Jesus taught the disciples that the one necessity of salvation was “childlike faith”. He said “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Childlike faith is about trust and dependence, it is about relationship, seeing God as our Father and ourselves as His children, realizing that we are not earning His love but living in an awareness and confidence of His love. Immediately after teaching the disciples about the necessity of childlike faith Jesus was approached by a young man that wanted to know what He needed to do to get eternal life. Jesus had compassion on the young man and after a short conversation told him that there was only “one thing he lacked”, that he should go and sell all of his possessions, give to the poor and follow Jesus. Mark tells us that the young man “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” It is important for us to remember that the issue at hand is not possessions or wealth but trust and dependence, it is not at all that the young man wouldn’t give up his possessions it is that he would not give Jesus his heart. I don’t believe that the story of the rich young ruler is about idolatry or the danger of riches nearly as much as it is about dependence and trust, if Jesus is the only way to enter the kingdom of God then our lives must be ordered and lived in a manner in which Jesus is where we place our trust, cling to for hope, lean upon for rest and depend upon for love. Tonight we see that even though the rich young ruler walked away from Jesus, Jesus was not finished with their interaction. He does not want the disciples to misunderstand what has just happened, He does not want them to believe that the key to eternal life is giving away possessions but He also doesn’t want them to continue to believe that possessions on earth is a sign of God’s blessing. Jesus very carefully reveals His love and His concern, the difficulty of childlike faith and the reality that salvation is impossible for man. In the middle of realizing that we cannot save ourselves we find out the most important truth of all, we don’t have to because God has bridged the impossible with His Son and has offered to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, He has done the impossible and saved all those that will trust in His miraculous love.