Coming Like a Child

Do you ever lay in bed at night and wonder, "am I really saved?" Well, we are going to look at this question together and see what the word of God has to say about this. I trust in the word of God and am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. Let us look at how Jesus answered a man, that was asking about inheriting eternal life. Remember, the whole context is the first verse where Jesus will go on to show how this man, is not coming like a little child.

Lu 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Lu 18:18 ¶ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Lu 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Lu 18:20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Lu 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Lu 18:22 Now 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.

Many people who cling to their own righteousness and subscribe to a work salvation, use this verse to verify their assertions, but Jesus here is showing how this man is not coming like a little child. The ruler in this story, is obviously missing something in his life. If there was nothing missing he would not have approached Jesus and asked that question. It was a sense of lack. Many people, including myself before I was saved, had a deep sense of lack. A feeling that there is something missing in my life. For most of my life I felt it, and I tried to fill that with worldly pleasures, but to no avail. This sense of lack and loneliness never went away through all my pleasure seeking. This sense of lack is one of the biggest signs to someone, that they are not saved. You see, people may try to fill it with religion, reading scripture, bible studies, fellowship with Christians, witnessing, trying to get right with God, but it just doesn't get right. That sense of lack won't go away no matter how hard a person may work and try to "abide in Christ". The mind, will and emotions might be for God and for the things of God, but the heart is for the world. They know Christians ought not act and think the way they do (when no one is looking) so they try harder and immerse themselves in their, "Christian life", to try to be sanctified and get assurance, but to no avail. The desire is for the things of this world, and not for God. They are not coming like a child. The ruler in this passage was not coming like a child.

There cannot be anything in between a you and God when you come. If there is something you have put in the way, something you just won't give up... Maybe it is pornography or maybe it is your nicotine habit. Something that you love more than God, you can't be saved. A child when it is offered something better, than what it has in its grasp at the moment, immediately lets go and grabs the new and better thing. The child doesn't think about what comes after, or how it will all work out. The child simply lets go and grabs the new, without thinking about consequences. The child doesn't need to figure it all out. In contrast, an adult tries to figure it all out. An adult says, "No it can't be that easy. There must be more to it than that. There must be something for me to do here". This adult is no longer coming like a little child.

Jesus, knowing the ruler's heart, told him to keep the commandments. He offered him salvation by keeping the law. The law says, if you keep it perfectly, you will inherit eternal life. The ruler, lying, claimed that he had done all those things. Jesus replied back that he lacked something yet. He should sell all his riches, give the money to the poor, and follow Him. You see, Jesus knew the man's heart. He knew that the man loved his riches more than God. If the ruler had come like a little child, he would have dropped what he was doing, sold his riches, given them to the poor, and followed Jesus. But he didn't. Instead of eternal life, the man preferred his riches. Instead of choosing Jesus, he chose eternal death and hell.

God does not require anything of us, except that we come. Remember what Phillip told the eunuch when the eunuch asked what hindered him from being baptized?

Ac 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart,

There is a kind of believing with the mind, like the devil believes, and then there is a believing with the whole heart, that is unto salvation. If it is an experience you are looking for, you won't be saved. To be terrified and want to escape hell, is no reason for you to be saved. To be sorry for your sin and to beg God to forgive you, is no reason to be saved. God is not impressed that you are sorry. What you should be is very, very sorry for your sin, but that is no reason to be saved. You must believe with all your heart.


There is a wonderful state of mind that you must be in to get saved. You must want to know God and desire Him over all else. You must desire righteousness and holiness and have a hatred for sin. You can't have any confidence in the way you have lived. All your right doing is dung, as far as God is concerned. Most importantly, you need to know that Jesus became your sin so that you could become His righteousness. He went to the hell that you deserved so that you could go to the heaven that you didn't deserve. He shed his blood to on that tree, to pay your debt in full. You need to know that it is absolutely free! Just believe that, and be saved! Believe that Jesus paid it all. "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling."

Romans 3:24 Being justified FREELY by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

To be justified is better than never to have been tried at all. The supreme court of Heaven has gone through your record and found you innocent of all charges! God looked at Jesus on the cross and His wrath was satisfied. Believe and be saved! Just like when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and sent out messengers telling them to tell the people (that were being bitten by snakes) to look to the serpent and they would be saved. The same way Jesus was lifted up on the cross, and all that look to Him and believe that he paid it all, will be saved.