The way to eternal life

Well, the title of our study today is, The Way of Eternal Life. The Way of Eternal Life. We're going to pick back up in our studies in the Gospel of Luke. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them with me to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. We're going to begin in verses 25 through 37. Luke 10, verse 25 through 37.

What shall I do to inherit eternal life? That was the question.

It was a question that was asked to Jesus Christ Himself. I was thinking about that question. If we had the opportunity to walk on this earth when Christ walked, and if we had the opportunity to encounter Him, and we had one question to ask, you had a moment in time, I can't think of a better question to ask than this one. This was the question that was asked by an individual, and more specifically, asked by a lawyer of the day. And with this question of eternity, it's certainly on our minds today. I think it's very fitting that we come to this spot in the Gospels just after the Feast of Tabernacles. Our minds are on this whole area of eternal life, that gift given to us after this physical one. What shall we do to inherit eternal life? What do you think the answer was from Jesus Christ? Let's find out. Luke 10 beginning in verse 25. Luke records here. Luke records, "...and behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, that's Jesus, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? When he, Jesus Christ, said to him, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So the lawyer answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength, all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Verse 28. And he, Jesus, said to him, you have answered rightly, do this and you will live. But he, the lawyer, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And then Jesus answered and said, and here's the great parable that we're all familiar with. Verse 30. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by the other side. But, verse 33, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

So he went to him, bandaged his wounds, poured on oil and wine, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, take care of him. And whatever more you spend when I come again, I will repay you. Here's the question that Jesus ended with. Verse 36. To the lawyer, so which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?

And he the lawyer said, he who showed mercy on him, then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. Let's stop there. It's quite a passage, quite a question. We could say quite an answer here from Jesus. And again, I think this question and answer should mean everything to us today. You know, here we are, fresh back from the Feast of Tabernacles, where the core of our gathering together from all over the world is this hope of eternal life after this physical one.

Our whole focus and our whole hope is. So again, this answer should be very meaningful to us today. And when coming to this question, you know, one of the first questions that is asked, or one of the thoughts that come to mind is, why even this question? How is it that man even has a consideration of anything past or beyond this physical life?

And the answer to that is quite simple. For your notes, if you'd like to write this down, the answer is found in Ecclesiastes 3.11. We won't turn there, but Ecclesiastes 3.11, where we read that God has set eternity in the hearts of men and women.

Very clear fact. So we're aware from God of an eternal dimension beyond this physical one. We have an awareness in our hearts. That's why there's interest in eternity. It doesn't matter if you profess a belief in God or not. Every man, every woman, if you get down to the quiet moments in their life, have this question and wonder the answer to this eternity and how to obtain it. And if there is ever a way to discover the means by which to obtain eternity, well, then the individual could organize their life in such a way so as at the end, they could obtain it. Right? So very crucial. Maybe one of the most crucial parts in all the Bible that we come to today. And it's important to recognize that Jesus Christ very plainly, very sharply answers this question. How, what shall we do? How do we inherit eternal life here? And what's remarkable is to this answer, we have emerges this parable. And of course, it's the parable that's known as the Good Samaritan. And if you ask many people, you know, tell me about the Good Samaritan, perhaps there are very few that will say, well, you know, it emerges from this overarching question of how do I obtain eternal life.

Most don't recognize the context in which this parable emerges. That's so important to know why Jesus even told this story. Because if you, if you did a random poll on the street, so even those professing to know the Bible, and if you asked, what is the Good Samaritan about, the parable of the Good Samaritan, they might say, well, you have this good guy, and you have these two bad guys. And Jesus says, be the good guy and don't be the two bad guys.

And that's the summary of the Good Samaritan. And if some know that it did emerge out of this eternal life question, they might then piggyback that with, and that's how you return an inherent eternal life. You know, be the good guy, you know, not the bad guys. And Jesus was making, I mean, in a very broad way, very elementary way.

That is true in a sense. But is that all? And I propose to you today, and I hope our study today will show, while that is a broad interpretation, that is not the essence of this incredible answer that Jesus Christ gives within this parable that He puts forth, this gift of this wonderful parable here.

So we want to dig in and come away today with a better understanding of the fullness, and hopefully come away today knowing the answer to inheriting eternal life. And in digging in, maybe the most important thing to begin with is not the parable itself, but the Scriptures leading up to the parable. And when you read the Scriptures leading up to the parable, you come face to face with this man, this lawyer. Who is he? Who's this lawyer? Let's discuss that a little bit, because here, this man asking the question is important to understanding the full meaning of this answer.

Because Jesus has come across someone here, and this individual has come into the path of Jesus Christ, and He is an expert, an absolute expert. And He's an expert at the law, not so much civil law, but He's an expert at religious law, things spiritual. And if you really want to nail it down, this would have been an expert, this lawyer would have been an expert in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.

An absolute expert in that area, all matters of religious issues as revealed in the Torah. And on the basis of that, verse 25, He stands up, and He doesn't stand up necessarily with the primary purpose of asking the question. What does He stand up to do? He stands up to test Jesus. Okay, so we're going to learn a little bit about this man. He stands up to challenge Jesus. And if you ever come across someone like this and they ask you a question, but you get the feeling they actually already know the answer to it, and they're just looking for an opportunity to tell you the answer, I think that's the case here.

Because if you would have asked this man at the beginning of this encounter whether he knew the answer to his question, I'm sure he would have said, oh, I know, trust me, I know. I just want to make sure Jesus knows and make sure He's in line, you know. So He stands up to test Jesus. Of course, the Pharisees were always doing this. They were always looking to challenge Jesus. It's one thing to come to Scripture, to come to Jesus Christ with a humble heart that says, I want to learn. It's another thing to come with an arrogant heart here to test Jesus.

And it's just, oh, it's so arrogant that even so being an expert, He would come to the teacher of the law, the giver of the law, and try to test Him. So Jesus holds back incredible restraint here. You know, you can imagine us in our humanity and all of our fallacy, what we would have, how we would have responded to this lawyer, you know.

So we're learning a little bit about this lawyer. But very lovingly, skillfully, Jesus answers. Look at verse 26 again. Jesus says, doing well, okay, what is written in the law? So He asks the lawyer a question back. And here, and a second question, what is your reading of it? Lawyer? Here? So in response to the eternal life question, Jesus asks it right back. You tell me, what is your reading of it here?

Now, try to put yourself at this scene. Those individuals like this lawyer, they would have very typically worn what is called teflin or phylacteries. They were these little black boxes at that time, leather boxes, and they would strap them on the upper part of the arm sometimes, or even strap them on the very forehead. And within these little boxes, they had parchment paper, and they had, you know, scriptures written on them from Deuteronomy and such. So it was very likely that this lawyer would have not only known the law extensively, but very likely he would have worn the law extensively as well. You know, little sections of Deuteronomy again strapped to himself. So it's so interesting to put yourself there and just think that Jesus probably said, oh well, well, I see there that you have it on you. Well, tell me what the law says. What is your reading of it to that question? And so Jesus is making it clear. Let's talk about the law, lawyer. I'm going to meet you where you are, an expert of the law. I'm not going to bring anything new to this discussion. So many times people thought that Jesus was always coming up with a new doctrine, where most often Jesus Christ is reaching back to the the Old Testament and bringing it forward, and amplifying it, not bringing anything new. So the answer to your question, lawyer, is the answer that's been revealed from way back since the beginning. So let's talk about the law, he says. So the man responds, and he quotes for your notes. This is going to be quotes here from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, where he quotes in verse 27. So he asks the lawyer, what is it saying in the law and how you should inherit eternal life? And the lawyer says, verse 27, here's the answer. Here's the answer to your question. Here's the answer for us today. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

In verse 28, that's what the lawyer says. In verse 28, Jesus says to him, correct, you have answered rightly. So do this, and you will live, he says. Go on, and you will live. So that finishes the conversation. The lawyer moves on very happy with the answer, and Jesus Christ moves on with his day. No, that's not how it finished. In fact, this is the moment in which we come to perhaps the most crucial... there's two crucial moments in this whole interaction. Here's one crucial moment here, and it's quite telling what verse 29 tells us. So the lawyer gives the answer. Jesus says, you are correct. Go, and you will live. But verse 29 Luke records, but he, the lawyer, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, who is my neighbor?

This is, it's quite insightful here. It's an insightful part that Luke records here.

And I think it gives us a little bit more insight into this lawyer. Perhaps he's not so arrogant. I actually have a lot of hope for this lawyer. I think by the end of the story, maybe he was pricked in the heart and would come to Jesus, like come in a real way. Because this tells us that he was having some questions in his heart. And we could say, if he was solely steeped in full arrogance, perhaps there would have been no questions. But he has these questions, and he's wanting to justify himself. It's a very insightful comment there that Luke records here. Perhaps in his mind, he couldn't quite shake the idea that he was not on a course leading him to the gift of eternal life. So he, maybe he was looking for this moment to ask the Son of God this question.

And even with that answer, even hearing himself answer it, he was still feeling perhaps worry, insecurity with his destiny. You know, he probably felt, at this moment, more secure in his relationship on the vertical plane with God. He probably felt more secure with that than he did on the horizontal plane. The second part of the answer, which is, love thy neighbor. That, perhaps, is where he was feeling shaky, where God was maybe putting, pricking his heart in that way. And rightly so.

He probably had felt that the way the Jews at this time, many of them had interpreted neighbor was not correct. In thinking about this law, love God and love neighbor, the Jews, to help their conscience and to clear the way to eternal life, had redefined, many of them had redefined neighbor. And they redefined neighbor, many of them, as other fellow Israelites. Okay? Other fellow Israelites only. Those are our neighbors. Some even more narrowed it down even more to define neighbor as those only in your religious circle.

And by narrowing the definition of neighbor down into that small way, it helped them, in their own mind, fulfill the law, therefore make eternal life possible, you see. They would have perished the thought of extending love beyond their own, especially to that of the Gentiles. All right? So this lawyer's thinking about his relationship with God on the horizontal, on the vertical plane and neighbor on the vertical plane. He's feeling like he needs to justify himself in this area of neighbor, all pointing to this overarching question of how do I inherit eternal life? Love the Lord your God with all your soul, strength, mind, there, and love neighbor as yourself. That's what the law says.

There's still questions in the lawyer's mind and heart. So Jesus now seeks to answer, to give the fullness of the answer, this gift. He's about to give a gift to this lawyer. It would have been more harmful if Jesus had just moved on, but Jesus loves this lawyer. Jesus wants this lawyer to be raised up as a first fruit. So he gives him this one. So the lawyer hung around, which is good, and so Jesus says, now if you'll stay with me a little bit longer, let me tell you a story. Verse 30, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he begins this wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan here. Now, a little information that you didn't ask for, but the distance between Jerusalem and Jericho, 17 miles, approximately. So this has been that long of a stretch. At that time, it's a very desolate stretch of land. If you were a robber at that time, this would have been the perfect place to camp out during this stretch. And so inevitably, this man that Jesus tells about falls into the hands of robbers. Second part of verse 30, He who stripped him of his clothing wounded him. This is quite a thing here. Departed, leaving him half dead. But thankfully, verse 31, of all the people you would want coming up, here comes a certain priest, a man of God, we could say, comes down the road, verse 31, and he sees him and passes down the other side of all people.

If you think about this, you read lots of commentary. One of the defenses of this priest is that along this stretch, there have been all kinds of methods by which to take people's possessions. One of the methods would be to create a decoy. So you have this half-dead man, wasn't really half-dead. He was pretending. And you have the other robbers and they had collaborated and then they're in the bushes. So the priest, with all of his garb, walks over there.

The man's not half-dead and the guys jump out of the bushes and ambush him. Perhaps he was scared of that, but in the context we're given by Luke, there's really no excuse here. Luke is pointing out the cruelty of the priests here in his recording of what Jesus Christ says here. Absolute cruelty of the priests. Saw him, passes on the other side. But thankfully, a Levite comes. Surely, if the priest wasn't able to help, this is the second best kind of person you'd want coming down the road. Verse 32, likewise, a Levite. When he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by the other side. I thought the Levite might have been a little bit better, but then I thought about it. No, he's actually worse. He actually comes up to the man, recognizes it's not a decoy. He does the moonwalk back and goes to the other side. I think the Levite's actually even worse than the priest. If it could get any worse there. What's a defense for this behavior? Well, I'll give it to you. Some commentators note that this path from Jerusalem to Jericho would have been a path that the priest and the Levite would have taken as they were going to their temple duties. On their way to temple duties, if they were to help an individual who's half-dead on the side of the road, there would have been the defilement issue come into the letter of the law. Perhaps they would have had to say quarantined from and wouldn't have been able to perform their temple duties for a period of time. Based on the fact here, we don't see perhaps that came into their minds as to why they chose to continue on and not intervene for this half-dead individual. But if you know a little bit about some of the character or character issues of the priests and the Levites back then, they were often come into their position not by being raised to that position by the stellar character. Rather, they inherited these positions by heritage so they didn't speak to their character. Many of these individuals were of no count, character-wise. They were good at performing duties and tasks of the temple, checking off their obligations, likening the law to that of a to-do list.

That to-do list did not take into account of a half-dead man, a poor sap, on the side of the road here. Keep that in mind as we think about the fullness. I want you to be bringing some personal context to this and personal application. As you try to answer in your life, and only you can answer this, how do I inherit eternal life? This is what we're asking. Each individual of one of us is asking God this today through the example and through the answer of Jesus Christ. So let's continue here. Now, as Jesus Christ continued, he would have never anticipated how the story unfolds here when Jesus says, but in contrast to the priest in the Levite, verse 33, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. A Samaritan. So priest, no compassion. Levite, no compassion. Samaritan had compassion. Samaritan was a bad word. Pharisees considered the Samaritan's dogs at this point in history. So I'm sure the lawyer was like, a dog? You're going to bring a dog into this picture, you know? But look what this Samaritan did. It's there in verse 34 and 35. Bandaged his wounds, anoints him with oil and wine, pouring over on oil and wine, sets him on his donkey as an animal, brought him to the end, took care of him, stayed with him overnight. The next morning departs to Denari, to the encaper, or take care of him, when I, whatever you spend when I come again, I'll repay you, he says. Incredible. To Denari was likened to two months of stay here. True compassion here. True compassion. And so while we have the context of a religious entity in juxtaposition to a layman, there's that context, or you know, whatever, perhaps the nationalities. The distinguishing the overarching distinguishing factor between the two individuals and this individual really comes to us with one word. And that word is compassion. Compassion. So the Samaritan comes over and he has compassion for this individual. Again, all this in the context of how do I inherit eternal life? So be thinking about this compassion. What are the aspects about compassion? And how do I apply those as I am on my way, fulfilling God's law? What areas do I need to add compassion? Compassion is an interesting word. When you have compassion on someone, very often it excludes any payback or any reimbursement. It excludes any resulting benefit to the one who's expressing compassion.

So when you think of compassion, you begin to think about motivation. What's my motivation in keeping the law? What's my motivation in loving God?

What's my motivation in loving my neighbor? Is there anything of myself that I'm looking to get?

You see, so perhaps then you start thinking, whoa, I guess this question, how do I inherit eternal life? Maybe that's not even the right question. If you move through life, obeying the law with compassion, you don't have to worry, and you shouldn't worry about the payoff. Compassion, there's no room. When you're in here expressing compassion, there's no room for what's in it for me. So this is the fullness that we're getting here. So even the lawyer's question might have not been exactly the right motivation. It wasn't coming from the right motivation here. So Jesus drives at home here. Verse 36, so which of these of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves? I think we can respectfully add to this scripture. Which of these three do you think was on the road to eternal life? Which of these three? And the expert of the law had to admit he who showed mercy on him and showed compassion.

He couldn't bring himself to say Samaritan, I'm sure, at this point. Those words wouldn't come out of his mouth, but he did acknowledge that. And here's the second crucial moment of this whole interaction. When the lawyer heard himself acknowledge he who showed mercy, he who showed compassion, the lawyer didn't say who he who fulfilled his temple duties, you know, checking off. Everything was perfect, you know. No, the lawyer says he who showed compassion, you see. And this is a crossroads. Jesus Christ often brings us. He brings the individuals to whom he encounters in the Bible to crossroads. This is the crossroad of the lawyer. If the Samaritan's action was in fact the true expression of the law, the fuller expression of the law, then me, the lawyer, the expert of the law, have to acknowledge I haven't actually kept the law. That's a profound thing to acknowledge for the lawyer who's an expert at the law to acknowledge I haven't kept the law because my keeping of the law excluded compassion and mercy and love and grace. All these, all the beauty of those words.

He was keeping the law. Everyone must keep the law. That is true. It'll always be true. But the lawyer was expressing, he was not expressing the law. He was keeping it. He wasn't living by it. Keeping the law to its letter is good, right, and required. But the lawyer hadn't taken the law and permeated it into a way of life. It was just something he did. You see, he dressed up. He wore the right clothes. He comes to church services. She comes to church services. They sit for two hours. They close their Bible and they go home. But the word of God, the law of God, did not result in a radical transformation in how they live.

Between the temple duties, if you will, you see.

And perhaps the lawyer got to a crossroads to say, this is not me. I don't have love. I don't have compassion. I don't even know how to get it.

Father, please give to me the love and compassion I need to honor you, to truly honor you, to truly love you so I can love my neighbor. That would have been a wonderful place for that lawyer to come. And it's a wonderful place for us to come. If you're ever convicted of heart, don't get discouraged. It's a wonderful opportunity to say, okay, first of all, give me the desire. I don't even want to walk your way sometimes, Father, because I don't know it. Give me the desire and then give me the ability. Create a fire in me to live this way.

And I don't want my motivation. I want my motivation to be compassion, love, mercy, grace. I don't want my motivation to be what I'm going to get at the end of all this.

So, the question to Jesus, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Through the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is revealing the depth of all that the law requires. The law is not only a way to life, but it's a way of life.

So, it shows us not only a way to life, to live, but a way of life. The law cannot merely be a series of do's and don'ts, a checklist. It's got to be, you know, as you see in the first part of that answer, you know, it's got to be mind, but heart, soul, hands, feet, you know, this has to encompass our whole being here, this way of life.

And I think it was an answer not only for the lawyer, but for us today.

Jesus Christ never diminished the law. In fact, He expanded it and made it fuller. Perhaps than we've ever considered.

Again, it must encompass every part of our life. And we have to really keep check that compassion and mercy is in our walk to inherit eternal life. You know, the other time that this question is asked, and we won't turn there or spend time on it, how do I inherit eternal life? It is when the rich young ruler asks Jesus, you know, and he says, I'm keeping the commandments since my youth. And Jesus Christ said, good, good, you're doing good. But I'm sure Jesus discerned the lack of compassion. He discerned the motivations not quite right here with this rich young ruler. So go sell everything you have, Jesus said. You like one thing. Go sell everything you have. And by selling everything you have, you're going to come to grips with what your true motivation is. And you're going to come to grips with compassion and love and grace for neighbor and not for yourself. You see, it's very outward looking. This must penetrate every part of our body, our being, this answer.

You know, the lawyer probably felt pretty confident every night taking off those things and setting it on the nightstand, you know, if they had nightstands back then. You know, felt like he did something today. But in actuality, Jesus Christ graciously wanting to get him on the path to eternal life doesn't leave him in that state and says, hey, yes, keep doing what you're doing. Go and do that. But let me add to the fullness of it. And you've got to add compassion and love. You've got to check your motivation. And what it comes down to is there cannot be any gap in our creed, in our conduct. Very careful to check that when we're thinking about being on the path to eternal life and receiving that gift. There can be no gap between creed and conduct. The significant identifying feature of God's people is not only that we keep the law, but that we embody it. So we keep the law, but we also embody it. So what we'll have is we will have deniers come and they will say, that's a crazy day that you're worshiping on, Saturday. They will say, I can't believe you don't eat certain, you know, pepperoni on your pizza. It seems crazy. You know, they might be able to confront us and be able to deny, perhaps, those aspects of the law that we keep. But they'll never be able to deny the beauty that the law has produced in us. They will never be able to deny that. They'll be able to say, that's a crazy bunch of folks. But wow, I'm so attracted to that group because there's love and there's compassion and there's grace. And they love God with all their heart, mind, and soul. And they love neighbor as themselves. They'll never be able to deny the fruit which this produced, which this produces each and every day. The beauty that the law produces in us. So let's show them. Let's show them the beauty of all the law produces. Let them see the way of life that leads to eternity. And with that, I'm going to finish with Jesus Christ's words here. I found His conclusion to this lawyer. I pray that this lawyer went home and had a conviction of heart that turned to repentance. And he went on to be a great servant for God and Jesus Christ. But we still have this opportunity today. I'll speak this to us today. May we come to the knowledge of this truth. Here it is, Luke 10, verse 36 and 37. With this, we'll conclude. Luke 10, verse 36 and 37. So Jesus asked, which of these three do you think was neighbor? We could say, which of these three do you think was on the path to inherit eternal life? Which of these three was neighbor to Him who fell among the thieves? And the lawyer said, and we say today, He who showed mercy on Him. And then Jesus said to the lawyer, and He says to each one of us today, go and do likewise.