Luke 18:15-43

Discussion Questions

• Do you identify more with the rich young ruler clinging to control or the blind beggar crying out in desperation?
• What would change in your life this week if you were to have a more “childlike” faith?
• Are there any “shiny objects in the hole” you are unwilling to release that are hindering your walk with Christ?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at TVC, and this Sunday is no different. If you would like a copy of a Bible, feel free to raise your hand, and someone will come around to hand one out to you. Also, it’s worth noting, if you don’t own a copy of a Bible, please feel free to take one of these home with you as a gift from us to you this morning. Today we’re continuing our study in The Gospel of Luke and finishing chapter 18, and the title of my message is, “Entering the Kingdom Like a Child.”

Back in 1962, in the small, cool town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, the local council was cleaning up a landfill in an abandoned strip mine just outside of town. At the time, it was standard practice to simply light the trash on fire, let it burn out, and clear the ashes. It was business as usual, and no one thought twice about it. But what they didn’t realize was that the landfill sat directly above a network of underground coal mines. So, when the fire was set, it ignited a coal seam that connected to a much larger system running underneath the town, and the fire began to grow far beyond the reaches of the landfill. Attempts were made to put it out, digging trenches, pumping in water, even sealing it with concrete, but nothing worked. The fire kept spreading underground, feeding on the rich deposits of coal that were there. And despite multiple serious efforts, the fire proved too deep and unpredictable to contain, so they gave up fighting it and moved on with life. And maybe they thought, like all fires, it would eventually burn out.

But over the next several years, signs began to appear that the fire still had not gone out. Smoke seeped through cracks in the ground. The air smelled of sulfur. The earth grew strangely warm in certain spots. Carbon monoxide leaked into homes, roads buckled, trees withered. One gas station owner checked his underground fuel tanks and found they had nearly reached boiling temperatures. And then in 1981, nearly 20 years after the fire had started, a national news story made headlines when a steam-filled sinkhole opened up in a family’s backyard and almost proved to be fatal to one of the members of the family. By 1990, the state of Pennsylvania officially condemned the town and urged residents to relocate. And today, Centralia is nearly empty. I looked it up. I think there’s about five residents that still live there. But, get this, the fire beneath the surface is still burning and is expected to keep burning for the next 250 years!

Now, there’s a lot of things that I find wildly interesting about this story, but what struck me was how everything looked normal on the surface for so many years, even though destruction was steadily building underground. Because the fire was out of sight and out of mind, it was ignored. And that decision eventually made the town dangerous and unlivable. And I wonder if that’s an accurate picture of some of our lives here today. On the surface, we appear fine, polite, productive, put together, successful. When people ask us how we’re doing, we tell them, “I’ve never been better.” But underneath the surface, where nobody can see, there’s a fire that’s raging in us. Perhaps it’s a deep weariness. Maybe it’s pride and envy, or undealt-with with shame and guilt, or a quiet resentment of bitterness and unforgiveness that you’ve harbored for years.

We know the fire is there, and yet we try our best to pretend it’s not and just focus on other things. And you may think that’s a good idea because you think like they thought, “Well, the fire will just burn out over time.” The way we deal with our problems is just “eventually they’ll go away,” right? But if left unaddressed, it won’t die down. It will only grow. And eventually, it can begin to seep into the surface of our lives and wreak havoc on our hearts. In today’s text, we are going to meet two very different people who have an encounter with Jesus. Both of them have a need that on the surface looks very normal, but underneath what they ask, there is something much bigger going on than meets the eye. And we are going to see how Jesus lovingly goes beneath the surface of these interactions to address the true need that is before Him and how He does this, how He loves these two men He encounters today, may come to a surprise to us.

So, let’s go ahead and read the passage together, but before we do, let’s go ahead and pray: Jesus, we come before You this morning in need of help. Father, in order to understand what we’re going to read and in order to apply what we learn, Jesus, that is nothing but a gift of the Holy Spirit. So, we ask that You would meet us in this place. God, be with us. I pray for hearts to be open and receptive to the Gospel today. God, that You would be tilling the soil so that the seed of the Word may grow fruit one hundred-fold. Lord, in all the things we don’t even know what to ask for, we trust You with them today. Be with us. In Your name I pray, amen.

So, starting in Luke 18, we’re going to read verses 15 through 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.’” We’re going to pause right there. After Jesus finished His parable on the Pharisee and the tax collector, that Pastor Jim taught us last week, we are told that people among the crowd begin to bring their children to Jesus. As they hear about all that Jesus is doing for people, these parents want their kids to be blessed by Jesus. And as parents, isn’t that what we all really want for our children?

I mean, since having Calvin seven months ago, I can honestly say that I have never prayed harder for any individual in my entire life. There have been nights before putting him to bed, Emily and I have been pleading to the Lord with tears in our eyes, asking Him to give Calvin faith at a young age. I want Calvin to have the most boring testimony you’ve ever heard in your entire life. That’s what I want for him. I want his story to be one where all he remembers is the gift of faith from a young age. That’s what I want for him. So, reading about parents bringing their children to Jesus in the hopes of being blessed by Him is a desire I can relate to. I don’t find this surprising at all, but what I do find surprising is the opposition they face when trying to get to Jesus.

We would maybe expect the Pharisees to be ready to pounce and say any notable religious teacher would never have time for someone as insignificant as a child. Maybe we could even see the crowds growling in displeasure because they want their turn to be with the rabbi instead of children who probably don’t even understand the significance of the person in front of them. But it isn’t the Pharisees or the crowds who stand in the children’s way. It’s the disciples. We are told that they rebuked them, which means they were turning them away. Now, why would the disciples do something like this? I mean, who would turn away a child from coming to Jesus? Well, it’s important to know that children were not viewed in the first century in the same way as they are viewed in our day and time.

They were often viewed as a nuisance and given very little social capital. So maybe the disciples thought they were doing Jesus a favor by shooing away the kids. They were trying to protect His limits and make sure He was available for what they perceived to be real needs. So, in classic fashion, Jesus takes the moment to teach the disciples about the ways of the Kingdom. And He tells them that they should never hinder the little children from coming to Him. Jesus tells them that children should be welcomed because they are the example of the kind of person that is able to receive and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, if we read this in light of all that Jesus has taught in chapter 18, the models and examples of the Christian life He has given us are a persistent widow who annoys a judge into getting what she wants, a needy tax collector who is weeping in the temple, and now a helpless child. I don’t know about you; these are not the kinds of models I often look to as examples for how to live my life.

But in these examples, we are seeing the nature of the upside down kingdom that Jesus is bringing forth into the world. He doesn’t hold up the disciples as the standard, He holds up the children they were trying to keep away from Him. Instead of saying that children should mimic the faith of adults, He’s saying that adults should mimic the faith of a child. Now, this verse was made crystal clear to me at our baptism celebration two weeks ago as I watched 18 children publicly declare their faith in front of their church family. And before they were baptized, they had the opportunity to share a brief explanation as to why they wanted to be baptized and y’all, what they shared was so beautiful. Most of them said something to this effect: Because Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to die for me, I want to live my life for Him. I want to be baptized because He told me I should be baptized. And as I heard their statements of simple faith, all I could think was “Lord, give me that kind of faith – the Lord told me to do it, so I’m doing it.”

That’s the kind of faith that we want. That’s the kind of faith I want. You see, it’s easy to over-sentimentalize this story as a simple part of the Gospel that tells us that Jesus loves little children, but these few verses have actually far-reaching implications. Because if being like a child is the way we enter and receive the kingdom, then how we understand these verses has dire implications for our lives. If we get them wrong, we may be in danger of missing out on the kingdom altogether. So, what does it mean to receive and enter the kingdom of God like a child? What does it look like to live a life of childlike faith? Well, thankfully we don’t have to guess because with the remaining portion of this chapter, Luke is going to give us two examples of two different people who come to Jesus. One of them will serve as a negative example and the other will serve as a positive example. And as we study these two interactions, I think it would have made clear what it means to receive the Kingdom of Heaven like a child.

So, with that, let’s keep reading to see what happens next. I’m going to pick up in verse 18 and read through verse 34. “And a ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must 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 commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” And he said, ‘All these I have kept from my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘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.’ But when he heard these things, he became very sad for he was extremely rich. 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.’

“Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ But he said, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’ And Peter said, ‘See, we have left our homes and followed you.’ 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.’ And taking the twelve, he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’ But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” We’re going to pause right there.

So, the first man who runs up to Jesus is one of power and notoriety. We are told this man was a rich young ruler, and we know he’s young because of the parallel account of this story in The Gospel of Mark. And when you think about all that this title tells us, it may cause you to think, “Why does this man need Jesus in the first place?” If he’s rich, he already has all the material possessions he could need and if he doesn’t, well, he could just go out and buy them. I mean, what could this man need from a poor carpenter’s child who doesn’t even have a home to live in? If he’s young, it is easy to assume that his health is in order and that he has a long life in front of him. So, he doesn’t come needing healing from Jesus. And if he’s a ruler, he has the power to manipulate any situation to be what he wants it to be. He doesn’t follow orders, he gives them. If there is something bothering him, well, doesn’t he have the authority to change it on his own?

But it would seem in the midst of having everything, it only made him painfully aware of the one thing he was missing. The things that had filled his life had only brought him to the place of seeing that none of these things could give him what he felt like he needed, eternal life. Friends, there is no greater disappointment you will experience in life than when you get everything you ever dreamed of and realize it doesn’t give you the life you’re looking for. And I think in some ways this is what the rich young ruler was experiencing. He had everything, yet he still believed that that wasn’t enough. And to this man’s credit, it would seem that he realized that his problem was a spiritual one that may be able to be fixed by this man named Jesus. And we know this because why else would he run up to Him in desperation and ask, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Now on the surface, this may seem like a good question, but when you stare at it long enough, you will see there is a major issue in this man’s thinking. Because he assumes that there is a way that he can inherit eternal life on his own. He says what must I do? He doesn’t ask Jesus to give him eternal life. He mistakenly asked Jesus for a blueprint so that he can go and do the work on his own. And this is why we begin to see Jesus challenge the man’s question when he says, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus uses the title that this young ruler calls him to bring about a deep spiritual truth that he seems to be missing. That Jesus is not merely a good teacher; He is God in the flesh.

But the second thing this truth highlights is that if nobody is good except God alone, what does that make the ruler standing in front of him? It puts him in the category of one who is not good. Do you see what Jesus is doing? At the very onset of the conversation, he is trying to help this young man understand that he is less put together than he thinks himself to be. And this is why Jesus continues on by asking him if he has kept the back half of the commandments, to which the man says that he has kept every commandment since childhood. Now this seems like the most ridiculous response you could give to Jesus with that question. How can you look Jesus in the eye and say you have kept the law perfectly? It almost feels appalling. We want to scream at this man, “Don’t you know that anger and hate towards a brother is the same thing as murder?”

Doesn’t he know that the command is not only talking about big lies, but little lies too? You’re telling me never once have you dishonored your parents when you were alone. You’ve never once said a harsh word. How could this man walk through life thinking he’s spotless? How could he be so naive? And yet, aren’t we all guilty of having this same attitude from time to time in our lives? How often have we lived at the altar of self-justification and done everything we can to convince others and ourselves that we have no flaws or blemishes? How many times have we felt the sharp edge of God’s Word and rather than sensing the Spirit’s loving conviction in our own hearts, we quickly deflect to thinking about how much worse other people are at following God’s law than I am?

You see, it’s easy to read this and think poorly of the young ruler to judge him, but as is often the case, the Spirit quickly holds up a mirror to make us realize we’re not so different from him after all. So how would Jesus treat this man who seems to lack self-awareness? Well, Jesus doesn’t prod at his response. Instead, he gives him a weighty invitation. He tells the man, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give to the poor and come, follow me.” And it’s in this moment that the man is faced with the ultimate choice that will determine everything else about his life. He came up to Jesus asking for eternal life and Jesus told him how to get it. So, what will he do? Will he keep his wealth and lose Jesus? Or will he keep Jesus and lose his wealth?

And the verse following this invitation to me is one of the saddest in all the scriptures. We are told that the man became extremely sad for he was extremely rich. He counted the costs, and the cost was too high. He would rather be rich with the things of this world and the treasures of Heaven. And at some point, there was a transfer of ownership that the man was unaware of. He no longer owned his possessions. His possessions now owned him. He wanted eternal life, and Jesus told him how to get it, but he left sad because even though he may have perfectly obeyed the five commandments Jesus asked him, he had broken the first one.

He was an idolater who had come to love something more than God, his things. And on the surface, it may seem like he made the economically smart decision but in reality, it was the most disproportionate exchange this man had ever made. He lost out on true treasure and settled for a cheap imitation that would only leave him more empty. And this is not a new thing for the people of God. It’s the same problem issued to Israel in the book of Jeremiah when God says, “For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” This man wanted eternal life, but he wanted it on his own terms. He thought eternal life was something to be added to his possessions and accomplishments and resume, rather than understanding that eternal life isn’t a thing, it’s a person.

In John 17:3, Jesus says this: “…and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Notice that this verse says that Jesus is eternal life. He Himself is the promised land in the Christian life. So, when this man chooses to keep his things rather than follow Jesus, he is leaving the only hope he has for that which he was desperate at the start. But why did Jesus ask him to give away everything before following Him? From what we know, this was the only time He asked someone to do this during His whole earthly ministry. Didn’t Jesus know that this would leave the man disappointed? But it’s important to see that Jesus doesn’t make this man sad for no reason. In the parallel account in The Gospel of Mark, there was a small detail added that I think is beautiful, and I’ll have this verse up on the screen.

This is how the verse reads in The Gospel of Mark: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” Jesus loved this man, so He asked him to sell all that he had. And He tells the man to sell everything because He knows that this man is enslaved and deceived by the idol of wealth. He makes him sad in the hope that the rich young ruler can see himself as he really is, as a man who has broken God’s law and is in need of a savior. And no matter how much he has, he will never be able to earn his way into God’s kingdom on his own terms.

And until he realizes this, he will never come to Jesus as a child in need of grace. He will come on the basis of his own self-righteousness, which will always come up short of the mark. And as Jesus notices the man’s sadness, He turns to the people and tells them that it is difficult for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Not because having wealth is evil, but because wealth can trick you into thinking that you already have all that you need. D.A. Carson commenting on this passage says, “The rich young ruler was not lost because he was rich; he was lost because he trusted his riches more than Christ.” And to illustrate this point, Jesus offers the picture of a camel that is trying to enter through the eye of a needle. And it’s a ridiculous image that is meant to show how hard it is to enter the kingdom on your own. In fact, it’s not just difficult, it’s impossible.

And this is what led the people to ask, “Well, then who can be saved?” They asked this because the thinking in their day was, if someone was rich, that meant they were highly favored by God. So, if those who are favored by God can’t even get in, then what hope does everyone else have? If the A team doesn’t have a shot, then the B team definitely doesn’t stand a chance. But thankfully, we have a God who constantly demonstrates He is more powerful than the impossible situation that is in front of us. Because though it is impossible for us to save ourselves, we have a God who doesn’t leave us in our helpless state. Ephesians 2: 4 through 5 reads, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.” What a reminder we have been given in this text that the only reason we are saved is by grace and grace alone.

But though this grace is free, receiving it may cost us a lot of the comforts we have in this life. Because to receive grace is to receive the new life that has been given to us in Christ. It is to receive our new identity as children of God and live under the rule of the Kingdom of Heaven. To want grace but reject the life of one who has been saved by grace, is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” And here’s how he defined this: Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” To say yes to Jesus is also to say no to finding our comfort and security in anyone or anything else. But to be clear about this, all we will gain in Christ will far outweigh all that we give up for Him. And we know this to be true because of what Jesus tells Peter.

Look again in verses 29 and 30 with me. “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 [Catch this] who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life.” Now, this does not mean that if we give away $50, that we will one day get back $100. It’s not talking about earthly abundance. It’s talking about the abundance of a rich inner life. It means that if you are attempting to find your comfort in possessions that can perish, how much more comfort will you now have that you have a savior who is eternal and unchanging? If you put your identity in another person who is sinful and broken like you, you will constantly be fluctuating because that person is inconsistent, which means who you are will be inconsistent. But if you put your identity in Christ, what could give you more meaning, purpose, and stability in life?

It is true that receiving God’s grace is costly, but it pales in comparison to all you will gain. But in order to receive it, we must first let go of all that we have trusted in and put our hope in Christ. Jim Elliott says it like this, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” But Jesus isn’t just the teacher of this kind of life. He is also the model of it. Because in verses 31 through 34, we see that Jesus Himself will give up all that He has and be beaten, mocked, spit on, and killed. But after three days, he will resurrect triumphantly over the grave. Jesus doesn’t just talk the talk; He walks the walk. His life is marked by giving up all things for the Kingdom of Heaven in order to receive the heavenly inheritance that is promised to all who live this way. And if this is how Jesus lived, why would we think that living as one of his followers would be any different? But even though He lays this out in clear terms, the disciples are still confused and cannot wrap their heads around a Messiah who will achieve glory and victory through suffering rather than brute strength and force.

It’s something they ultimately won’t understand until they see the resurrected Jesus. So now that we’ve seen the example of someone who was unwilling to come to God as a child, let’s keep reading in the story to see who we meet next. So, pick up with me in verse 35: “As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ And he cried out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And he said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”

The next character we meet this morning is a blind man near Jericho, who is begging by the roadside. We don’t know much about this man’s life, but it’s safe to assume that before he met Jesus, this was a normal day for him. In the first century, there were no systems to help those who were disabled. So, in order to get what you needed to live, you were dependent upon the generosity of others. And though it may have seemed like a normal day, it was anything but, because as he sat by the road where he always sat, he could feel the buzz of the crowd. Something was happening and he could sense the excitement and the anticipation of the people. So, he begins to ask, “What’s going on?” And he is told that Jesus is passing by on his way to Jerusalem. He must have heard something about Him because he immediately begins to cry out for Jesus to have mercy on him. Notice the title he uses in his desperation. He calls Jesus the “Son of David,” which was an Old Testament title that was connected to the Messiah. And in an amazing twist of irony, the blind man is the one who truly sees Jesus for who He is before anyone else in Luke 18. The rich young ruler saw Jesus merely as a good teacher. The disciples couldn’t understand that He could conquer through suffering. The crowds only knew Him as Jesus of Nazareth. But this blind man knows something that they all are seeming to miss. This is no mere man. This is the promised Messiah walking among them. And he’s so convinced of this truth that even when the crowds begin to rebuke him, like the disciples rebuke the children, he cries out all the louder. He is desperate and he will not stop until Jesus is standing in front of him.

And then Jesus does something that nobody would have expected. Look with me again at verse 40 because these words reveal just how amazing our Savior is. Underline the first words, “Jesus stopped.” He stopped. I heard someone say it like this: “In all of human history, there has never been someone who is more approachable than Jesus.” The crowds dismiss the cries of the insignificant blind man, but Jesus hears his cries, and He doesn’t keep moving forward. He stops in His tracks. Even as He’s on the road to the cross in Jerusalem, Jesus makes time to interact with this man. He has him brought to Him and He asked a question that seems so obvious. It’s almost laughable. Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” In the same way that Jesus was trying to pull out the need from the rich young ruler, He offers the same invitation to the blind man. But unlike the young ruler, the blind man is more than ready to admit that he has a need that he cannot fix on his own. He doesn’t ask Jesus to point him to what to do. He asked Jesus to do what only He can do. He wants Jesus to restore his sight. And because he turns to Jesus in faith, Jesus responds and gives him what he wants. And after not being able to physically see anything in his life, the first glimpse this man gets of anything is the sight of Jesus staring at him in love. I mean, what could be a more beautiful way to begin a life of sight than seeing Jesus?

And after being healed, we are told that the blind man begins to follow Jesus and glorify God in a way that causes everyone else around him to praise God too. He has an infectious faith that spreads to everyone he comes into contact with. And it’s worth pointing out that Jesus told the rich young ruler to follow Him and he said no. Jesus never told the blind man to follow Him and yet he does it anyway. And this is where our text ends today, and it’s worth asking what can we learn from the last half of Luke 18. Well, like I mentioned earlier, the big question we are seeking to answer is what does it mean to receive and enter the kingdom like a child? And this text teaches us three characteristics of what childlike faith looks like if we want to enter the kingdom. So, the first thing childlike faith looks like is admitting your need. To receive the kingdom like a child, you must begin by admitting you can’t get it on your own. That’s the starting point and for many, the stumbling block. Because let’s be honest, most of us would rather be seen as strong and in control than as weak and needy. In life, we often equate maturity with independence.

We raise children to be less reliant on their parents. We climb the career ladder by proving we don’t need help. We feel accomplished when we complete a task on our own And then along comes Jesus and He flips the whole thing on its head. Because in the kingdom of God, maturity means greater dependency, not less. The more you grow in grace, the more you will begin to realize how much more grace you really need. Henri Nouwen puts it well when he says, “Spiritual maturity is growing in awareness “that I can’t do it alone.” The truly mature Christian isn’t the one striding forward with confidence in themselves. It’s the one limping forward with their hands open to God. But this is where pride gets in the way. We’d rather come to God with a resume than a confession. We clean ourselves up thinking that He’s more likely to accept a polished version of us instead of who we really know ourselves to be. But listen, this is so important. God is not drawn to you by your strength. He is drawn to you by your weakness. The danger isn’t that you’re too broken to come to Jesus. The danger is that you think you’re not broken at all.

As a Scottish pastor and theologian, James Denney said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the well-meaning: it is for the desperate.” That’s the key. If you don’t know your need, you won’t see Jesus as your savior. You will view him as a lifestyle guru rather than a Messiah who has come to rescue you from your sin. So, let me ask you: Have you admitted your need? Have you let down the front? Are you done pretending? Tim Keller says, “The gospel is not for the proud, the self-sufficient, or the morally upright. The gospel is for those who know they’re lost, who know they can’t save themselves. All you need is need.” But it’s worth asking. What happens when you finally come to Jesus like this? What will He do with you when you come to Him in your need and in your brokenness? And this leads us to our next point. Childlike faith looks like receiving the grace He freely gives. So, after we willingly admit our needs, we do not have a Savior that stands off at a distance wagging His finger in disappointment. No, no, no, we have a Savior who stops, who listens to you, who welcomes you, who meets you right where you are.

In a book that I know a lot of us have read here, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Orlin says, “The posture most natural to Him is not a pointed finger but open arms.” Whether you’ve been chasing idols all your life, or you’ve been in the pit of suffering for as long as you can remember, the same Jesus looks at you with love and says, “Follow Me.” And hear this clearly: What He offers, He offers freely. Not because you’ve earned it, not because you’ve cleaned yourself up enough, but because He has already done everything necessary to save you. That’s what the cross is all about. The Son of God, the only true, innocent man who ever lived was handed over to be mocked, flogged and crucified. Why? So He could stand in your place. So He could bear the judgment that rightly belonged to you and to me. But the story doesn’t end with blood and burial because three days later, that same tomb was empty and Christ rose again, triumphant over sin and death. And now He sits, as we recited earlier, He sits at the right hand of the Father and He extends the offer of mercy to anyone who will come to Him in repentance and faith.

No matter how many times you’ve failed, no matter how much shame you carry, no matter how far you think you’ve run, you don’t have to wonder how He will respond. You don’t have to brace for rejection. You can be confident grace is waiting for you every time. All that’s left for you to do is receive it. Some of you know all about this grace in your head, but you’ve never received it in your heart. You’ve nodded at sermons, you’ve sung the songs, but you’ve never fallen at the feet of Jesus and said, “Lord, I can’t do this. Save me! Rescue me!” And maybe that’s because you feel too guilty to believe this grace could really be for you. And can I tell you, you’re right. You don’t deserve it. And that’s the whole point. It’s not just grace, it’s amazing grace. It’s scandalous grace because He welcomes sinners like you, and He welcomes sinners like me. As JC Ryle put it, “Christ is a better savior than you are a sinner.” Praise God, that’s true. So, let me ask you, have you received the grace of Jesus? Or are you still holding Him at arm’s length? Don’t wait for a better version of yourself to show up. It’s not coming. That version doesn’t exist. Come as you are, needy, guilty, tired, and you will find rest for your soul. You don’t need to pay to earn it. He has paid the bill in full.

And here’s the beauty of receiving His grace, when we grasp how freely we’ve been loved, we’ll stop pushing others away from Jesus, like the disciples did, and instead we’ll become like the parents in the story, doing everything we can to get the people we love to Jesus so they too can receive the grace that we’ve experienced. Friends, today is the day of salvation, receive His grace, extend His grace. And once you’ve done that, once that has taken root, childlike faith will begin to grow. Then we get to our final point: What do we do after we have received it? Our final point is that childlike faith looks like trusting in God alone every day. I want to be really clear. The Christian life doesn’t begin with grace only to move to grit. It’s not that we come to Jesus for mercy at the start and then carry the rest on our backs. I’ve heard it said like this, “Grace is not just the diving board, it’s the whole pool.” The Gospel is not just how we begin, it’s how we continue and it’s how we finish. John Piper says it like this: “The gospel is not just the way we get in, but the way we go on.”

And some of us may believe that Jesus forgave us of our past sins when we came to faith, but now it’s our job to prove that we were worth saving. So we strive, we perform, we make promises; “I’ll do better next time.” We make our quiet times about checking the box, saying we did it. I’ll show you why I deserve to be on the team, Lord. But that is not Christianity. That is moralism with a Christian accent. We are not just saved by faith; we live by faith. Every hour of every day, resting not in ourselves, but in Christ, in Christ alone. But in order to fully cling to Christ, this means that we must let go of everything else we are putting our trust in. Now, I don’t mean that we should get rid of those things, unless they’re sinful things. I mean that we should put them in the proper place in the priorities of love. Not all of us need to give away all that we have in order to follow Jesus. In fact, I would encourage you, if you’re planning on leaving here and selling all that you have, talk to one of the pastors before you do that, please.

But here’s the thing, not all of us will have to do that. But all of us need to love Jesus more than we love money. All of us need to love Jesus more than we love possessions, status, family, and even our own lives. That’s what separates the two men in the passage. The rich young ruler and the blind beggar both came to Jesus with a need, but only one left with joy, and the other left sad. Why? Because one trusted in Jesus, and the other trusted in himself and his wealth. The rich ruler didn’t come looking for a savior, he just wanted the checklist. He was hoping Jesus would say, “You’re almost there, just tweak a few things, then you’ll be good.” But Jesus did not come to be his coach. He came to be his King and Redeemer. The man wasn’t ready to give up control. He couldn’t loosen the grip he had on his own possessions. And because his heart trusted in them and himself, more than in God, he lost everything.

I remember in high school I watched a video about how hunters in Africa and Asia capture monkeys. This was in science class, I’m not just looking that stuff up in my free time, I promise, but the way they do this is by finding a large dirt mound and digging a hole. And after they have done that, they will usually place a piece of fruit or a shiny object in the hole that will attract the monkey. And eventually the monkey will come along, find the object and reach its hand into the hole to grab it. But once the monkey’s fist is clenched, it’s now too big to pull back out of the hole. And then in the video, you see the hunter just slowly and casually walk up to the monkey and capture it because the monkey is unwilling to let go of the fake prize. If the monkey had just let it go, it would be free. But because it was unwilling to release its grip on the bait, it was captured. And friends, my fear is that the idols of our hearts are having the same kind of effect on us. Because we are unwilling to let go of our false securities and run to Jesus with empty and needy hands, we are in danger of losing everything.

The rich young ruler was offered eternal life, but because he wouldn’t let go, he lost out on the true prize. But the blind man, he had no illusions about his condition. He knew he couldn’t save himself. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t work, he couldn’t offer anything. All he could do was trust and cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” And listen, that cry was enough. He placed no confidence in himself. He threw himself entirely on the mercy of Christ and was met by the Savior who stops for the desperate. Where is your trust today? What have you put your hope for salvation in? What false promise have you been tricked into thinking will give you the good life? Every day when you wake up, you have a choice to make of who you will place your trust in. Will you be like the rich man, religious on the outside, but inwardly still clinging to your own strength, your own goodness and your own stuff? Or will you be like the blind man, crying out for mercy with empty hands and a childlike trust in Jesus?

If you’re wondering how to discern what it is you trust in, here are three questions that can help us diagnose that. The three questions are: What do I most fear losing? What gives me a sense of worth or security? And where do I turn for comfort when life gets hard? If your answers to these questions reveal a misplaced trust, whether it’s in money, success, image, relationships, or in your own moral performance, the invitation is the same, repent, and come to Jesus as a child once again. A life of trusting in God will be a life in which you begin to properly order your loves in a way that allows you to enjoy the gifts and the Giver of the gifts more than you ever knew. But the starting place to a life like this is admitting your need, receiving His grace, and trusting Him, only Him, every day. This is the invitation of the Gospel, not just once, but always, and it is available to you this morning.

Church, let’s pray: Jesus, we come before You and ask for grace. Son of David, have mercy on us. Lord, I pray for perhaps the two different ways that this message could have been received today. God, for those walking in, very aware of their need, God, feeling shame, feeling guilt, feeling inadequacy. Lord, would they, by Your grace, feel Your mercy today? Lord, as they come to You in repentance, Lord, let them know that when we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins. God, let them hold on to that promise. But for those of us walking in this morning, who don’t quite know the need that we have, God, I pray by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, You would bring that to the forefront of our minds. And God, when that happens, God, we would be courageous enough to do something about it. God, that in our need, we would run to You, and we would ask others for prayers, that we would seek You. Lord, these things that I’ve asked for, only You can do. So we ask, Lord, give them to us in faith. In Your name we pray. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“All My Boast Is in Jesus“ by Bryan Fowler, Matt Papa, Matthew Boswell, Keith Getty
“All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name“ by Oliver Holden, Edward Perronet, and John Rippon
“Be Thou My Vision“ by Mary Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull
“Jesus Paid It All“ by Elvina Mabel Hall
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Classic Prayer: Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892

O God, we pray again Fulfill that covenant promise “I will take away the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” May we ever be tender towards Thee; May we feel Thy faintest motion; May even the gentlest breath of Thy Holy Spirit Suffice to move us… May we be as children obedient to a father; May we yield our members cheerfully To the instruments of righteousness; May we have a natural desire Wrought in the new nature Towards everything that is pure and honest, Unselfish and Christly. O Spirit of God, dwell in us.

Confession of Faith: The Apostles’ Creed, “And is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father”

Leader: What does it mean for Jesus to sit at God the Father’s right hand?
People: The throne on the king’s right hand was traditionally the seat of one appointed to exercise the king’s own authority. Ruling with his Father in heaven, Jesus is Lord over the Church and all creation, with authority to equip His Church, advance His kingdom, bring sinners into saving fellowship with God the Father, and finally establish justice and peace upon the earth.

Leader: What does Jesus do for you as He sits at the Father’s right hand?
People: Because Jesus intercedes for us as our great high priest, I may now boldly approach the Father and offer my confessions, praises, thanksgivings, and requests to Him.

Leader: What does Jesus’ heavenly ministry mean for your life today?
People: I can rely on Jesus always to be present with me by the Holy Spirit as He promised, and I should always look to Him for help as I seek to serve Him.

Source: ACNA, Q. 73, 74, 75

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