That's just a wonderful song.
Praise God. His blood has cleansed his people's
sins. Full salvation. Open your Bibles if you would
to Luke chapter 10. Today's message is called The
Good Samaritan. Luke chapter 10. We'll read from verses 25 to
37. Luke chapter 10. Verse 25, and behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted 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 the Lord answers him back,
and he answering said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thouself. And our Lord says,
and he said unto him, thou hast answered right. This do, and
thou shalt live. But he, the lawyer, willing to
justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,
and stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down
a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed
by the other side. And likewise, a Levite, when
he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by
on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. and went to him, and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast, and bought him to the inn, 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 them, Take care of him, and whatsoever
thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which
now of these three thinkest thou was the neighbor Him that fell
among the thieves, and He said, He that showed mercy on him.
Then said the Lord Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise. Now right before this wonderful
parable, our Lord had bought forth that those who have eyes
to see Christ are blessed. Look at verses 23 and 24. And He turned unto His disciples
and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that you see. For I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and
have not seen them, and hear those things which ye hear and
have not heard them. All things, beloved, have been
delivered into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been
given all power, all power in heaven and earth. God the Father
has put all things under his feet. Our crucified Savior, our
risen Redeemer has gone into heaven, is now on the right hand
of God with angels and authorities and powers being made subject
unto him. And God's people are blessed
to know the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
blessed. Because there's a lot of people who do not know these
truths. We've been blessed to know the
truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is. The wonders
of His perfect redeeming work, which our dear sister just sang
about. And all for a peculiar people, which we looked at in
Sunday school this morning. A chosen generation. A people of His choosing. And
then God's people are blessed to know the fact that He rules
sovereignly. Not everyone believes that. But
we know it to be true. And this is all being divinely
revealed to God's chosen blood-bought people. The people whom Christ redeemed
at Calvary's cross and God hides gospel truths from the wise and
the prudent. He hides gospel truths from the
wise and the prudent. He hides them from some of the
self-righteous, doesn't he? Because some of the who are self-righteous,
he saved, right? But we're his people. But he
hides the truth from some. And he reveals it to babes. And
the reason that God has done this is because it seems good
in His sight. We proclaim with the hymn writer,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like
me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found, was blind, but now I see. We see truths in the scripture
that we've never seen before. Grace Is God giving us what we
don't deserve? Mercy is God not giving us what
we deserve. Grace is God giving us what we
don't deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we deserve. And God's people have received
grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, our Lord. May we who are the
redeemed of the Lord thank God for His sovereign grace and for
His sovereign mercy, which has been given to us in Christ. Many years ago, our dear brother
and friend, Norm Wells, preached Christ from this very text that
we looked at today. And another pastor from near
the Dalles, Oregon, where he pastors, when he heard that Norm
had preached Christ from this text, says, that pastor's scripture
has nothing to do with the gospel. That's a man who does not know
Christ. That man who said that does not
have a clue about who Christ is. And today, by God's grace,
I'm going to preach Christ from this passage, just as our dear
brother Norm did many years ago. Now we, who are God's children,
are to maintain good works. We're to remember the poor and
to help the needy. And Paul wrote in Galatians,
Therefore opportunity led us with good unto all men, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith. Some have taken the
scripture before us and made applications of God's children
to help the poor and the needy. And this is true, we should.
But that's the only lesson they teach out of it. But what a picture we have before
us of God's grace, beloved, and mercy towards us, and the impossibility
of salvation by the works of the law. May God the Holy Spirit
illuminate the scriptures and teach us, teach us the things
of Christ. So let's consider our text starting
in verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? Now behold is there in order
to draw our attention to a certain lawyer. As one grace preacher
said, this is not a civic lawyer, but a religious lawyer. He's
one who studies the law. He's devoted to the studies of
the law. No doubt he was a devote. He was a devote student of the
law. And religious person, as a religion
person, he was probably very devoted to his religion as well.
As are all religious people. And they believe they can be
justified by the keeping of the law. By their own deeds. or by the deeds of the flesh.
Scripture declares that none should be justified in this way.
In Romans chapter three, verse 20, scripture declares, therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified.
That's very clear, isn't it? In his sight, so no one will
be justified by the deeds of the law in God's sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. The law teaches us and shows
us our sinfulness. And when Paul was writing to
Titus, he proclaimed this. Turn if you would to Titus chapter
3 verses 5 and 6. Keep this in mind again in Romans.
Look at Titus verses 5 and 6 of chapter 3. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, But according to his mercy, he
saved us. And not by works of righteousness,
now works there is anything you can do in your mind or you can
do physically, right? Which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that ties right in with what
Paul wrote over in Romans 3.20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. So let's
go back to our text. Now, the question which the religious
lawyer asked here was not a bad question. Because he says, master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? It's similar to the question
asked by the Philippian jailer when he said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved in thy house. The difference,
though, was the lawyer here was not asking sincerely. He was
asking to tempt the Lord or to catch the Lord up. He did not
know his lost condition, but the Philippian jailer did. See,
there was a difference in the questions. So the question itself
is not a bad question. But it's not asked with sincerity. This sinful, self-righteous,
arrogant sinner was asking this of our Lord. to test him, to
try to catch him in something. He was ignorant, and think of
this, he's ignorant of who he's asking the question to. He's
asking the question to the very one who gave the law to Moses. He wanted to find something to
accuse our Lord of, something to say that could discredit our
Lord. Legalists are always trying to
justify themselves. They're always trying to be justified
by the keeping of the law. By the keeping of the law of
Moses. And then what do they do? They try to yoke others to
do the same thing. That's what they do. I know I
was one of them. But praise God, the Lord saved
me. Legalists will try to put their
convictions upon you. My convictions are my convictions,
beloved. My. So he's trying to find something
here to discredit our Lord. And these legalists are always
trying to justify themselves again by the law, always trying
to yoke others by that, and they keep people in bondage that way,
beloved. They keep people in bondage.
Now we love the law of God. Let's just put that right out
there, because we love the law of God. The grace believer loves
the law of God. It's holy and it's good. But
we're saved by grace through Christ alone. And we're saved
by the one who fulfilled the law in our place. Because the scripture declares
that Christ is what? The end of the law of righteousness for
those who believe. So my faith is set upon the one
who was my substitute and fulfilled the law in my place. Is it so
with you? It's wonderful. We're motivated by our love for
Christ, not by the law of Moses. And I know for me, that's the
difference. That's totally the difference from a religion that
I was in and now I love to tell people about Christ because of
what he's done for me, not because I'm getting some little reward
or something that I thought I was supposed to get in heaven, which
then I found out Christ is my reward. And my goodness, this
is wonderful. It's wonderful. Laws, holy and good. We're saved by grace through
Christ, and we're motivated by our love for Christ, not by the
law of Moses. And look at our Lord's response
here. in verse 26, he said unto him, what is written in the law,
how readest thou? Now, our Lord knew that this
lawyer was a hypocrite, that he was trying to justify himself
with the law. So our Lord asked him how he
interprets the law. And here's a good lesson for
us how to deal with legalists, we just take them right to the
word of God. Take them right to the word of God. Paul did this over in Galatians,
he said this, Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do
ye not hear the law? He said that in chapter 4, but
over in chapter 3 in Galatians, he said the law pronounces a
curse upon those who do not keep it. Can any of us keep all the
law, God? No. And Paul wrote this, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under curse, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in the things
which are written. in the book of the law to do
them. But we know Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, we who believe. So people wanna
live under the law, they gotta fulfill it all. It's impossible,
impossible for us. Now look at what the lawyer,
let's read what the lawyer responded back to him. And remember too,
that this was a lawyer who had studied the law, but as one commentator
had said, he had blinders on all the time he studied the law.
Blinders. Look, it says, 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. This lawyer, who is spiritually
blind has condemned himself here by his own words. He's condemned himself by his
own words. You think he loved the Lord God
with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength,
and with all his mind? He's condemned himself with his
own words. I remember years ago someone
talking, I was talking to somebody and I heard them say this and
I just said, what in the world are you saying? And he said,
well, he said, the scripture says we should love the Lord
thy God with all our heart and with all our soul. We got the
first two down, we just need to get the third one down. And
I thought, oh my goodness, you don't even know what you're saying.
You don't even know what you're saying. So do you think this
lawyer here, do you think he had even loved his neighbor as
himself? Not one of us has ever loved
our neighbor as ourselves. No one has done what he responded
here but Christ. And Christ did that for his people. He loved the Lord. He loved God
with all his heart, mind, and soul for us, beloved. And he
loved his neighbor as himself for us as our substitute. So we know the carnal mind is
enmity against God. And this is our natural state.
This works religionists of our day are no different than this
lawyer here. They have blinders on and they seek to justify themselves
by their own works. And again, I know I was one of
them. And look at our Lord's response
in verse 28, and he said unto them, thou hast answered right.
Yeah, what you said is right. This do, and thou shalt live. Note our Lord did not tell this
self-righteous lawyer that he could love God with all his heart,
soul, and strength. He didn't tell them that. He
did not tell him that he could love his neighbor as himself.
He didn't say that. He didn't say, well, go and do
that, because you have the power to do that. He didn't say that.
He said, this do, and thou shalt live. Now remember, what Cain was told
after he had attempted to approach God by his own works. Over in
Genesis 4, verse 7, after Cain had attempted to approach God
by his own works, by the labors of his own hands, when he had
bought vegetables as an offering, If God said this, if thou doest
well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at thy door. Cain should have dropped to his
knees and confessed that he did not do well, but and just as
this lawyer should have done the same thing, he should have
fallen before the Lord Jesus Christ and said, I confess that
I do not love. I do not have this kind of love
in my heart. And I confess that I do not love
my neighbor, but know he's full of self-righteousness, and his
mind is at enmity with God. Look at verse 29. But he willing
to justify himself said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
Instead of being honest and confessing the truth about himself, we see
the religious self-righteous Lord now trying to justify himself
before God. He didn't know Christ was God,
but he's trying to justify himself before the Lord Jesus. And what
does the scripture proclaim about our heart? The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We have proof of that right here
before us. The lawyer gave the right answer in verse 27, but
he is just like all the other of Adam's guilty fallen race
in our natural state, we have more love for ourselves. than
we have for any of our friends, any of our family members, and
let alone our neighbors. Man is full of self-love. But the lawyer gave the right
answer when he said, you know, thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, and soul. But you know, he's
guilty of never fulfilling this. That's why I said he condemned
himself with his own words. He's guilty of never having fulfilled
this. The very thing that is needed to inherit eternal life
When our Lord said, Thou hast answered right, this do and thou
shalt live. He did not mean from that day
forward, beloved. That's not what that means. He had to have perfect love for
God and for his neighbor from his mother's womb. All the way to the grave. It
wasn't just from that moment on. It was from the moment of
conception. And we know that we are conceived
in sin. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ sent this
lawyer to the law for self-condemnation. The self-righteous lawyer was
a guilty, condemned sinner when he was conceived in his mother's
womb, and he continued in that sinful, condemned state all the
days of his life, even when he was a devoted religious student
of the law. And our Lord Jesus Christ had
shut this man up to sovereign mercy. He was already condemned
when he asked the question, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? So right here before us, beloved, we we see the Lord bringing
forth the utter impossibility of salvation by the works of
the law. It's right there. It's right there, the utter impossibility
of salvation by the works of the law. By the keeping of the
law. And we see here the sinful condition
of all men in absolute need of Christ's righteousness to be
accepted by God right there before us. No one will inherit eternal
life without perfect obedience to the law of God. And there's
only one man who walked this earth, who fulfilled God's law
perfectly. And he did it in the place of
his people. So that's why you hear me say
often, his substitutionary life is as important as his substitutionary
death. He lived the perfect life that's
counted to us. And then he died to pay for all
our sins. No one will inherit eternal life
without a perfect obedience to the law of God. And again, there
is only one man who ever walked upon this earth, who fulfilled
the law of God, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect
sinless substitute. Psalm 37, turn if you would to
Psalm 37, seven. We'll look at this one verse
right here to set up us looking at the parable
of the good Samaritan. So we know that you have to have
perfect obedience to fulfill the law of God. Psalm
37, 37. Look at this, beloved. Mark the
perfect man. Who's the perfect man, beloved?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a perfect man. Mark the
perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is what?
Peace. Who do we have peace with God
through, beloved? The Lord Jesus Christ. Mark the perfect man. There he is. The Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate in the flesh. And so the parable of the Good
Samaritan points to the perfect man, the man Christ Jesus, God
incarnate in the flesh. And let's go back to our text
and we'll see our Lord's response to the self-righteous lawyer
who sought to justify himself by his own works. Our Lord speaks
this parable to him. He speaks this parable to him. In verse 30, Jesus answering said a certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves
which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and Departed
leaving him half-dead The certain man here points to Adam our federal
head Jerusalem points to the city of peace in Jericho is a
cursed city Adam left his place of peace and When he ate the
forbidden fruit, he bought a curse upon the whole human race. He's our federal head, beloved.
We are in him. We fell in Adam. As one preacher
bought forth, Adam fell from a close relationship with God,
a right relationship with God. He fell among thieves, the worst
kind of thieves, the one who would rob God of his glory. Adam was stripped of his Raymond,
as his righteousness before God, he lost the garment of righteousness
when he sinned and he tried to cover up his nakedness by the
works of his hands. Tried to put fig leaves on him.
Oh my. Adam was dead spiritually after
he fell. Physically alive, but dead spiritually. So here we have a picture before
us of our unregenerate state. We try to cover our nakedness
up. by fig leaves, by the works of our hands. And Jesus answering
said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
fell among thieves, which stripped them of his arraignment and wounded
him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now the wounded man
who is half dead points to us being alive physically, but dead
spiritually. Alive physically, but dead spiritually. And this is what the wounded
man is pointing to in our text. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
1. Isaiah 1, verses 5 and 6. And we'll see how this ties in,
beloved. Isaiah 1, verses 5 and 6. Why would ye be stricken any
more? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even
unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up nor mollified with ointment. With that in mind, let's look
at verses 31 and 32 now. And by chance there came down
a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by
the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he
was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other
side. Now, by chance here does not
mean luck. The term luck denies the sovereignty
of God, denies the sovereign purpose of God. denies the providential hand
of God. It's by God's divine purpose
that this occurred. Now note here, a priest and a
Levite, those two represent the whole law of God, both moral
and ceremonial. And the word of God clearly states
that the law of God cannot help a lost sinner, right? It offers
no hope of salvation for a dead sinner. The law kills. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 3, and then put your finger in Galatians 3, 2
Corinthians 3, and Galatians 3. The law of God cannot help
a lost sinner. It offers no hope of salvation
for a dead sinner. The law kills. Again, it's the
Spirit of God who gives life. Look at 2 Corinthians 3, verse
6. 2nd Corinthians 3, verse 6. Who
also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of
the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth. The law
killeth. But the Spirit, what? Giveth
life. Giveth life. The law can't save anyone. But
again, it's holy, it's from God, It's wonderful, but we can't
fulfill it. Boy, it brings us to a point where we go, it hedges
a scene, doesn't it? For the believer, we have nowhere
to go but to Christ. That's what the law does for
us. Now turn over to Galatians chapter 3. And this is a constant
theme in scripture. In the New Testament, look at
Galatians chapter 3, verses 11 to 13. But that no man is what? Justified
by the law. So you can't approach God by
the law. We're justified by faith through Christ, right? It says
right here, that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. For the just shall live by what?
Faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth
them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us, look
at this marvelous scripture here. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Remember we looked at that earlier?
You don't fulfill the whole law, you're under the curse of the
law. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, from
his people, he's redeemed them from the curse of the law. Be
it made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Oh my. So the priest and the
Levite in our text, which represented the law, could not help this
man. Couldn't help this man. And our Lord describes the passing
by of a priest and a Levite beholding the wounded traveler. The priest
immediately went on, he didn't even stop, didn't even gaze at
him. Seemingly regardless of the wounded traveler's misery,
the guy's probably laying there moaning in excruciating pain. Right on by. And the Levite went
and looked on him, but he passed him right by, too. But he went
to the other side, just maybe, you know, don't want to let anything
touch me. That's sad. But he passed on the other side,
and this points to our fallen, helpless nature and the inability
of either the law or the sacrifices under the law to heal the wounds
of sin. They can't do it. Can't do it. Now again, before
we go any further, let us remember that God has not changed. God
still demands perfection. Still demands perfection. As
our Lord told that self-righteous lawyer. Scripture proclaims the
soul that sins against God shall perish. Shall perish. And the
law offers no mercy. No mercy at all. God cannot pardon the sinner
at the expense of his justice. His justice must be satisfied.
Must be. His holy law must be honored.
It must be satisfied in the gospel points to one man. To one man. One man who did this. One man
who fulfilled the law of God. One man who satisfied the justice
of God. One man. One man. And he did this for sinners.
Did this for his people. And that's the man, Christ Jesus.
The gospel points held deserving sinners to the substitute. The
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only perfect man. He's the only perfect man who
walked in perfect obedience to the law of God. In perfect obedience
to the law of God. He fulfilled the whole law of
God. And then he satisfied the demands
of the law for his people. As our sins were imputed to him. He laid down his life offering
a perfect blood atonement for the sins of all his chosen people. God saves sinners. And God forgives
sinners. And every one of us can say,
that's me. We who believe, that's me. God saved me. I'm a sinner. I'm a safe sinner
now, but I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ. He's
forgiven me for all my sins. And he did it all. God's did
it all for Christ's sake because of what he did. And God proved
that He accepted the sacrifice of Christ for His people by raising
Him from the grave and exalting Him to His sovereign throne of
power, making Him Lord of all. Lord of all. Now let us consider
the good Samaritan in our text here, verses 33 to 35. But a
certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he
saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him and 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.
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, I will repay thee. Now note, a certain
Samaritan took a journey, it says. And on this journey, he
came to the wounded man. Our beloved Savior, the creator
of all things, left the glory and splendor of heaven and came
to this sin-infested world. on a journey, on a mission. And he left willingly the glories
of heaven. He left willingly the glories
of heaven. He left the presence of the Father. He left angels
falling down before him to come to this world full of sinners. full of sinners who are dead
and trespasses and sins. And he lived here as a man. He
came to where his elect were. He died for us. And he did for us spiritually
what the Samaritan did for the wounded man physically. As our good shepherd, the good
Samaritan of our souls, he seeks us. And finds us. He's the good shepherd, good
Samaritan of our souls. We never seek him, do we? But
he seeks us and he finds us right where we're at. We're wounded by the fall, dead
in trespasses and sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to us and we hear his precious voice bidding us to come to him.
bidding us to come to him through the preaching of the gospel.
And he makes us willing to come to him. In the day of his power
and the good Samaritan, as he journeyed, when he saw the wounded
man, he did not do what those self-righteous pair had done
before him. The self-righteous religionists No, notice it says, and he came
where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. Jesus Christ is who the Good
Samaritan typifies, beloved. Our Lord is very compassionate
to his people. Very compassionate to his people.
He comes to us with healing in his wings. He comes to us with
compassion. And oh, what compassion He has
on His blood-bought people. We looked at, in Sunday school,
that this loving compassion is for a peculiar people, a people
chosen out of their generation. Think of that. You who are God's
people are chosen out of your generation. Think of all the
people in your generation that have lived upon this earth. God
chose you. What compassion. What compassion
God has had upon the believer. And the believer spends his life
saying, why me? Why me? Why me? The one who the Christ rejector
says that's not fair that God chose the people. That's not
fair. And. And the elect of God say. Why me? And we do that for the rest of
our lives, don't we? Why? Why? Because it pleases God to
do so. And it's wonderful. It is absolutely
Wonderful. What compassion the Lord has
on His people. It pleased God to do so. His people are ordained to eternal
life. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. And it's still true today. It's
still true today. This loving and saving compassion
comes only to those who were redeemed by Christ's precious
blood on Calvary's cross. And let us never forget that
God, the Holy Spirit, does not just bring us under the preaching
of the gospel, but he makes it effectual to us. There's many who hear the gospel,
but it's made effectual to his people. It's made effectual to
Christ's people, to those whom Christ purchased
with his own precious blood on Calvary's cross. And note the
good Samaritan in our text. He went to him and bound up his
wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Pouring in oil and wine. And
the Holy Spirit reveals to the blood-bought sinner that the
Lord Jesus Christ has healed us by His stripes. He's healed
us by His stripes that were cleansed by His blood. He binds our hearts
and minds to Christ, doesn't He? And we want to hear about
no one else but Him. He pours into our innermost being
the oil of the Holy Spirit of God, filling our hearts to overflowing
with His amazing grace and causing us to rejoice in Christ Jesus
our Lord and to have no confidence in the flesh. See, that's the
difference between the self-righteous religionists. They measure things
by what they do. Brother Matt and I were talking
about how much of a blessing it is to read one portion of
Scripture and just to to chew on it all the day long. But see,
the self-righteous religions will tell you, well, I read 10
chapters a day. How much do you read? Well, I
read a verse and it was really blessing me the whole day. See the difference? My, my. We ponder the wonderful things
that Christ has done for us. Through the day, we have no confidence
in the flesh, no confidence in ourselves. And he pours into
our wounded spirit his wine, which represents the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, thus making our hearts merry as we ponder
the wonderful truths of the work of Christ. Our hearts are filled
with joy. as we ponder the perfect work,
the perfect work, the full atonement that has been made for us by
Christ, the perfect work of atonement, which the Lord Jesus Christ has
done for his people. And nothing makes the saint's
heart leap for joy than when we ponder the precious truths
concerning the blood of Christ, the fact that it's cleansed us,
we who believe, from all our sins, all. Makes our heart leap for joy. When we ponder, the Passover
points to the blood of Christ. And when God sees the blood of
Christ upon us, He passes over us. You're bought and paid for. All because Christ shed blood. And it's because of the shed
blood of Christ that we can boldly come to the throne of God. It's
the only reason that we can come to God for the throne of grace
and petition our great God and Savior. Only because of Christ. Only because of what He's done.
Look in our text again, it says, But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came to where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. And he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast. and bought
him to the inn and took care of him. Lord carries us, he carries
us from the cradle to the grave. He carries us and took care of
him. And on the morrow when he departed,
he took out two pence and gave him to the host and said unto
him, take care and whatsoever thou spendest, more will I. When I come again, I will repay
thee. Note the good Samaritan in our
text set the wounded man on his own beast and bought him to the
inn. Oh, how the Lord carries us, and commanded the innkeeper
to take care of the wounded men, and that he would repay the innkeeper. Now he bought him to the inn,
which pictures the church, the house of God, where he sees to
our constant care, beloved. And the host of the inn is a
faithful pastor, and the two pence is the price of redemption
under the law, which is a half a shekel. Turn, if you would,
to Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30, the price
of redemption under the law, half a shekel. And that's what
the two pence represents. Exodus 30 verses 11 to 16. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel
after their number, Then shall they give every man a ransom
for his soul unto the Lord, who now numbers them, there be no
plague among them, who now numbers them. This they shall give every
one that passes among them that are numbered half a shekel. And
after the shekel of the sanctuary, a shekel is 20 geras, and half
a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every man that passes
among them that are numbered from 20 years old and above shall
give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more,
the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they
give an offering unto the Lord to make atonement for your souls.
That thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel
and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of
the congregation that it may be a memorial unto the children
of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for your souls.
So the two pence is the price of redemption under the law is
half a shekel. And the two pens also represent
this, His blood and His righteousness. His blood and His righteousness. And He's charged His servants
to take care of His people. And this is the faithful ministry
of the Word. He promises His servants that whatever it costs
to care for His people here will pay when He comes again. And
this shows our Savior's providential care. His providential care for
His people. And let us close with these thoughts.
that if the Lord had compassion on us, then we should have compassion
on others. Look what it says in the latter
part of, look at verse 36. Which now of these three thinkest
thou was the neighbor unto them that fell among the thieves?
And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto
him, go and do likewise. Go and do likewise. So let us
close with these thoughts. We're the people of God. Lord
said compassion on us and we should have compassion on us.
We should have compassion on us. If God has loved us, we should
love one another. Right. If God has been merciful to us,
we should be merciful to others. Especially the household of the
faith. If God has forgiven us. we should forgive others, again,
especially of the household of faith, right? It's just the basic
premise set there before us, isn't it? And those who have
experienced the love, patience, and long-suffering of God, we
should be loving people. We should be patient people,
gentle and long-suffering people, all for the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has loved us and who has gave himself for
us. What a Savior, what a Redeemer,
and what compassion God has had upon us. We were just like that
man. We were half dead. Oh my, the
Lord had compassion on us. Let's go, Lord. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank Thee. We thank Thee for Thy scriptures
and how we see how much compassion You have upon us just in this
portion alone and how You Oh Lord, you were wounded for our
transgressions and you were bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon thee and by thy stripes we're healed,
Lord. We're healed by thy, cleansed
by thy precious blood. We were fell in Adam, dead in
trespasses and sins. Alive physically, but dead spiritually,
and you have made us alive. We are your people. We're regenerated,
born again of the Holy Spirit of God. And you care for us and
watch over us, and you will until you take us home. Oh, Lord, teach
us to be patient and loving and merciful with others. We love
you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.