The Spiritual Battle of the Arrogant Lawyer

And this morning, if you wish,
the passage is there in your bulletin in its entirety with
ample space for notes. The parable of the Good Samaritan.
Just the verbal expression of that well-known phrase elicits
all kinds of warm feelings of good images and good deeds. In
fact, entire ministries have sprung up over the centuries,
built this thought and bearing oftentimes this name. In fact,
I know that there are several ministries named the Good Samaritan
ministry. Oftentimes, if our vehicle breaks
down, you hear of a report of a vehicle breakdown on the road,
our prayer is for a Good Samaritan, or you perhaps hear of a Good
Samaritan stopping by. Indeed, this is one of, if not
the most well known of all of Jesus’ parables. But as well known as it is, perhaps
it’s one of the least understood. We know of it as a heartwarming
story of a selfless act of kindness. And really, that’s about the
extent of our understanding, isn’t it? Now, there is that
point to be made, a plea to exercise what we know of as the golden
rule, right? Treat the other person like you
would like to be treated. And it’s a lesson to which we
constantly need to be admonished, isn’t it? We tend to forget those
in need. We tend to forget our obligation
to those around us. But if that’s all we take away
from this parable, what do we lose? What do we leave behind? What do we fail to understand
about Jesus’ words? Consider once again patiently,
objectively, and thoughtfully the parable of the Good Samaritan,
which for our purposes this morning, I might suggest a different title. The spiritual battle of the arrogant
lawyer. The spiritual battle of the arrogant
lawyer. Let’s begin, if you would, reading
along in verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written
in the law? How does it read to you? And
he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with
all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. He said to him,
you’ve answered correctly. Do this and you will live. But
wishing him to justify himself, he said to Jesus, and who is
my neighbor? Jesus replied and said, a certain
man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among
robbers and they stripped him and beat him and went off, leaving
him half dead. By chance, a certain priest was
going down on that road. And when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also, when
he came by to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him, and
when he saw him, he felt compassion and he came to him and he bandaged
up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. And he put him
on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of
him. On the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them
to the innkeeper and said, take care of him and whatever more
you spend when I return, I will repay you. Which of these three
do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the
robber’s hands? And he said, the one who showed
mercy toward him. And Jesus said to him, go and
do the same. The interpretations of this passage
have varied through the centuries. I’ve already told you that since
the parable was proclaimed, many have locked into that simple
story. Others have interpreted this
passage quite strangely. One such strange interpretation,
which has recycled itself over the centuries, has the traveler
representing mankind at large. Humanity, if you will. The journey
from Jerusalem, the heavenly city, the paradise of man’s first
estate, to Jericho, the evil and accursed city, the sin into
which man has yielded by temptation. So there, the journey downward
represents the fall. The robbers are the powers of
evil who strip him and beat him. of his robe of innocence and
purity. The priest and the Levite represent
the law in its sacrificial and ceremonial aspects. They have
no power to relieve or rescue. And then, of course, Christ,
the Samaritan, comes and helps where they failed. And of course,
now that all this is coming into focus for you, you certainly
understand already that the donkey on which Christ stands, of course,
represents the visible church, its host and pastors. Its host,
rather, are pastors and teachers. The two denarii represent the
ordinances and the means of grace. Strange interpretation. In fact, of all the strange things
I saw and heard, In studying this passage, one commentator
even chides this wounded man for traveling alone, for his
foolishness, for the audacity of thinking that he could make
it by traveling alone. He completely misses the point
that everybody in the parable traveled alone. Everybody traveled
alone. He didn’t chide the priest. He
didn’t chide the Levite. He didn’t chide the Samaritan. I want to take you on a different
understanding. We’re going to acknowledge this
beautiful parable that Christ tells, but we’re going to look
at it in its context. What I want to share with you
this morning is four aspects of God’s law that urge us Christward,
that urge us, that compel us to Christ. First of all, the
law’s mindset. The law’s mindset. Look at verse
25, “…behold, a certain lawyer…” Now, save your lawyer jokes,
because this isn’t talking about a legal professional. This isn’t
talking about one who would go into the civil courts and argue
on civil law. This is one who was well-versed
in the Mosaic law. That’s what is indicated here.
A certain lawyer stood up and put him into the test saying,
teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This lawyer really
differed very little from a scribe. In fact, many times the interplay
between these two words, scribe and lawyer, it clearly points
to the same people. person receives each of these
titles from the different gospel writers described just seems
to indicate more of a special or particular relation to the
text of the law. Transmitting it, perhaps writing
it down, making sure that it’s preserved and accurately. That
of a lawyer seemed more to study the law, a theologian, if you
will. The law that this man’s profession
encompassed really was based on two parts, the oral and the
written. The written we know Moses encapsulated
that in the Pentateuch. That was the text that the lawyer
was to study. But there was more to the law.
There was the oral tradition. And that is where the law became
much more obtuse and misapplied. Both of those, one accounted,
formed a mass of regulations and rules, civil and moral and
religious, boundless in extent, complicated in character, exercising
a controlling influence over the whole Jewish life and forming
a subject for infinite variety of subtle distinctions, disputes,
and questionings. What an accurate description.
And this lawyer, this expert in the law, the written and the
oral, stood up to put Jesus to the test. Now, there’s some debate
about his motive. We don’t have much to go on whether
his motive was malicious or not. I think in the end we see that
it was. We may not see it initially,
but I think in the end we see that the lawyer was trying to
trip Jesus up, trying to catch him. Perhaps at first he started
out trying to just see what this man knew, this man that was receiving
so many accolades, about whom he’d heard so much. So he puts
him to the test with a simple question. Teacher, what shall
I? And perhaps even that is general.
Perhaps he’s saying, as if it were, how should such a one,
how should a man What should a man do to inherit eternal life? And that’s the characteristic
we want to zero in on this morning. That’s the mindset of the law.
What shall I do? What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And really, that’s the perennial
question of the human heart, isn’t it? Works salvation didn’t
die with his lawyer. Works salvation is still the
majority rule in our own world. One commentator’s title for this
section of Scripture, he called it the work which saves. The
work which saves. And people, he wasn’t advocating
works salvation. We’ll see how he explains that
in a moment. He called it the works which
saves because the man’s question rests on the idea of the merit
of works. And really, it’s a question brewing
in the hearts of many. We’ll see it again. The rich
ruler comes to Christ and says, what should I do to inherit eternal
life? The question of the lawyer is
the question of the human heart in every day and in every age.
You find it asked everywhere in all the world’s religions.
What can I do? How can I remedy my problem? But in this question, there is
a very evident strain of a pernicious heresy. Pernicious false thinking. And the heresy is worse. I mean,
just imagine it. There’s a tone of a self-conscious
superiority. Just tell me what to do and I
can do it. What shall I do? Which implies
all kinds of ability. At the heart of this man’s question
lay this idea, foolish as it was, that eternal life was some
kind of a reward for merit, for works, for what he could do. And the only question for him
was, just tell me. Point me in the right direction
and I’ll go get it done. You’ve heard it said, it’s an
old phrase, one of the first I heard upon being converted.
There are two religions in the world. There is the salvation
by human effort or the attempt thereof. Or there’s salvation
by divine accomplishment, by what Christ has done. Spurgeon. In his classic way, he said it
this way, salvation by man’s self is the darling hope of mankind. That’s the one that we cherish
the most, he says. Salvation by doings, feelings,
or something other than that of sinners. We would love to
think that if there’s just something, something that we can do, some
effort that we can put forward, that’s the mindset, isn’t it?
And that’s the mindset that the law engenders. That’s exactly
what he believed. If I do this, I will inherit
that. So, the law’s mindset is a mindset
of human merit. It’s a mindset of doing something
to gain something else. It’s a mindset of works and of
earning salvation. And that urges us to Christ,
people. We know in our hearts we can’t
do it. We didn’t have a perfect week. We probably sinned already
today. And if that was our standard,
if it came down to us performing, we’re dead. But there’s another aspect of
the law that urges us Christward, not only the law’s mindset, the
law’s standard. How high is this standard? Jesus said to the man, look at
verse 26, what is written in the law? How does it read to
you? It was a common rabbinic saying. Look at the text. And in doing
so, in a sense, it was a rebuke to this lawyer. How can you come
and ask me this question? Why do you not already know the
answer? The lawyer didn’t deserve an
answer from Christ because his question wasn’t sincere. He was
just trying to trip Jesus up, put him to the test. And the
very meaning of his life was meant to be a teacher of these
things. It’s what he was all about, supposedly. The lawyer, perhaps even in several
places on his body, had this verse written out, carrying about
with him wherever he went. First thing that he would put
on in the morning Shema, from Deuteronomy 6, 5.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind.
He had it. That’s it. It’s the same exact response
provided by Jesus Himself on another occasion. Which command
is the greatest? Matthew 22. You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind. This is just the great and foremost commandment. And
the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. On these two commandments depend the law and the prophets. The whole being of humanity is
wound with regards to our obligation to God. intellectual, loving God, the
immortal part, the physical, the intellectual, every aspect
of our being is prompted there to love God. And we’re to do
so with our utmost vigor, leaving nothing on the table. Perhaps
I should find out from Aaron, I don’t know who ever invented
it, but it’s a silly saying. Every time you hear a sports
person talk, they talk about giving 110 percent. Some of these guys aren’t mathematicians.
Because all you can do is give 100%. 100%. And that’s what God’s
law demands from us every day, every moment, with regards to
our reverence of Him. 100% of everything that we have
in our being is to be dedicated to loving our God. Simple. were to love Him from the heart.
It denotes, that word does, the heart in Hebrew Scriptures spoke
of the central focus and from there everything, like rays of
the sun came out. The heart was the beginning place
of everything. One of my seminary professors
used to call it the mission control center. You can tell when he
grew up in the 60’s, 50’s and 60’s. We might even call it the
motherboard. The hard drive, if you will.
This is where it all begins. The feelings, the affections,
the soul. Everything comes from the heart. We’re supposed to love God from
our hearts. One said it this way, we must,
in doing so, look upon Him as the best of beings. In Him, most
amiable and infinitely perfect and excellent, as one whom we
lie under the greatest obligations to both in gratitude and interest,
we must prize Him and value ourselves in our relation to Him. We must please ourselves in Him
and devote ourselves entirely to Him. Our love to Him must
be sincere and hearty and fervent. It must be a superlative love.
A love that is as strong as death, but an intelligent love. And
such as we can give a good account in the grounds and reasons of
it. We’ve got to have God figured out. John Gilgill goes on and says,
it must be in an entire love. He must have our whole souls.
He must be served with all that is within us. We must leave nothing
besides. Pardon me, we must love nothing
besides and what we love for him and in subordination to him
indicates our devotion to him. You know, the shocking thing
about this passage. Look down at it. This lawyer,
this arrogant, proud lawyer, doesn’t even doubt his devotion
to God. He assumes that he has fulfilled
that impossible obligation to love the Lord as his God with
all his heart, soul, mind and strength. And he skips right
over that one and goes to the neighbor. Let’s pause and look
at the neighbor. The rabbi’s standards of Who
was your neighbor was a pretty low standard. They wouldn’t kill
and pardon me, they wouldn’t wouldn’t even put an Israelite
to death if he killed the Gentile. Because he wasn’t a neighbor.
And if they saw a Gentile in danger of death, they thought
themselves under no obligation to do anything about it, wouldn’t
lift a finger, even as we saw in this parable. There was no
rebuke to the Jews. One records that there were those
that perverted the command of Leviticus 19.18 into meaning,
you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Jesus refutes that. As we see here, what Jesus affirms
in his words is that really there’s nothing in us that’s going to incline
us to love our neighbors, but the love of God first empowering
and motivating us. According to the law and all
of the requirements for inheriting eternal life, it would be simple. The man had the answer right.
All you’ve got to do is simple. Love God. Love your neighbor. And that’s why Jesus says, you’ve answered correctly. Good
job. Gold star. A plus. You’ve answered
correctly. Do this and you will live. Which is presenting a different
way. Oh, this is the sin now from
day one. What the law taught from day one. Jesus just wards off his question. He affirms his answer here, and
he essentially makes this law expert ultimately repeat this
formulated answer, affirms it as being true. Divine counsel,
even identical with his own. Jesus said the same exact thing.
But in doing so, prompts this man to consider how feebly How
miserably he had failed, how he had attempted this. Jesus, when he says, do this
and live. These are the words of a prophet
who knows this man’s heart, he knows his life, he knows everything
about this man. And when he looks and he says,
do this and live, it’s as much of a challenge to the man’s past
as it is his future. If you’ve done this, you have
nothing to worry about. If you’ve done this, if you’ve
loved God perfectly and your neighbor perfectly, you have
nothing. This answer requires no conviction
on the lawyer’s part. Does it require an assessment
of sin? Because if he’s able to fulfill,
there is no sin. One pastor said this, though.
Regarding Lickas 18.5, you shall keep my statutes and my judgments
by which a man may live if he does them. I am the Lord. That’s the standard. Keep the
law. You live. One pastor said, there’s
no doubt about it. Jesus’ words is wordfully plain.
Do this and you will live. But do what? Love. Is this a safe kind of teaching
of salvation through works? If by doing this, but by only
doing this, man is to be saved through doing, then that only
makes it clear that not by doing will any man ever be saved. That’s the true truth. Such a
law condemns us utterly. It’s one thing to be a hearer
of the law, quite another to be a doer. What it demands is
obedience, strict, perfect, absolute obedience. This our Lord again
tells him to do, not supposing that he could really do it, but
indirectly to convince him that he had not done it, that he could
not do it, and to lead him to find that it is not in his power
to do it. You know what this is? This is
a call, a gracious and merciful call of repentance to one who
needed it the most. And herein lies the problem.
Here’s our second prompter to Christ, because we know we can’t
live up to that standard. Paul knew it. Romans 7. We read
a portion of this yesterday men’s breakfast. Romans 7, 4, Therefore,
my brethren, you were also made to die to the law through the
body of Christ that you might be joined to another to him who
was raised from the dead. For we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh,
the sinful passions which were aroused by the law. Jesus. Zeroes in on this man
and is trying to arouse him and his sin by the law. If he can
show him the standard, the man will see that he has failed miserably. Paul goes on. While we were in the flesh, the
sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the
members of our body to bear fruit for death. and said it this way,
if men do not understand the law, they will not feel that
they are sinners. The law had a purpose. Paul calls
it the schoolmaster, the tutor, to lead us to Christ. And that’s
exactly how he was using it in this man’s life. Here’s the standard. If you do it, you’ll live. He goes on. If they are not consciously
sinners, they will never value the sin offering. There is no
healing a man until the law has wounded him. There is no making
him alive until the law has slain him. The law never came to save
men. It came on purpose to make the
evidence complete that salvation by works is impossible. And thus drive the elect of God
to rely wholly on the finished salvation of the gospel of Christ. So not only is the law’s mindset,
a mindset of human effort, not only does that drive us to Christ,
the law’s standard likewise urges us to Christ. It’s an impossible
standard. It depends on a perfect life.
In other words, we’re as good as dead. were as good as dead. But I said there were four aspects
of God’s law that urge us to Christ. The man isn’t content
with Jesus just affirming his words. Now he wants to mince
his words with Christ. And so not only do we see the
law’s mindset and the law’s standard, he wants to know who is this
law’s neighbor. What does the law mean here when
it says neighbor? Maybe there’s a loophole. Look
at v. 29. Wishing to justify himself. But wishing to justify himself,
he said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? This is never a healthful endeavor. An endeavor of wishing to justify
ourselves. That’s for God to do. In every
case, any time we try, we will fail miserably. Our hearts are
wicked, deceitfully so. The Pharisees were ever prone
to do this. No doubt, this man was under
conviction. He was feeling the sting of Jesus’
words. Jesus seemed to be elevating
the standard, setting forth an impossible thing to follow. He
knew that he had failed, according to Jesus’ words. One characterized this little
snippet. He said, the question implied
a conscience half awakened and uneasy. It’s characteristic that
no doubt seems to cross his mind as to his love of God. There
he felt he was safe, but there were misgivings as to the second
commandment. He knew that he was a dead man. What Jesus wanted him to do was
to call him to repentance and have him acknowledge his inability
to fulfill the law. and just wants to give him the
standard. He wants to clarify what God’s
standard is. He wants to show him what is
the law’s next neighbor. What did the law mean when and
when it’s? And he begins to tell one of the most beautiful and
well-known parallels in all Scripture. Verse 30. Jesus replied, a man
was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And most believe,
and I think the context certainly presents it, a man is a Jew.
A man is a Jew coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he
fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him, and went off
leaving him half dead. The distance approximately between
these two cities was about 20 miles. This road became known
as the Red or the Black because it was a haven for robbers and
thieves. It was a notorious place for
crime. And this wasn’t just a crime
of robbery. This is a crime of utter humiliation.
They stripped him. They attempted murder on him. The most interesting description
of this area I found was this. You get a graphic picture of
this place. He said, if we might conceive
the ocean as being suddenly congealed, hardened, when its waves are
tossed mountain high and pitching in wild confusion, each against
each other, we should then have some idea of the scene of this
desert. The ravines, the almost inaccessible
cliffs, the caverns furnish admirable lurking places for robbers. They
can rush forth upon their victims unexpectedly and escape as soon
almost beyond the possibility of pursuit. This is a scary,
frightful, dangerous place. And the man falls into such a
place and he falls into such robbers and they beat him and
leave him half dead. And verse 31 picks up. And by
chance, a certain priest was going down that road. And when
he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Can you imagine the
hope if the man is laying there, if he’s even able to open his
eyes? Can you imagine the hope of this
wounded man seeing a fellow Jew, a priest of all people? Can you imagine the hope in his
heart? Can you imagine that in the despair as he passed by? It’s a fascinating word. Antepara Ailton. Taken from the
the root word there is taken from Erkemi to come. Para alongside. And there was, just in the basic
word there, the compound, the simple compound, it means in
and of itself to pass by. And that would have been enough
to indicate that this priest passed by this wounded individual. But you know what? For Luke,
that wasn’t enough. And Luke paints a graphic picture with
this word. Antatai para eothin. He went completely out of his
way to avoid this man. Verse 32, and likewise, a Levite
also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the
other side. There’s all kinds of possible
excuses, none that hold water with God. That’s the point of
the parable. But Jesus goes on and says, but
a certain Samaritan who was on a journey, he came upon him.
We know of the Samaritans, the half-breeds hated by the Jews.
One characterized them in this passage this way, yet this worshiper,
this worshiper of the pigeon, this man of a race which was
accused of misleading the Jews by false fire signals, of defiling
the temple with human bones, whose testimony would not have
been admitted into a Jewish court of law, with whom no Jew would
so much as eat He shows a spontaneous and perfect pity, which neither
the priests nor the Levites had done. It says a certain Samaritan,
when he came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion. He was moved. Something happened
to him. It’s passive. He was moved with
compassion at the sight of his fellow man. The form of the verb there implies
that his pity was instantaneous. It was a human reaction. The
natural human reaction. There was no looking and weighing
the considerations. I wonder if there are robbers
lurking. I wonder if there’s somebody else that maybe could
fulfill this job. Is there a phone where I could
call 9-1-1 and I could be on my way? And he didn’t stop there. Some people, it’s enough to just
stop there. It’s enough to feel another person’s
pain. It’s enough to empathize. It’s
enough to say, be at peace, be warm, be filled. Let me pray
for you, brother. Not this man. Verse 34, he came to him, he
banished his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Wine for
the medicinal, the antiseptic quality. Oil as kind of an ointment
in the wounds. See, what if this man, what if? I mean, it was practical service.
And that’s what the law says. This is what Jesus is saying
is practical love of your neighbor. Because what if he had just called
9-9-1-1? What if he had just called the Red Cross? That’s
that would be a good thing, right? In our day and age, the people
are hurt down there. Or better yet, you know, let’s
call city council. Let’s pass a law. We need some
safety security guards in the ravine. Not this man. His efforts were personal. His
efforts were thorough. His efforts were selfless. I’ll
never forget the image. We lived in L.A. through the
fires and floods and earthquakes and all the rest of it. And during
the L.A. riots, I’ll never forget the
image, the truck driver laying, laying there in the street, beaten
and would have been murdered if it hadn’t been for the most
unlikely have been written. Maybe wouldn’t have been his
invited dinner guest, but he was his neighbor. He proved to
be his neighbor. Christ’s answer showed that the
lawyer’s question had been asked from the wrong point of view
entirely. He didn’t stop there either.
He put him on his own beast. Can you imagine this now? The
Samaritan walking along alongside with this wounded man on his
own donkey. He brought him to an inn, took
care of him. He gave the innkeeper money. And as it were, he gave
him a credit card. He said, you know what? Put it
on my account. When I come back, I’ll pay you. Whatever else you spend. No wonder Jesus says, which of
these three, verse 36, do you think? Proved to be a neighbor
to the man who fell into the robber’s hands. I mean, did the
man even have to think? Did the lawyer even have to do
his lawyer thing? In meditating on this situation,
he immediately said, the one who showed mercy toward him,
obviously. It’s interesting there, the hypocrisy
of this lawyer. He doesn’t even use the word
Samaritan. Jews wouldn’t. They wouldn’t even utter the
name, didn’t want to make their tongue filthy. By this word game,
the lawyer, he avoids completely the shock to his arrogant and
prejudiced nature. He won’t even say the man’s name.
Luther said it this way. He wouldn’t even call the Samaritan
by name the haughty hypocrite. Oh people, it’s more impossible
than we even imagined. Because when we see the standard
here, we knew the standard of loving God was high, heart, soul,
mind and strength. But this drives us further to
Christ. It must. It’s an impossible standard.
One that is emphasized and underscored when we see what a neighbor is.
It’s everybody. If we’re to be saved by the law,
we must perfectly and practically love every soul of man that is
in need that ever crosses our path. It’s an impossible standard.
Impossible in our own humanness. There’s a final aspect of God’s
law that urges us to Christ. not only the law’s mindset and
standard and the law’s neighbor, but finally, the law’s promise. There Jesus says at the close
of the passage in verse 37, go and do the same. The same words,
an echo, as it were, of verse 28, an illusion. Do this. and you will live. There’s the
agreement. There’s the promise of the law. If you will, the covenant. There’s
the promise that if you do this, it’s simple. If you love God and love Him
perfectly, and you love your neighbor and love Him perfectly,
you’re in. You just inherited life eternal. You just inherited the kingdom
of God. If after practically loving God,
you perfectly love your neighbor. Old pastor said it this way,
our Lord intimates by this, that according to the center of the
law, eternal life is not to be without a complete and perfect
performance of the duties of love to God, love to neighbor,
constrained in these words. And this he suggests in order
to convict the man. One more time, he appeals to
the man and to his conscience. Go do this and live. But if this unfortunate lawyer, who never recognized his utter
inability to keep God’s perfect standard, if you in time, By
God’s God’s grace have been enabled to recognize the impossible standard
of the law, even to the even to the despair. If you lament
of your sin, if you acknowledge your fear, your abject inability
to remedy your own situation. There’s hope. And the hope is. Because because Christ kept the
perfect law and he kept it perfectly. And then he offered his spotless
life as a sacrifice for sinners. You can attempt to prove that
you’re a perfect neighbor. You can even do that to perfection.
It’s all said and done. You can set about loving God
and loving Him perfectly. But it’s an impossible standard.
And so we’re led to confess that it is impossible. by our own
actions to fulfill God’s law. And by God’s grace, and it’s
in the power of our power, power of his spirit to place our trust
in Christ. One Puritan said it this way,
the irrevocable word of God still remains valid. That he who observes the law
perfectly will live. He always loves God, and God
and man will inherit eternal life, but alas, no man has ever
been able to do that. Because no imperfect observance
of the law, however excellent it may be, may be accepted. You
can have good intentions, but if your performance is not good
enough. Because the judgment of God that
the soul that sins, even if on a single occasion shall die,
is just as irrevocable. We know that no man will ever
inherit eternal life on the ground of merit. But God be praised. God be praised that Christ Jesus
as man lived a complete love towards God. And the entirety
of the innocent one endured death for us on the cross. Forsaken
by faith, we are absolved from the death we deserve and thereby
inherit eternal life. That’s what the law compels us
to Christ. That’s what Jesus was telling
this lawyer, pleading with him four times over. Look at the mindset of the law.
You can’t do enough. Look at the standard of the law.
Look at the impossibility of the law when you consider the
law as neighbor. Look at the impossibility of
keeping God’s law and come to Christ. That’s what he was saying. Fall on your knees. Acknowledge
your sin. Spurgeon said it this way, when
a man sees himself to be altogether lost in ruin with the defilement
of sin, and in no disclaims all righteousness of his own and
pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is ready to be justified
by the grace of God. Let’s examine our hearts before
Christ. Our gracious God. Now we understand
this beautiful parable more fully. We see that it was a cry of mercy
to one who so desperately needed to recognize his sin. And Father,
we pray that if there are any in the room at this moment who
still entertain some ridiculous idea of living a life commendable
to God, Bring them, we pray, to repentance. Compel them, we
pray, to Christ. It’s in Christ’s name that we
pray. Amen. If you would, take your
hymnals. Hymn number 521. You who believe
it, sing heartily. My hope is built on nothing less. Hymn 521 and let’s stand.