Thank you. When Jesus said that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, was he commending poverty as a means for entry into heaven?

Alistair Begg examines Jesus' response to the rich young ruler today on Truth for Life.

He's teaching from chapter 18 in Luke's Gospel.

Jesus is teaching them here.

Let the lens come back fair enough and look at this.

He told the story concerning those who were confident in their own righteousness

and looked down on everybody else.

They walk away from that, presumably saying,

okay, we passed that test.

They walk right into the circumstances where people are bringing children to Jesus,

and they say, hey, move along. Jesus doesn't have time for you. Jesus has time for the

marginalized of society, doesn't he? Jesus has time for the woman at the well. The religious

hypocrite has no time for the woman at the well. The religious hypocrite, who looks down on everybody else, isn't even prepared to welcome over

to his house, a lady who's at five husbands and has a live-in lover. Sinful woman living down the street.

Sinful woman in the office. Can't believe that. She's Alhasi. Have nothing to do with her.

To those who were confident in their own righteousness and look down on everybody else,

Jesus told the story. They thought they passed the test. They didn't pass the test.

Because immediately the next incident arises and they blow it completely. Do you see yourself

in this at all? You see, in Roman antiquity,

children were abused. They were susceptible to all kinds of adverse conditions. Child mortality

was, infant mortality was exceptionally high. They were the marginalized of society. They were regarded as just out there. Infanticide was a large

part of the culture. They were regarded as what they were not. The only value of a child ultimately

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