How Can You Have Eternal Life?
By Jeff Cranston
Do you like to fast-forward to the end of a movie or skip to the back of a book because you want to know what happens at the end? I think we can all relate to that to some degree. We all want to know at some level how it all ends up.
In Luke 10:25-29, a lawyer was seemingly curious about what would happen at the end of his life. He asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Was he genuinely interested in the real answer? Not likely because verse 25 says, the lawyer “put Jesus to the test.”
The lawyer’s intent was to trap Jesus. He was not really interested in eternal life—he was interested in legal life. Jesus sidesteps the trap and says in verse 26, “O.K., since you want to talk about the Law, let’s start with the basics—what’s the primary issue to you as you read the law?”
That was easy. The lawyer quoted what every good Jew prayed every morning and evening, the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.” In other words, the greatest part of the law is to love God with everything about you. But then the lawyer goes one step further and adds from Leviticus 19:18—and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28, NASB). When Jesus said that he meant, “You got the right answer, but you really can’t love God with perfection, and you certainly can’t love your neighbor with total love incorporating your mind, soul, strength and heart, now can you?” The lawyer is stuck.
Does the lawyer’s concern remind you of you? Are you anxious about the destination of your soul? What must you do to inherit eternal life? The answer is a simple, yet profound, one. Jesus answered, “What does the Scripture say?”
The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, NASB). Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, NASB).
The Bible also says that we are sinful and therefore separated from God. We have all done or said or thought bad things, which the Bible calls sin. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NASB). We have missed the mark. The result of sin is death and spiritual separation from God in Hell.
But there is good news! God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins! Jesus dies in our place so that we could live with Him eternally in Heaven. The Bible says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NASB).
But it didn’t end with His death on a cross. He rose from the dead and still lives!
How can you have eternal life? Jesus points us to the Scriptures—the Bible—which tells us plainly that there is nothing you or I can do to earn our salvation; we are only saved by the grace of God when we have placed our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
All you have to do is agree with God that you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sins, and ask His forgiveness. Then, turn from your sins—that’s called repentance. Jesus knows you and loves you. What matters to Him is the attitude of your heart, your honesty. Pray this prayer if you have never before asked Jesus Christ for eternal life:
“Dear Lord Jesus,
I know I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness.
I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
I trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior.
Guide my life and help me to do your will.
In your name, Amen.”
“May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
– Romans 15:13
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
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