Who Can Enter the Kingdom of God?
Download MP3Our scripture comes from Mark 10 verses 13 through 31. Please listen carefully for this is God's word. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Melissa Brown:Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and 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.
Melissa Brown:You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. 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.
Melissa Brown:Disheartened by this saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God And the disciples were amazed at his words But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, see, we have left everything and followed you.
Melissa Brown:And Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. This is the word of the Lord.
Matt Francisco:Pray with me. Great high priest, whose name is love, you who ever love and plead for us, I pray by the power of your spirit, you would look at us and you would love us this morning, that you would speak to us according to your word. So I have nothing to offer these people apart from what you give them. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but you, your word abides forever. So by your grace and mercy, teach us.
Matt Francisco:Help us to see Jesus. Help us to wrestle with that all important question. Then who can be saved? Our souls are bare before you. Speak to us words of life we pray.
Matt Francisco:In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. In 2013, renovations began on the Sephorza Castle in Milan, Italy. At first, the work was pretty straightforward, but as the restorers made their way into what was known as the Room of Planks, they made an incredible discovery. They started peeling back the layers of whitewash, 17 layers worth.
Matt Francisco:And as they did, a magnificent mural began to emerge. To their astonishment, hidden in plain sight for 500 years, was a beautiful painting. A canopy of mulberry trees bearing the unmistakable artistry of a master, painted by the one and only Leonardo da Vinci. And it took their breath away, and it had been hidden in plain sight for all of that time. Ever since we began our study in the book of Mark last September, our hope and our prayer has been that we would be able to peel back the layers of whitewash that you might truly see Jesus and be amazed by him.
Matt Francisco:See that there is no one like him. No one ever taught like this man. No one did works like this man. No one had character like this man. And that ultimately, you and I would confess, as Mark does in the very first verse of his gospel, that Jesus, he is the Christ.
Matt Francisco:He is the long promised King, the one who will bring God's kingdom, God's people under God's rule and blessing in God's place. But not only that, Jesus is the very son of God, the maker of absolutely everything who has taken on human flesh. And if you'll remember the first time that we saw Jesus open his mouth in Mark's gospel, he issued this royal proclamation. He says in chapter 1 verse 15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.
Matt Francisco:Hear this good news. The kingdom of God is at hand because the King is here. And for the first eight chapters of his gospel, Mark has been trying prove to us that Jesus is no mere man, that he is the Christ, that he is the Son of God. There's never been anyone like him. He is the one who can heal the sick, who can cleanse the leper, that even the winds and the waves obey him.
Matt Francisco:He can even raise the dead because he has authority over the natural world. But it's not just the natural world that Jesus has authority over, right? Jesus can put a legion of demons to flight because he has absolute authority over the supernatural world. Not only that, he is the one who goes up on the mountain, who provides for God's people supernatural food from Heaven and feeds them the very word of God. But he doesn't just do it for the people of Israel.
Matt Francisco:No, he goes into gentile territory and he feeds 4,000 there because Jesus is a king not just for a small, select group of people in a tiny plot of land, he is to be king of kings and lord of lords. His people and his kingdom are anyone, anywhere who would repent and believe this good news that he teaches. And he does not teach like the scribes and the Pharisees. He doesn't teach like anyone anyone has ever heard before. He teaches as one who has authority, like he is the author of everything, because that's exactly who he is.
Matt Francisco:Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, the bridegroom, the very one who can forgive sins. And as we've been making our way through Mark's gospel, we see various responses to Jesus. Right? The demons, they are absolutely terrified of him. The disciples, they've lost they've left everything that they might follow him.
Matt Francisco:The religious leaders, they want him dead. And the crowds, they are astonished by him. They're amazed, but they don't know quite what to do with him yet. Some say that he's like John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other prophets. So Jesus pulls his disciples aside and he says, well, who do you say that I am?
Matt Francisco:And Peter says, you're the Christ. You're the promised king that we've been waiting for. And then in Mark 831 and 32, we read that Jesus began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after 3 days rise again. You see, up until this point, Jesus had not yet told his followers what it was that he came to do. But he knew in eternity past, Jesus, our humble king, he looked at our helpless plight, and he loved us.
Matt Francisco:And with the Father and the Spirit, he set forth in plan. He set in motion a plan that would bring about our redemption, that would save his beloved people. A plan that would lead this humble king not to an earthly throne, but to a cross. And for the last two chapters, we've seen that that is exactly where Jesus is headed, which brings us to Mark 10 13. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.
Matt Francisco:But when they saw it, when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me, 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. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. I've got 3 kids, and I loved our oldest, Sarah, from the first moment that I saw her, but when she was an infant, if she, my wife Erin and I were sitting around the dinner table, and I was talking about some hard conversation I had at work that day, there was never a moment where I stopped the conversation and I said, Sarah, I can't believe I never thought of it that way. That was such a brilliant insight.
Matt Francisco:Right? She she babbled, she spit up. Right? She never even offered to clean up the dishes or help pay the gas bill. She never shared what she was reading or what she was listening to.
Matt Francisco:She was a helpless, dependent ball of need as much as I loved her and still do. That is what being a child is. It is to be an utterly helpless, dependent ball of need. People are bringing their children to Jesus, and the disciples, they're trying to stop them because that's how they view children too. These children, they're just getting in the way.
Matt Francisco:By trying to stop these children from coming to Jesus, the disciples are effectively saying, hey, Jesus is really important. Actually, he's too important for you. He doesn't have time for you. And how does Jesus respond? Mark tells us that he is indignant.
Matt Francisco:He is furious. Because the disciples, by their actions, are communicating something untrue about Jesus' character, his heart, and his priorities. Yes. He is on a mission, but he says the kingdom of God belongs to whoever receives it like a child. And I want you to hold on to these verses because they are the key to understanding our passage today.
Matt Francisco:They give key insight into this critically important question for every single one of us. Who gets to enter the kingdom of heaven? Who among us is going to inherit eternal life? Who can be saved? These are all different ways of asking the very same question, one that is crucial for all of us because eternity hangs in the balance.
Matt Francisco:And we're meant to see the, the contrast between these children and the man that we're about to meet. Who can enter the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God belongs to whoever receives it, like a child, and no one else gets in. Verse 17. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Matt Francisco:Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. Now if anyone was a can't miss 5 star recruit for team Jesus, the disciples had to think it was this guy.
Matt Francisco:Right? I mean, Mark tells us that he's rich. Matthew tells us that he's young. Luke tells us that he's a ruler. A ruler within the synagogue, meaning he is incredibly well respected within the community.
Matt Francisco:This is a guy who seemingly has everything, who needs nothing. But he desperately needs, in this moment, Jesus to ask his critical question. You see, it feels like he has everything that anyone could possibly want, and yet something is gnawing at him. He knows that something's missing. And maybe you felt this too.
Matt Francisco:Maybe at different points in your life, you have wondered, there's got to be more than this. But what do you do when that feeling comes? Do you silence it? Do you comfort yourself with what you have or what you've done? Do you distract yourself?
Matt Francisco:Or do you do what this young man does? He feels it so strongly, he runs to the right person and asks the exactly right question. He says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Matt Francisco:Will we be real for a minute? That's a weird response, right? I mean, we've been studying Mark for quite some time now, and we've seen that Jesus is good. So if Jesus is good, what in the world is he's doing here? Of course Jesus is good.
Matt Francisco:He is giving the young man an invitation here. Because Jesus goes off and and he begins to list some of the Ten Commandments, some of them, not all of them. Did you notice which ones he left out? He left out the last one, thou shalt not covet, which deals with a man's heart, which may have been a particular struggle for this rich young man. And he leaves out all the ones in the beginning that have to do with man's relationship with God.
Matt Francisco:You see, Jesus is giving this young man an opportunity. He's trying to gently and lovingly explode expose the flaws in his understanding about who God is, about who he himself is, and what it means to be good or what sin is. But the rich young ruler, he misses all of this. And he just blurts out, teacher, I have kept all of these from my youth. I have tried everything you're talking about and nothing has worked.
Matt Francisco:If you would just tell me what to do, I will do it. I promise. Because he feels like he's been doing all of the right things, but he wonders whether he's been good enough. He knows how important this question is. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Matt Francisco:But the problem is, for this rich young ruler, like many of us, when he thinks about goodness and sin, he is looking at the list of the Ten Commandments as a set of rules to be obeyed. That we sometimes do and we sometimes don't. But Jesus always taught that obedience to the law was not merely about right actions, but also about right motives. I mean, remember the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, you've heard it said you shouldn't commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who has looked at a woman with lustful intent has committed adultery in his heart.
Matt Francisco:You've heard it said, you should not murder. But I tell you, if you've been angry with your brother, that's like murder before God. You see, even in this short list of commandments, the rich young ruler should have been able to see, I have fallen hopelessly short of God's standard. His holiness and my obedience, there's an infinite gap between them. But he doesn't see it.
Matt Francisco:You see, God is interested not only in what we do, but why we do what we do. Which is why Tim Keller was able to say in The Prodigal God, this means that you can rebel against God either by breaking his rules or by keeping all of them. You can rebel against God by being very, very bad or by being very, very good. It means that it's easy to make obedience to God's commands not really about God at all, but about us. It's really easy to not obey out of love for God, but to obey God in the hopes that he will actually give us what we really want.
Matt Francisco:To try to put him in a position where we feel like he has to give it to you. You see, underneath the rich young ruler's question, what must I do to inherit eternal life, is a deeper question. Jesus, can you just tell me how I can be good enough so that God will give me what it is that I'm really after? What I actually want? But God will never be fooled by any of our half hearted obedience.
Matt Francisco:As Thomas Ritchie reminded us last week, God is not a means to an end, He is the end. But even though this rich young man, and even though all of us have at times treated God like a means to an end, that doesn't stop him from moving forward towards us in love. Look at verse 21. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, you lack one thing, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. This verse is absolutely amazing to me.
Matt Francisco:I mean, Jesus had every right to call this man a hypocrite. Right? He could have rubbed his nose in all of the ways that he had obviously disobeyed God's law, but he doesn't. What do we see? We see that he looked at him, and out of the infinite love that he had for this man, he told him the one thing that he didn't wanna hear.
Matt Francisco:Out of his love, he says, sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me. What is more precious to you, eternal life or your wealth? Who is your true king? Is it God or is it yourself? I asked my kids at the dinner table last week, because that's the kind of cool dad that I am, do you think this rich, young ruler actually had to sell everything in order to inherit eternal life?
Matt Francisco:It was really interesting watching them kinda go back and forth with a yes and a no, and a yes and a no. And I I don't know about you, but when I read a passage like this, I'd like to think that Jesus might confront plenty of other people about their attitude towards money and possessions. But me, I'm doing okay. Right? I've got a pretty good handle on how I view money, because I play the comparison game.
Matt Francisco:Anytime I read a passage like this, I don't think about myself, I think about all the people who have a whole lot more than me, who spend a whole lot more on themselves for pleasure. I have this gross tendency to underestimate the spiritual power of money, but the Bible doesn't at all. I mean, there's a reason that Jesus spends more time talking about money than anything else. There's a reason that the Apostle Paul wrote that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It's so easy and it's so subtle for us to move our dependence and trust from God to the security that we feel in our bank accounts or our future or our accomplishments.
Matt Francisco:It's so easy for us to look at what we have and to take undue pride about that, not realizing that whatever we have, it was given to us, as 1st Corinthians 4 tells us. We're to find comfort in these things. But as the great theologian Tyler Durden once said, sometimes the things you own end up owning you. So one of the best things that you and I can do is to assume that we are in denial about our attitudes towards wealth and possessions. To ask faithful friends, to ask us hard questions about our finances and where our trust is really found, and most importantly, to be willing to receive whatever it is that they have to say.
Matt Francisco:So do you, do I, have to sell all that I have to follow Jesus? You can ask Joel next week when he gets back from sabbatical. I don't know. But even if the answer for you is no, there is something that is competing with your heart's affection for Jesus. There is something that you don't want to lay down.
Matt Francisco:The question I actually have for you this morning is if Jesus followed you home, and sat down at your table for lunch this afternoon, and he said, it's gonna cost you x to follow me. What is the one thing you hope he doesn't say? And would you do it? What is eternal life? What is the kingdom of God worth to you?
Matt Francisco:Because Jesus will not share top billing in your heart with anyone or anything. He says it so plainly. No one can serve 2 masters. If we would have eternal life, if we would enter the kingdom of God, we must sell off all of the other loves of our hearts. And we must also agree to the terms of surrender because the Kingdom of God, it's one ruled by a just, holy, loving and humble King.
Matt Francisco:Entering the kingdom means that we forfeit the right to decide for ourselves what we do with everything that we have and everything that we are. Everything has to come on the table because everything has to come under his kingship. If you're not willing to sell all that you have, to enter into eternal life, to enter into this kingdom and have this man, Jesus, as your king, I have to wonder if the layers of whitewash are still there, and that you don't yet see him as as beautiful and precious as he truly is. Because there is no one like him, and there is no God but him. There is nothing in the universe that compares to him.
Matt Francisco:But this rich young ruler, he doesn't see. Verse 22 tells us, disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. He did not count entrance into the kingdom of God as more precious than his wealth, and so he walked away sorrowful, because Jesus had put his finger on his true treasure. Verse 23. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.
Matt Francisco:And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, and who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.
Matt Francisco:The disciples were exceedingly astonished because they, like everyone else, viewed wealth as a sign of God's blessing upon this man's life. They, just like the rich young ruler, didn't really understand God's character, or their own goodness, or their sin, or what it takes to enter the kingdom. Peter is about to say, we've left everything and followed you, but there's no resume that you could possibly offer to God that would gain you entrance. There's nothing that you could do that would be good enough to garner God's favor. It would be easier for a blue whale to shove himself through the front door of your house than for you, by your works, to enter the kingdom of God.
Matt Francisco:If you think that you will enter the kingdom because you believe and you've tried really really hard to be a good person, you don't yet understand God's holiness and character or the depths of your own sin. Just how weak and helpless we truly are. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, Ephesians tells us. You can't get more hopeless than that. But just because we were helpless and hopeless does not yet mean that there was no hope.
Matt Francisco:Jesus says in verse 27, with man it is impossible, but not with God. Because our God can make a way where there is no way. That's what he does. And out of the great love with which he loved us, out of his unfathomable mercy, God looked at us in love, and he made us alive in Christ when we were dead in our sins. It is by grace that we have been saved.
Matt Francisco:Yes, it's true that we cannot enter the kingdom by our own merits, by our own good works. So who can enter the kingdom of God? Who can be saved? The one who receives God's grace like a little helpless dependent child. The one who will repent and believe the good news of the gospel.
Matt Francisco:We repent not only of all the rules that we have broken, but of all of the ways that we have tried to use God to get what it is that we're really after. Of all the ways that we have tried to save ourselves, or to put forward our own resumes as reasons why God might show us favor. And we believe, we believe the good news that our King has come, that Jesus lived a perfect life to fulfill all righteousness, that he died the death that you and I deserved to die, and that on the 3rd day, he rose again, that we might walk in newness of life. And then by his Spirit, we look upon him and we are exceedingly astonished. We are amazed at this precious Jesus, who though he was rich, yet for our sake became poor, so that we might, by his poverty, become rich in him.
Matt Francisco:You see, who is the real rich young ruler? It's Jesus. Jesus never needed anything. Everything belonged to him. He had everything that anyone could possibly want.
Matt Francisco:Yet from eternity past, he looked at us and he loved us. And because of that love, he did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. He said foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't even have a place to lay his head. And Jesus is on his way to the cross. But before he gets there, he's gonna go into a garden.
Matt Francisco:And he's gonna become sorrowful. Sorrowful even to the point of death. And then he is going to be made to kneel before men who will beat him, and mock him, and scorn him, and spit upon him. And then he will hang from a cross, and all who will look upon him will be exceedingly astonished at the horror before them. But it is not the Romans who put Jesus on the cross.
Matt Francisco:It is Jesus' love that drove him there. No one could take his life from his hands. He laid it down willingly out of love for you and for me. That in him and through him, we might have eternal life, we might enter the very kingdom of God by his grace. This is the king of kings and lord of lords.
Matt Francisco:Peter says in verse 28, see, we have left everything and followed you. And Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecution, and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. See, Jesus doesn't hide the fact that following him might cost you absolutely everything. But he doesn't hedge any of his promises either.
Matt Francisco:Says you may lose your home, you may lose your family, you may lose everything that you have, and I'm gonna give that to you now in this life. A home and a family. That is what the church is meant to be. That is an incredibly high calling, and Jesus means to fulfill it through each and every single one of us. But he says not only that, he says, I will give you eternal life.
Matt Francisco:You don't have to earn it. You never could do that anyway. I'm gonna give it to you as a as a gift if you would receive it like a helpless, dependent child. I will give you eternal life. And what is eternal life?
Matt Francisco:John 17:3 tells us that this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is not a concept. It's a person. Eternal life is knowing the God who made you and who loves you beyond compare. Who gets to enter the kingdom of God?
Matt Francisco:How can we be saved? Anyone, anywhere who would repent of their sins and trust in Jesus' finished work, that he did everything from start to finish to bring you into the Kingdom of God. What does it mean to belong to the Kingdom of God? It means to belong to Jesus. What do we what do we receive in the kingdom of God?
Matt Francisco:Ultimately, we receive the King himself, the greatest of all gifts. And he offers it freely. But his demand is total. So my friends, my question for you this morning, as we're gonna move into a time of prayer, is would you lay down your trifles for the treasure that is knowing this king? Would you ask Jesus to put his finger on whatever it is that is competing for your heart's affection for him?
Matt Francisco:Would you ask by the power of his Holy Spirit that you would lay it down, that you might have him forevermore? Let's pray. Our father, we confess like the apostle Paul, that all things are a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. And yet we also confess that every single person in this room, we love the things of this world far too often, far too much. I pray that you, by the power of your spirit, will give us eyes to see Jesus as precious as he truly is, and to lay down whatever it is that would rule in our hearts apart from him.
Matt Francisco:And for those who don't know you here in this room, I pray that you would give them eyes to see for the first time. For those who have been following in sin for some time, God, I pray that you would free them from that. And those who have been joyfully walking after you for some time, Lord, I pray that you would fill their hearts with more and more delight in who you are and what you've done and what that means. We pray these things in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit. Amen.
