May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Gospel
of Luke chapter 10 and we'll read verses 33 and 34. Gospel
of Luke chapter 10 and reading verses 33 and 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." Well, I'm sure all of us are
familiar with this parable of what is termed the parable of
the Good Samaritan. And we know of course that the
Lord Jesus spoke it in answer to the question of that lawyer
who tried to trip Jesus up and to ask the question, who was
his neighbour? And Jesus gave this parable to
show him who was his neighbor. And the Lord came and asked him,
which now of these three thinkest thou? Was neighbor unto him that
fell among thieves? And he said, he that showeth
mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go
and do thou likewise. Well, we see there a wonderful
example of what true Christianity should be. But just before I perhaps fill
that out a little bit more, just to think of what this parable
really means. Because Jesus spoke many parables
and those parables always had a deeper meaning. And you children this morning,
young people, if I was asked to ask you this morning, Who
does the Samaritan represent? And who does this man represent
that was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho? What would you answer? What would you say? Well, I'll
tell you. You see, this good Samaritan
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And this man who was going down
from Jerusalem to Jericho represents a poor sinner who was indeed
saved. And really, as you and I consider
our lives today, the great necessary and important consideration is
to know that our lives are explained in the Word of God. Your life
and my life. Young as we are to be able to
realise that there is a gracious explanation in the Word of God
with regard to our spiritual condition. I wanted just to say
that, and we'll come back to that of course in a moment. But
just then, going back to the picture that the Lord Jesus portrayed
to the people, and especially to this lawyer, that there was
the example of how we should react And he gave the position,
first of all, of this man who was going down from Jerusalem
to Jericho. And he fell among thieves, and
stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead. So the poor man was in a terrible
state, wasn't he? And then who should come by?
Well, there was, first of all, a priest, and then a Levite. Now both of these people were
religious people in the day and age in which they were living.
But we would think, well surely they're going to stop and look
at this man and try and help him. But the truth is they just
didn't want to get involved. You know how true that is today
naturally. You know people are willing to just pass by on the
other side They don't want to get involved because it may be
costly, it might involve them. They don't want to get involved.
And so they go out of their way to pass by on the other side. I've read in our day and age
sometimes there have been those people who have seen someone
coming down the street and they don't want to talk to him, so
what they've done, they've gone on the other side of the road
and hoped the person wouldn't notice him. That's not a Christian
attitude, is it? Because, remember, the Church
of God are called to walk in this world and to set a good
example, and we are told to do good unto all men, especially
unto the household of faith. And if you think of that, that's
a comprehensive statement, isn't it? we are to do good unto all
men. However bad they may seem, how
miserable they may seem, that's the Word of God. And it is a
privilege to be able to do good unto all men, and don't forget
especially unto the household of faith. So we have here this
parable which emphasises this truth to us today, that we may
not be left to be like a priest or a Levite. Again, remember,
so-called religious people, but obviously didn't have true religion.
It was just a shell, it was just an outward performance. And many
people today just walk like that. They are happy to be enumerated
as a Christian person, but don't want it to affect their They
don't want to be encumbered with those true beliefs. They don't
want to do these kind of things. They might do things which are
easy for them. They might contribute money perhaps to certain causes.
Those things which perhaps will show how great they are and how
good they are. But to come down and to do poor
things. Just stop and help poor people. People that can't help themselves.
That's really the encouraging thing in the Word of God. We
are to help those who are destitute and poor. Not to help those who
are rich and that we know don't need anything. It is to come
and to help those who are poor and needy. And so we have this
parable therefore expanded by the Lord Jesus in answer to his
lawyer who thought he was being clever, but in actual fact the
Lord knew exactly where he was and he pointed the finger exactly
at him and told him, go and do thou likewise. Well then we have
the picture in the Word of God of those things that you and
I are to do. And remember, we are not to please ourselves,
we are to please Almighty God. And there's a very big difference.
We are to please Almighty God. We are to do that which is pleasing
in His sight, not that which is necessarily pleasing in our
sight. And I can tell you this, there is much blessing in walking this way, because
we have an answer, a good conscience. We know that we've been doing
and are doing those things that we should do. so much for that
situation. And it is relevant and it is
important. But then coming on to the other side, which of course
is the spiritual side, and let us remember, and you people,
young people, must remember that the Bible is a spiritual book
from Genesis to Revelation. There is that underneath the
surface which speaks to our hearts. which speaks to our souls, and
that's what we should be concerned about. As you read the Word of
God, and you read it, you think, well, what is that speaking to
me? What is it directing me to consider? And again, particularly with
regards to the condition of our soul, what is the Word of God
saying to me? The Word of God is a blessed
book, my friends, it speaks personally to his people. And we're not
to just read it as a history, historical account. We are to
read it as though it's a word of God speaking to our hearts. And to then see how that affects
us. And it should affect us in this
way. it should bring us down in our
own estimation and raise up Christ in our estimation so that he
becomes more precious and more glorious and more needful. Well, we read of this man, a certain man, we're not told who
he was, it's a parable, but we're told there was a certain man
and he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And we don't know
the particular reason why he was going that way, but there
is just a thought, and it's only a thought of course, that Jerusalem
was the place where men and women gathered together to worship.
And he wasn't in Jerusalem, he was going away from Jerusalem.
He was going away from Jerusalem, going down to Jericho. We know
that Jericho was not a godly place. And it may be in our lives,
perhaps, that we thought we would leave the things of God. We may have been brought up in
the things of God. We may think, well, I'll leave them and I'll
go, as it were, down to Jericho. I'll go down into the world and
I'll be enveloped in that situation. The account here was this man
didn't get that far. Didn't get that far. You may
say, well why didn't he get that far? Well I'll tell you why he
didn't get that far. Because God stopped him. God stopped him. Well, has God
stopped you as he stopped me? Perhaps in doing something which
wasn't going to be good. Wasn't going to be good. He may
have stopped us. In my life I remember on one
occasion I was stopped doing something and I was desperate
to do it. It wouldn't have brought any
glory to God but God stopped me because I became ill and I
just couldn't do what I wanted to do. But as I pondered it I
realised that in actual fact it was God that was stopping
me. And it's good if you and I can recollect that in our lives
and see that God's hand is upon us and it may bring us into a
situation that we cannot do what we wanted to do. And it's a wonderful mercy if
the Lord stops us in order that he may show us his goodness and
show us his mercy. That's really what happened here
to this person. And so what happened? How was
he stopped? Well it wasn't just somebody coming out and saying,
hold on a minute, just stop where you are. It was far greater than
that. He was brought to a condition
where he could not go on. And so we read, he fell among
thieves, which stripped him of his garment, wounded him, departed
leaving him half dead. So what condition was he in?
Well he was helpless, wasn't he? He was helpless, he was half
dead. He perhaps couldn't even move.
He was wounded. What a sorry state he was in. And again as we think of that,
perhaps sometimes in spiritual life, perhaps in your spiritual
life and my spiritual life, We've come to that situation where
we've been left, as it were, half dead. And we may have been stripped
of things that we counted dear. So the Lord's able to take from
us those things which are hindering us in our Christian life. He's able to remove them from
us. And this man was wounded, and he was left half dead. And so he was in a pitiful condition,
wasn't he? And that's so true. Often of
the people who have gone, they're left in a pitiful condition.
They're helpless. What's going to happen to them?
What's going to happen to them? Well, left in that condition,
they would probably perish. They'd probably die. But that
wasn't the way. And we see here then, this man,
who was a Samaritan, the last person naturally we would think,
and he would have thought, would have stopped and looked upon
him. And we see what did this man
have? Well, he had compassion. What did he have? He had understanding. What did he have? He had empathy
with this man. Well, what does the Lord Jesus
Christ have towards those who are in an almost dead condition? If he comes to you and he comes
to me, does he not come with compassion? Compassion for us. We've got nothing to justify
him coming to us. This man hadn't. This man was
there, half dead. Why should this Samaritan come
to him? And why should he have compassion?
He was on a journey. He was going from one place to
another. Why should he stop and have compassion
on him? Surely that's the same situation
with us in spiritual life. Why should God, as it were, stop
and look upon us? Why should he come to us? Now, what did the Samaritan do? He came where he was. Where he was. And that's just so in spiritual
life the Lord comes to us where we are. Where we are. This man couldn't get up and
do anything. Samaritan came to him. What a wonderful illustration
that is of spiritual life. The Lord Jesus knows where we
are. He knows where you live. He knows
where I live. He knows where we're going, what we're doing.
He knows whether we feel perhaps in our spiritual life half dead. He looks upon us and he sees
us in our lost and ruined condition, which we are by nature. We're
lost and we're ruined. We are, as it were, half dead.
And we can't get up, we can't do anything. Well, what a blessing to think
that the Lord Jesus, he knows where we are. And you know, we
read in the Hebrews, a very beautiful verse that speaks to us in very
similar tones. The fifth chapter of the Hebrews,
the second verse we read, Who can have compassion on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity? That's speaking of course about
the high priest, it's also speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way? No doubt this
man naturally was ignorant of those things. And you see, we
by nature are ignorant of the true spiritual meaning of the
things of God. We may have what we might term
a head knowledge, a natural understanding, but what a blessing to know that
we have a great and glorious Saviour who knows our condition
inside out. And therefore he comes where
we are. He comes precisely where we are. And what a blessing it is to
then think that we have such a saviour. Again the psalmist
speaks to us in very similar words really. In the 86th psalm
we have a description of this. This is the psalm of David. David
who had experienced the blessing of the Lord, and in 86th Psalm,
verse 15, he tells us, but thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion
and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Well, he's acknowledging there
the greatness of God. And what a blessing, my friends,
if you and I can acknowledge the greatness of God. And then
he prays like this, Oh, turn unto me and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant
and say the son of thy handmaid, show me a token for good that
they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord
has wholpened me and comforted me. To think now that this Samaritan
was like that to this poor man that was going down from Jerusalem
to Jericho and the Lord came where he was. He had compassion
on him. And to think this morning that
we have a far greater than this Samaritan. We have the glorious
and almighty God. Nonetheless, let us not have
low views of God, let us have high views of God, and let us
stand amazed to think that we have such a Saviour, an all-glorious
God, who has wonderful compassion, and comes to us, and we may be
able to say this morning, O Lord, Thou art a God full of compassion,
and gracious and long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. And it may be that we feel we've
got ourselves into the position that we're in because we have
walked contrary to God. And the Bible tells us, if you
walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. Don't think
you can get away with going in an opposite direction to the
way you should. Don't think that God doesn't know about it. God
may be correcting you. He may be directing you. Why? Because of his compassion
towards you. Isn't that amazing? This man
didn't deserve anything, did he? Neither do we. But yet this
man came where he was. Right directly where he was.
The Lord, no doubt, we might say, directed him. My friends,
the Lord knows where we are and he comes to us exactly where
we are. Well, he had compassion on him. I wonder this morning if we understand
what that means, to know the Lord has looked upon us. He's looked upon us, he's come
where we are and had compassion. Well, what a mercy it is, what
a favour to think that Almighty God should have looked upon such
an unworthy sinner of the earth. Yes, a bad person, a wicked person,
evil person. We don't deserve the Lord coming
to us and looking upon us. What a mercy when God does come
to us. He comes where we are. He came
where he was. Well, has the Lord come to us
where we are? Look back in your lives, can
you remember a time when God has come to you? He saw you,
he knew your need. You were helpless. You were wounded. You were half dead. The Lord
came to you. And this Samaritan didn't just
say woe, he didn't come. The other two had passed by,
they didn't even come to him. But this man came to him, and
he had compassion on him. And the Lord comes to his people,
he comes where they are, and he has compassion on them. And so to think of this great
and glorious compassion that the Lord has, the Lord had Mercy
upon him, didn't he? The Lord had mercy upon him.
You know, the Apostle Paul, he knew what it was, didn't he,
to have the Lord's mercy come to him? He was walking very contrary
to God, wasn't he? Although he was a very religious
man, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He thought he was
doing God's service. He thought he was pleasing God.
In actual fact, he was pleasing the devil. And there he was. Until that amazing time came
on that Damascus road, when God caused his spirit to come and
to shine into his heart. Oh, what a change. What a change. What did it bring? It brought a complete change so
that he was humbled in his spirit. The great Paul had become a little
Paul. And that little Paul then prayed,
Lord, what will thou have me to do? He was then not doing what he
wanted to do. He was now doing or desiring
to do what God would direct him to do. What a change it was. And so the apostle was well able
to write to the Romans and to speak these great truths with
regards to God's great and wonderful calling. And he refers to Moses. In 9th chapter of Romans, we
read in verse 15, he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. God is a sovereign. You may say, you young people,
what does that mean? God is a sovereign. Do you know
what a sovereign is? A sovereign is a king or a queen. They are really the highest person
in the nation. They are a sovereign. And God
has a sovereign right as the king of kings over all his kingdom,
over all his people. He has a total right. And so
here we read these words, that he says, so then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Well, we see this Samaritan,
he came, didn't he? He came to this man, he came
where he was. And what did he do? He showed him mercy. You might say, well, he never
knew anything about him. Neither did he. But he came and
did good to this stranger. Well, the Lord knows about us.
That's the difference. You see, parables or pictures,
they fall short of the fullness of the gospel. And the fullness
of the gospel declares to us here that the Lord knows about
us. He knows about us. He saw us. lost and ruined. And so he came
where he was and he went to him and he did all that he could. He bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine, set him in his own beast, brought to an inn
and took care of him. Did everything that he could
naturally for him. Well my friends we have a greater
than this Samaritan We have a wonderful Saviour. We may have been deeply
wounded because of our sins. Deeply wounded because of them.
The Lord may have wounded us deeply so that we've realised
that we were unworthy of any favour from Almighty God. We
looked to ourselves, all that we could see was evil and sin
and Those things which were contrary to the will and purpose of God.
And we were guilty. We could not say anything. When we stand before God, as
a condemned and guilty sinner, you can't claim anything. You
can't claim any righteousness. The Lord shows us that we are
unrighteous. The good that we would, we do
not. Again, just referring to Paul's
explanation of his condition in the earlier chapter, in the
seventh chapter of the Romans. He tells us about his situation. He tells
us how he felt and his true condition. He says, for we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which
I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do not
I, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent under the law that is good. Now then, there's
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to
will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not." And so he comes down in this chapter to confess
his situation. Remember, this was the converted
apostle, a man who'd been wonderfully blessed, but now the Lord is
showing him the evil of his heart. Still, he comes and cries out,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That was
his hope. My friends, what a blessing it
is this morning if our hope is in what Christ has done to save
and deliver our souls, to come to us and to bind up our wounds
and Come and pour in oil and wine. It's a wonderful favour,
you know, to be blessed with this. The Lord comes. The Lord does it. The Lord binds
up our wounds. And what does he do by that?
What's meant by that? He shows us where healing is. He shows us where healing is. Where is healing? It's only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah tells us, heal me, O
Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved
for thou art my praise. Faith to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he is the one who will heal us, heal our
souls, this man, needed healing in his body. You and I need healing
in our souls. Well, we have the Savior who
knows exactly how to heal us, exactly how to heal us. And I'll
tell you where that place is. Do you know where the place of
healing is? Calvary. That's the place of healing. Because at the cross at Calvary,
that's where we see the Saviour taking all our sins upon himself and washing them away through
his most precious blood. There is healing Calvary. This Samaritan came where he
was. He went to him, he bound up his
wounds, he poured in oil and wine. What a favour it is when the Lord comes
to us in that way. And as it were, takes us by a
hand and perhaps picks us up. This
man was put on a beast, but the Lord comes and picks us up. He
picks us up and he carries us and he grants us that communion and that blessing. to ponder
and consider what Christ has done in order to deliver our
souls, to heal all our wounds, to cleanse us from all our sin,
to wash us from all iniquity. What a favour, what a blessing
then to have such a great and glorious Saviour. So you think
of that this morning. When we have this picture of
this Samaritan going to this man, to have the comfort and
the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, he comes to us where
we are. You know this oil and wine, it
brings healing and cheer. Yes, the Lord pours it in to
our hearts. And the healing is to view the
Saviour. And the picture of the wine,
of course, is to cheer our souls. And spiritually, my friends,
does it not cheer us when we have the evidence that Christ
has died for our sins? He's atoned for them. He's paid
the price which was due to us. All our good deeds, All our righteousnesses
indeed were of no avail. The scriptures speak to us and
tells us that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. All that
we might have thought was of value was of no value at all. It's what Christ has done. It
is complete and finished work. Therefore, as you ponder Calvary,
And you see the Saviour and you consider Him and realize the
great salvation and the wonderful words that He spoke. It is finished. The plan of salvation was complete. You and I fail so often in our
lives, don't we? The Saviour never failed. Although
He had to bear the curse for us. He had to endure so much
that we might receive life. Our Saviour never failed. He
did His Father's will. Let us never forget that because
we are called today to do the will of our God. We are called
today to take up our cross daily and to follow Him. We are called
today to hear his great and glorious voice. It is finished. And that plan was finished so
that you and I, if we are his children, are saved with everlasting
salvation. And therefore, we have again
the picture of this man, the Samaritan, taking him and bringing
him to an inn and paying all that was necessary. All that
was necessary. The man was destitute. He'd been
robbed. He got nothing, had he? And that's
how we come. Destitute with nothing. The hymn
writer says, simply to thy cross I cling. That's a good place,
isn't it? You're not looking at yourself.
You're then looking to what Christ has done. And what does that
produce? It produces honour and glory to our God. for his great
plan of salvation, for his great love and mercy, for his great
goodness toward us. And to think then of the blessing
and the favour that the Lord gives. You know, there were those
wonderful words that Isaiah spoke. He commenced the 40th chapter
with those words, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. The battle has
been fought and the Saviour has won. That her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. It's a full forgiveness, there's
nothing lacking. And then as we come down to the
end of that chapter, to remember what the Lord gives to His people,
to enable them to hold on their way, He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might,
He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint." Well, this Samaritan took this
man to the inn. My friends, the Saviour brings
us home to glory. He brings us home to glory. He
doesn't leave us. He doesn't forsake us. This man,
you see, this Samaritan had to leave this man. The Saviour never
leaves us. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Therefore we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. The Lord will not leave us. He
will not forsake us. If he's come to us in our low
and lost condition, he's with us always, even unto the end. And he's gone to prepare a place
for us. He tells us, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. The end is sure. The end is secure. God has gone
to glory. And he waits there to receive
us unto himself when the time comes to deliver us from this
world and to bring us to our eternal home. Well, we have therefore
in this parable here really a glorious picture of the true Church of
God. And we see how men are brought
down, brought down and have to call upon God. They're lost and
ruined, nothing in themselves. The Lord knows where they are.
He comes to them and he blesses them. Well, may you and I know
what it is to have had the Lord come to us and to speak to our
souls and to hear us pouring in oil and wine and to realize
it is the Lord that has come and done that for us, which we
could not do for ourselves so that he might receive all the
honor and all the glory. Amen.