Camels DO Go Through Eyes of Needles!

And he says that he says that it is difficult how hardly shall hardly, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And so let’s continue reading verse number 24. And again I stand to you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be saved? In other words, if the rich hardly are saved, what about everybody else?

That seems kind of odd to our ears, right, but the reason it seems odd to our ears is because we’re familiar already with what the Lord is teaching here and so we’re used to it but to the disciples they had a completely different idea. Verse number 26, but Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, behold we have forsaken all and followed thee, what shall we have therefore?

And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life.

But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. Let’s pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your great salvation. We want to take a minute just to thank you for the opportunity to give the gospel to Eliran and Sagih and for those men who are part of the people of God, the physical people of God that have received so many good things from you and yet have rejected them and have been deluded by the elders and the traditions. Lord we pray that you would soften their heart and continue to lead them to the Lord Jesus until they finally come to trust in him.

Lord as we go into your word tonight and try to finish up Matthew 19, we just ask for your guidance and your instruction to us. We pray that you would help us to understand, help us to apply the scripture that we read, help us to receive it with open hearts and tenderness and guide me Lord, help me Lord if you be pleased to help your people and strengthen them in the truth Lord that they might be further sanctified Lord because we are all sanctified by the truth thy word is truth. So Lord bless us to your word to us tonight in Jesus name, amen. Now you notice in verse number 20, as I said verse 22, the man went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Now think about how sad this is. People spend, people spend their whole life chasing something, chasing great possessions, right? People spend their whole life chasing something that to this man was the very thing that he sought that was the damnation of his soul. I don’t know if this man was ultimately condemned and died in his sin, I don’t know that, but if he was to think that he spent his whole life chasing something that was like poison and by chasing his whole life that thing that was prized above everything else was the undoing, was the very undoing of his soul.

It’s a very sobering warning to us that someone can spend their whole life chasing something and that thing itself undoes their soul and becomes the, you know, if a person perishes, think of the rich man Luke 16, a person perishes and goes to hell and the cause, verse 22, the cause of his perishing was that he would not, you know, he loved his money, right? He loved his money and if that causes a man to go to hell, man what a sad, what a sad testimony. That which was supposed to be a blessing becomes a curse because it keeps him from salvation. I don’t tell you something, anything, anything, anything whatsoever, no matter how precious to us that we hold dear to the point that it keeps us from Christ is no longer a blessing to us. We have turned it into a curse and because there is nothing worthy of losing our soul, if a man shall gain the whole world, right, the Bible says, and loses his own soul, what doth it profit, right? And so that’s where this man is at. Look at verse number 23, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now before I get into this, I want to just, I want to make a quick point, you know, we talk about, you know, oftentimes we touch on Calvinism and, you know, the idea of election and and the Calvinistic doctrine of election says that God has determined before the foundation of the world, those of you in Sunday School, what does that mean? That means from eternity past, right?

That God is determined who will be saved and who will not be saved, right? That is his, that is what he is sovereignly determined, right? Has nothing to do with anything we do. Again, I’m just stating the doctrine. And so whether the Lord picks this person or that person, elects this person or that person, it makes, it makes no difference. There’s not a matter of difficulty for one or difficulty for another, but what do you see in this verse? You see difficulty, right? You see a, you see the truth that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now if the Lord just, just sovereignly picked, then there’s no difficulty of one person versus another person to the Lord. There’s no difficulty at all. But if the Lord lays out a genuine invitation and a person comes up against their riches and they have a hard time with that, it’s, it’s, it’s difficult. The Lord doesn’t say, the Lord doesn’t say it is rare for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, although that’s true because of this verse, but he says it is difficult. How hardly shall a person with riches enter into the kingdom of God. So this truth, what we see here, strongly implies that they are hardly saved, the difficulty, due to the hold that riches has upon their heart. If it was not, if that was not a fact and it was just God sovereignly choosing before the foundation of the world, there wouldn’t be any difficulty involved at all. But I, I, that’s a little bit of a digression, but in verse number 23, I want, I want to take this and, and let’s read the parallel passage in Mark, Mark chapter 10, because I want to bring a point here with what the Lord is saying. Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, if you would look with me at verse number 23, this is the same, the same instance, Mark 10 verse 23, and Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. So in our, in our text it says, how hardly shall a, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And this says, how hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of God. Verse 24, and the disciples were astonished at his words and Jesus answered again and saith unto them, children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. So if you kind of put those three statements, three or four statements in Matthew and in Mark together, you can kind of get an idea of what the thrust of the Lord is, what he’s talking about. And what he’s talking about primarily when he talks about the rich, they that possess riches, but he’s really referring to those who possess riches and trust in them. That is the trust that is the problem. And really they go together, really they go together. It is a, it is a fact of human nature that as our wealth increases, our tendency is to trust those things. That’s not just a human fact, that is also a biblical fact. Listen to these verses.

You can note down the references if you like. Psalm 49 verse 6, they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. And then it goes on to say they cannot by any means redeem his brother. If you remember that not too long ago on Wednesday night. Psalm 52 verse 7 says this, lo, this is the man that hath made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. Now notice this, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of riches. So you can see a contrast here, trusting in God or trusting in possessions, trusting in God or trusting in money. The Lord multiple times in scripture sets those opposite, opposite. Because that is the tendency and that’s the inclination of those who have, and it’s not a matter of how much money you have, whether you have a million dollars or whether you have much more modest money in your bank account or whether you’re Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, that the magnitude is not what we’re talking about. We’re just talking about the fact that as our riches increase, so our tendency, and we have to be careful even as believers that we fight this and don’t, don’t let our trust begin, our reliance and our strength begin to move from the Lord to the abundance of what we have thinking, you know, we have it, you know, it’s not something we need to, we need to lean upon the Lord for because we have it all taken care of.

Proverbs 11 verse 28 says this, He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. First Timothy 6 17 says this, charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. So the Lord says to those who have possessions, whatever they be, He says be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches. So I can imagine a believer that, that Paul speaking to Timothy in the church where Timothy is the pastor and, and Paul tells him that you need to remind those believers sitting in the pew that have, that have wealth because it’s not, it’s not the wealth that is sinful, it’s the trust and the wealth. It’s not the, it’s not the possession of wealth. Some people have wealth that has nothing to do with anything they’ve done, right? It just maybe it’s an inheritance, maybe they had unusual success in their business or whatever the case might be and you know the Lord says be careful, charge them that are rich in this world, be careful because increase in wealth has been the fall, the spiritual fall of many, many people in the body of Christ, either by possessing it or by seeking it, right? But think about someone who isn’t a believer, who is relying on that, who is, who tends to not trust in God because they have something upon which they can trust. And I’ll tell you something, one thing I think the Lord will do, we’ll see this a little bit in a minute, is sometimes I think the Lord starts taking trusts away, taking things upon which we trust away to bring a person to himself. He loves them too much to let them continue to trust these things that will ultimately fall. So the danger that the Lord is pointing out, which and the danger, the reason why it is so difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven is because he tends to trust his possessions. Verse number 24, notice what it says, and again I say unto you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. This is just an analogy, this is just a proverb, like a common proverb and the meaning of this proverb is seen in verse 26 but we’ll see that in just a second. But notice verse 23, let me read something and kind of take a rabbit trail very briefly.

I’m going to read 23 and 24 and I want you to pay attention to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Notice what it says, verse 23, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Verse 24, and again I say unto 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. Did you notice that in the first verse 23 the Lord uses the word kingdom of heaven and in the second he uses the word kingdom of God. You know among Bible students there’s always this big debate of whether the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same because you only see the term kingdom of heaven in Matthew but you see the word the term kingdom of God in Matthew and in Mark and in Luke but not in John for whatever reason. And so there’s a big debate is are they the same? Do they refer to the same or to two different things? And a lot of my friends believe they refer to two different things and that’s not my view. I think they’re referring to the same thing and this is the reason. One of the primary reasons is verse 23 and 4 because the Lord says the same thing two times in the same context and uses one in one case and one in another and then he says again which tells us he’s saying the same thing. That’s one of the primary reason I think they’re synonymous. There’s other reasons but for those of you Bible students who pay attention to that sort of thing there you go. All right so what is the what does the Lord mean in verse 24? He says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. You know what he’s talking about? Impossibility.

Impossibility. We’re talking about a literal camel and a literal eye of a literal needle right. It’s a proverb. Raining cats and dogs. We don’t literally mean there there’s cats and dogs coming out of the sky. It’s a proverb for heavy rain right. So the proverb being described here the Lord is saying this is impossible and he says it in verse 26. Notice he says but Jesus beheld them and said unto them with men this is impossible. For a rich man to enter the kingdom of God for a person who trusts in riches to enter the kingdom of God the Lord says not going to happen. Not going to happen. If a camel can’t go through the eye of a needle then a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of God. But the thing I like about this verse and the encouraging thing about it is the fact that the Lord says but with God all things are possible. Anytime a person comes to the Lord and trusts in Christ that is a miracle that God has worked. That is not the work of man or the suave of an evangelist although evangelists might be the means. It is ultimately and finally a work of God bringing that person to himself. Convincing that person of sin. Convincing them that they need Christ. So much more with a person who trusts in riches. With men it’s impossible but with God all things are possible. Here’s the encouragement I want to give to you for that.

This is the only place in scripture that I’m aware of. Maybe there’s others if you know of others you’re welcome to fill me in on them. But as far as I know this is the only passage in scripture. This is the only class of people where the Lord describes their salvation as difficult.

Isn’t that interesting? That the Lord describes not it’s not people who are sinful. It’s not the harlots. It’s not the drug addicts. It’s not the drunkards. It’s the wealthy.

It riches has such a powerful influence on people’s heart and affections that the Lord says this is a hard case. But even a hard case is not impossible. So let’s apply that.

You probably have people in your life that are hard cases. You probably know of people that are hard cases. Maybe they’re on drugs. Maybe they’re deep deep into sin and maybe their mind is lost. Maybe they have some what we might call a difficult case. Maybe they’re stuck in religion and they’re absolutely convinced of whatever religious hang up that they have. Or maybe it’s someone who’s wealthy and for that reason will not give any ear to the gospel.

Whatever the case might be. Here’s the encouragement I want to give to you is this. God is able to get to that person. If the Lord is able to take the hard case as defined by himself and he’s able to he says, yeah man can’t do it but I can do everything. I can get through to the hard cases. Then every other hard case that we might view as a hard case the Lord has the power to do it.

Every other hard case that we might view as a hard case the Lord has the ability to do it. So I want the encouragement to you. Notice it says with men this is impossible. Yes you might be and I might be. We might be at our wits end when we’re trying to win this person to the Lord. We don’t know what else to say. We don’t know how to get through to them. I don’t know how many times I prayed that with various people in my life. We don’t know what else to say. How to get through to them. What’s going to wake them up? We don’t at some point we should just say Lord it is obviously impossible but with God all things are possible. You know what that means? We should try and invoke the Lord’s power and work in that situation. You know how we do that?

We do it in prayer. Serious believing prayer like this. Lord I have said everything I can to this person. I don’t know what else to say. This is a hard case but you can do anything. You can awaken this person who is in love with their religious faith, who is in love with their money, who is in love with their sin, who is bound in some wicked sinful dungeon. You can do anything. Nothing is impossible for you. You know what that is? That’s a prayer of faith and that you have biblical grounds to pray that right here. We must just invoke it and pray the impossible. There you know we talk about praying the impossible for things earthly. What about things eternal? You see a rich man coming to Christ is an impossibility but God is able to do it. Let’s go down to verse number 27.

So this kind of pivots, this young man goes away. He’s sorrowful. He had great possessions. He is one of these that at this moment is not entering the kingdom of heaven but yet it’s not hopeless. You know why it’s not hopeless? Because with God all things are possible. This young man can get saved. You know some people think that this young man was actually Paul or Saul of Tarsus. How many of you have never heard that before? And there are actually good reasons to think that. Consider his age. You consider his wealth. Paul describes all this. He’s called in Luke, I think he’s called a ruler and then he talks about how he kept all of the laws in verse number 20.

And then the word hardly is used and if you look in I think it’s also in Luke that the Bible specifically says that when he went away or when he was answering Jesus that the Bible says that Jesus looked on him and loved him. Now I don’t know if it’s Saul of Tarsus. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But I think there’s a possibility. So if that’s the case that would only prove my point even more, right? That God can do the impossible because God saved Saul. So I hope it was. All right verse 27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now what’s interesting is that this verse 28 is only recorded in Matthew and Matthew of course has a Jewish character because it mentions the twelve tribes of Israel and the apostles judging them and so that matches the Jewish character. And so verse 28. Notice the word regeneration. Now take a peek if you would at Titus chapter 3. There’s only one other reference to the word regeneration in the New Testament. This is the only two. The one we’re looking at now in Matthew 19 and in in Titus chapter 3. If you look at that verse number five. Titus 3 verse number five.

The Bible says this, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Now the the context in Titus 3 is talking about personal salvation and so regeneration refers to this this this recreation that the Lord performs when a person believes. In other words the Lord recreates them. He gives them a new nature. He resets them, renews them. You know this is the new birth. This is the new birth. But when you go back to Matthew 19 which is the only other instance here it’s obviously not referring to that. So it’s kind of a a curious a curious term here. He says, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory. So what is the regeneration? Well we might not know exactly what the Lord is referring to but he does give us indications about the time because he says when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory. So that’s what it’s referring to. So I think it’s talking about the renewal or the recreation or the restoration that comes at his coming when he sits on his throne in glory. Now take a peek if you would at a couple of of passages. Go to Acts chapter number three and Matthew 25. We’ll go to Acts 3 first. Acts chapter three. The exact same words are not used in Acts chapter three but there’s a similar concept. Acts three and a similar time frame that’s being described here. Acts three verse 19.

Says this, Peter speaking here, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which was before which was which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. So this is a time a period that’s spoken of in the prophets.

This is a time of restitution of renewal a time of recreation and restoration. Right another hint Matthew chapter 25. If you’ll look at that Matthew 25 and verse number 31. So if you know Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 this is this is talking about the second coming of Christ these two passages. Matthew 25 verse 31 says this, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his what does it say glory that is the exact verbiage used in Matthew 19.

And in this passage it is clearly and unambiguously referring to his second coming and he’s judging at this point in the second coming. All right go back to Matthew 19 now let’s read it again. Matthew 19 verse 28, Verily I say unto you that ye will be saved from the 28. Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory. So this is pointing to the time in which Christ returns, restores all things, the time of restitution when the Lord Jesus sits upon the throne of his glory.

Now we should take this at face value, we should take it literally but here’s what the commentators say. Notice he says the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. I just read these commentaries because I want you to read it for yourself and then I want you to hear the kinds of things that are promoted because I want us to be discerning right because honestly this commentary that I’m going to read is Albert Barnes.

This is a overall and actually a very good commentary but that’s why we should read things with some critical thinking right. Here’s what he says about this verse. Speaking of the 12 tribes he says this was the number of the ancient tribes by this name the people of God were denoted by this name Jesus here denotes his redeemed people. So what he’s saying is the mention of the 12 tribes is in verse 28 is talking about God’s redeemed people. See also James 1 1 which speaks of the 12 tribes where Christians are called the 12 tribes. James 1 1 does say that but it’s not it’s talking about the believing Jews which are part of the 12 tribes. Here in verse 28 it means also not the Jews not the world not the wicked not that the apostles are to pronounce sentence upon the enemies of God but the people of God. So if you were if you were to come across the scripture and you were to see this passage and it says when I sit on my throne the throne of my glory you also apostles will judge the 12 tribes of Israel what is your natural assumption the 12 tribes refers to Israel right. The because you know why that is and this is a principle of biblical interpretation but the reason that is is because tribe is a physical characteristic. There are no tribes in the church well there shouldn’t be anyway.

In the church they call them schisms and they’re not a good thing but in Israel among the the people of Israel the tribe refers to the the physical lineage the genealogy of them from the 12 sons of Jacob right and so when you read this it says judging the 12 tribes I just take this at face value but he says it is not that it is not the Jews he says among them Jesus says his apostles will be honored in the day of judgment as earthly kings place in post of office and honor those who have signally served them. Here’s the bottom line here’s what he’s saying this is not talking about Jesus kingdom this is not talking about actual judgment this is not talking about the 12 tribes of Israel it’s all spiritual it’s all figurative but here’s the thing that if you take it at face value is perfectly consistent here’s why because we’re told that when Jesus comes we’re told that he will set up a kingdom and there will be judges and there will be kings that rule and reign with the 12 apostles are a major part of that you know you also see in the the kingdom of Christ you also see that you also see the restoration of Israel which is as we saw in the other passage we read in Acts 3 that the prophets have prophesied of that period of restoration and Israel will be brought to the Lord and the apostles will be their judges that’s why we have to be very careful not to read this and read it with a predetermined theological idea and then try and make it fit because that’s exactly what happens now look at verse number 29 and everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive in hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life think about it in what cases would a person be required now let that verse sink into your mind now let that verse sink into your mind in what cases would a person be required to forsake his dear relatives to forsake houses or to forsake lands for Christ’s sake so as you think about that have you ever known anybody have I ever known anybody that’s had that has been required to forsake these things for Christ’s sake perhaps but really the context of this is actually before salvation right because we’re talking about the rich and those things that’s just not that’s just not something that’s common in our world is it I mean we live in a free society where people can believe whatever and they pay we pay very little price for what we believe but that is not true everywhere and has not been true with throughout history it is a real thing and has been a real thing throughout history for people to be disowned and forever shunned by their muslim family for trusting in Jesus that is a that happens in 2025 if not worse than that even among orthodox Jewish families sometimes when a child believes in Christ when a son or daughter believes in Christ that person is treated as spiritually dead all contact is cut off all contact is cut off sometimes even rituals of of mourning take place for that person who has believed in Christ but this thing is not something we see a lot of but the bible is not just for us the bible is not just for us in 2025 in a free America no the bible is for everyone who might be required to forsake these things but but it does happen here I don’t want to I don’t want to put it in a far-off place these kinds of things where people have had to forsake houses, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, and children, or lands for Christ’s sake that does happen in America let me ask you a question what would you do if your father or your mother said if you continue to believe in Jesus we’re going to write you out of the will that happens in America what would be our answer you know what that is to answer I’m sorry but I believe in Christ that’s forsaking houses and lands that’s what that is what would you say what would you do if your husband or your wife told you I will not be married to a Christian it’s either me or Jesus that also happens to people in our world in our country it does it does would that husband would that wife cling to Christ even if it meant he lost his wife mentioned here his husband her husband what would you do if your boss told you if you don’t do this thing that compromises your faith you don’t do this thing you’re fired so these things aren’t exactly suit aren’t exactly far off of course the answer which should be all for Christ now it’s not in verse 29 the Lord is not saying in order to be saved you have to forsake your family and all your possessions we’ve already covered that this morning but if another puts you or puts me in the place in which outside of our choosing we have to choose between Christ and those things the choice is clear you know sometimes people Christians are put in that place by others and they don’t have any choice in the matter they are they are pressed into a binary decision where it’s either Jesus or that dear thing and they don’t have any choice in the matter they are pressed into a binary decision where it’s either Jesus or that dear thing and many many Christians in history have had to make terrible choices like this that have been forced upon them by others take a peek real quick we’re almost finished look at Hebrews chapter 10 look at verse number 32 Hebrews 10 32 says this but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated ye endured the days of the dead and the day of the living and the day of the dead and the day of the but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilst you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so used for ye had compassion of me and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods you know they lost houses and lands right there knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance it has not been uncommon in the history of the church for people to have to make these hard decisions some people among us that is in our society believers have had to make very hard decisions in that way now back in Matthew chapter 19 we must remember that the Lord is going to reward those who suffer and who who suffer loss like we read in verse 29 he is going to remember those people he’s going to reward them in the throne of his kingdom and that leads us to the last verse which is 30 because in the context of those who have forsaken have had to forsake things people they loved things they cherished they have had to forsake them for christ’s sake in that context the Lord says but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first this is this great reversal there will be many that are considered by us to be first in line in the dispensing of rewards and honors from Christ that’s the way we view them well that guy he’s going to be at the front of the line right the Lord says those many many of them will be last and many people who are little accounted for who are little honored who are not considered to be very significant at all probably some some poor probably some some poor afghan christian some some poor christian in saudi arabia or indonesia or malaysia some poor person in the in the darkest place in africa who for christ lost everything we don’t even think about those people but they’re going to be at the front of the line many that are last shall be first they’re going to be at the front of the line so we need to be careful not to judge according to appearances or fame boy especially in the preacher world oh my goodness i get so tired of the preacher what they call it what might you call it the preacher stardom or whatever yeah i get so tired of that we always judge things by what’s in the news what’s popular on social media what other people think is good and popular and that’s not a right way to judge it is only the Lord who is going to dispense these honors and these rewards like we read here according to truth according to the secrets of the heart and at that point it’ll all be right let’s pray