Verses 18-27 “18And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
20Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
22Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
24And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
25For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
26And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
27And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Jesus was not teaching that anyone can earn his way to heaven by giving to the poor. He was merely drawing out the rich man’s true values. The story shows why the rich have many temptations to reject Christ. Jesus uses the illustration of a camel and the eye of a needle. He is talking about a literal camel and a literal eye of a needle. The illustration shows that it is impossible (not just difficult!) for a rich person to make his own way to heaven with or without his riches. Remember that we come into this world with nothing and it is certain that we will leave this world with nothing (I Timothy 6:7), so no one is rich in this world’s goods when he goes to heaven. It is totally impossible for a rich person, or anyone else for that matter, to get himself into the kingdom of God; however, God can get him in, for God can do the impossible. Every person will let something keep him from receiving Christ until God convicts and converts him.