All right, Luke chapter 10. I've entitled this message Love
and Righteousness. Love and Righteousness. This
is commonly called the parable of the Good Samaritan. Probably
it would be better to call it the parable of the Certain Samaritan
because that's what the Lord says. He talks about a certain
man, a certain Samaritan, This parable of the Samaritan is so
familiar to a lot of people, used by a lot of people, but
is also really misunderstood by most people. I was telling
men at lunch this past week, I said, when I lived in Lexington,
Kentucky, there's a hospital up there that's called Good Samaritan
Hospital. Really, if they really were good
Samaritans, I'll tell you right now, you wouldn't have to pay
them a dime to get treated there. But we know that's not the case.
But most people, you're familiar with this parable, the good Samaritan.
Many believe that the Lord is simply teaching here that we
all should show kindness, mercy, compassion, care, charity to
someone in need, anybody in need. And let me say this at the outset,
we should. Shouldn't we? We should be people of generosity
and compassion, charity, oh, more than we are. There's no
doubt about that. But let me tell you, that's not
why he spoke this parable. That's not the purpose of this
parable. We need to understand that understanding the Lord's
parables, now think about this, understanding the Lord's parables
are a matter of Him revealing them to us. Before I get into
this, turn to Matthew chapter 13. I always like to read this
when we're dealing with the parables because most people, as you know,
they think of the parables almost like they think of a fable or
maybe a children's story. It's kind of like this. I heard
a professor one time talking about how Christ, he had hit
these people with so much deep doctrine And they couldn't get
it, so he decided to simplify it with the parables. Wrong. That's not what happened. He
taught them the most plain, simple doctrine. The problem is the
natural man, as we are born naturally in sin and death, we won't receive
the things of the Spirit of God. And so you know why he began
speaking in parables? Well, what does the Bible say?
Look at Matthew 13 and look at verse 10. This is when he began
to speak the parables of the kingdom, parables about the gospel
going out, the ministry. And he began with the parable
of the sower and the seed. You know, had the different hearers
and the seeds, the word of God. And verse 10 says, the disciples
came and said to him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He was talking to unbelievers.
Those who had rejected the clear teachings that he had brought
forth, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount. So why are you
doing this, they said. And he answered and said to them,
because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given. Whoa. Well, that just
doesn't seem right to us, does it? That doesn't seem like any
way to be a successful evangelist. Get people streaming down the
aisle or whatever you try to do. You've got a gift, he said. And I want to tell you something
about it. It's a gift they didn't earn and didn't deserve. It's
like salvation. And he says in verse 12, for
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, he shall have more
abundance. Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
whatever he has. These Pharisees, these unbelieving
Jewish people, they had the Bible. They had what scriptures they
had back then. They heard Christ preach, they
saw the miracles, but he said because they've rejected the
gospel of salvation by God's grace, that'll be taken away. So he says in verse 13, therefore
speak I to them in parables, because they seen, see not. Now
what he's talking about is they're spiritually blind, willfully
blind. They don't wanna hear what he
had to say. It's like people today, they
want religion, They want to go to a church that tells them what
they want to hear, not what they need to hear, but what they want
to hear, what makes them feel good. But when they hear a preacher
tell them the truth, I don't wanna see that, I don't wanna
hear that. He says, hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophet. This was prophesied
back in about 700 years before in the prophecy of Isaiah. By
hearing you shall hear and shall not understand. By seeing you
shall see and shall not perceive. This people's heart is waxed
gross, grown hard. and their ears are dull of hearing,
their eyes if they have closed, lest at any time they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand
with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them.
But now you disciples, you're better people than that. Is that
what he says here? No. What made the difference? Look at verse 16. Blessed are
your eyes for they see. God's blessed you. Blessed are
your ears for they hear. Now these parables were not children's
stories. They were not clarifications
of simple, plain gospel truth that man by nature does not want
to hear. You know, the problem with most
people is not that they don't understand intellectually the
gospel, but they don't understand it safely, meaning this, they
just don't want it. Bible teaches that, John chapter
three and verse 19. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world and men love darkness and hate
the light. Why? Because they're not intellectually
astute to believe? No, it's because their deeds
are evil. The light of Christ and the gospel of Christ, which
bears witness to his blood as the only ground of our salvation,
his righteousness imputed to us as the only ground of our
justification. It exposes all that men and women
by nature hold in high esteem as being nothing as Paul called
in Philippians 3, but dung on the dung heap. Everything that man by nature
is proud of in religion is rubbish. when compared to Christ and His
finished work. People don't want to hear that.
They don't want to receive that. And look back over in our text
now, Luke chapter 10. Look at what he said before he
spoke this parable. Look back up in verse 21 of Luke
chapter 10. It says, in that hour Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
prudent, the wise and the intellectual, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered to me of my father. No man knoweth who the son is,
but the father, and who the father is, but the son, and he to whom
the son will reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples,
and he said privately to them, blessed are your eyes which see
the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which you see and
have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear and
have not heard them. If we truly believe the gospel, rest in Christ,
and submit to Him as the Lord our righteousness, we're blessed. And it's a blessing of grace. Parables, here's what one writer
said, and I agree with this. Parables are really the most
direct connection with our Lord revealing truth to his disciples
and hiding it from his rejecters. This parable will be misunderstood
or rejected by unbelievers. To most people, this parable
of what we call the Good Samaritan, it's teaching kindness, compassion,
charity, all those things that we mentioned, and it is. It's
just a moral story though. Some even use it, now think about
it, some even use it to promote their idea of socialism and government,
even Marxism. It's a pretty story spoken in
light of the of the commandment, love God perfectly, love our
neighbors ourselves. And we know that it teaches we
cannot pick and choose our neighbors, all people are our neighbors,
and the true neighbor here was the Samaritan. In fact, it's
really not so much about who our neighbor is as it is about
how to be a good neighbor. And this kindness Christ taught
in the Sermon on the Mount, even reaches to our enemies. I'll
just read this little portion to you. Look at what the Pharisees
had taught about our neighbors. You know, love your neighbors
yourself. Well, here's what the Pharisees taught about that.
Verse 43 of Matthew 5. You've heard it said by them
of old, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use
you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven. So they had, like all of us,
they had finagled around in a way that could make them feel proud
of, oh, that's all right, I love all my neighbors, but I hate
my enemies. And that's okay. And they probably
went back to the Psalms, Where David made statements like I
hate them that hateth thee and all that and that's a different
subject now. That's a different matter Well first of all if you want
to understand this parable look back here at Luke 10 verse 25
The parable was spoken in answer to a question from a lawyer and
Robert don't worry This is not the kind of lawyer that you are
This is not speaking of an attorney in civil court The lawyers back
then were experts in the old covenant law. They were like
the scribes, they were Pharisees. And I think, Brother Dave, you
said you read in Matthew where this fellow was a Pharisee. So
that's what this lawyer was. He was an expert in the old covenant
law, a Pharisee. And it says here, behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and he tempted Christ. Now notice first here,
the question and the answer, before you get into the parable.
Here's the question, and here's how the Lord answered him. And
it was asked by a lawyer, considered an expert in the Old Testament
law, and it says a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him. Now right away we know this,
this fellow's motive is not good. He's not really seeking answers
to a question. He's trying to tempt the Lord.
That means he's trying to put him to the test. He's trying
to trap him. You ever been around anybody
like that? Ask you a question to try to trap you? That's what
he's doing. He's not seeking information.
He's not even seeking eternal life. He's just trying to trap
this one named Jesus who spoke so many things that they hated. This is the Jesus who stood in
that Sermon on the Mount. Now remember, this guy's a Pharisee.
He's a lawyer, he's a scribe, he's a Pharisee. And Jesus stood
up in the Sermon on the Mount in verse 20. He said, accept
your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees. You in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven. Well, they didn't like to hear
that. So what are they going to do? Well, we got to discredit
this guy. People are following him. He's performing miracles.
So we have to discredit him. So he stood up and he decided
he was going to test the master. And here's what he said, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now again, his motive was not
good. He wasn't seeking truth, trying to trap, find a reason
to have him executed, actually. That's what the Pharisees wanted
to do. They wanted to find a just cause under the law that they
could have Jesus of Nazareth killed. So we tested him. Now his question is a good question.
Not asking the right motive and the right thing, But what must
I do to have eternal life? You remember the rich young ruler
back in Matthew 19? He asked that question. Now that wasn't a parable. That
was an actual event in the life of Christ. When he talks about
the Samaritan and all this, that's a parable. It's a made up story
that Christ used to make a point. But over Matthew 19, that rich
young man came to him, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
He basically got the same answer that's given here. But here's now consider his question,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now this fella already
thought he had eternal life, he was a Pharisee. He was an
expert in the scriptures. Christ said in Matthew 539, you
do search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. This is how you think, he says. You read this Bible,
you read these scriptures, and you think that you have eternal
life, but you've missed it. Because these scriptures that
you say you love, they are they which testify of me. I'm telling
you, you can memorize Genesis to Revelation, and if you don't
see Christ, The glory of God in Christ, salvation by God's
grace. You've missed it. You think that's possible? I
know it is. I used to listen to a fella who
they called the walking Bible. Boy, he could quote scripture.
Memorize it. But I never heard the man really
preach Christ. Never. This fellow thought he had eternal
life. He's like all the other unbelieving
Jews. They claimed eternal life based
upon three things, their physical connection with Abraham, their
physical circumcision of the males who represented the families,
and they thought they kept the law of Moses. And he and his cohorts had already
accused Jesus of Nazareth of teaching that the law could be
broken. Remember, that's why Christ said in Matthew 5, 17,
I didn't come to break the law, I came to fulfill it, which you
can't do. They thought they were righteous
and despised others. You remember, that's how Christ
described them, or how Luke described them, as inspired by the Holy
Spirit. Over in Luke 18, when he was
given another parable, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican,
and he said in Luke 18, 9, that he spoke this parable to those
who imagined in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. I'm righteous, and they're not.
That's what that means. I'm saved, and they're not. Why? Because they're such sinners,
that publican. Good night. And you sit down
and eat with folks like that? Man, you have dinner with publicans
and harlots? I had a preacher tell me one
time I wouldn't be caught dead with people like that. I didn't
realize it, but we're both already dead spiritually. My soul. That's human nature. That's human
nature. So the question is a good question.
That's not the issue. It's a good question. But consider
how the Lord answered. Now remember what he said. He
didn't say, how can I have eternal life? Is it possible that I may
have eternal life? He said, what must I do? Now that's the key. What must
I do? I'm looking at me and you. What
must we do to inherit eternal life? Or to have it? Well, the Lord said it this way.
He asked the Lord. Now this is a guy who claims
to be an expert in the law. He said, well, what's written
in the law? How do you read the law? So Christ takes him to the word
of God, which he claims to love and know, and the law on which
the lawyer was so proud. And here's his answer. Well,
the lawyer knew this. Verse 28, or verse 27, he answered
and said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
all thy soul, all thy strength, all thy mind, and love thy neighbor
as thyself. Now you know what he's talking
about there, don't you? Huh? Perfect love. Without any flaw. Without any selfishness. Without
any struggle. Just plain, pure, perfect love. Love that equals righteousness. That's what he's talking about.
That's what the law's talking about. Remember how I've told you that
righteousness is not a moral quality of character. Righteousness
is the legal standard by which all moral character is to be
measured. In other words, righteousness
not only tells me to love, it tells me how much I have to love. How good must my love be? And so verse 28, Christ said
to him, he said, and he said, thou hast answered right. You
said right, that's what the law says. Love God perfectly, love
your neighbors yourself. This do and you'll live. Do it
and you'll live. I could tell us all today, let's
do this and live and walk out the door. Where would we be? But now look at verse 29. He says, he willing to justify
himself. Now I'm going to, what is it
to justify yourself? Well okay, I'm going to show
you that I do love God perfectly and love my neighbor as myself.
And I've already shown you what the Pharisees taught about their
neighbor, you know, love your neighbor and hate your enemy
and all that, you know, that's religion. Religion is always
going to, in some way, try to bring the standard of righteousness
in the law down to their level, down to their size, so that they
can justify themselves. And a man tell me one time, he
said, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as some people. Well, okay. Now where will that
get you in the kingdom of God? Nowhere. Just because you're not as bad
as some doesn't mean you're righteous. Just because you're more charitable
than some does not make you righteous. You know why? Because those some
that you compare yourself with, they're not the standard. You
know who is? Christ is. God's gonna judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed,
not whom you hath appointed, or I have whom he hath appointed,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead, Acts 17 31. So he's willing to justify himself
and said unto Jesus, who is my neighbor? He had in mind to show
Jesus, that's how he would refer to him, that he did love his
neighbor as himself. And so Christ speaks this parable. Listen to it. Jesus answering,
verse 30, a certain man. We don't know who the man was.
We don't know what his religion was. We know that he was a certain
man. He went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho. Most commentators would tell
you that this was a pretty bad way to go. It was known for thieves
and robbers and murderers. Some people even say it was called
Blood Alley. And he fell among thieves. which
stripped him of his raiment, wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead." Left him laying there in the road. Verse 31,
by chance, don't you love that? Nothing's by chance in God's
providence, is it? That's the way we would say,
just by chance, there came down a certain priest that way. Now
this priest seems to be of the lineage of the high priest, a
descendant of Aaron. And it says, when he saw this
man, he passed by on the other side. The construction of the
language here is this. He went out of his way to avoid
this man. So the priest wouldn't help.
Verse 32, likewise in the same way a Levi, now this was a priest
also, but this was of the lineage of Levi, the other priest. When
he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on
the other side. He went out of his way. What's the point here? Just because you're religious
doesn't make you righteous. Isn't that right? But go on,
a certain Samaritan, ooh, now Samaritan, you gotta understand
that the Samaritans and the Jews had a mutual hatred for each
other. The Jews' hatred of the Samaritans
goes all the way back to King Jeroboam. Remember after Solomon,
the kingdom split and Jeroboam took them to the north, Rehoboam
remained in the south? And the Samaritans were Jews
who intermingled with Gentiles, probably the Babylonians. They
were half-breeds. They even built their own temple
up there. You remember the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman?
She told Christ, we worship in this temple. You worship down
there in Jerusalem. They had their own temple. They
were hated. They were despised. You know
one of the greatest criticisms that they brought against the
Lord? They said over, I think it's John chapter 8, they said,
he's a blasphemer. and a Samaritan. You couldn't call anybody any
worse than that among the Jews. And so here it is. Here's a Samaritan. And it says here, verse 33, a
certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, And when he
saw him, he had compassion on him. He had compassion on that
man who was half dead. Went to him and bound up his
wounds. I don't know how he did it. I
guess he had claws. Maybe he used his own clothes,
but he bound up the man's wounds. Poured oil and wine. Now you
need to understand, y'all know how much medicine costs today?
That oil and wine costs like that
in that day. Brought him to an inn, a hotel.
Took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed,
stayed with him all night. Took out two pence. Now this
is, you'll see different commentators on this, but most agree this
is like a day's wage. And it would be like paying the
guy's motel bill for two months. I've taken, I think, several
of us, and over the past years we've had people who come and
they didn't have someplace to stay, and we'd take them to a
motel and pay for a night. We didn't pay two months, did
we? I don't think we have. and said unto him, said unto
the host, the hotel manager, he said, take care of him and
whatsoever thou spendest more than what I give you, when I
come again, I'll repay that. Now you talk about an opportunity
to be extorted. Well, I had to spend this much.
So gives him two months lodging and says, anything more I'll
pay it. And so Christ asked this question to the lawyer, verse
36. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto
him that fell among the thieves? And the lawyer said, he that
showeth mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him. Now
think about he's answering the question, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said to him, go do
likewise. Now here you have it. Here's
two men who represent the Jewish religion, the Jewish establishment,
who claim to love God, who claim to love others as themselves,
but had no love at all. They went out of their way to
avoid Him. But here this Samaritan, a hated outcast, demonstrates
the kind of love that the law of righteousness requires us
to do if we're going to have eternal life by our doing. Some might say, well, if I'm
going to have eternal life, then I have to do what the Samaritan
did. Is that what we think? Well, we know that our righteousness,
our love must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees and the lawyers.
Well, how far must it succeed or exceed rather? What I hope that we see out of
this, what I hope that I see out of this is this. This kind
of love shown by the Samaritan convicts every one of us and
shows us this important fact. There is none righteous, no not
one. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Think about it and be honest.
Have you ever done this? Have I ever done it? For anyone? I've never. You say, well, I've done it one
time. Have you ever done it again? This is not a one-time thing,
you know, in the law. It says, it doesn't say love
your neighbor as yourself one time. It means all the time. You say, well, I give money to
the poor. That's good. I'm glad you do. And you ought
to. I should. I send a check every month to charities. And
that's all right. But here's the point that Christ
is making. This is a parable of salvation, folks. And the
point He's making is this. If we think that sending money
to charities or buying a few meals for someone fulfills the
law of righteousness and of love, we missed the point of this parable. Who does this? You may say, well,
I know someone who did it once. That's not good enough. Twice? How much is required? Love your neighbor, love God
perfectly, and love your neighbor all the time. That's what it
means. Somebody say, well, I'm not capable of doing that. That's
right, you're not capable of accomplishing or working righteousness. I can't either. And you know
what? That means I need grace. Grace reigns through righteousness,
not by my efforts to love my neighbor, which I ought to be
diligent to do, but that's not how grace reigns. It reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. You want me to tell you about
one person who did it all the time? His name is Jesus Christ,
our righteousness. You remember the rich young man
back over in Matthew 19 when Christ told him basically the
same thing, keep the law? And the young man said, well,
I've done all of that, what do I lack now? Christ said, well,
sell everything you have, give it to the poor and come follow
me. And the man walked away sorrowful. One time's not good enough, 10
times is not good enough. If you want eternal life by your
doing, all the time, purely without struggle, You say, that's a standard
nobody can keep. And that's right. That's why
by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Let me just briefly give you
these three things. Number one, if you could do this,
then I want to tell you something about yourself. You're not a
sinner. You don't need salvation. You already have eternal life.
In fact, you don't even need to be here this morning. If you
could do this, Secondly, none of us can do it. We all need
a righteousness we cannot produce. We need the kind of love that
only Christ himself expressed for his people in order to inherit
eternal life. That's why he is eternal life.
And thirdly, Romans 10.4. Christ is the end of the law,
the finishing, the fulfillment of the law, every law, all the
law of love, love God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself,
charity. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. There's no hope
for, that's what this parable's about. Oh, I admire the Samaritan
and we ought to be charitable and all of that, but my friend,
Parable is pointing out the fact to that lawyer that we as sinners
cannot attain eternal life by our doing, by our loving, by
our obeying, by our works. It's all by God's grace in Christ. And if you don't believe that,
go and do that likewise. But you got a problem. If you
could start today and do likewise the rest of your life, you've
got a past. And there's not enough love that
you can show that can pay for that past. You see, that's why
Christ is the savior of his people, delivers us from our sins, past,
present, and future. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin.