Luke 10:36 Commentary and Bible Study

What then is the lesson for this lawyer? Christ is showing him that outward acts of worship and rightness are no use at all, and that what you do as a religious man is irrelevant. It's the kind of person you are, the kind of character and kindliness and heart you have within you. God looks upon the heart, and this condemns every one of us. The lawyer’s answer to his own question was entirely correct. If he could keep the law perfectly in every respect, then he would receive eternal life as a reward from God. But the trouble is that he could not possibly live a perfect and a righteous life, and neither can we. The message of Christ, the message of the whole Bible, is that if we will not come to God acknowledging we are poor and needy sinners, depending entirely on the free pardon and salvation that Christ provides, then the only alternative way of blessing for us is to perfectly deserve heaven by keeping the law of God perfectly. When we refuse God free salvation, then he shuts us in to the only alternative – perfect obedience to his every commandment – but that is something we cannot deliver.From the moment that sin first entered the human race, the heart of man was corrupted, and every one of Adam’s descendants is born with that same corrupted heart and sinful nature. It starts to show itself in each one of us very early in life. Every man born fails at this point and comes short of God's standards. If the only way in which we can get to heaven is to be people of complete unselfishness and boundless helpfulness and kindness, wholesome people, lacking in all deceit and selfishness and injurious tendencies, then there is no hope for any one of us. After all, we know our own hearts. We don't like to face this, but if we look within, what do we find? We are full of selfishness and wretchedness. We are capable of much more maliciousness than we are capable of benevolence and kindness. We are all hopelessly condemned by God’s law. That is the first meaning of the parable. But thanks be to God that there is another way that we can gain a place in heaven, and that is shown us in the other aspect of the parable, a lesson which is so valuable and so rich for us. The second meaning is this: the Good Samaritan gives us a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and how he saves. There are some commentators, and some great and godly men who are very shy about taking this parable and seeing it as a picture of Christ and how he saves. They say, ‘Just a minute. It isn't the obvious and the natural meaning of the parable.’ But of course it is. The Lord Jesus Christ never said anything about the law without saying something about grace. Every parable he uttered that is a law parable – that is, it tells us that we are condemned unless we live perfectly – also has grace in it. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a law parable. Outwardly, the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to this lawyer, this religious leader, if you want to be saved, if you want to go to heaven by living a righteous life, you've got to be perfect; that is the only way you will succeed. But that is impossible. Now the Lord Jesus Christ never ended there. Whenever he gave a parable which said that much, you look again and you'll find it's full of grace.