Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 19:23

"And Jesus said unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew 19:23 (ASV)

Worldly possessions, apart from divine grace, have a deadening, hardening, hampering influence upon the soul. Some rich men do enter into the kingdom of heaven, but it is hard for them, very hard indeed. The temptation is to let riches rule the mind, and when that is the case, the kingdom of this world opposes the kingdom of heaven.

Houses and land, and gold and silver, act as bird-lime to the soul and prevent its rising towards heaven. This is especially the case in persecuting times, but it is sufficiently a fact in all periods of human history. It is worthy of notice that this hard sentence was intended for Christians, for it is written, Then Jesus said unto his disciples, Verily I say UNTO YOU.