May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, and we'll read verses 33
and 34. So the Gospel of Luke, chapter
10, and reading verses 33 and verses 34. 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 brought him to an inn
and took care of him. This is a familiar parable really
that Jesus gave and we know it as the Good Samaritan. And really
it has a double position for us to think upon. The first is
a natural one and the second is a spiritual one. And obviously
the natural one is very easy to discern. And it tells us really,
therefore, that we should be kind and helpful to any that
need need, and not just to observe something and then ignore it.
And as these people did, the Levites and the Pharisees, they
just passed by on the other side. They didn't want to get involved.
And it's very easy for us today to do exactly the same thing
when things don't look very pleasant and don't look very happy and
aren't very congenial to think, well, we're going to avoid that
situation. We're going to get away from it. And we're going
to go on the other side. Well, that was just what happened.
And we can imagine this poor person. There he was being robbed. And we're told he was not only
robbed, but he was left half dead, stripped him his raiment,
wounded him. Departed leaving him half dead
a pretty desperate condition and no doubt he thought oh well
here comes Somebody who's going to help me someone's going to
look after me because he told first of all a priest came And
no doubt he thought well a priest he'll look after me. He'll help
me No, he passed by on the other side must have been very disappointed. We're not told exactly what the
man thought but we can conjecture that can't we and And then a
Levite. Again, the Levites, of course,
were people that God blessed in a special way. And he came
and just looked on him and passed by on the other side. So we can
imagine the sadness of such a position. It may be sometimes in our lives,
we may expect someone to look upon us, someone to come and
help us, someone to understand us. just passed by on the other
side. Well that's very difficult and
that's very painful but the Lord gives us these wonderful illustrations
to speak to us in a natural way and also to speak to us in a
spiritual way and then we read of course what happened then
when a certain Samaritan, the most unlikely person Yes, Samaritans,
of course, had no dealings with the Jews. They weren't allowed
to and they didn't. But this Samaritan, he came. He came and
did that which this man wouldn't have expected. He came. He came where he was and he saw
him and he had compassion on him. What a wonderful picture
we have and how he He didn't just do what was immediately
necessary. He went, as we might say naturally,
another mile. He went a number of miles. He did all that he could on the
spot, and then he put him on his own beast and took him to
an inn and paid the bill and told them if there was anything
more owing, he would pay it when he came again. He didn't do anything
half-heartedly. He did it wholeheartedly. And
he didn't know this man, he was a stranger. It's a wonderful
lesson, isn't it, for us to realise that. that we are not to do things
half-heartedly, not to do things grudgingly, but to do them willingly
as unto the Lord. And so we see this wonderful
picture. And of course, the Lord asked
this lawyer who'd asked the question. The lawyer thought he was being
very clever in asking the question. And now the Lord came back and
asked him and he said, which now of these three Thinkest thou
was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves? Well, the answer
was obvious, wasn't it? And of course, the man realized
it was obvious. And therefore, he was able to
save. He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said, go and do thou
likewise. You see, he didn't say, well,
just take note of that. Just remember that. He told him
very specifically, go and do thou likewise. Now, it's very
easy for us to read the word of God and to pass over difficult
situations. Think, well, that's very well,
but it doesn't apply to me. Well, we should realize many
of these things do apply to us. And we should therefore take
them on board and not just pass them over. So we see there a
very natural position which is evident in so many ways. But
then also, of course, we have what we might consider as the
spiritual application. And we must always remember that
the Bible is a spiritual book. It's there for our spiritual
good, our eternal good, and it directs us in a wonderful way. And what it is really that we
see on the surface There's a very clear picture naturally. But
if we look underneath that surface, we can see what it means in a
spiritual application. And it's wonderful if we can
understand that. So here we have the picture and
put in a spiritual application on it. We see here was somebody
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. We could say, we don't
know the details, but we could say he was going the wrong way.
Jerusalem was the place of worship. Jericho wasn't. Jericho was not
a good place, and he was going down in the wrong direction.
And we see that going down in the wrong direction, therefore
he didn't achieve perhaps what he wanted to achieve. We're not
told what he wanted to achieve, but it may be that he wanted
to have an enjoyable time in Jericho. And he obviously had
some money because he was robbed. But you see, he wasn't permitted
to do that. That's the picture we have. And
if he hadn't been going down to Jericho, well, he wouldn't
have fallen among thieves and he wouldn't have been robbed.
So again, we have to be careful in our lives to not do things
that we fancy doing and we find they don't work out as we anticipated. And we may find that we get robbed
We may have had some things in a spiritual sense and they're
taken from us and yet we were relying upon them. Well, this
poor man, he was robbed and he was stripped of everything he
had, all his raiment. You can imagine, he hunted the
poor man there stripped of his clothes and then attacked and
left wounded and indeed half dead. such that he couldn't get
up, he couldn't transport himself, he just had to lie there. Well,
that was a pretty sad situation. Sometimes it's true in our spiritual
life. We may be attacked and we may
perhaps lose what we perhaps thought we had. And we are perhaps
seen to be half dead. And we can't really get up and
look after ourselves and help ourselves. We're dependent on
someone coming to us, someone looking upon us, somebody dealing
with us graciously and lovingly. You see, we have this picture
here, this Samaritan who came, he didn't know this man, and
yet he was willing to help him. And so we have an understanding
in this little account of what we should perhaps look upon and
realize the relevance of it in our own lives. It's always good
to try and trace out our lives in accordance with the Word of
God. Because these accounts are not
just written just for interest. They're written with a deep meaning
which is a blessing and a strengthening to ourselves. And so it may be
in our lives, in our spiritual life, we may feel perhaps half
dead. We may feel not to have, Raleigh,
any spiritual life at all, almost. It seems to have been taken away,
stripped from us. We can't seem to do anything.
We're helpless. And then we might go to expect
someone to come and help us, and they don't. And someone else
may come, and we expect them to help us, and they don't. We
may be exceedingly disappointed. We may wonder where the scene
will end. Well, this man, we're not told what his thoughts were,
but he may have thought, well, I made some big mistakes. I've
gone in the wrong way and I brought this on myself. And there he
was lying there. But then we see the glorious
picture and it is a wonderful picture that we have. And I hope
you appreciate that the picture is this, the Samaritan that we
read off here really is a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in a natural way, this Samaritan,
we're told he came where he was. He came right where he was. He
could have passed by, couldn't he? Why should he get involved? He came right where he was. My
friends, it's just like it is in the believer's life. The Lord Jesus comes right where
we are. He knows where we are. He knows
exactly where we are. And He comes to us where we are. He doesn't just pass by. No,
we're told here very beautifully, and he had compassion on him. It's wonderful, isn't it? If
perhaps in our lives we may have been, as it perhaps is, going
in a wrong way, not a right way, an opposite way, and yet the Lord has compassion
on us. The Lord comes to us exactly
where we are. Isn't it wonderful to think that
we have such a Saviour? A Saviour who knows where we
are, He knows the position we've got ourselves into, He knows
the problems we have, and He comes to us. He came where He
was. What a blessing in your life
and my life if we find that Jesus comes to us where we are. You
know, the Apostle Paul experienced this in a very different way,
in one sense. He wasn't doing the right thing.
He was set on taking those people who were worshipping the Lord
Jesus and getting them cast into prison. And he was on that road
to Damascus and God came, came to him and struck him down. that amazing light from heaven
he fell down before God what a blessing it is if you and I
as it were are struck down we fall down before God that great
and almighty ruler of the universe and we read about Paul's situation
when he writes to the Hebrews. You may think, well, I don't
think Paul explained his situation when he wrote to the Hebrews.
Well, in actual fact, he did, and he explained it in this way.
He explained who the Savior was. This is what he says. Who can
have compassion on the ignorant? Who can? And on them that are
out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. The Lord knew. He knew. And he had compassion upon this
person. The Lord had compassion upon
the Apostle Paul. And what wonderful compassion
he had in the life of the Apostle Paul. He was a changed man. He turned right around. And sometimes it is like that.
When God comes to us in our sad condition and has compassion
on us, doesn't deal with us as we deserve. This man wasn't dealt
with, perhaps we might say, as he deserved. The Samaritan had
compassion on him. And it's very glorious when the
Lord Jesus Christ looks upon us and doesn't cast us off as
a waste of time, as someone who's walked contrary to the Lord,
but he has compassion. What a mercy. Compassion's a
lovely word, really. And to think that the Lord Jesus,
none less, looks upon unworthy sinners and has compassion on
them. He doesn't just pass them by. He deals with them. This Samaritan
dealt with this man. He dealt with him and we're told
he went to him. He went to him. And what a mercy
it is when Jesus comes to us. He comes to us in our time of
need. This person must have been very
thankful. He must have been very relieved
to have found that here was someone, no doubt a big surprise to him,
who he didn't expect would have compassion on him. And yet he
did. He stopped, had compassion, and
he went to him. And we're told what he did. bound
up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. You might say, well,
what's the reference in a spiritual sense? Well, really, pouring
in oil and wine is the gospel, is the great and glorious truth
of God. And when the Holy Spirit comes
to us in our desperate condition, not able perhaps to help ourselves,
The Lord comes to us where we are. And he binds up our wounds. We may have had some pretty hard
knocks. This man had obviously. We're not told how and where
he was wounded, but he was wounded. And sometimes we may be wounded. Wounded. And yet the Lord comes
and he binds up our wounds. And you know, you may say, well,
what does he bind up our wounds with? We're not talking about
a physical condition here. We're talking about a spiritual
condition. And I believe he binds up our
wounds by showing us his wonderful love to unworthy sinners. We never expected any mercy,
we didn't deserve any mercy, and yet the Lord came to us where
we were, in our sad position, and in love to our soul, bound
up our wounds. We may have got some serious
wounds. You see, sin causes deep wounds. What a mercy it is when the love
of Christ comes and heals those wounds and the
Lord does it in this way by pouring in oil and wine of the gospel. What a great blessing that is,
isn't it? To think that the Lord Jesus has compassion on us And
David also, he desired the compassion of God, and in the 86th Psalm
he tells us, but thou, O Lord, art full of compassion. Full
of compassion. Amazing, isn't it? That's the
God we have. Full of compassion, gracious,
long-suffering, merciful. Wonderful, isn't it? Plenteous
in mercy and truth. That's the God that we have The great God that we have Just
think of those things. He's Compassionate. He's gracious. He's long-suffering You think
of those things and plenteous in mercy and truth with all those
things added together What a great and glorious healing there is,
we might consider them as oil and wine poured into our hearts. We've been troubled, we've been
overwhelmed perhaps, we feel utterly lost, hopeless, helpless. And yet we have a glorious, compassionate
Savior. And you see, David's cry was,
he came to this God knowing how great he was, how glorious it
was. It wasn't just a theory in the
life of David, because he comes and prays in a very specific
way, oh, turn unto me." Just like this man
here, he wanted this Samaritan to turn to him. He had a specific
need. He was wounded and half dead. You and I may have specific needs. And we need God to turn to us
and have mercy upon us to give us, as David said, strength.
What a mercy it is that we have a God who hears and answers our
prayer. Again, it doesn't have to be
a long, fanciful prayer. No doubt this man would have
sought the Lord and perhaps it would have been a prayer like
Republicans prayer, which is a very glorious, simple prayer.
God be merciful to me, a sinner. And if we have wandered away,
if you wandered the opposite way, like this man, perhaps walking
the opposite way, away from God, rather than walking to God or
staying where God is. Here was this man. The Lord had
mercy upon him. The Lord came to him. bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Well, that's a great blessing,
isn't it? When the gospel to us is good
news, good news from a far country. It's good news for our soul.
We rejoice in it. Let us realize that, of course,
the health of our soul is more important than the health of
our body. Our body will perish, our soul
lives forever. See, there's no real comparison. And yet what wonderful thing
it is to realize that we have a compassionate God, a God who
looks upon us, looks upon us. You know, in Jeremiah, Jeremiah
tells us, and he spells it out, and he says, heal me. Heal me,
O Lord, and I shall be healed. And we will. The Lord comes in
our half-dead condition and pours in oil and wine and
pours in the gospel to our soul. We shall be healed. And what
does that really mean? It really means when the Lord
Jesus graciously and gloriously shows us that he came, as the
Apostle Paul said, to save sinners of whom I am chief. And we see their relief. We see their compassion. We see their mercy. What do we
see? Hope. Hope. that it will be indeed
well with our soul. Not because of what we've done
in natural fact. We're no better than this man
who walked in an opposite direction and fell among thieves. He needed
someone to come to him. We need someone to come to us.
What a blessing it is. When Jesus looks upon us and
comes to us came the Samaritan, came where this man was. What
a blessing it is when Jesus comes where we are. He sees us, he
has compassion upon us, and he comes and he binds up our wounds. Yes, those wounds which perhaps
we brought upon ourselves, and he's poured in the gospel into
our soul. and to realise the great blessing
that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. The Apostle Paul said he was
the chief of sinners and yet he rejoiced in the Saviour. To mercy isn't it to realise
that no one can be too far off, too far away. This man was pretty
poor, wasn't he? Half dead, pretty desperate,
isn't he? Stripped of his clothes, looks
like he hadn't got any clothes on. Robbed no money. There he was, desperate. Desperate. But God came where he was. And
God, the Samaritan, dealt with him in love. My friends, God
does the same today. He comes to unworthy sinners.
where they are and pours in the oil and wine and the gospel,
directs them to that great salvation, directs them to Calvary. And there they see, by faith,
the Lord Jesus Christ suffering and dying upon that cross in
order to take away all their sins and to heal all their wounds. Yes, what a mercy it is. What
a blessing it is that still today we have a great and glorious
God, a God who doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve, doesn't
leave us. You see, this Samaritan could
have passed by and the man could have died, but no, Samaritan
came where he was. Jesus could have left us to die,
but no, he comes where we are. And he has compassion on us.
And he binds up our wounds and he pours in oil and wine. Now, this man might have thought,
well, this person is very kind and very gracious. What are we
going to do? How can I pay? How can I pay for all this kindness,
for all that he's doing to me? Well, that's the glory of the
gospel, isn't it? And it's really portrayed here
in a very simple way that you and I can understand. And so we're told he picked him
up and he put him on his own beast, put him on his own beast
and brought him to an inn and took care of him. What a blessing it is that we
have a great and glorious Saviour who picks us up. Picks us up,
we might be destitute. He was picked up, wasn't he?
Couldn't pick himself up. Set him on his own beast. took
him to the inn and took care in there. Surely the picture
is the Lord looks and sees where we are, picks us up, takes us
to the church of God where we can be looked after. It really is a very wonderful
picture. It's very clear, isn't it? It's
not very complicated. And that's the great blessing
of the Gospel. It's simple, isn't it? It's not difficult for us
to understand. And so there he was. Here he
was then, in this situation. And what did this man say? Well,
on the morrow, when he parted, he took out two pence and gave
them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever
thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. What do we conclude from that?
There was nothing to pay. This man had nothing to pay. Everything was paid for him. And that's the same in the glorious
gospel that we have. My friends, we could not pay
to redeem our souls. It's impossible. We haven't got
the right currency. We couldn't qualify to pay ourselves. But what a wonderful blessing
to realize that we have a Savior who's paid all He's paid everything, all that
is owed. He's paid in order to redeem
our soul. What a mercy, what a blessing
it is. It's unbelievable, isn't it?
To think that there is such a God, a compassionate God, a God who
has understanding. He understands you and me perfectly.
He understands our every thought, He has empathy toward us. He
has love to our soul. It's amazing, isn't it? And how
have we treated him? Just like this man, perhaps,
going the wrong way, and opposite direction. But you see, the Lord
allowed him to be robbed. Allowed him to be in this desperate
state. so that the great mercy of this
Samaritan could be shown. And surely it's the same with
a true believer. The Lord sometimes leaves us.
Leaves us. to show us His compassion, to
show us His mercy. You see, if this man had continued
on that journey from Jerusalem and got to Jericho safely, and
then spent his money on whatever he was going to, there wouldn't
have been any blessing, would there? There wouldn't have been
any salvation. That's the same really, isn't
it? In our spiritual life. but doesn't leave us to just
carry on. Because of his love toward us,
he deals with us as his children. Very humbling, isn't it? To realize
that we have such a kind and gracious God. And he knows exactly
what to do. He knew what to do, this Samaritan,
with this man. He knew what he needed, and he
did everything that was required. There was nothing lacking. What a mercy it is. And to realize
that we have a great and glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who comes to us in our spiritual life and deals with us in love
to our soul. Now, naturally speaking, this
Samaritan didn't know this person. He had no reason to do it for
him. And yet, you see, the comparison
fails because we see the Lord Jesus Christ knows us. He knows
where we are. He knows what we've been doing.
He knows how he will come and bless us and how he will heal
us. and how it will strengthen us.
Yes, we don't read anything about this Samaritan saying to this
man, well, it's your own fault. You got yourself into this and
you better get yourself out of it. No, we don't read anything
like that at all. We see the love, amazing love
of this Samaritan this person and it's the same really with
a great gospel and love of the Savior yes it's full compassion
and I believe that's what makes the Lord Jesus precious to the
believer because we haven't been beaten we haven't been cast aside
he's come to us He's seen us, He's come to us, where we were,
where He was, isn't that wonderful? We may wander away, we may have
wandered away. You can't wander beyond the sight
of Almighty God. Surely it's very humbling to
think that the Lord looks upon us He doesn't deal with us as
our sins deserve. This man wasn't dealt with what
he deserved. So many things you could say.
The man could have come and bound up his wounds and said, OK, well,
I've done my bit now. You better get on with it. No,
he wasn't left. He wasn't left half cured. There
was a full curance for him, a full compassion, a full restoration,
because he was taken to the inn and looked after and told to
continue to look after him. If there was anything else owing,
it would be paid. Isn't that wonderful? Sometimes,
of course, we need to realize, yes, there is forgiveness not
only today, but there's forgiveness tomorrow and forgiveness after
that. And that great forgiveness will
continue because we are sinners of the earth. Blessing when we're safe sinners.
But sadly, we still have a sinful nature. A sinful nature that
we won't get rid of this side of the grave. No, we're not free
from sin. The devil harasses us. The devil
tempts us. But the great blessing is there's
payment to be made. It'll be made. We won't come
up short. Yes, there's forgiveness for
all sin. What a mercy that is, isn't it?
And so we have this very simple but very glorious pattern here
before us. And we see that the Lord then
spoke to this lawyer and asked him, well, hold on a minute,
you've seen this, who was the person? Who was the true neighbor? Well, he knew what it was naturally.
And what a blessing if you and I know what it is spiritually,
to know that Jesus has come to us And He has healed us. And He has delivered us. And
He has promised to be with us. And He has promised not to forsake
us. And He has promised to pay all
that's owing for our redemption. And of course the payment, the
total payment in the currency that we can be saved with is
none less than the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
hard for us to really understand. The Apostle Peter touches on
it and he tells us in just a few words, redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. And that's the payment that we
receive. For all of our sinfulness, our
sinful ways, they're all taken away and paid for with that glorious
currency, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
cost the Lord Jesus his life in order to save our souls. What
a price was paid. What a price was paid. My friends,
we should be so thankful, shouldn't we? We should be so desirous
to praise God. It should be our great concern
to be able to come and say constantly, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Worthy is the glorious Saviour
that gave His life so that I might be healed, all my wounds might
be bound up and I shall be received into the heavenly house of glory
when I die. Well, that's the prospect for
the true church of God as you and I travel through this wilderness. So this is really a very simple
picture on the outside, isn't it? But inside, there's a great
depth. It's a great glorious truth.
And we all come, really, into this kind of condition. And like
this man, we're told he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And we may have been
there. We may be there. God knows if
we are. And then we see those who perhaps
we thought would come and help us and they pass by until the
Lord comes where we are, where we are and has compassion on
us and binds up our wounds, pours in oil and wine, sets us on his
own bridge, takes us to the inn, takes care of us, pays all that
is due in order to redeem our souls, but a great Savior we
have. Well, the reason is not to indeed
go on our way rejoicing in what Christ has done, rejoicing in
anticipation of that glory which is before us, to realize that
by His grace one day We shall see Him, my Saviour, as He is,
without a veil between. Well, may we all understand and
bless God for His wonderful compassion and understanding which He has
to all His people. Amen.