Jesus knows people better than anyone. He is the most astute observer than anyone has been or will be. He is the most profound philosopher who ever walked this earth. And that's why those deceptively simple stories in the Bible are so full of wisdom, so strikingly memorable, and so true to life. Because they come from the Master Himself. The One whose understanding of reality surpasses all of history's greatest minds. Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato to name a few have achieved at best, a partial enlightenment. But Christ's understanding is absolute and comprehensive. He understands what makes people tick. He understands how the entire world works. He gives us knowledge in the form of parables.
Parables are short and simple stories that teaches a religious or moral lesson. The parable of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Prodigal Son are just two examples of the many parables attributed to Jesus, as recorded in the four gospels. They are fictional narratives involving made-up characters. The situations they describe never really happened, and the people involved aren't real people. That is why the characters in the parables are never named. They are just identified by their occupation - a farmer, a merchant, a shepherd, a priest. But they could be real and this is the real point.
Parables are found in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, parables were twice directed individually at King David. The prophet Nathan used a parable of a man and his pet lamb (2 Samuel 12:1-4) to show David's guilt in taking Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Jesus' parables are almost always used for the masses. They are recognizable stories about everyday people for everyday life. Jesus talks about fig trees, sheep, goats, poor beggars, rich fools, lost coin, wedding feast, Prodigal Son, weeds, the pearl.
On one occasion, in Luke's gospel we are presented with a situation. "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?'" (Luke 10:25). From the surface this was a good question based on the merit of the question. According to Luke's visual of what was happening the question was testing Jesus. In other words, the lawyer came with a motive. He was trying to tempt Jesus to say something that could be used against him and/or to test His knowledge, after all he called him "Master," a name of respect.
There was nothing hidden about this young man that Jesus did not already know. Jesus knew the man was insincere, nevertheless, Jesus posed a question, as a matter of fact, He responded with a two part question. "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" (Luke 10:26). Let me take you back to verse 25 before we see the young man's answer. In his initial question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life," he thought that eternal life could be earned. He was more interested in a work religion. Most religions teach what to do in order to reach heaven. Humans must perform certain rituals or specific good deeds so that they are on the right spiritual track according to their religion. It's a matter of "do not do this," or "do this" or "do that." All except Christianity, because the Bible makes it crystal clear, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isaiah 64:6).
Any religion that requires you to do something is a work religion, and that is all it is, a false illusion that reserves you a door to hell. No one is good enough or bad enough to get to heaven on their own merit. Attending church, paying your tithes, providing your talent, nor church participation is not a prerequisite to heaven. You see here's the difference between true Christianity and false Christianity, between heart religion and works religion. Works religion wants to put a box around what God expects of us. It says, "this much God requires of me, and no more. If you do these things, then I have satisfied my obligation to God." Work religion is very much a me-centered thing, because its primary concern is not with the need of other people, but with me meeting my quota of good deeds. Heart religion, on the other hand, is motivated by love, a desire to serve and bless others as much humanly possible.
In the 27th. verse the lawyer answers Jesus' question, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, Love your neighbor as yourself." The question that Jesus asked was very simple, because after all this man was a lawyer, an expert in the Scriptures. His interrogation of Jesus was not going as he had planned and he was not willing to admit his shortcoming, especially in front of the crowd. To be honest with you, the lawyer was not interested in eternal life, per se. All the lawyer had to do was accept salvation, the Messiah was there in front of him. The acceptance of Jesus as the total and supreme being of ones life can't happen without loving Him.
The lawyer did not have a problem with loving God and loving his neighbors, his faith or lack there of was exposed. Faith have always been the opening door to the Savior's heart. Faith was required in the Old Testament and faith is required of us today. Whereas in the Old Testament offering and sacrifices were demanded, but today it is faith plus nothing else. Today we are not under the law, we are under grace. The law, the ten commandments, was given to Israel, not to the gentiles. The point here is you are not under the law or the ten commandments, but we should live as though they were applicable to us. As the Apostle Paul teaches, "We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:16). Paul goes on the say, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The answer to the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?," is short and sweet, because the most wonderful thing in the world is to know for sure that you have eternal life and that when you die you will go to heaven. The Bible says that, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). To "sin" means to break God's laws and we all are guilty of that. The way to salvation is in the four below statements:
You must realize that you are a sinner and sin separates us from God.
You must recognize that Jesus is the Son of God. "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" (John 3:16).
You must repent of your sins. Repent means to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoings or sin. Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).
You must accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. The Bible says, "That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified" (Romans 10:9-10).
Amen and praise the Lord.
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