GIG 208 - Jesus' Response To "What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life?"

Just as with the "certain lawyer" who approached Jesus (Luke 10:25-37, as we discussed recently), the "rich young ruler" also approached Jesus with the question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (see Mark 10:17-27, Luke 18:18-27)

Jesus' response to the man was similar, bringing up five or six of the Ten Commandments. And so, is that true? Do the commandments have anything to do with inheriting eternal life? After all, that was how Jesus responded to this man's question about inheriting eternal life! Mike and Joel talk this through in this week's Growing in Grace podcast.

As we continue looking at how the words of Jesus don't always apply to believers, we realize many questions may arise, including the question, "What about the Bible passage that says, 'ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work?'" We take some time out at the beginning of the podcast to address that.

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Whatever the law says... (Part 2)

One very important point that I've been leading up to is this: If Moses is talking law, or if a prophet is talking law, or if David is talking law, or if Jesus is talking law... they are speaking either to those who are under the law and/or as those who are under the law themselves. Many of them didn't even understand at the time what was ultimately happening. So, what did this ultimately accomplish? It stopped the mouths of people and to showed them the guilt that they were under as long as they remained under the law.

The sermon on the mount is a great example of this. Jesus not only talks "law," but He gets to the very heart of what law really means. It's not just the physical act of adultery. Rather it's what's in the heart. It's not just a matter of doing a pretty decent job of keeping the precepts of the law. Rather, "you shall be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." And remember what Jesus Himself said near the beginning of the sermon? I quoted His words in Part 1 and it's worth quoting again:

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matt 5:17). He then went on to say, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt 5:18).

And since Jesus went on to talk a lot of "law" talk, who was He talking to? Well, let's make one thing clear. He wasn't talking to Christians. There was not yet any such thing! One thing I think we seem to miss is that this is before the death and resurrection of Jesus. This was before anyone was ever born-again. This is before the New Covenant came into effect (through Jesus' death). Jesus' life on earth was still during Old Covenant times! He was born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law. He taught the law and Old Covenant! Now, at times, Jesus did also speak New Covenant talk. Our challenge today is to rightly divide the Old from the New. We must make a distinction between Old Covenant talk and New Covenant talk, whether we find it in the Old Testament writings or in the New Testament writings.

So, if life in Christ isn't about "law," why did Jesus teach the law and the Old Covenant? Because the Law is the tutor that leads people to Him! (Gal 3:24-25). It's the law that stops every mouth from justifying itself and that puts all the world under the sentence of guilt... and that ultimately leads people to the Savior. You may say to me, "well, doesn't John 3:17 say that Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it?" I heartily agree! In speaking the Law, Jesus was not Himself condemning people. The LAW itself condemned people, and Jesus simply taught the law (and again, He got to the very heart of the law) in order to stop the mouths of those who would justify themselves through the law. His law talk showed them how unrighteous they really were.

Not to mention that all His law talk would be fulfilled by Himself! "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill," He said. Everything He said in the Sermon on the Mount, He fulfilled Himself.

And so, as He spoke "law" to those who were under the law, He was doing more than one thing. He was fulfilling the law Himself and He was simultaneously sending a message to those who were under the law! What message? A mouth-stopping message! In fact, whether they would realize it or not the Law already made them guilty before God.

Many people, perhaps feeling they've done a good enough job in keeping the law, do not understand this all, and I think Jesus often used to law to point out the reality of their guilt (to stop their mouths). I think the "certain lawyer" from Luke 10 and the "rich young ruler" from Luke 18 are wonderful examples of this. Scripture even reveals that in the Luke 10 case, the man was "wanting to justify himself." What do you do with someone who wants to justify himself before God? You dig deeper and deeper into the heart of the law until they finally "get" that they are guilty... and if needed you even leave them sad, as Jesus did with the rich young ruler.

So close but yet so far...

I really could keep on posting in the series called "The Vast Sea of Grace" forever because that's really what I love to write about all the time anyway! I think a summary of it all would be that we need to be rooted, grounded and established in God's love and grace before we can begin to expect any true godly fruit to come forth out of our lives.

A branch on the vine doesn't simply figure out what kind of plant it is and then look at the vine for instructions on how to bear fruit and then simply go about producing fruit. The branch "rests" (remains, abides) in the vine and draws all life and sustenance from the vine, and eventually (not immediately nor forcibly nor due to compulsion) the branch bears the fruit that the vine itself produces. It's a natural process, and if the branch tries to "help" the vine (such as when Abraham and Sarah tried to help God fulfill His promise that they would bear a son), the fruit that is produced is not God's natural fruit, no matter how lovely it might appear.

The rich young ruler was perhaps thinking that his "fruit" (keeping the commandments) was more than adequate to justify himself in front of a holy God. Jesus, by pointing out just how far short this man fell, caused him sadness as he realized he wasn't nearly as close to the kingdom of heaven as he thought. He went away sad, because just a few moments before he had considered himself close to the kingdom, but he now realized he was a lifetime away, because he hadn't realized that in order to come to God, he must give his entire life away.

IF ONLY he'd received the revelation that the Apostle Paul would eventually receive. (And perhaps one day he did receive this revelation). You not only have to give your life away, you have to die. But this death, of course, is not a death in which you physically give your body or your possessions away. It's a spiritual death, in which you give up any and all notions that anything you do - any of your law keeping or giving away of your possessions - will bring you even one step closer to God. You must die and be born again.

This can never happen through any of our own efforts. Out of this death - in which God places us on the cross with Jesus - comes a resurrection with Christ and the born-again life of a New Creation. The problem with the rich young ruler wasn't really that he had failed to sell his possessions and give to the poor. Let's just say he'd heard Jesus' words and said, "OH, YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M MISSING!" and then went and sold all he had and gave to the poor. Let's just say he then came back to Jesus, thinking that now he could truly justify himself in front of the Lord. Could he? Would he now be justified? Would Jesus say, "Well done my good and faithful servant, now you can enter into the joy of your Lord?"

NO! He still hadn't died to his self-efforts. If Jesus' point about the true depths of loving your neighbor as you love yourself hadn't driven this man to grace, perhaps Jesus could have then given the man an even bigger scenario about loving the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind and ALL your strength. No matter what, I think Jesus would keep giving the man more and more and more of the Law until he would finally get the point that he could never do it.

I guess you could say that this man was "so close but yet so far away" from the Kingdom of God. Far away, because to him it was still about what he could and couldn't accomplish. But oh so close, because perhaps his next step would be to realize that all of his self-effort was DUNG and all of his self-effort was RUBBISH (see Phil 3:4-9), and if he would only chuck it away and come into the Kingdom by grace alone, then he would truly give his life away and then be given new spiritual birth - a new life as a new creation, joined to the Vine, joined to God and one with Him, and now finally able to truly begin the process of bearing godly fruit.


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Entire "Vast Sea of Grace" Series:
Prelude: Just follow the Word, right?
The Vast Sea of Grace: Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4
Summaries: >So close but yet so far< -- Far Cry -- Be a Man