Open your Bibles if you would
to Luke chapter 10. We're going to read a story that's
probably one of the most well-known stories from the Scriptures.
It's called the Good Samaritan. Probably one of the most well-known.
If you ask most folks about a story in the Scriptures, they either
know Psalm 23, or maybe the Good Samaritan. It's a well-known
story. And folks often say, well, I
need to be like that Good Samaritan. Well, we're gonna look at how
Christ is the Good Samaritan. Christ is a Good Samaritan, beloved.
He's the one. Let's look at the scriptures
here. Luke chapter 10, verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him. In the Greek, that means he tested
him. He's a test, he's trying to test him. saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, what
is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answered, said, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou answered
right. This is the words of the masters.
He says to him, thou answered right. This do, and thou shalt
live. Look at his response. But he
willing to justify himself. And remember, several commentators
said this may be taking place in the synagogue or there's other
people around. And he's trying to impress these
people with these words. because he's a lawyer, he's a
leader in Israel. But he willing to justify himself
said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering
said, certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell
among thieves, robbers, which stripped him of his raiment,
took all his clothing off, left him naked. and wounded him and
departed leaving him half dead. And by chance there came a certain
priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. The priest sees him, goes right
around him on the other side, leaves him laying there. And likewise the Levite. There
comes a Levite next. When he was at that place, came
and looked on him, looked at him, lay in there, half dead
in the ground. Looked at him and passed on the
other side. This guy went all the way to
the other side and went right around. My. But a certain Samaritan,
a half Jew, despised by the Israelites, But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. And when we saw him, he had compassion
on him. He went up to him and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast and brought him to an end and took care of him. And on
the morrow when he departed, He took out two pence and gave
them to the host and said unto him, take care of them. Take
care of them. And whatsoever thou spendest
more, anything more it cost you. Anything, anything more it cost
you. When I come again, I will repay
you. His bill will be 100% taken care
of. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. Then the Lord asked the lawyer,
which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that
fell among the thieves? Look at the answer. And he said,
he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go
and do thou likewise. Go and do thou likewise. So again, as I said, this is
a narrative in scripture, a parable that's very well known. A story
that's very well known. And in this wonderful portion
of scripture here, we will see Christ pictured as the Good Samaritan. As the Good Samaritan. We see
also a picture of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. And. We see the condition of
the man. We see in the condition of the
man. Hopeless. Helpless. Naked. Half dead. We see a picture of
the condition that the Lord found us in. He found us in that condition,
beloved. My, oh, my. He's hopeless, he's
helpless, he can't help himself. Thieves have fell upon him. And
the scriptures declare that he was left half dead. Beloved,
you know we're half dead in our natural state? We're alive physically,
aren't we? But what are we spiritually?
Dead. Dead. Scripture declares that,
right? We're physically alive in our natural state, but we're
dead spiritually. We're dead to the things of God.
We're dead to the gospel of God. We have no understanding of it.
We don't even desire it. And we're hopeless in that state,
aren't we? Can you help yourself in that state? Can a dead man
help themselves? Absolutely not. We looked at
that last week. Dead man can't do anything. Nothing
at all. Beloved, in verse 29 to 36, we
see an exchange between a lawyer and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
again, as we know, there's no doubt that this lawyer's question
was to test the Lord, tempt Him, the scripture says, but test,
test Him. It was not a view, it was not
from a view, this question wasn't asked in a view to learn more
about Christ, beloved. He didn't ask because of that.
No, he asked this question to confound our Lord. To confound
our Lord. Now, he's speaking to the very,
he doesn't know this, but he's speaking to God incarnate in
the flesh. He's speaking to the very one
who gave the law, beloved. He's speaking to the very one
who gave the law to Israel. And he has no clue. No clue at
all. And so he asked this question
to confound the Lord. Now, there's still people like
this around even now. Oh. There's people like this
lawyer trying to confound the people of God. They're still
around. Mockers and scoffers, they're
still around. You know what, there's nothing
new under the sun, is there? Just like Solomon said, there's
nothing new under the sun. They're trying to trip up God's
people with questions. You get them all the time. People
ask you questions and you think, where did that come from? They're
just trying to trip you up. Keep your eyes on Christ. Just
keep telling them about Christ if they ask. My. And do you note where our Lord
takes him? Do you note here? Look at verse 26. Look where
the Lord takes this man. He said unto him, What is written
in the law? That's the scriptures, beloved.
He takes him right to the scriptures. Remember, you've heard me say
many times, when someone's talking to us about asking us questions
or asking, take them to the scriptures, beloved. Take them to the scriptures. That's the only place we can,
right? We take them right to the scriptures. So our Lord,
our Lord takes this lawyer, and we should do this to those who
are like-minded to this lawyer, we should take them to the scriptures. Remember that the law is used
as a schoolmaster to bring God's people to Christ. The scriptures
are used to bring us to Christ. The law of God, the Ten Commandments
and the ceremonial laws and the moral laws, they all show us
our desperate need of Christ. Don't they? They show us our
need. We who have been born again by
the Holy Spirit of God who know our need. Oh my, we see the law
of God and we see we can't even fulfill any of it. And we know that the scripture
declares in Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. You know why it says
that? Because we're all under sin. We're all tainted, but there's
only one perfect man, isn't there? There's only one who fulfilled
the law, and he did it in our place. He's perfect, sinless,
spotless. He did that as our substitute.
Scripture, though, declares, therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. It shows us our sinfulness, Romans
3.20. It shows us our sinfulness, beloved. And marvel at this discourse
here, that our Lord had with this lawyer. And note how beautiful
and striking it is, because it could do nothing but silence
the lawyer. Silence the lawyer. And leave
him in confusion. Because he sought to trip up
the Lord, but he was tripped up himself. Look at verse 23 again. What
is written in the law, how readest thou? How readest thou? Verse 26. Sorry, I put 23 there. Verse 26. Let's read verses 25 to 29 all
together again. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? Let's stop right there. Oh my. You know where I'm going, sister.
Look what it says here. Note the words of natural man
right there in that verse. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? That's natural man. That's an honest answer from
a natural man. What shall I do? Nothing. Look to Christ. It's not about what we've done,
because everything we do is tainted with sin. It's all about what
Christ has done. It's all about what Christ has
done. But look at that question clearly. So the lawyer, this
lawyer in the sight of man, he's trying to trip up our Lord, and
he's trying to gain the applause of man, All the all the time,
though, by these very words, exposing his lost estate. He's exposed his lost estate
with these words. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He's exposed himself. And is that not how we were in
our natural state or what? Well, I'm going to make a decision
for. Oh, walk an aisle. I'm gonna
pray a prayer, and then the preacher's gonna say, I'm saved. Note who
it's all about. No, God has grace upon his people. Do you know, we're gonna see,
he comes and finds us. And he has compassion on us.
This is a beautiful story, beautiful picture of what Christ does for
us. I hope we leave here rejoicing today, I really do, at this marvelous
truth that's presented here before us. It's wonderful. But note
there, right away, he exposes his lost estate. He said unto
him, now here's our master, what is written in the law, how readest
thou? Now note this. He gives the right answer. Look
at this. And he said, thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with
all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And look what the Lord said.
And he said to them, thou, thou answer's right. This do and thou
shall live. But he, willing to justify himself,
said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Note what he left out. When he asked that question,
again, he exposes his self-righteousness. He answered that which was right
in verse 27. He answered and said, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy strength, with all thy mind and thy neighbor as
thyself. So we see here that one can study
scripture, one can quote scripture, and yet not know Christ. Not
know Christ. Without the Holy Spirit's regenerating
power, beloved, a man or a woman cannot and will not know Christ.
It's a revelation of God. And if you're saved, if you're
a believer, praise God's mighty name. I'm telling you, praise
him. Because it's him who's done the
work. It's him who's done it all. And note, again, the Lord
tells him that he answered right. And then he brings forth in his
answer the impossibility of obtaining life by the works of the law.
We know in Romans 3.20, as I quoted earlier, therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. And this lawyer, he answered
right, and the Lord said unto him, Thou hast answered right,
this do, and thou shalt live. Oh my. So the Lord, in His answer,
has brought forth the impossibility, the impossibility of obtaining
life by the works of the law, because No such work can come
to pass except by a perfect man. Now we can't even, we can't even
fulfill one law, can we? And everything that we do is
tainted by sin, is tainted by sin, everything. Beloved, That which is spoken of in verse
27, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Can you love the Lord with all
your heart? I can't. I wish I could do. Don't we?
Don't we desire that we do, don't we? But I I don't love the Lord
with all my heart. And I know I know I was I was
looking on the Internet this week. Well, well, before going
to sleep, and somebody had a question on a debate site. I told you
guys, I don't debate. I just read these things and
I get material for sermons. It's incredible, finding out
what these religious folks believe. It's incredible. And this one
guy put up a question about this very thing, about loving the
Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and fighting against
sin, which we do all the time, don't we? And the person said,
well, we got that down. The first part, and I just, oh
my gosh, you just, look at this. We desire to love the Lord, our
God, with all our heart, but everything we do is tainted with
sin, even after we're saved. We desire to love the Lord, our
God, with all our soul, but we're still sinners. We desire to love
the Lord, our God, with all our strength and with all our mind,
and we desire to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we're sinners. Let me tell you this though. It's impossible for us to do,
but Christ fully satisfied the law of God in our place. Christ did this for us. Hallelujah. Praise his mighty name, beloved. He did it for us. We who are
God's people can look at these wonderful words and know that
Christ did this for us perfectly, perfectly. Perfectly. We know that the scripture declares
that there is none of the sons and daughters of Adam who are
righteous before God. None of us. We know that. The
scripture declares that, doesn't it? None who understand, none
who seek after God. We don't understand the things
of God in our natural state. And we also know that none of
us can fulfill the scripture that the lawyer quoted. We know
we can't do that. Turn, if you would, though, to
Psalm 3737. Psalm 3737. Look at that. Psalm 3737. Look at this. Look
what the scripture says. Imperfect here is blameless. What was our Lord? He's a lamb
without spot and without blemish, isn't he? He's perfect. Sinless
in his life and sinless in his death. Look at this. Psalm 37,
37. Mark the perfect or blameless
man. Mark him, right? And behold the
upright, for the end of that man is what? Oh, praise God,
peace. Who do we have peace through?
Amen. Christ. In Christ alone, we have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark the perfect
man, because his end is peace, beloved. Peace. Only one who is perfect in sin
can fulfill that which is spoken of in the law. And rejoice, there's one perfect
man spoken of in scripture, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one in whom the Father is pleased. Pleased. Come on. Let's read the words of the Master
again in Luke 10, verse 28. And he said unto him, thou hast
answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself,
said unto Jesus in, who is my neighbor? Now note, he left out
the part about loving God. You know why? Because he already
thinks he does. That's why he left that out. He already thinks
he loves the Lord thy God with all his heart, mind, and soul.
He doesn't. He's revealed his lost estate,
hasn't he? In his very words, even here again, he reveals his
lost estate, beloved. He says, well, then who's my
neighbor? I already love, you know, that's basically what it
is. Well, then who's my neighbor? Oh, my. Never forget that we
were self-righteous at one time like this, Lord, too, right? And, oh, my. My, oh, my. Look at that response,
and he answering. Now look at that, as we see that. Let's read verse 29, but he willing
to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
Let's read verse 27 again. And he answering said, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as
thyself. So we see with him quoting the
law, and then with his answer again, it's very clear that he
believes he's already done that which is preceded loving his
neighbor. My, the lost estate of man, eh?
My. We're so blinded to the things
of God, aren't we? And this is a man, beloved, who
studied the scriptures. My. And he seeks to justify himself
before the Lord with his answer. He seeks to justify himself before
the Lord of glory. He doesn't even know who Christ
is. He doesn't know, he just knows he's called Jesus. He does
not know that he's the Lord of glory that he's talking to. He's trying to, what does natural
man try to do when you talk to them about their sin and when
you tell them they're sinners, right? They try to justify them.
Well, I'm not a bad person. I don't hate God. I don't do this and I don't do
that. Well, the scripture says otherwise. Doesn't it? If the
scripture says something and we bow our knee to it as believers
and say, well, that was us. My, it's incredible. Absolutely
incredible. He's trying to justify himself
before the Lord. He seeks to justify himself before
the Lord on the footing of his own self-righteousness. He tries to make himself appear
righteous before anyone who's listening. Now the Jews, they thought themselves
able to justify themselves before God by the doing of the law and
by the doing of all these other things that they had been. They
thought they could justify themselves. They thought they could make
themselves righteous. And it may have appeared to man
that they were so, right? Man may have looked at them and
said, well, if anybody's saved, it's surely that guy. Got them
robes on. He reads the scriptures every
day. My, look at him. When he walks through the street,
got his little collar on. Oh, my, he must be old, the guy.
All the time, they're dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. Graveyard dead. Graveyard dead. Again, one can study scripture,
one can know the scripture, one can quote the scripture, and
not know who Christ is. And there's nothing new under
the sun, is there? There's nothing new under the sun. Man are still
trying to justify themselves before God. Natural man still
tries. Still tries to do it. By their
supposed good works. You know what they're doing all
in that time? They're heaping condemnation onto themselves. It's a sobering thought, isn't
it? It's a sobering thought. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah,
chapter 64. Look at the picture. Look at the picture here before
us. This is a picture of natural man and woman inspired by the
Holy Spirit. Remember who the author of the
scriptures is, too. Isaiah was moved by the Holy
Spirit of God to pen these words. His brother John said, we don't
have to take this stuff lightly. This is the word of God. This is the word of God, Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah chapter 64, verses six
and seven. Here's a picture of natural man
and woman when we're born into this world. Look at this. Isaiah 64, verse 6, But we are
all as an unclean thing, in all our righteousness, all our supposed
good works, all the deeds that men do to
supposedly be to gain merit and favor with God. And all our righteousness are
as filthy rags, and they do fade as a leaf. What, a leaf comes
out in the spring, it's beautiful, it's on the tree, oh my, it looks
so beautiful. And then the fall comes, and
that leaf falls off that tree, lands on the ground, dead. And it crumples up, and either
gets caught up by the rake, or it just crumbles into the ground.
Here today, gone tomorrow. to fade as a leaf. And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. Oh, our sins have taken
us away, the Scripture says. Or Proverbs talks about the cords
of sin wrapped around us. We can't get out of it. Look at this, look at this,
verse 7. Then there's none that call upon thy name. No one. No one seeks God. that stirreth
up himself to take hold of thee. That means none seeks after God.
For thou hast hid thy face from us, and thou hast consumed us
because of our iniquities. My. Let's go back though now. So if we were left at that state,
oh my goodness. Right? That's a hopeless and
helpless state we see there. Let's turn back to Luke chapter
10. Oh, here comes the good man. Little bit more, though, of looking
at looking at the law, just a little bit more with this priest in
this Levi. Look, it says in verse 30. And
a certain man. Went down from Jerusalem to Jericho
and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment.
So he's left naked and wounded him. And departed, leaving him
half dead. Oh, he's hopeless. And this is a picture of natural
man's estate, beloved. This is a picture of our estate
born. We're born this way. We can't help ourselves. We're
wounded by sin. We're wounded by sin. We're naked
before God. We saw in Isaiah that all our
righteousness are like filthy rags. We do fade as a leaf. They wounded him and departed
leaving him half dead. Half dead, alive, and think of
us in our natural state. We're half dead. We're alive
physically, but we are dead spiritually in our natural state. We are
alive. That's our state. We're seeing the latter verses,
we're seeing a picture of our recovery in Christ and by Christ,
by Christ. And what the good Samaritan does
for the wounded, half-dead man. But look at here, and first of
all, in the picture with the priest and the Levite, we see
a picture of the law and religion and how it can do absolutely
nothing for the man. Nothing. Let's read. Verse 31 and 32. And by chance there came a certain
priest. They're walking down the way. And when he saw him, he sees
this man. Oh, he passes by. I'm going to
go over here. Passes by. Just leaves him sitting there. Half dead. He looked on him, too. He looked
on him, and he passed him by. He saw him, and he passed him
by on the other side. Then look at verse 32. And likewise,
a Levite, when he was at the place, came, and he looked on
him, and he looked on him, and he went the other side. And he passed him by. One goes
on one side, the other goes on the other side. Leaves that half-dead,
wounded man just laying there. My, that would be a hard-hearted
person to do that, eh? My, no compassion. This is a
priest and a Levite. Now the priest may have taken
him as one already dead and therefore crossed the way on purpose, Touch
him and be defiled by him. They weren't supposed to touch
dead bodies and be defiled So that may be in the case and and
if doing so he'd have broken the law And incur the penalty
of it, but but it may have been through the hardness of his heart,
too He just I ain't gonna I ain't gonna come near that guy. I'm
not looking for trouble. Maybe i'll help him and someone
else will fall upon me That might be what he thought. I don't know
I don't know But then in verse 32 now we see a levi So we see
a priest and a Levite passing by the man. John Gale brings
forth, this is, by the priest, maybe meant the moral law. And
by the Levite, the ceremonial law. And so both, the whole law
of Moses. So we see then, if that's the
case then, we see that the moral law and the ceremonial law could
not help this man. could not help this man, beloved.
Do you know there's no mercy in the law of God? Like Brother John said, it's
full of warnings, it's strict. Do this and live. It's unbending, beloved. The
law of God is unbending. It shows the holiness of our
great God. We love the law of God because
it shows the holiness of our great God. But we also see that
we can never fulfill the law. Not one. We don't even have the
ability to do that which the law demands because we're sinful. We're sinful. My. So the law, and think of this,
too. Think of this. The law hasn't become milder,
has it, today? Has the law of God become milder
since the days of the Israelites? No, the law still says it finds
all men guilty before God. It's not become milder. It's
not being bent to please the PC culture. The law of God is
not bent. This is the Word of God. And
it's unbending. Unbending. So we see no relief can be had
from the law. No relief can be had from the
law for a naked, wounded, and half-dead man. No robe of righteousness
from the law to cover our sin. No expiation of our sin. No justifying righteousness by
the law. No, only the knowledge of sin. Only the knowledge of sin. And
always remember that, again, that by the deeds of the law,
no man can be justified, because we don't even have the ability
to do it. And men, by nature, are sinful,
impure, imperfect. And I can't justify myself, let
alone anyone else. And it's so for you too. Therefore righteousness cannot
come by the law, it's impossible. It's impossible. So that leaves
a man and a woman as naked as this man laying in the road. That leaves us before God, naked
before God. My. There's no pity from the
law, again, no justification, no pardon through it, no expiation,
no atonement of our sin by it, no, or by our obedience to it,
because we can't even be obedient to the law of God. No comfort
from the law of God. It only condemns us. Oh, so that's the state. But there's hope. There's hope. There's hope. There's hope in one. There's
hope in one. The perfect man. There's hope
in one. The perfect man. And we see him
pictured here. in the Good Samaritan, let's
read. And we know the perfect man is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God man, the word of God incarnate. Look at this, let's
look at here. Luke 10, 33, but a certain man,
or a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, came where he was.
When he saw him, he had compassion on him. Note, the Samaritan came
where the wounded man was. He didn't go by him on the side,
he came right to him. He came to where he was lying,
there on the ground. And what a picture we have of
us in our hopeless, helpless, natural state. And what does
the Lord do? He comes right to where we are,
beloved. Every one of his sheep, he does
that for her. Oh my. So every born again, blood-bought
child of God can look at this and say, that was me. That was
me. And just as the Good Samaritan
came to where he was, beloved, our Lord seeks us out. He seeks
us out. He seeks out his sheep. And oh,
what compassion he has on us, doesn't he? We see that the Good
Samaritan here, the Samaritan had compassion on the man. What
compassion the Lord has on his people. He doesn't leave us in
that state. Oh, he has such compassion for
his people. He came to where he was, and
oh, Lord, our Lord seeks us out. Now let's read verses 34 and
35. We see the good Samaritan binds
up his wounds. This wounded man, half dead man,
he binds up his wounds and he cares for him. Verses 34 and
35. And went to him. He went to him.
He didn't go by on one side or the other. He went right to him.
He went to him and he bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and
wine and set him on his own beast and bought him to an inn and
took care of him. He took care of him. And on the
morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to
the host and said unto him, take care of him and whatsoever thou
spendest when I come again, I will repay thee. I'm gonna take care
of everything that he incurs. Oh my. Anything he owes, oh my,
what a great debt we owed. What a great sin debt we owed,
beloved. Our Lord paid it all. He paid
it all. Oh. He paid it all. Now this Samaritan was traveling
from Jerusalem to Jericho. And beloved, some commentators
say that Jerusalem is a picture of heaven and Jericho is a picture
of the world. Think of this in light of that. The word of God,
our savior left heavenly Jerusalem, didn't he? Came down to this
world, my. And he paid all that was required
for the recovering of the souls of his people. Because we fell
in Adam, didn't we? We fell in Adam. He paid it all. Now what? He's ascended back
up to the heavenly Jerusalem. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. He's the mediator. It's wondrous. He's the only
mediator, the one mediator between God and man. Man, Christ, Jesus. Man, Christ, Jesus. Robert Hawker
brings forth that when this man fell among thieves, who stripped
him and wounded him and left him half dead. This pictures
our nature by the fall. Man is robbed by Satan, stripped
of our original righteousness, is made a whole mass of disease
with the wounds of sin and left more than half dead by the great
enemy of our souls." That's true, isn't it? And notice this good Samaritan,
he had compassion on him. He went to the man, he poured
in oil and wine, he bound up his mangled body, he was beaten. Not a pretty picture. Bound up
his wounds, mangled body, and then he set him on his own beast
and then brought him to an inn and took care of him. And then
he paid all that was required for him to recover, all of it. And think of how much more the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has had compassion on we who
are his people. Even more so, he became a man. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, the God-man. He remembered our lowest state,
beloved. He knows the end from the beginning. I remember that. He, my, he remembered
our lowest day. And all because of the love that
he has for his bride. He comes to this earth and dies
on Calvary's cross. And in doing that, and in seeing
him ascend back to glory, we see, don't we, by the eye of
faith, that God's mercy endures forever, doesn't it? It endures
forever towards his people, oh my. And think of this, he's not only
poured in oil and wine to heal the wounds of sin, has he? No,
but the precious balm of his own blood. his own blood, which
was shed on Calvary's cross for the sins of his people, to pay
the ransom price for us forever, for our eternal souls. So think
of this, all that God demands, he provides in Christ. See, that
which God demands, God provides. And it's God himself, right,
who's the lamb, who's the sacrifice, oh my. And notice the good Samaritan
puts the man on his beast. Well, beloved of God, our Lord
bears us in his everlasting arms. He carries us, beloved, bears
us in his everlasting arms, close to his bosom, close to his bosom. Got to see a little baby this
week and watch Jake and Liz with that little baby and they hold
it close to the chest. Never forget you're in the arms,
you who are God's people, you're in the arms of eternal love. Because Christ has loved you,
the Father has loved you from eternity. And the scripture says
his arms, his eternal arms bear us, don't they? They lift us
up and Song of Solomon talks about that, his arms are underneath
us, beloved. My. And notice then the good Samaritan
took the man to an inn, to an inn. Well, you know, Christ has
bought his people to the richest inn. He saves his people, and then
he brings his people to the richest inn, the church where the free
and sovereign grace of God is preached and proclaimed, where
it's preached and proclaimed. where God's people can feast
upon the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which ministers healing
to our wounds. As we continuously hear, oh,
Christ has died for all my sin, all my sin. Praise be to God,
all my sin. I'm washed clean in the precious
blood of Christ. What a Savior. The ones taken
to this inn, again, have their wounds washed in the fountain
of Christ's blood. The only fountain open for sin. The only fountain open for sin
and for uncleanness. And then it's He who ever watches
over His sheep. Caring for us, beloved. Caring
for us. And what does God tell His preachers?
Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 40. Look what God tells
His preachers. Oh my. Oh my. Now I, the scripture says, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. How do we, how do we as God's
people, and how does God's preachers comfort the Lord's people? By
the preaching of the gospel. By the preaching of the God of
all comfort, beloved. That's what he's called in scripture.
He's called the God of all comfort. And so God's people are comforted
by the preaching of the gospel. We come here and we gather together
again for the furtherance of the gospel, beloved, and we are
comforted by the Word of God, aren't we? By the preaching.
Reminded again of what a wondrous Savior has done for us. Oh, look
at this. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
verse 1. Isaiah 40, verse 1 and 2. Comfort
ye. Comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Look at that, my people. Oh my
goodness, my people. God's elect are God's people,
a people of his chosen beloved. Oh my, he calls them mine, my
people. Saith your God, he's our God. He's the one true God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Brother John said, all our sins
are gone. Warfare's accomplished, Lord.
Lay down your arms. Brother Scott Richard used to
say that. Lay down your arms before the Savior. The warfare's
over. We take sides with God against
ourselves now, don't we? Yes, we do. Yes, we do, but oh,
look at this. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished and that her
iniquity is pardoned. Pardoned, look at that, pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Beloved, our warfare was accomplished
at Calvary's cross. When Christ Jesus died on the
cross and by His perfect redeeming work of salvation and redemption
of our souls, and He as our substitute suffered the wrath of God in
our place, which we will remember today, which we are constantly
reminded of in the preaching of the gospel, aren't we? Constantly
reminded. And our iniquity was pardoned
when our dying Savior satisfied the holy justice of God for us
in our room and place on Calvary. And the only way God's born-again
children can be comforted is by the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way. There's
no other way we can be comforted. But by the preaching of the,
we read the word of God, and what does it do? It points us
to Christ. It points us to the one who purchased our pardon.
Oh my. Oh, and we need a steady diet
of the heavenly manna, don't we? That's a preaching of the
word of God. That's a preaching, we need a
steady diet, we who are God's people, because it feeds us.
The preaching of the gospel feeds us with the truth of God's forgiving
grace, His sovereign free grace. And it teaches us of the finished
work of Christ. And what does that do for God's
people? Oh, we rejoice in that. We rejoice in that. So beware
of false preachers, beloved, who are philosophical giants. or who use worldly logic and
human reasoning. Men who are steeped in religious
traditions, beware of them. They're nothing but prophets
of Baal. That's what they are. Their attempt to turn your eye
of faith away from the Lord Jesus Christ into something you have
to do. We need to keep our eyes Don't
we? We need to keep our eyes on the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has accomplished salvation for
his people. That's who we need to keep our
eyes on. Oh my. And those false preachers, they
do not preach the gospel. They're not sent of God, beloved.
They're not. No matter what they say. When
you hear a man preach, here's a good way to measure when you
hear a man preach. I heard this years ago and it's
so true. So true. Ask yourself, does God get the
glory or does man get the glory? Who gets the glory in the message?
Who gets the glory? When the gospel of God's grace
is proclaimed, God will get all the glory. He'll get it all. He'll get it all. And remember
this too, that our God is absolutely sovereign. And nothing happens,
nothing happens apart from God's will. Not even a sparrow falls
from a tree to the ground dead without the Lord knowing. And
then again, as I mentioned earlier, even the hairs of our heads are
numbered. Even the very hairs of our head are numbered. That's
how intimately the Lord knows his people. Oh my, so let's bring this home
for the believer. Let's bring this home for the
believer that nothing happens to us that does not pass through
God's loving hand and through his sovereign will. Now our suffering and our trials
in this world, they are real and they are painful. We are
a needy people. We are, aren't we? And things
we go through, they are real, they're painful. Oh my. but the believer in Christ can
face our trials. We can face our trials, we can
face our tribulations knowing that our great God, knowing that
our great God is in full control. Knowing that he's in control
of that which we are going through and we can live in confidence,
even though it's hard, we can live in confidence knowing that
nothing happens to us that does not again pass through God's
loving hands. Nothing happens apart from His
will. We can live confidently knowing
in this life, knowing that no action or event, not one can
ever occur outside of God's all-encompassing will and wise plan because God
works all things for the good of those who love Him. For those,
a lot of people stop right there. But it says, who have been called
according to his purpose. God does things on purpose, doesn't
he? There's no mistakes with God. None. So we can trust our lives, we
can trust, we who are God's people, we can trust our eternal souls
to our loving father. We can trust him. And it's he
who shelters us under his wings, isn't he? Shelters us under his
wings and he works everything out. Remember this, that there
is no maverick molecules in this universe. There's not one atom
that's not under his control. Nothing, nothing. And that is the one who keeps
his people. My, my, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leadeth me beside the still
waters, he restoreth my soul. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Ay, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in
the house of the Lord forever. Oh my, what comfort in words
for God's people. Oh, this world's not spinning
out of control, beloved. It's not spinning out of control.
Our great God is guiding it according to his own wise plan. Oh, beloved
of God, it's beyond our understanding, isn't it? But we can rest assured
that all is happening according to his will. And then think of
this, our great God, the Word of God, the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ was here on this earth. Now he's returned to glory,
but he's promised to come back, hasn't he? He's coming back in
his time. But he's commanded his servants
who minister in his name to comfort his people by the preaching of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at verse 36
and 37 now here. Look at this. Which now of these
three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the
thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy
on him. Now, that's that's the Samaritan, right? Then said Jesus
unto him, go and do law likewise. Now the Samaritans again were
half Jews. They were hated by the Jews. They were looked upon as their
enemies. And we see here a Samaritan helping a Jew. My, and we know
it was a Samaritan who acted like a neighbor to this wounded
man. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, he takes care of us, doesn't
he? He puts us all He pays all the expenses of our cure upon
His account, didn't He? He put all the expenses of our
cure upon His account, right? Oh my, the perfect, spotless
Lamb of God, in life and death, paid for all our sins, beloved.
What a Savior. What a Savior. My, He voluntarily condescended,
His voluntary condescension to this earth, proves his eternal
love for us. And he's paid that which was
due for the ransom of our souls. Or. He's so infinitely above
us, isn't he? He's the perfect man. He's remember
Mark, the perfect man is the end of him is peace, the end
of his ways is peace. Peace with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only way sinful men
can have peace with God. The only way sinful men can be
accepted before God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this, what we've looked at today, this narrative magnifies
the riches of Christ's love to his people, of God's love to
his people. And we cry out, oh, how thankful
we are, Lord, that you've had mercy on us. Oh, how thankful
you are that you've had mercy on us. Didn't leave us in the
way, but he sought us out, didn't he? Oh, what a great God. Glory to his name.