Introduction:

Whatever life may be, there are certainly different kinds of life, lived on different levels, with different degrees of awareness, different kinds of response to environment, and different potentials of duration. This week's lesson deals with two kinds of life: one we may call human life, meaning ordinary natural life as it is generally lived on earth by humans; the other kind of life is called in the Bible eternal life.

Human life is the common possession of all living humans; eternal life is the gift of God (Romans 6:23). Eternal life also is called everlasting life: the words eternal and everlasting in the King James version mean exactly the same thing, being simply alternative translations of the same word in the original scriptures.

One most important quality of eternal life, apparent in the very meaning of the term, marks it as radically different from ordinary human life: human life, as it is lived in this world, is of limited duration; but eternal life lasts forever. By its very nature, eternal life is incapable of death.

Study of the present lesson, Mark 10: 17-31, may be outlined as follows:

1. Law and Life, w. 17-20
  a. Dead works, 17
  b. The unknown God, 18
  c. Laws for life, 19
  d. Blindness of sin, 20

2. Love and Life, 21-26
  a. One-way loves, 21
  b. Sorrowful choice, 22
  c. Impassable entrance, 23-25
  d. Impossible salvation, 26

3. Life and Life, 27-31
  a. Life from God, 27
  b. Life in life, 28
  c.Life for life, 29, 30
  d. Life after life, 31

Notes on the Printed Text:

Law and Life, v. 17-20.

"If there had been a law given which comld have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Galatians 3:21.) All true believers in Christ agree with Paul that "the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." (Romans 7:10.) But a religious world of lost sinners still vainly seeks salvation through obedience to law.

How can imperfect observance of law on a lower level of life qualify for life on a higher level? If Adam in a state of innocence could not or would not obey the commandment of God, how can his fallen descendants do better? It is a hopeless attempt, but countless millions keep on trying.

Dead Works, 17.

Matthew tells us (19:22) that the inquirer was a young man; Luke further informs us (18:18) that he was a ruler. So we call him "the rich young ruler." He had the strength of youth, the power of position and wealth. He came running, indicating eagerness and zeal; he kneeled to Jesus in token of humility aad submission. Yet, for all his lively expression of interest in eternal life, he was but a dead man pursuing "dead works." (Hebrews 6:1.)

"What shall I do?" he asked, meaning "What good thing shall I do?" (Matthew 19:16.) It was the wrong question, since he had in mind some outward act of virtue. Sinners dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) cannot do anything to please God. (Romans 8:8.)

Another mistake of the rich young ruler was his failure to recognize a present need of eternal life. He asked about an inheritance, but his need was for an immediate gift.

The Unknown God, 18.

"Good Master" or rather "Good Teacher," he called Jesus. But he failed to recognize Jesus as God. Yet, if Jesus was good, He was God. No good man would claim to be God if he was not. Only fools and hypocrites can pretend to honor Jesus as a good man and at the same, time deny His deity. Any mere man must be either a fraud or a lunatic to pretend to be God. Just as surely as Jesus was a good man, He was and 1s the everlasting God.

Laws for Life, 19.

God's holy law commands the kind of life that men ought to live. The failure of the law to save lies not in any weakness of the law itself but in the weakness of human flesh that fails to keep it (Romans 7:7-14; 8:3.)

The few commandments that Jesus quoted were more than enough to convict any honest sinner. Remember that God judges not merely according to the outward act but according to the hidden desires and intentions of the heart.

Blindness of Sin, 20.

Far as he was from the truth in claiming to have observed these commandments "from my youth," the rich young ruler was possibly about as sincere as most people. It is very easy and very human to overlook or forget our own faults and failures, and to exaggerate our virtues and successes. Among the most devastating consequences of sin is its morally blinding effect upon the sinner.

Love and Life, 21-26.

Perhaps the highest expression of life is love, and eternal life is not a produet of law but a gift of love. God is love, and people intent on keeping the commandments of God should look first to the first or greatest commandment, the commandment to love Him. Failing this love, aH professed obedience to other commandments is but an empty sham.

One-way Loves, 21.

Among the common tragedies of life is unrequited love. For one person to love another person who does not love to return is a most frustrating experience. But God is the greatest of all lovers, and most of Adam's race never return His love.

Jesus loved this young man, even as He looked at him and beheld a self-deceived sinner, a sinner who would not love Him, a sinner determined to refuse the love that Jesus offered him. Jesus knew that the young man's affections were wrapped up in his possessions; dead things that could not return their owner's love. And so Jesus loved the man and the man loved his wealth, each with a one-way love.

Sorrowful Choice, 22.

Love can be very demanding, and God is a jealous God. Men cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24.) Presented with a definite and necessary choice, the young man "was sad" and "grieved," but nevertheless he "went away." "The sorrow of the world worketh death." (II Corinthians 7:10.) People would prefer to have their own choice of things in this world and look to Jesus only for life in a world to come. But the Bible holds no promise of eternal life beyond death for those who refused It in life.

Impassable Entrance, 23-25.

Earlier in the chapter (v. 15), we read: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." We like to emphasize the invitations of the gospel, and rightly so, but we are in danger of forgetting its prohibitions.

Now again Jesus declared that the very entrance to the kingdom of God is impassable to many, and answered the astonishment of his disciples by repeating and strengthening His statement. He had said it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, but how hard? Harder than "for a camel to go through the eye of a neddle."

"Camel" here means camel and not something else; "needle" means needle and not something else. Vainly attempting to destroy the meaning of Jesus' words, infidel commentators would shrink the camel or enlarge the needle by verbal leger domain to enable an occasional camel to squeeze through. The disciples knew better. The next verse shows that they understood, Jesus to mean what He said.

Impossible Salvation, 26.

"Who then can be saved?" The rhetorical question indicates two facts: First, the disciples understood entering the kingdom of God to be equivalent to salvation. Second, they realized that Jesus had in effect declared the impossibility of salvation, at least for a rich man.

Life and life, 27-31.

Only life can beget life, and by divine decree the creature can beget only his own kind. Humanity cannot of itself take on divinity.

Life from God, 27.

So the salvation, the entrance into the kingdom of God, the reception of eternal life, that is impossible with men is not impossible with God: "for with God all things are possible." From eternity to eternity, He is the living God; and it is only from Him, and only on His terms, that we can get eternal life.

Life is Life, 28.

Evidence of eternal life received appears when the heirs of life "have left all, and have followed" Him Who is their Life. The life received from heaven results in transforming lives on earth.

Life for Life, 29, 30

Sacrifies for the sake of Jesus and His gospel will surely be rewarded a "hundredfold now in this time," but "with persecutions." If as professed followers of Jesus we are not receiving much reward "now in this time," and if we are not suffering much persecution, it must be because we have not left much for His sake and the gospel's.

What effect will this lack of consecration now have upon the measure of eternal life which we hope to inherit in the world to come?

Life after Life, 31.

God sees not as man sees and judges not as man judges. Many compromising Christians, preachers and others, who achieved great popularity and acclaim on earth, will get a back seat in glory, while some humble, faithful saints, despised on earth, will receive highest honors from their Master.

Key Verse:

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John 17:3.

Eternal life partakes of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4), and so is able to know God as only kindred beings are able to know one another. In God, of course, eternal life had no beginning as it can have no end; in human experience it is imparted in the new birth as a present possession which grows in sanctification and will be fulfilled in glory.
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[From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, March 7, 1969, pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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