Basic HTML Version
by
Jon
Hill
F
ortunately for us, a young
man asked Jesus about how
to have eterna! life- and we
have Jesus' answer recorded!
Adam and Eve, way back there in
the Garden of Eden, were told tba t
they could have ete rna l life if they
would just pa rtake of the tree of life
in the midst of the ga rden. Unfortu–
na tely, in the midst of the garden
was also ano the r tree which brought
d eath. Th ey mad e th e wrong
choice-egged on by Sa ta n the
devil-and each genera tion a fter
them has continued in tha t wrong
choice.
.
Each gene ration in its IUrn has
continued in tha t way of e rror- tens
of billions of human beings- most
neve r kn owing th e answe r that
would ensure them of life a fter
dea th.
~ut
you can know the answer
from the giver of life-Jesus H im–
self. Let's eavesdrop on the conver–
sation this unnamed young man
had with Jesus about this most im–
portan! question.
Now, this young man was rich.
He was we ll educated, and very we ll
off. He probably had e lderly parents
whom he was taking care of, fu lfill–
ing a ll the requirements of young,
rich, educated, religious men of his
ge nerati on. But he lacked
ONE
thing- and he knew it. He had no
insurance on eterna l life!
Summons of the Grim Reaper
All of us know tha t the re is only one
sure thing in life:
DEATH.
We say
there are
two
sure things : death and
taxes. Sorne manage to evade and
avoid taxes-but no body evades
dea th!
28
What CanYouDoto
Nobody chea_ts death. When your
number is up, tha t 's it. You go a t
the summons of the grim rea per.
You
go- nobody else goes in your
s tead.
So this young man, let's call him
Sam, was bold enough to ask the
One who knew the answer : "Wh a t
good thing shall
1
do, th a t I may
have eterna llife?" (Ma tt. 19: 16.) He
had everything else: youth, riches,
health. education, intelligence, reli–
gion. Now wha t he needed to know
was how he could ensure tha t he
could keep on living. ete rna lly en–
joying a ll that he had.
Sam began by being as careful ,
poli te a nd po li tical as possibl e.
There we re a number of people
present who were asking Jesus ques–
tions. T here had been the usua l
tricky. picky questions which were
thrown Jesus' way. Sam tried to en–
sure himself of a good answer by
beginning: "Good Maste r," and ad–
dressing Jesus as if he recogni zed
H im as a grea t Rabbi , a grea t
teacher, a great instructor, giving
Him a pat on the back as it were,
and asking in a very polite way.
But J esus answe red a nd said ,
"Why do you call
me
good?" He
answered . as His custom often was,
with a question ra ther tha-n a direct
answer. He didn ' t tell Sam tbe an–
swer right away, but called his a t–
tention to a very important point
Sam sho uld co nside r be fo re he
heard Jesus'
ans~er.
"Why callest
thou
me
good?
There is none good
but one, that is God."
Jesus was telling Sam something
of prime importance to the ques–
tion, if he had had the ears to hea r
GET
LIFE?
- because Jesus was a Good Mas te r.
He is a Good Mas ter, He is God. He
was the Son of God (born as a
human being. true, but God 's Son)
and God's Son forever now. Jesus
was telling Sam pointedly that
no–
body
is perfect (good) but God-be–
fore Jesus even gave the answer.
"K eep the commandments." He was
telling Sam tha t no one so fa r in the
history of mankind had been able to
perform that requirement- but a ll
were guilty of sin and had come
short of the glory of God- or, as He
was la ter to inspire the apos tle Paul.
" .. . in my fl esh, dwe lleth no good
thing ..." (Rom. 7: 18)- or aga in,
" ... the fruit of the Spiri t [not the
fles h] is in a ll goodness ..." (Eph.
5:9). He was letting Sam know
ahead of time, tha t humanly. physi–
cally speaking,
no one,
Sam in–
cluded. was
able
to be perfect in
"keeping the commandments."
Just Bel ieve?
I am sure tha t there a re sorne th eo–
logia ns who a re upset with Jesus'
a n swe r : " K eep th e com ma n d–
ments," because it doesn' t agree
with the ir theology.
lt
would have
been much bette r for them had
Jesus sa id, " Young man. you don' t
ha ve to oo anything! Just be lieve on
me. Have faith . By grace are you
saved, not by works. les t the ft esh
should glory. Accept my name, a nd
you will have e tern a ! life." Of
course, a ll of those· statements a re
true, in and of themselves, and they
a re sta tements Jesus later inspired
the write rs of th e New Tes tament to
ma ke. But those sta tements have
been as much misunderstood. and
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977