What Must We Do To Inherit Eternal Life

Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-29............Jesus encounters a lawyer.......this would a wise men of law of God. A scribe, they are sometimes referred to. He would be very knowledgeable in the law and would or should know the answer to the question he asks our Lord!

What must I do to inherit eternal life? This is a question that has been asked before in Scripture.

Matthew and Luke’s account of the rich young ruler......(Matt. 19:16-22, Luke 18:18-23)

Also, Nicodemus asked this in John 3, a different way but the same principle. I believe with a more sincere motive.

The question is posed to Jesus was not on the level, it was done to tempt or test Jesus!

Mainly, to put Jesus in a tough spot and somehow catch Him in their trap so they could execute Him. That was their desire these leaders in the OT law, they rejected everything about Jesus and wanted Him dead!

The question is asked and it is exactly the right question to ask....... ““Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? What shall I do to inherit eternal life? What is the path to heaven? What is the path to a right relationship to God that’s going to guarantee that I am going to live forever in the presence of God?” That is a very important question. That is the most important question that any person can ever ask. That is the right question. That is the right question to ask to exactly the right person, who is Himself eternal life, the very life-giver.”

Jesus said in John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

The Life-Giver Himself was the question posed to, but not sincerely and with evil intent!

Jesus seems to almost always answer with a question! Mind you He asked to a supposed expert in the OT law!

What is written in the law? How do you read the Law?

The answer from the scribe is a summation of the law as Jesus did in Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The first half of the 10 commandments deal with our relationship with God, the 2nd half deals with our relationship with mankind.

This is the very heart of the Law of God..........Do we love God with everything that we are and do we love all of mankind like we love ourselves?

Jesus responded to the man’s answer..........That is the right answer!

The next part is vital to understand if we want to understand the upcoming parable!

Jesus said: “Do this and live!”

Eternal life is bound in keeping the law! I want revisit this after in a bit so I will leave that thought right there.

Part of what the scribe quoted from the law was “love your neighbor as yourself.”

So the lawyer wanting to justify himself....How far does this love have to go, just who is my neighbor!

The scribes and Pharisees believed that their neighbor, according to their view of the law, was the righteous only!

Wicked sinners, Gentiles and especially Samaritans were to be hated because they were enemies of God.

They would use Psalm 139:21-22 “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” .......to justify that position

This passage is a personal hatred for what is corrupt and evil, not a personal hatred of the individual!

One writer wrote: “Godly hatred is marked by a broken hearted grieving over the condition of the sinner. And as Jesus taught here and elsewhere, it is also tempered by a genuine love.”

The scribes and Pharisees had elevated their hostility toward the wicked to the status of a virtue.

So, the lawyer seems to be trying to catch Jesus again by justifying his qualification of neighbor!

This is a lost man! Jesus knows that for certain!

Jesus, so brilliantly gives him this parable and flips the script, and in so doing reveals the most powerful truth about humanity!

The Good Samaritan vs. 30-37........There are a little over 40 parables told by Jesus, all of have one objective: Salvation! Parables are really the most direct connection with our Lord revealing truth to His disciples and hiding it from His rejecters.

Many have made this parable about how we treat our neighbor and it is, but also reveals something to us......

It is God’s absolute law on how we treat one another!.......This is a mindset and heart to treat everyone we come in contact with and even those that we think about with a righteous love!

Some have made this an allegory, that it has a hidden meaning.

For example: one of the early writers by the name of Origen said, “Here’s the interpretation of the story. The man is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise. Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers, demonic forces. The priest is the law. The Levite is the prophets. The Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience. The animal is the Lord’s body. The inn is the church, and the Samaritan’s return is the Second Coming.”

John Calvin said that this misses our Lord’s intention entirely.

More modern interpreters have missed the point of this as well. Any time you get into discussions with people who talk about poverty and the alleviation of poverty and the reallocation of wealth and taxing the wealthy to provide for the poor and social justice and all forms of socialism, you will find somewhere in their emphasis the story of the Good Samaritan - that somebody cared for people, divesting himself of what he possessed for the sake of someone else. For example, the Sojourners organization says this: “You only have so many days to embrace someone, to tell him how you feel. Forty-seven million in our country are on food stamps and benefits are decreasing. We need to reflect on Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan.” So, according to them, Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is about helping people who have less than we do.

Another guy by the name of Jim Wallis said: ““Getting to know people on the other side of the road so as to tear down the walls between us is essential.” ......., “The Good Samaritan is a problem. It seems to promote short-term aid without addressing long-term justice. For example, what were the social conditions that led the man to abuse the wounded man, and was it a predictable outcome of a deeper societal illness?”

I believe, as well as all of you, I am sure, in compassion and care! I believe in meeting the need of those of those in need. Being kind!

God establishes that in His Word! He calls us to be that for mankind! This is a great example of that life!

However, there is more to this parable! This personal evangelism! This the truth about salvation!

Ok, lets deal with the parable some........Jerusalem is 3000 ft. up and Jericho is 1000 ft below sea level. The road is only 17 miles, so, it was a severe downhill or uphill walk or ride.

It is a winding road, it scares people on bus rides today. There are canyons and deep ravines on either side.

It would be a great place for thieves and robbers to hide.

That road was notorious, throughout history for thieves and robbers.

Joshua 18 mentions Adummim, which means blood......it was called Adummim pass or blood pass.

One preacher likes to say that Jesus made these parables up and that has truth to it, but it is very possible that something like this really happened! It is a very dramatic parable!

They didn’t just steal from this man, they stripped him of his clothes and beat him badly!

He was in very bad shape! Desperate! He can’t help himself!

By chance or just so happens, a priest comes by.......When the lawyer hears this, he thinks there is some hope for the desperate man. Surely the priest would show kindness to the man, it is in God’s law!

Leviticus 19:34 “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Psalm 37:21 “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: But the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”

Mind you, that this “certain” man is considered a Jew, he was coming from Jerusalem. This is Jesus’ intention for the man to be a “qualified” neighbor for the lawyer!

So, there was hope for this man because the priest would surely know to do him good......but the priest passed by on the other side.

It is said that the way it is wrote in the Greek it is a strong “anti”....he went as far to the other side as he could! Completely ignoring the man....one writer said “complete indifference”

There has been many things written about the priest that didn’t stop to help

Did the priest not love his neighbor? Many give reasons why he didn’t stop.

We can all speculate, but Jesus never gives the reason or fault of the priest other than he just doesn’t stop to help!

One writer I read after said that the priest doesn’t exist…it is a parable, a story!

A Levite comes by.......From the tribe of Levi the son of Jacob not from the Aaron so not the priestly family but they assisted the priest in the temple.

He was a religious man and would know the Scriptures and know to help the needy!

He came and looked at the man but passed him by!

His love is now in question.......he doesn’t love God or man!

Will anyone love God and their neighbor? Enter the hated evil Samaritan!

He shows compassion and care to the man on the side of the rode!

He put careful attention to his care for this man!

He bound up his wounds, probably shredding his own clothes to make bandages.

He used oil that was very valuable and useful.

Wine, too! That would be soothing as well as an antiseptic.

Puts him on his own beast, probably a donkey and takes him to an inn!

When he gets the man to the inn, he stays with him and cares for him till the next day.

The Samaritan, when he goes to depart, he gives the innkeeper 2 pence (denarius), which was in those days a days wage.

There has been some artifacts found, like a sign board from an inn in the Roman Empire that the cost for a nightly stay in an inn was 1/32 of a denarius.

This would mean that the 2 pence or denarius given would be for 2 months stay at the inn or whatever it would take to care for the man!

In other words it was more than enough to get the man back on his feet. One writer called this kind of spending “lavish”.

This is lavish love. Amazing generosity for a complete stranger, to one who is his enemy, who is hated by him, but that’s – what’s our Lord saying here? This is loving your neighbor as you love – that’s what you’d do for yourself, wouldn’t you? Of course you would. Have you ever done that for anybody else? Do you do that for everybody else in that condition?

I want to read something I read during my study: “The people who think that by giving money to poor people, they have enacted social justice and fulfilled the principle here, really should look at it again because they would be condemned by it. If you think sending some money somewhere, if you think buying a few meals for somebody, is what this is, you missed the point. That’s not wrong to do, but don’t put yourself in this parable. Who does this? Who does this? You say, “Well, I know somebody who did it once.” That’s not good enough. Once isn’t good enough. Ten times isn’t good enough. If you want eternal life, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength all the time, and love your neighbor as yourself all the time.” Who does that? Nobody. Not you, not me..............An open end, “Whatever you want to do, do it and I’ll pay it when I return.” This is love without limit, love without boundaries. That’s the whole point. He exposes himself, of course, to being extorted, but such is the nature of his love. This is what he would do for himself. .......So the Good Samaritan loves the man as he loved himself. Do we do that all the time

Unless you do that all the time, perfectly, and love God all the time, perfectly, you’re not going to have eternal life if you’re coming by way of the law.

So Jesus asks the question, verse 36, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” Now, the Lord has just changed the question. The question in verse 29, “Who is my neighbor?”

Now, it is “Who was the neighbor unto the man that fell among the thieves?”

It’s not, “Who is my neighbor?” “Who qualifies to be loved?”

But it’s about “Am I a neighbor who loves in an unqualified way?”

Deeply the point comes to the heart. Forget trying to decide who qualifies for you to love them, and demonstrate love that knows no qualifications.

Everyone in your path. Everyone in your path. Everyone in your path, all the time, with a need is to be loved, loved lavishly, loved sacrificially, loved generously, loved tenderly, loved limitlessly, loved kindly, loved as long as the need exists. Every person, even if that person is your enemy. Who loves like that?

Well, the man answered the question, “The one who proved to be a neighbor was the one who showed mercy toward him.”

And then Jesus sticks the knife in, “Go do the same.” You go love like that and you can have eternal life. Huh?

What should have been his response? “I’ve never loved anybody like that. I’ve never loved the people in my little narrow confines of who I’m supposed to love, because I think they’re my neighbor, like that.

I only love me like that. I’ve never loved anybody like that, let alone everybody like that.”

At that point, the knife goes in. The conviction is laid upon the man, and there’s a blank space in your Bible between that verse and the next one.

This would have been a wonderful story if the lawyer would of said: “I can’t love like that, Forgive me, Lord!”

It could of been like Luke 18:13 “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

This story is not to make people feel guilty about not giving their money to poor people. It’s not to make people feel guilty about not taking care of those that are suffering. This story is designed to make people feel guilty for not loving God perfectly and loving others perfectly, and then running to the One who alone can provide forgiveness for that sin and eternal life!!!!!

Several Scriptures point this out: Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 3:11 “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”

Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

I want to close with a similar situation, a supposed law keeper wanting to know from Jesus about how to obtain eternal life! you have read this before but I want to just briefly run through it.....John 3:1-21...........

John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”