd be dig enough, that you'd be powerful enough, that you'd be good enough. The requirements for getting in the kingdom is that you'd be small enough. Remember, this is coming right on the heels. The disciple of that encounter with the children. Here came the parents with their little babies to have Jesus bless them. Disciples, they didn't have time for you. And Jesus said, Peter and John, if you grow up and become like you to be saved to get in the kingdom, it's that you must get like those babies to get in the kingdom. What did it mean, that you must become helpless, that you must become defenseless, that you must become small enough? Well, this is not Tisha, man. He's dependent and helpless, does it? Steve Brown speaks of a man who visited the Kiva-Skein Presbyterian Church when he was a pastor there. The man was a banker, an officer in a local bank, very wealthy. The man came with some friends one Sunday for baptism or something of that nature. And he was fascinated by what Steve Brown said about Christ. He had always thought that Christ and Christianity was for weak people, for people to use as a crutch. But he was fascinated with what Brown said. And so he came back and he listened weak after a week, after a week he did this for several months. One day he called Steve at his office and said, I want you to come have lunch with me in my office. It was a plush office, hastily, civilly appointed. And during the lunch, the man came to the issue. He said, Steve, I've heard you talk about becoming a Christian. I've listened to you talk about Christ for several months now. If you had your way, I would already be a Christian. He said, I want to ask you a question, why should I become a Christian? I have a good marriage. My children are well adjusted in enjoying the best schools. I have a job. I have a beautiful house. I have more money than I'll ever need. I can travel anywhere in the world. He said, I want you to tell me why I need Jesus. You know what? As I heard that story, I said, you know, most people would be stumped by that question. Most people would know how to answer someone. I said, I have everything. Why do I need Jesus? What was this man saying? This man was saying, he had been fatally deceived. A fatal deception. Turn with me to Psalm 49. You want to know how to answer someone? Maybe you just don't want to. You can't even say the words. Well, I'll tell you just tell him to turn to Psalm 49 the next time. Everyone turned to it. Find it. It's in the middle of your Bible. Psalm 49. You see, this was not something new invented by Jesus. It was all through the Old Testament. God had been saying it since the beginning. Psalm 49. I'm just going to read it. You follow along with me. Listen to the words that doesn't need explanation. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen all who live in this world. Psalm 49 verse 2. Both high and low. Rich and poor like. My mouth will speak words of wisdom. The utterance from my heart will give understanding. I shall turn my ear to a proverb. With the harp I'll expound my riddle. Why should I fear when evil days come? When wicked deceivers surround me. Those who trust in their wealth. And both great riches. Now look, verse 7. No man can redeem the life of another. Or give to God a ransom for him. The ransom for a life is costly. No payment is ever enough that he should live on forever. And not CDK. Read that again. The ransom of a life is costly. No payment is ever enough that he should live on forever. And not CDK. For all can see that wise men die. The foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their tomb for remain like. Their tomb for remain. Their houses forever. Their dwellings for endless generations. Though they had name. Lands after themselves. They named lands after themselves. But they're dead and inexperienced. He's like the beast that perish. This is the best. The rich person. The wealthy person is as needy as a force person on earth. There's dependent as a most dependent person on earth. There are dying. They are helpless. Jesus said in another way. In Revelation 317. These are the words of Jesus Christ as he spiked. To the people in one of his churches. He said, You say I am rich, have acquired wealth, and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, and pitiful, and poor, and blind, and naked. Jesus was saying your money. The Psalmist was saying your money has been a part of a fatal deception. You think you're independent. You think you're powerful. You trust in yourself. And you're really wretched, and pitiful, and poor, and blind, and naked. Look at this passage, and you say a universal impossibility. You said a fatal deception. Thirdly, you see two clerical miscalculations. Look at verse 22. Two accounting miscalculations. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still like one thing. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Now skip down to verse 28. Peter said to him, We have left all we, we have left all we had to follow you. Jesus. I tell you the truth, Jesus said. No one who's left home, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life. Look at that. The wealthy man heard what Jesus said, and responded by thinking, Calls too much. The kingdom calls too much. It's too much for me to give up. Now in a way, Peter, listen to me. In a way, Peter thought just like the wealthy man. The wealthy man was looking at his... The kingdom calls too much. Peter said, Hey, Jesus, we gave up everything. We had to follow you. Jesus, I love this answer. He said, Peter, I don't want to hear it. How many times do you say at the Peter? Peter, I don't want to hear it. You made the deal of a lifetime, Peter. The rich young man who kept his wealth, missed the deal of a lifetime. He traded away truth for delusion. He traded away prayer for what he and his money could do. He traded away Christ for money. He traded away heaven to keep his earthly dwellings. He traded away God's good promises for what his money could buy. You see, he said, I'm going to hold onto this. The kingdom calls too much. And Peter, looking at his wealth and what he had given up, said, look how much they were looking at the same thing. They were looking at all... Man was looking at all of that. Peter was looking at all he had given up. It was the same perspective. It was supposed to be a good deal maker. He was wealthy. You remember, he saw on the old testimony he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This man made a similar deal. It depends on where you're looking. This man was looking what he had to give up. Peter was looking at what he had given up. Paul got it right. In Philippians 3, 7 and 8, we read it a couple of weeks ago. I think we even read it last week. Don't turn to it. Just listen as I read it. This is what Paul said. But whatever was to my prophet, whatever was gained to me, whatever I earned, whatever I had, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I've lost all things. I can say, no one of the time I gained Christ. Did he really think his relationship with his parents was rubbish? His relationship with his children was rubbish? Did he really think $10,000? No. He wasn't rubbish. But he was saying, in comparison to Christ, I've made the deal of a lifetime. Yeah, I gave it all up. But it was the deal of a lifetime. The surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. Two, huge miscalculations. Let me tell you, folks, if you're looking at what you have, if you're focusing on that and what you have to give up, you'll miss it. What did Paul do? How did he get it right? He just looked at Jesus. He said, won't you look at Jesus? Won't you see what he has and what he brings? Everything else is nothing. It's the deal of a lifetime. John Newton was a rough womanizing sailor with a fountain. He had an appetite for rotten living. He had gone to see his little boy. He had served on slave ships. He had been a slave himself, been a slave himself some of that time. Then he had risen and raken. He ended up being captain of his own slave ship on March 1748, in a storm in the Atlantic. The man who had become an atheist, John Newton had actually become an atheist, found himself in the middle of a storm that was breaking his ship apart. He was lashed to the helm. He knew it was over, and he found himself crying out to God for mercy. He was actually crying. God have mercy on me. He figured to say, God couldn't save me. It's impossible. I'm too much of a ratch. Well, God did save him. He saved him then that night. He made his way back to England. He was a captain for a couple of more years, and then he couldn't keep quiet about Jesus Christ. He had to be in the puppet, and he became a minister of the gospel. He lived a life preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and was very, very active in ending slavery, and slave trade in England. He preached. He preached well-passed retirement. What you don't want me to do. He preached. When he shouldn't have been preaching, he preached to even have an assistant with him in the puppet that stood there with him, because he was almost blind. His mind was going, and he spoke in whisper. Once, while delivering his message, he said, Jesus Christ is precious. His helper, his assistant whispered to him. Dr. Newton, you've already said that twice, and Newton turned to his helper, and he said, yes, I've said it twice, and I'll say it again, and I will keep saying it. Jesus Christ, the rich young ruler was looking at his wealth. It was too much to give up. Peter looked at his past life. Look how much we've given up! And Paul and John Newton would have said to the rich young ruler in the painter, you're looking in the wrong direction in his Jesus. No exception. Two clerical miscalculations, and fourthly, a revealing response. Look at verse 23. When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Now hold on, we're at the end. The man did what he wanted today. He held on to his millions, he kept his money, he kept his house, he kept his yacht, he kept his country club membership, he kept his Mercedes, forced Jag and BMW, he kept his summer house, he had heard what Jesus said, and he said, you know, I've been taught since I was a child to recognize a good deal from a bad deal. That's one of the reasons I'm wealthy, and this is a bad deal. Jesus, I've heard what you have to say, and I will not give up all I have. Jesus, even if it means I can't follow you, I'll not make myself poor. What do you think you would think he thought? Boy, that's a great deal, isn't it? You would think he'd say, I came out to win her in this one. The Bible says, he was sad. His response tells us that even though he kept his money and walked away, he never, he never digged down yet. He had missed it. Put yourself in the position of that man right now. Put yourself in the position of that man. Jesus stands in front of you today, and he says, okay. I'm going to stay next to your idol and you choose. That relationship, whatever it is, whatever it is in your life, the God's near. Jesus says, choose. Give them out. Give them out. Either the idols leave or I leave. Now, you say, I don't think I need to. You know, my works are sufficient. I'm a good person. And I'm going to give them out. Give them out. Follow them. I met Jesus today and I turned him down. I held on to my dignity. I didn't bow at that silly cross. I held on to my life. I'm the captain of my soul. You know, I don't think you walk out of your thrill. I really died. I think that this is a very revealing response. You see, he knew, and he knew. You know, deep, deep downside that you're missing the deal of a lifetime. Jesus doesn't have anything against your wealth. He's just telling you about a treasure that no amount of money can buy. Isn't that odd? It's free. It's free. But you've got to give up everything to get it.