And please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Luke chapter 18, and we'll read verses 15 to 30. Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 15. Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, let the children come to me, and 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 a ruler 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. You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother. And he said, all these things I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, one thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth 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 person to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard it said, then who can be saved? But he said, what is impossible with man is possible with God. And Peter said, see, we have left our homes and followed you. And he said to them, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this and in the age to come eternal life. So ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray and ask for his blessing. Dear God, even as we considered in the call to worship how the psalmist prayed and asked that he would be led by your light and truth, so now also we ask that your Holy Spirit would lead us into the truth, that you would illuminate this text, that by faith we might understand and might live out its implications, that we might understand this teaching point about children receiving the kingdom. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as parents, we naturally want to give our children good role models, good examples to follow, whether it's their peers or it's teachers or maybe pastors or Sunday school teachers. We want to point them to wise and responsible people, role models who will show them how to live well in this life. But in our passage today, Jesus turns this normal convention upside down. When people bring their children to Jesus, the disciples see it as a distraction, and they try to turn them away. But Jesus not only welcomes the children, he lifts up these children as examples for the parents to follow. There's something that children can teach us about the kingdom of heaven. On stark contrast to the children who are coming and who are brought to Jesus, Jesus is then approached by someone who, by every worldly measure, seems like the perfect candidate for God's kingdom. He's rich, he's successful, he's powerful, he's a moral upright ruler. If anyone appears fit for the kingdom of heaven, it's him. And yet when Jesus calls him to let go of his wealth and to follow him, He walks away sorrowful, unwilling to part with his possessions. Through these encounters, Jesus is teaching us how we enter the kingdom of God. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has spoken much about the kingdom and how we enter the kingdom. Most recently, he spoke of how the kingdom is in their very midst, as Jesus himself, as the king is in their midst. Now he uses phrases like receiving the kingdom and entering the kingdom and inheriting the kingdom. These are all different ways of speaking about the same fundamental thing, how we receive salvation, how we enter into the kingdom, And the clear answer that Jesus gives is that we do not enter the kingdom based on our own success, our morality, our status. It's not that we earn all of these things, we accomplish all of these great feats, and then we present them to God in the hopes that he'll be so impressed by our efforts, and then he'll have to let us into his kingdom. No, Jesus instead teaches that we enter the kingdom like a child, a child that comes penniless with no status, no worldly worth, but simply trusting and depending upon the grace alone that's found in Jesus Christ. And so the question this morning, this afternoon, is have you come to Christ like a child, humbly independent, or have you come like the rich ruler, clinging to something that you cannot ultimately keep? Let's consider this question as we consider what Jesus teaches us. Well, first, Jesus shows us how a humble heart receives the kingdom. Secondly, a self-exalted heart rejects the kingdom. And third, how a changed heart inherits the kingdom. So the first thing Jesus teaches us is that a humble heart receives the kingdom. So as Jesus continues to make his journey towards Jerusalem, he's been teaching about the nature of the kingdom. A major theme in the last several chapters is how the kingdom is not found among those who are proud and self-sufficient, but rather the kingdom is found in those who are humble and repentant sinners who call out for mercy. In fact, the very last words out of Jesus' mouth were, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. And as Jesus is teaching all about the kingdom and as he's giving these parables, his voice as he speaks is accompanied by the cries of babies and the shuffles of toddlers. Some things never change. But then these parents start to get up from their seats, as it were, and bring their little ones to Jesus to touch. Now, this isn't just a sentimental gesture. In Luke's gospel, Jesus' touch is very powerful. With his touch, he cleansed lepers. With his touch, he healed those with diseases. With his touch, he even raised a boy from the dead. And these parents believe that if Jesus touches their children, then they will receive blessing and perhaps even healing for those who might be sick. But the disciples are of a different sort of mindset. They kind of react like bouncers who want to keep away the unwanted riffraff. And so they not only block the parents from bringing their children, but they actually rebuke the parents for bringing their children in the first place. In their minds, Jesus has more important things to do than dealing with noisy children with runny noses. Now we need to understand the cultural background here. Today we tend to think of children as cute and maybe naive and sweet and sentimental. We think of children with great affection. But in the ancient world, while certainly people thought of children as gifts from God, children were socially insignificant. They had no status. They had no rights in society. They had no real standing. And in that society, children were neither to be seen nor heard. They were really not, not really even seen as full people. They were to be kept on the edges. And so the disciples' reaction here is not unusual. Certainly when you have a ruler in the midst with his hand up wanting to ask a question, why would Jesus be bothered with these children who have absolutely no status? And so they assume that Jesus just isn't interested in something as trivial as holding babies. But Jesus will have none of it. He says, let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us two things here, at least. The first is very basic. Jesus, in response to the disciples, is saying, no, I do have time for children. Let the children come to me. Jesus does not bar access from anyone who comes to him. Every person is significant in his eyes, small or big, important or less important in the eyes of the world, young or old, rich or poor. Even these little children and infants are welcomed by Jesus. Children, maybe at times you feel overlooked, Maybe as you live in the world. Maybe you feel it in the home sometimes. Maybe you feel it at church. Maybe you feel it with God. Maybe you even think that, well, I know God listens to the prayers of mom and dad. I know that he listens to the pastor's prayers, but surely he's too busy and he's too important to hear my prayers. Children, do you ever think that way? But here, Jesus teaches that he receives all who come to him in faith. He receives the prayers of the important. He receives the prayers of the little and those who are viewed as small in the eyes of the world. He receives the prayers of a persistent widow living on the very edges of society, as we considered several weeks ago. And so children, be encouraged to go to the Lord with your prayers, with your fears. If you wake up at night with a nightmare, go to the Lord and pray to him. Jesus stands ready to receive you as you come to him in faith. And this is also why, as a church, we love having children in corporate worship. Yes, it does mean that there will be noises that distract us every so often. Our children's behavior will sometimes embarrass us as parents, and we'll be afraid that everyone will look at us and think that we're absolute failures as parents. But if we are to follow Jesus' command of bringing our children to him, then we will prioritize bringing our children to the place where Jesus is found. And Jesus has already told us that the place where he is found, the place where he is to be worshipped, is where the church gathers in his name, and especially under the preaching of the word, where they hear the voice of Christ calling through the word, calling little ones to come to him in repentance and faith, to trust in him. And when we realize that's what's happening in corporate worship, well then, as parents, we can endure the squirminess of little toddlers, and we can be gracious to the little noises or big noises of those around us. That's the first takeaway from this. There's a second and perhaps more significant principle that Jesus is directing us to here. In some way, the children coming to Jesus are a picture of how we as believers come to Jesus, as how we enter the kingdom of heaven. Notice again what Jesus says. He says, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. In other words, the kingdom belongs to such as these. The kingdom belongs to those who are like these little children. Jesus, of course, is drawing an analogy. Jesus, of course, is not saying that every child and every baby who's being brought to him at that moment is part of the kingdom. Nor is he teaching at all the inclusion of unbelieving infants into the new covenant. That's not what he's teaching here. There's no evidence for that. Rather, Jesus' point is that in some way, the little girl resting in his arms is a picture of the believer. His next sentence makes that clear when he says, truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child shall not enter it. So in order for you to receive the kingdom, in order for you to enter the kingdom, you need to do so like a child. What does that mean? Well, again, it's very important that we set aside our modern kind of sentimental ideas about childhood. You know, today people tend to think of children as innocent and pure and, you know, majestic, deserving of anything they ever ask for. Again, in the first century, children were not viewed this way. They were seen instead, first and foremost, as weak. They were seen really as unformed people, as people that needed shaping. They were people without status, without accomplishment, without achievement. If they were people at all, they were people with nothing really to offer. Nothing to advance you in social status if you were to spend time with them. And remember that whole idea of social status and honor was huge in the first century. And this is the posture Jesus is highlighting. Just as infants are completely dependent upon their parents and really have very little to offer them, so also we come to God in complete humility and dependence upon him. In other words, the kingdom is not for the self-sufficient, the accomplished, or the morally impressive. Rather, it's for those who recognize that they have nothing to offer, and they come to him dependent on him for grace. And doesn't this fit perfectly with the previous parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? The Pharisee stood before God, boasting in all that he had accomplished, all of his religious works, all that he had done, all that he hadn't done in terms of sin. But the tax collector came like a child with nothing to offer other than his bad behavior. He simply cried out, have mercy on me, the sinner. And what did Jesus say? Jesus said that the tax collector and not the Pharisee went home justified that day. I think in our culture, especially even in our conservative American culture, independence and self-sufficiency are prized virtues. And certainly in their own right, they are, I think, important virtues to strive after. But our society tells us that we're to be self-made, we're to rely on our own strengths, we're to take pride in our accomplishments. But then by extension, people think that in coming to Christ, it must operate the same way. That in coming to Christ, they must fix their lives and get themselves straight. They must improve their morality, or they must prove their worth. Or maybe they need to attain a certain level of spiritual maturity before they are baptized even. But Jesus is clear, the kingdom is received, not earned. It's given, not achieved. And so to receive the kingdom, we must confess that we are not enough on our own, that we are not strong enough, we're not wise enough, we're not good enough to save ourselves. Like children, we must rely completely on Jesus and what he has done for us. What this means for you is that you must abandon all attempts to trust in yourself. You must abandon those things that we so naturally take pride in, our good works, our efforts, even our maybe religious pedigree or background. As Paul said in Philippians 3.8, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. You know, the rich ruler will walk away from Jesus because he trusts in himself. He trusts in his wealth and his accomplishments. But Jesus tells us that those who enter the kingdom are those who come like children, empty-handed, humble, and fully dependent upon him. Well, have you come to Christ with the empty hands of faith? Or are your hands and arms still filled with your own trophies your own self-exaltation, come to Jesus with empty hands and receive the grace that he lavishes upon those who approach him in faith. Well, whereas the humble heart receives the kingdom, secondly, we see how a self-exalted and a divided heart rejects the kingdom. So while Jesus is there and he's bouncing a child on his knee, a question is raised from the crowd. This time it doesn't come from a child, it comes from a ruler. Luke doesn't specify what kind of ruler he was, whether he was a civil ruler or a religious ruler, but clearly he holds some position of power and authority in the community. In other words, this is an important man. This man is established, accomplished in the community. And the ruler asks, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now at first glance his question seems reasonable. It seems sincere and commendable. He even addresses Jesus with respect as good teacher. He takes the posture of a student needing to learn from the master. And yet his words reveal a fundamental misunderstanding about the kingdom. He assumes that eternal life is something to be received and obtained by his own doing. The phrase, what must I do, exposes that mindset. Remember the prayer, if you can call it that, of the Pharisee in the previous passage, where he prayed all about the things that he did. I fast, I do this, I do that. And now here this ruler asks what he must do to receive eternal life. And what's remarkable is that Jesus has just told the crowd, essentially, that the way you inherit the kingdom is by coming like a penniless, statusless child. But here is a man who's wealthy and powerful. This is a man who's probably self-made. He's worked hard all his life for everything. He didn't inherit anything. He worked hard by rolling up his sleeves and sweating and working, being diligent. And he probably didn't become a ruler just by chance. He's proven himself in the community. He's volunteered his time. And now he assumes that eternal life must be secured the same way. through hard work, through the sweat of his brow. So Jesus responds, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Now this is neither a denial of Jesus, of his divinity, nor is it an affirmation of his divinity. Jesus is simply pointing the man to the standard of goodness. Because as we'll see, this ruler calls Jesus good, but he also thinks he's a pretty good guy. So Jesus points him to the absolute standard of goodness, which is God. If we wanna talk about the law and goodness, that's where we must start. We must start with God, Jesus says. And since the law is a reflection of God's goodness, that's where Jesus goes next. He says, you know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother. Again, remember, Jesus is answering his question of what must I do to be saved. In other words, if I don't come as a child, if I don't come in humble dependence and without any works, how do I come then? And Jesus rightly points to the law. Well, if you want to be justified by the law, this is how you must come. You must perfectly obey all of the law. Jesus lists five of the 10 commandments. This is a selection of the law, the standard that must be completed in its entirety. And you see, the law, rightly understood, does not confirm our righteousness. When we read the law, we shouldn't come away patting ourselves on the back saying, oh good, look at all these things I've done, look at my conformity to the law. No, the law exposes our sin. Each commandment not only governs our external actions, it also governs our hearts, the things that we desire. It speaks both to the things that we do as well as to the things that we left, where we leave undone. For example, It's not enough to simply not murder someone. Most of us, hopefully, can at least get through life without murdering anybody. But the law says that, well, there's more to that command. It's not only that we must not murder and avoid murder, it's also that we must positively love our neighbor and also not hate in our hearts. It's not enough to simply avoid stealing, we must also be generous. and give to each his due. It's not enough to avoid an affair, adultery with another person. We must also resist and reject every impure thought. And positively, we're to pursue and cultivate minds of purity and chastity in thought and desire. Children, the law applies to you as well. You might read the law and say, well, I haven't done those things. I've never murdered anybody. Have you ever been wrongfully angry with a brother or a sister? Well, the law says that you've disobeyed. Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Well, then you have failed to keep the law. And in light of the standard of God's perfect law, each of us must answer this question. How do you stand? Are you a good person? Can you claim for yourself clean hands and a pure heart? How many of these commandments have you kept perfectly? Well, if you answered none of the above, you'd be correct, because you haven't. But astonishingly, the ruler response, all of these I have kept from my youth. When I was a child, I always obeyed my parents. I never disobeyed. When I grew older and was in my teen years, I never had a lustful thought. And now that I'm a man, all of my dealings with others are pure, continually, all of the time. Well, that's not how he should have responded, is it? No, the way he should have responded to the law was like the tax collector saying, oh, Jesus, yes, you're right. I am a sinner. I haven't kept the law. My goodness isn't good enough. What I need is mercy. But instead, he responds like the Pharisee. He doesn't think he's ever broken the law. Well, rather than arguing with the man, the man's obviously blind to his own sin, rather than arguing with him, Jesus gives him a simple command, simple yet impossible, as we'll see. He says, one thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Now it's important to recognize Jesus is not laying down a universal command of poverty for all believers, nor is he saying that we can buy or sell our way into heaven. Rather, Jesus is in dialogue with this man who's been thinking a certain way. And now Jesus is putting his finger on the ruler's true God, his wealth. By giving this command, Jesus is testing his heart. And he's asking him, do you love God more than your money? Well, if you want eternal life according to the perfection of the law, this is the next thing you must do. Will you do this? Well, how does he respond? When he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Well, his heart, or sorry, his response reveals his heart, doesn't it? He had not kept the commandments. His wealth was his security. His status was his identity. And when given the choice between Christ and his riches, he chose his riches. Instead of coming to Jesus like a child, he walks away clinging to his possessions. This is the tragedy of misplaced security, wealth, and status, and possessions. feel like security, but really they are fleeting. Money cannot buy peace with God. You can have all the riches of the world, but without Christ, your soul is bankrupt. Success cannot guarantee eternal life. Your achievements and reputation that may impress other people do not justify you before a holy God. Comfort cannot shield you from death. No amount of possessions can keep you from the grave. And one day, that ruler would die. He has died. He is dead. His wealth was left behind to another. His name is forgotten. This ruler, whose name is probably plastered in every billboard and park bench that he helped fund, now is forgotten. It's not even there. Ultimately, he chose to trust in something that could not save him and that would ultimately fail him. And the same is true for you. If you cling to anything other than Christ, you are building your life on sinking sand. So what are you clinging to? Just a few chapters ago, Jesus taught how no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Well, the ruler thought he could have two masters. He not only had a self-exalted heart, but he also had a divided heart. What about your heart? Who or what holds the strings of your heart? If Jesus were to ask you right now to give up one thing so that he would be first in your heart, what would that thing be? Is there something in your heart that's taking that place of the first love of him? Would it be possessions? Or maybe it's a dream or desire that you have and you've sacrificed everything to make this come true, even God. Is it a particular sin that holds that place of affection in your soul? What is it that competes with God for that place of primacy in your heart? Well, whatever that thing is. Today, Jesus is calling you to repent of that thing, to remove that thing, whatever it is, because the way to enter the kingdom is by coming to Christ, repenting of our sins, letting go of both our sin and our self-righteousness, confessing our sins to him, receiving forgiveness, and resting in his arms with faith like a child. The third thing we see is how a changed heart inherits the kingdom. The ruler tried to inherit the kingdom by his law keeping, but Jesus exposed that he had not kept the law because he loved his possessions more than God. And Jesus explains now in verse 24 how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom. And then in verse 25, he takes it a step further and he says that it's not only difficult for the wealthy to inherit the kingdom, it's actually impossible. He says, For 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. Now some have speculated that there must have been some gate in Jerusalem that was called the eye of the needle and camels would try to squeeze through. I don't know where that came from. There's no historical evidence to support that. Jesus is simply referring to a sewing needle. Children, you, know what a sewing needle is. Maybe you've done a little bit of sewing yourselves, or maybe you've watched mom or dad do some sewing. Sometimes when I need to replace buttons on my shirt when it gets a little bit tight. But if you've ever done any sewing, you know how hard it is and how frustrating it is just to try to thread the needle. Sometimes you need to wet the thread, or you need to cut it at a slant, or double it over, all kinds of things, and you spend more time trying to get the thread through the eye of the needle than you do actually sewing your shirt buttons. Well, children, imagine trying to fit a camel through the eye of a needle, a camel being the largest animal in all of Israel. Well, it doesn't matter how much you try to lick his head and try to stick him through, or I wouldn't advise taking a scissors, but it doesn't matter what you try to do, that the camel will never get through the eye of the needle. And so Jesus is saying that for the wealthy, entrance into God's kingdom is not merely difficult. He says it cannot be done. It's impossible. Well, if this sounds troubling to you, perhaps to some more than others, it made everyone in the crowd very fearful. They all cry out, then who can be saved? Jesus' words, you see, were shocking. because in Jewish circles, riches were associated with divine blessing. Think of how Abraham was blessed above so many people, and he was quite wealthy. Proverbs connects wealth with wisdom. The Mosaic Covenant promised prosperity to Israel if they kept the law. And so the common assumption of the day was that those who were wealthy, those who were powerful, like this rich ruler, were much closer to the kingdom, much closer to salvation than the common man or woman on the street. And so, if it's impossible for the rich to be saved by their wealth and by their status, what chance do the rest of us have? None at all. If even a man like this ruler who was a good guy, he helped in his community, he volunteered his time, he gave to the poor, he outwardly kept the commandments, If Jesus is saying that this guy is unfit for the kingdom, the crowd is saying, well, what hope is there for the rest of us? The crowd rightly understand the point. Salvation by works and status is impossible for rich and poor alike. And Jesus affirms their thinking. He doesn't correct him and say, oh, no, no, you misunderstood me. No, he says, yes, you're right. It is impossible. But then he says, what is impossible with man is possible with God. Your good works, your external obedience will never be enough to earn heaven, because perfect law-keeping is impossible. It's like trying to put a camel through the eye of the needle. Yet, what is impossible for man is possible for God. How does God make possible what we cannot do? while He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God provided the perfect law keeper to stand in our place. Christ entered into His own creation and fulfilled all of the law's demands. His heart was never divided. He obeyed the law perfectly, not only externally, but also internally. He obeyed the law and through His atoning death on the cross, He has made the way for sinners to enter the kingdom. The God who alone is good came in Christ and took our bad upon himself on the cross so that now we can be received as good or as righteous before his sight. You see, what is impossible for man is made possible only by His grace. And God who raised Christ from the dead is also the one who raises us to new life. He is the one who gives us new hearts so that we are ready to leave the possessions and the status that we so readily cling to and to turn and to trust in Christ with childlike faith. God grants us faith and repentance, changed hearts. He grants it even to the richest and most self-reliant of sinners, and to the worst of sinners, like the tax collector. And then with new hearts, changed by his grace, we come to Jesus, humbly relying on his mercy. Salvation is impossible for man, but nothing is impossible for God. The fact that he saved any of us is proof of his power to save. You know, perhaps you can look back on your life before Christ or you can, you know, some of us have believed in Christ since we were children, but we can very easily imagine a life outside of Christ. And we know that were it not for God's power and God's drawing us to himself, each of us would be lost in our own sin. Maybe before coming to Christ, you were more like the rich ruler where you thought you were righteous. You thought you had it together. But God, through his law, exposed your heart so that you saw your sin for what it was. And then you saw Christ and you came to him in faith and repentance. And beloved, if God did the impossible for you, if he did the impossible in your heart and he changed your heart, can he not also do this for others? impossible cases. Let this be an encouragement for us to continue to pray for impossible cases. What do I mean by impossible cases? Those who we so easily think are beyond salvation, our unbelieving parents, our unbelieving loved ones, maybe that co-worker, maybe it's that person who is the last person we could imagine sitting in the pews worshiping God with us. Impossible, right? Oh, pray, knowing and believing that God does what is impossible for man, because he did it for you. Whereas it is impossible in our own strength to enter the kingdom, Christ gives us new hearts that enable us to let go of everything and to follow him. And finally, the disciples react to Jesus' words. And as usual, Peter speaks up for them. He points out to Jesus that, well, they as disciples have already made that choice. They have done what the ruler refused to do. Now, it's hard to say whether there's a little bit of boasting in what Peter is saying or if he's simply seeking reassurance. But nonetheless, what he says is true. He did leave his boat. He left his, you know, prospering fishing business. He's left his livelihood and he has followed Jesus. Jesus graciously responds by affirming that while sacrifice does not earn salvation, there is a reward for those who leave behind earthly comforts for the sake of the Kingdom. Jesus says, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, our wife, our brothers, our parents, our children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come. Now again, this is not a command to abandon family or abandon unbelieving family members. But rather, it's an assurance that whatever we lose in this life, for Christ's sake, Ultimately, we will never lose out. Certainly, following Christ can be costly. In some parts of the world, it can be very costly. It can cost believers their lives. In our culture, of course, it can often come with the cost of strained or broken relationships, being rejected by those we love, or even losing career opportunities. But Jesus promises that those who sacrifice for the kingdom will receive blessings, both now and in eternity. What are those blessings? Well, even as we lose, perhaps, family members in this life for following Christ, we have the assurance and promise that Jesus gives us a new family in the church. Even now and even here, we have experienced a love for one another that the world does not understand. a bond in Christ that is deeper than blood relationships. For those who have lost family and friends because of their faith, God richly provides a new family of faith. Yet even greater than these present blessings is the promise of eternal life. Whatever we give up for Christ in this world is nothing compared to the eternal riches of his kingdom that await us. And therefore, we should be ready when necessary to let goods and kindred go. As Jim Elliott famously said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. That's what a wise to the world A powerful, rich ruler failed to understand. But apparently, that's what children understood as they came to Jesus. And so, beloved, let us fix our eyes on God, the only true treasure of our souls. Let us cast aside anything that competes for his place in our lives. As Hebrews exhorts us, let us throw off every weight and sin that clings so closely and run the race with endurance. knowing that in Christ we have an inheritance unfading that can never be taken away. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us to learn the lesson of children, that we might be those who continually humble ourselves before you, who let go of all boasting and prestige and power and accomplishments and day by day approach you as children dependent upon Christ, Lord, unseat any false idol in our hearts. Take away our love of sinning. Replace it with a pure and bright delight in you and your character and your goodness. We praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.