What kind of person will enter the kingdom of God? If we are to be saved and enter the kingdom, we must humble ourselves and put our absolute dependence on God, like a little child.
[powerpress]
What Kind of Person Will Enter The Kingdom?
Luke 18:15-17
What kind of person will enter the kingdom? In the passage before us, twice Jesus mentions the kingdom of God. In verse 16 He says, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” In verse 17 He says, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
We learn from this that the kingdom of God belongs to a certain kind of person – such as these. We learn that we must receive the kingdom, and we must enter the kingdom.
What does the rest of the Bible say about entering the kingdom of God?
- Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,´ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 19:23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
- Mark 9:47 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell,
- John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
- Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
So, what does the bible teach us about entering the kingdom? It can take place only in those whose righteousness surpasses the scribes and Pharisees. It can take place only in the person who does the will of God. It is extremely difficult for a rich man. It is so important, that it would be better to tear your eye out than to have two eyes and go to hell. It can take place only in those who are born of the Spirit. And, it can only take place through many tribulations.
Clearly, entering the kingdom of God is extremely important. It is the difference between spending eternity in Heaven or Hell. It is so important that we should be willing to cut off right hands or tear out right eyes, or go through difficult tribulations, give up our money, obey Christ, and practice righteousness to finally end up in that kingdom.
So, if entering God’s kingdom is that vital, we should be very clear on who is going to get in. Fortunately, in our text this morning Jesus answers that question for us.
Let’s read Luke 18:15-17, “And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”
In our passage we see a diametrical difference between how the disciples and Jesus regarded children. Let’s look at that together.
1. How The Disciples Related To Children
They were bringing their babies to Him. No doubt this was the parents. It was common for parents to bring their babies to the rabbis for a spiritual blessing on them. The people had great respect for Jesus. They had heard Him preach, had seen His miracles, saw God at work in Him, and so were bringing their babies to Him that He might lay His hands on them and give them a blessing, similar to the blessing that Jacob gave to His 12 sons before he died. The parents weren’t bringing their babies to Jesus so that He would save them. Since they were Jews, they assumed that their children were part of God’s covenant and were in His kingdom already. These parents were bringing their babies to Jesus that He might invoke God’s blessing upon them.
The Disciples Were Rebuking Them. Now, why would the disciples rebuke parents for bringing their children to Jesus? My hunch is that the disciples believed they were protecting their Master. After all, Jesus was a very important person, doing very important things, like preaching, teaching, healing, and casting out demons. And after all, children in that culture were the least important people on the planet. They probably thought they were doing Jesus a favor by protecting his time and energy, and saving him interruptions and annoyances. But, how wrong they were!
This wasn’t the first time the disciples wanted to send people away, contrary to the will of Christ. In Matthew 14:15, the Bible says that when it was evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”
Again, in Matthew 15:21 we read of a Canaanite woman who continually cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” The disciples begged him to send her away. However, Jesus eventually healed the woman’s daughter.
The disciples were in the School of Christ. They were learning, but they still had a lot to learn, namely the compassion of their Master. In due time, they would learn this valuable lesson.
Application
An obvious lesson that emerges from our text is this – Christians can err, even while manifesting a zeal for the Lord! The nation of Israel did exactly that. Paul says in Romans 10:1-3, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” Did you see that? These Jews had a zeal for God. However, their zeal was not in accordance with knowledge. Rather than to subject themselves to the righteousness of God, they went about seeking to establish their own righteousness. Even though they had a zeal for God, they were actually fighting against God.
Peter made that mistake. When his Lord was arrested, he came out swinging with a sword and actually cut the high priest’s slaves ear off! How did Jesus respond? Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (Jn. 18:10).
You and I can make this mistake. Perhaps we have been walking with the Lord for some time, and God has helped us to overcome our major external sin issues. Then we see a baby Christian who is perhaps still using profanity or dressing what we would consider to be inappropriately, and we judge that person in our heart, and misrepresent Christ.
You can have such a zeal for a particular doctrinal truth, that you write other Christians off that don’t hold to that doctrinal conviction.
And we can make the mistake of hindering children from coming to Christ, when the Lord wants them to come. How? If we assume children can’t be saved, or are already saved, we won’t evangelize them. If we don’t evangelize them we hinder them from coming to Christ. However, children can be saved as soon as they can understand the gospel, repent of their sin, and put their full trust in Jesus Christ. How old does a child need to be for that to happen? I don’t think there is any special age. Jonathan Edwards writes of a young girl in his congregation, Phoebe Bartlet, who came under great conviction of sin when she was only 4 years old, during the First Great Awakening. This four year old girl became anxious about her soul, and began retire into her closet to pray and seek God, until she was doing it 5 or 6 times a day. After many days of anguish of soul, she suddenly became very happy and began to announce to her family that she had entered God’s kingdom. This little child would burst into tears upon seeing her sisters, as she was afraid that they would perish in Hell. She loved the Lord’s Day, and the meetings of the church. She once innocently took some plums off a neighbor’s tree with her sisters. When her mother found out, she mildly reproved Phoebe, telling her that it was stealing, and that she needed to get permission from the owner. Afterwards the owner gave permission, but Phoebe would eat none of them. When the mother asked why, she said, “Because it was sin!” She was often delighted with certain texts of Scripture, and would repeat them to herself while going about the house. 34 years later, this woman was still serving Christ, maintaining the true character of a disciple of Jesus. There is a great deal more that I could say about this remarkable child, but I think this illustrates the fact that God can save a very young child.
Let’s be very careful that we don’t hinder children from coming to Christ by thinking they can’t be saved until they are much older. Let’s labor with all our might for the salvation of our children. Let’s pray for them. Let’s have Family devotions with them. Let’s teach them the gospel. Let’s labor teaching them in Sunday School week after week. Those of you who labor among our children from week to week, know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You are doing your utmost to bring those precious souls to Christ! Let’s not make the same mistake that Jesus’ disciples made!
So, the disciples rebuked the parents for bringing their babies to Jesus, and tried to hinder them. Now, let’s notice how Jesus related to children.
2. How Jesus Related To Children
In Mark 10:14, it says, “But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” That word indignant, is translated as “angry, much displeased, furious, and irritated” in other Bible versions. Jesus manifested righteous anger when His disciples tried to keep children away from Him.
Luke 18:16 says, “But Jesus called for them, saying…” Notice that! Jesus called His disciples to Him and corrected them on the spot. He took advantage of a teachable moment to train them in the ways of His kingdom. Most of Jesus’ teaching happened in informal, natural settings, not in formal sermons. We can learn a lesson from this. We should always be looking for life situations where we can help our children learn of God and His ways. The same is true of those believers we are discipling. I hope all of you are seeking to disciple a younger believer. As you spend time with this younger believer, look for life situations where you can help this disciple learn of God and how to walk with Him.
Application
2 Erroneous Doctrines Some Derive From This Text:
1) The Doctrine that All Children Are Already in the Kingdom. I don’t believe you can draw that conclusion from this text. Jesus didn’t say, “the kingdom of God belongs to these.” He said, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Then He went on in verse 17 to explain. “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Jesus is setting up children as an illustration of the kind of person that will enter the kingdom of God. He’s not saying that all children are already in the kingdom. He’s saying that a person must become like a child to enter the kingdom. The Bible says that unless a man is born again he can’t enter the kingdom of God. A child is born in sin and shaped in iniquity and is a child of wrath. Until that child is regenerated, they are not in God’s kingdom. In some Christian circles, parents are taught that their children are in the kingdom because they have Christian parents. They are told that a Christian parent should assume their children are saved until they prove they are not. I believe the opposite is the truth. We should assume our children are unsaved until they demonstrate they are.
I think it is wise to take a cautious view of childhood conversions. I believe God can and sometimes does save young children. However, for every sound childhood conversion, I have heard of dozens of accounts of people saying they were saved when they were 4 or 7 or 9, only to leave the Lord and live in sin for years and years on end. In most cases, those people were probably not saved as young children. Yes, they made a profession of faith, but a profession of faith does not equal a true conversion. I think Christian parents need to see the genuine fruits of repentance, and of the Holy Spirit to regard them as saved. They should look for sorrow of and hatred for sin. They should look for a love to Christ and an obedience to His will. They should look for a desire for communion with God, and for His Word. They should look for a concern for the salvation of others. They should look for all the same things they look for in the conversion of an adult. Parents, do not be hasty in believing your child is born again, simply because they say they believe in Jesus. I believed in Jesus for years as a child, before I experienced His life transforming grace when I was 19 years old.
2) The Doctrine that some draw from this text is that we should baptize babies. They say that Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to babies and small children, so we should baptize them. Notice, though, that they didn’t bring their babies to Jesus so that He would baptize them. Jesus didn’t even baptize adults. He gave that responsibility to His disciples. Jesus didn’t baptize these babies, but laid His hands on them and blessed them. There is not a drop of water in this text. Where in this text does it mention baptizing babies? When Spurgeon preached on this text he said, “I might as well prove vaccination from this text as infant baptism.” According to the New Testament, baptism follows saving faith in Christ, as a public testimony of faith and repentance. Since an infant cannot express faith and repentance, babies should not be baptized until they are converted. Infant baptism can have negative effects in the life of a person. A person can have a false sense of assurance that they are saved and on their way to heaven because they were baptized as a baby, and have grown up in the church. All the while, however, that person desperately needs to repent and believe the gospel.
What Kind of Person Will Enter The Kingdom?
We started out this message by asking, “What kind of person will enter the kingdom?” Well, what is Jesus’ answer in our text today? He says “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Now, those are very solemn words. Unless you receive the kingdom of God like a child, you will never enter it at all.
So, the big question is, “How does a person receive the kingdom of God like a child?” What are the character traits of a child that every person must have if he or she is to ever enter the kingdom?
I believe there are 2 character traits of a child that we must have. The first one is humility. We find this in Matthew 18:1-4, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,
and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Then He goes on to tell us how we must become like children in the next verse. “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
As I have already said, a small child was the least important, and lowest person on the social totem pole in ancient Israel. A child had no rights. A father in Greek society, literally had the right to kill his child without impunity. A baby or child was the most humble person in that day and age. There was no one lower than a child.
Have you ever wondered why Luke put this account of Jesus receiving babies and touching them right here in Luke 18? In both Matthew and Mark, this incident comes after Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce. Luke puts it in a slightly different place. I think there is a method to Luke’s madness. Notice what comes right before this incident in Luke. It is the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee was a very proud man. He trusted in himself that he was righteous and viewed others with contempt. He prayed to himself, and listed off all the reasons why he was righteous. The tax collector, on the other hand, stood a great distance away, was unwilling to even lift up his eyes to heaven, and beat on his breast the seat of all his troubles and said, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” Then Jesus gives the punchline. The tax collector, the notorious sinner who humbled himself went home justified and forgiven, while the proud Pharisee went home condemned!
Then, notice the story that follows our text. It is about the rich young ruler who said he had kept all of God’s law from his youth. When Jesus told him he must sell everything he possessed, give it to the poor, and then follow Him, he went away very sad. Although outwardly he was a righteous man, inwardly he had succumbed to the sin of greed and idolatry. He thought he was already righteous, but he went away lost. Jesus says in verse 24, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.” Look at this rich man! How hard it is for anyone like him to enter the kingdom of God. He trusts and finds his life and satisfaction in his riches. He is proud. Therefore he can’t enter the kingdom of God.
Now, sandwiched between those two accounts of a proud man not being able to enter the kingdom of God, Jesus receives little babies, lays His hands on them, prays for them and blesses them, and then tells His disciples that they must become like a little child or they will never enter the kingdom at all. What’s He saying? He’s saying you must humble yourself like this child or you will miss heaven. A proud man will never be saved. If you want to continue to claim that you are a good person, and that you are righteous, you will die and go straight to hell. Good people don’t go to heaven. Heaven is not filled with good people, but with bad people who humbled themselves enough to admit that they were sinful and needed Christ to save them. You must humble yourself to admit that your heart is deceitful above all else and desperately sick. You must humble yourself to admit that you have a heart of stone. You have to humble yourself to admit that you have lived according to the lusts of your flesh and your mind and are a child of wrath. You have to humble yourself to admit that God would be perfectly righteous to cast you into hell. Before you can go up, you must go down. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble!
The second trait of a child that we must have is that of absolute dependence. Luke tells us that they were bringing babies to Him. Matthew and Mark tell us they were children, but Luke tells us they were babies – infants. Why is this significant? Can you think of anything more absolutely dependent on someone else than a baby? A baby can’t do anything for himself! He can’t feed himself. He can’t clothe himself. He can’t turn over by himself. He can’t protect himself. He can’t walk or talk. He can’t do anything. He needs everything to be done for him by someone else. My friends, if you or I are ever to enter God’s kingdom, we must become absolutely dependent on God! This is just another way of saying we must put our trust fully in Jesus Christ to save us. We must come to the point where we truly believe there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. There is nothing we can do to work our way to heaven. There is nothing we can do to deserve heaven. We have sinned away all our rights to salvation. If we are ever to be saved, it must be pure and sovereign grace! The Bible says that before we are saved we are dead in our trespasses and sins. A dead person is about as helpless as you can get. A dead person can’t do anything! That is our condition before God saves us. We are helpless. We are dead. We are absolutely dependent on God. Therefore, to enter the kingdom, we must realize we are absolutely dependent on God, and trust Him to save us through Christ and His finished work.
So, let me ask you this. Have you ever humbled yourself before God as a sinner deserving eternal damnation and really believed it? Have you ever cast yourself absolutely on the mercy of God, trusting completely in Him, and casting off all confidence in yourself for salvation? That is the kind of person that will enter the kingdom, and no one else. If you have never humbled yourself and trusted completely in Christ, do it right now as we close in prayer.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!