Now, as we look at Luke chapter
10, Brother Joe just read, I want to deal this morning with the
subject of a parable of a certain Samaritan. Now, that may sound
a little strange to you, a parable of a certain Samaritan, because
you've always called this, I've always called it the Good Samaritan,
the parable of the Good Samaritan. And he was a Good Samaritan,
don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that. But I'm just kind of a
stickler anymore for just using scriptural language when it's
better. Back here in Luke chapter 10,
it says, verse 33, a certain Samaritan. And I like that. Just
like over in verse 30, when Jesus answered the man's question,
He said, a certain man. Here's a certain man and here's
a certain Samaritan. And I like that. That is a good
description and picture of the salvation that God brings to
His people. It's to His people, His chosen
people, that's what the scripture teaches, certain man, and then
it's a certain Savior. Not just any Savior. Not just
anyone you think about or anything you think might save you, but
it's a certain Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll be getting
into that. Some scholars say that this may
have been an actual event, this parable of the certain Samaritan. I don't know that. There's nothing
in the Scripture that tells us that it was an actual event.
But I know this, the Lord used it in a way that He used the
parables, and many times to answer questions. May have been an actual
event or just a parable, but we'll consider it a parable.
And I know if you're like me and you are very familiar with
this parable, the parable of the Good Samaritan, as we called
it. Most of it, we read it and it was taught to us as a morality
tale, a morality story. The central message of it being,
who is my neighbor? And that certainly is part of
the truth of this parable. Who is my neighbor? And that
is very well answered here, that everyone is my neighbor, not
just my physical family, earthly family. The Jews imagined that
only the other children of Abraham were their neighbors. And that's
how they got around treating people like Samaritans and Gentiles
the way they did and felt like they were keeping the law. And
I know we're not above that. People say, well, this fellow
I like over here, he's my neighbor. This fellow I don't like over
here, he's not. Well, that's not the way it is in the Scripture. Every person, even my greatest
enemy, according to the Word of God, is my neighbor. And that
certainly is one of the lessons of this parable, but it's not
the main lesson. And I want you to listen to this
very carefully now. That's not the main lesson. Should
we emulate the Good Samaritan? Should we help anybody who needs
help at any time when we're given the opportunity and we have the
means to do so? The answer is yes, absolutely. He already answered that, really.
He said, love your neighbor as yourself. So that's there. But that is not the main truth
of this parable. What is the main truth of this
parable? Now listen to this. Here it is.
the necessity of a Savior. That's the main truth of this
parable. Now, some of you may have never
heard it that way, but I want you to listen very carefully
to the background here. First of all, look at verse 25.
What was the occasion of this parable? Well, it says, Behold,
a certain lawyer stood up. A lawyer stood up. Now, a lawyer
back then is not like a lawyer today. We're not talking about
an attorney at law. This man was a scribe, and a
scribe was an interpreter of the Law of Moses. You often hear
the Lord speak of the scribes and the Pharisees. The Pharisees
were the most religious, the most dedicated men of their day,
the spiritual leaders of the nation, even though they were
spiritually dead. That's ironic, isn't it? Paul,
Saul of Tarsus, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, he said. He went
beyond the call of duty and religion. He took it seriously. But attending
these Pharisees in their preaching of the law and their interpretations
of the law and their writings of the law were men called scribes.
They were lawyers. They knew the ancient Hebrew
language. They were scholars. They wrote
the commentaries. They recorded things as they
discussed them and debated them. And that's what this man was.
He was an expert at the law of Moses. That's what he thought.
And that's the way people considered him. This is a fella, if you
wanted to know what was in the Bible, go to him. That's the
kind of fella he was. And so this certain lawyer stood
up. And there's that word certain. Just a certain lawyer. You know,
everything's specific here. You know, this is a specific
thing. This is for a specific lesson. So here's a certain lawyer,
he stood up and it says, and he tempted him. He tempted our
Savior. He tempted the Lord. That means
he, what it means is he's testing him. He's going to put him to
the test. Now, this is not a question what he's going to say. He's
not asking for information. He thinks he already knows the
answer. So he said, well, I'm going to test this fellow. He
probably heard a lot about Jesus of Nazareth and doing miracles
and all the things that his fame was spreading far and wide. So
this lawyer, this expert, this theologian said, I'm going to
test him. You ever had anybody ask you
a question like that? I have a lot. In fact, I get
very few questions for information from a lot of people, but they
want to test me. So he's going to test him. So
in other words, he doesn't have a good motive here. He's not
submitting at the Master's feet like Mary to hear the Word of
God and to be taught of God. He's wanting to put Him to the
test. He's wanting to trick Him up. And so he says, look at verse
20, "...Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now
that's the question you've got to consider first. Now listen
to me, you know, it's only right and only wise for men to consider
the issue of eternal life. Let me read you a portion of
scripture in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. It is real interesting. If I can find Ecclesiastes, I
will read this to you. It is right after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. Now, this man asked, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? Now, it's a confusing question,
because really the question itself, it shows that he's either ignorant
of the issue, or he's really just trying to see in his testing
of the Lord. Well, does this fellow know what
he's talking about? But listen, it's only right and wise for
you and me to consider eternal life. Now, it says in Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 and verse 11, it says, He, that is God, hath made everything
beautiful in his time. Also he, God, hath set the world
in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God
maketh from the beginning to the end. Now that literally,
when it says, He has set the world in their heart, literally
it means He has set eternity in every man's heart. That's
what that literally means in the original language. And what
it means is this, is that by nature, even as fallen, sinful
men and women, God has set within us a longing and a knowledge
of eternity. In other words, we just know
innately that this life is not the end. Now, many people, it's
true, many people spend their lives denying that. They do. They're called atheists. Eat,
drink and be merry. Tomorrow you die. That's it.
And they spend their lives denying it. But it's in them by nature.
They have to deny it. If it weren't there, they wouldn't
even consider it. If it weren't there, they wouldn't
even have to deny the existence of God. The idea of God wouldn't
even come into their mind. But it's there by nature. Now,
many people spend their lives trying to fill that void of eternity
in their heart. They'll do it different ways.
They'll do it with materialism. Get all you can get. Put it in
your name. Leave it to your children. And
that's how they try to fill the void. That's sinful, isn't it?
Many, many try to fill that void with false religion. I'm going
to work hard to get to heaven. I'm going to do my best. That's
false religion. God says the only way that eternal
void of the heart can be filled eternally and rightly is with
being filled with Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace
of God, Paul wrote, fill your heart in Christ. And He fills the void, doesn't
He? He fills it up full. But you see, that's what this
lawyer here is expressing back here in Luke chapter 10. What
must I do to inherit? I know that this life is not
the end. I know that. Now, how am I going to inherit
eternal life? Now, this question, as I said,
it's confusing, it's really not logical. For example, listen
to it now again, verse 25. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? Well, what's wrong with that
question? Now, some of you students, you
ought to know what's wrong with that question because he says
inherit, doesn't he? Now, the issue here, you can't
do anything to inherit something. An inheritance is not based on
what you do. An inheritance is based upon
what somebody else has done and it's bequeathed, that's the legal
term, bequeathed to you. The only way you can inherit
something is to be born into a particular family where an
ancestor has done something and bequeathed it to you. You can't
work for an inheritance. You can't earn an inheritance.
And I know people say, well, people put conditions on the
inheritance. Let me tell you something. Technically
speaking, and I don't know about legal documents today, but the
moment they put a condition on the inheritance, it stops being
an inheritance. It's now a wage. The wages of sin is death. But
you can't do anything, so the question is really not right,
but it shows the man's confusion concerning the issues of grace.
You know, men today are confused about issues of grace. Man today
is always confusing works and grace. That's why Paul wrote
in Romans chapter 11, listen now, you've got to understand,
if it's of works, it's all of works. And it's not of grace.
And if it's of grace, it's all of grace and not of works. You
can't mix the two. But people today, in what is
called Christian religion, in the whole, it's nothing more
than a mixture of grace and works. Oh, it's the grace of God, but
you've got to do this. You've got to do that. You've
got to meet this condition. You've got to meet that condition.
And the condition will vary depending upon what denomination or background
you have. But listen, once preachers, Preach
a gospel of conditional salvation towards sinners, it stops being
grace. I don't care what the condition
is. If Christ didn't meet all the conditions for my whole salvation,
then He's put some condition on me, it's not grace, it's works. But He did meet the conditions.
He fulfilled all the conditions, all the requirements. Let me
tell you something. That's why the Bible says we're accepted
in Him and complete in Him, because everything that God requires
of me in order to attain and maintain salvation and inner
glory is conditioned on Christ and He fulfilled every condition
and requirement. You say, but don't you have to
believe? Yes, you have to believe He fulfilled every condition
and requirement. That's right. Well, this question shows man's
confusion. And it also shows man's self-righteousness. He desired to do something to
earn or merit salvation. That's innate in us by nature
because we're born in sin. We're born in Adam. That's spiritual
death right there, spiritual deadness. Listen, I can't remember
who said it, but somebody said it or wrote it, that the hardest
thing for a sinner to do is to receive salvation as a totally
free, unearned, unmerited gift. Well, let me tell you something,
it's impossible apart from the Spirit of God. But now you give
that sinner something to do and they'll latch on to it just like
that. Give me something to do. Let me be baptized to be saved.
Let me tithe. Let me have church membership.
Let me work. Let me visit. Let me do anything. Just give them something to do.
And they'll latch on to it just like that. You know why? Because
that exalts the flesh. That gives them room to boast.
That's what we want by nature. And that's why God has to bring
us down to the ground and kill us from any hope of salvation
by our works and our deeds and conditions we meet. Now, he asked
this question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Self-righteousness. You know, that's not the right
question. for a sinner to ask. If you want
to know the right question for a sinner to ask, think about
Job. He asked the right question.
He said it. How can a man, given who I am and what I am, inwardly,
outwardly, by birth, how can such a sinner, born of woman,
be just with God? There's a good question. How
can that happen? How can God be just and justify
me? How can He be clean that is born
of woman? A man who's sinful and dead with
no ability, not even any ability to believe. You think you've
got a spark of good and all you have to do is fan it? You don't
need grace. Just fan the spark. That's what
you need to do. Turn it into a fire. You don't need grace. No righteousness to stand before
God? Nothing but sin. Described in
Isaiah chapter 1 in very graphic detail. Putrefying sores. Unmollified. Unbound up. Dead and trespasses. A man who deserves damnation.
Not eternal life. A man who deserves to be cursed
forever. Not blessing. Not glory. How
can such a person Be just before God. How can that happen? That's
a good question. And of course, the answer is
Christ and Him crucified. The blood and the righteousness
of Christ. That's the only right answer.
Now look at verse 26. Now this man asked, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Well, Christ said unto him, well,
what's written in the law? You're a lawyer. You're an expert. You claim to be an expert in
the writings of Moses. in the law. What's written in
the law? You tell me. How readest thou? What do you read when you read
the law? Now you'd think this man being a scribe would already
know the answer, but I'll tell you what, I'm sure he thought
he did. But he asked the question with
an evil motive. Remember, he wanted to tempt
the Lord. So the man quotes from Leviticus chapter 19. He goes
back to Leviticus. You know, the first five books
of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He goes
back to Leviticus. That's where he's, that's his field of operation. And look at verse 27. He answering,
he said, now listen to it. 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 thyself. Now, some people might read that
verse and look up and say, well, boy, I'm glad to hear that. I'm
all right. You didn't understand what he
just read. You didn't get, you don't, listen, you haven't even
tapped the surface of what he just read. Do you know what that
law says? That law says this, love God
perfectly. and love your neighbor perfectly. The perfection of love. That's
what that verse is all about. Like a fellow told me at lunch
one time, he said, well, nobody can do that. And I said, that's
right. That's why salvation is by grace and not by words. Love God perfectly. That's what that means. You say,
well, I'm trying. Well, if you're trying to be
saved by your works, by your love, let me tell you something,
trying is dying. The law doesn't say try to love
God perfectly. It says love God perfectly. It's
not the hearers of the law that are just before God. It's the
what? Doers of the law. How much of the law? All the
law. Let me show you that. Turn to
Galatians chapter 3. Look at Galatians chapter 3.
Now, false preachers. Paul had come into the region
of Galatia and preached the gospel, and God had raised up many churches
in that area. And after Paul left on other
missionary journeys, false teachers came in, adding works to salvation. Claiming that, yes, we're saved
by grace, but you have to do this, or you have to keep the
law, you have to keep a day, you have to stop eating this,
in order to be really saved, or in order to be holy, or in
order to be really righteous. They were introducing works into
the midst. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans
11, if it's works, it's all of works, it's not grace. You see,
the works of God's people are not the cause of their salvation. It doesn't earn or merit them
salvation. It's not their righteousness.
Works are the fruit of God's grace. That's all they are. But
you see, these men were introducing works into the mix of how to
attain or maintain salvation, how to become righteous. Look
at verse 10 of Galatians chapter 3. He says, for as many as are
of the works of the law. Now, that's a person who's trying
to keep the law in order to be saved, or in order to be righteous
before God, or in order to earn his reward from God. That's who
is of the works of the law. He said they're under the curse.
Now, why is that? Well, it's written, cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things, which are written
in the book of the law, but all things. So that no man is justified
by the law on the side of God, it's evident. That's obvious,
he's saying. The just, the righteous, shall
live by faith. Now, what is it to live by faith?
That means you find your righteousness only in Christ, and not in yourself. And then he goes on to show us
how Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law by His obedience
unto death, you see. Go back to Luke 10 now. So this
fellow quoted that, and the law back there speaks of perfect,
uncontaminated love. Perfect, uncontaminated love. Anything less than perfect, uncontaminated
love is sin in the eyes of God. To love God and our neighbor
without reserve, without prejudice, without a forethought. I mean,
it just comes natural. You don't even have to sit around
and make yourself do it. It just happens. And what he's
going to teach in the parables is that includes your worst enemy.
I mean, you pick out the one who is intent on doing you the
most damage and the most harm. God's law requires me and you
to love that person, that individual, perfectly, without reservation,
without even thinking about it. That's the kind of love that's
required. And then your neighbor is yourself.
How much do you love yourself? You wouldn't do yourself any
harm if you knew there's harm. Somebody says, but I've tried.
Well, not hard enough. Love without expectation, without
expecting anything in return, without question, without condition,
without pride, that kind of love, that's the kind of love. Has
any man or woman born of Adam ever loved God or his neighbor
like that? Now be honest. The answer is
no. None of us. There's none righteous,
no not one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. There's none that seeketh after
God, no not one. Let me tell you something about
that seeking after God. You say, well I'm seeking God.
Now let me tell you something. The very moment, the very moment
that you have the least thought of harm towards my worst enemy
and seek to justify myself in it, I've stopped seeking God. That's right. This lawyer, it
says here, look back down here in verse 28, the Lord said unto
him, he said, thou hast answered right, this do and thou shalt
live. Now if you can go up perfect, the way that I've described,
the way the law describes, Then you'll have eternal life. You'll
live. Here's what the law says. The
law says do and live. That's what the law says. What's
our problem? Two letters out of the English
alphabet are our problem. D-O. Do. That's our problem. We don't. We can't do. Why is it we can't
do? Well, it's God's fault. No, it's
my fault. Too much self-love up here behind
this pulpit. Too much selfishness here. Too
much self-justification. Too much trying to defend myself. Too much trying to satisfy myself. That's my problem. My self. That's your problem. Your self.
That's why we can't love God perfectly and love our neighbors
ourselves. But you see, he says, this do,
and thou shalt live. False religion tells men that
they can do this. Some say, well, with the help
of God. Once you're born again, you can
do it. Some say, well, God helps those who help themselves. You
know, that's not in the Bible. Benjamin Franklin loves saying
that. It didn't start with him. But it's not in the Bible. You're
quoting Benjamin Franklin, most people think. God does not help
those who help themselves. What about this parable of the
certain Samaritan? Did the Samaritan help this fellow
because he helped himself? No. If God helps those who help themselves,
then salvation is my work. You can't help yourself, and
I can't help myself. That's why we need sovereign
mercy and grace in Christ. If we could help ourselves, we
wouldn't need Christ. Christ knew men couldn't do this.
If they could, He would not have come into the world. He came
into the world to do what? To save His people from their
sins. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Paul wrote that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I can't help
myself. And his answer is designed to
make a valid, vital point. If you insist on seeking salvation
by your attempts to keep the law, then you must do it all. You're a debtor to do the whole
law. You must love perfectly. Well, look at verse 29. It says,
"...he willing to justify himself said unto Jesus, and who is my
neighbor?" Now, you see what he's doing? He's going to justify
himself. That's us by nature. He thought
himself to be justified before the law. When Christ said, that
which is an abomination unto men, or that which is highly
esteemed unto men is an abomination to God, He spoke that to those
who wanted to justify themselves. You say, well, I can't love perfectly,
but I'm trying. Well, if you think that marriage
is anything with God, you're trying to justify yourself. It
doesn't. He, like all of us by nature,
desire to justify ourselves in our own thoughts, our own works,
but not willing to be justified by the blood of Christ alone.
And that's the only way of justification before God. Not willing to be
justified by His righteousness imputed alone. But that's the
only way to be justified before God. So he said, who is my neighbor? Now they, the Jews, generally
concluded that their neighbors were other sons of Abraham, not
Gentiles, and certainly not those of mixed blood, like Samaritans.
But that's the way we all are. We justify hating this one and
loving this one. We do that. He thought his responsibility
of love began and ended with his fellow Jews, and the Lord
answered him with this parable." Now that's the setting. And he
aimed to show this self-righteous man that he's totally lacking
of any kind of love that the law requires. And we are too. We don't love God perfectly.
You know the proof of that? We don't love our neighbor as
ourselves. You want to find out how much you love God? Gauge
it by how much we love our neighbor. Someone said, I just try to live
by the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you. Let me tell you something. If
you're seeking salvation by your efforts to love your neighbor,
you'll die by the golden rule. That's right. Christ said, or
John wrote it, of Christ in 1 John 4 and verse 10, herein is love,
not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and gave His Son.
to be the propitiation for our sins. So here's this parable. Look at the reality of sin here.
Look, verse 30. And Jesus answering said, A certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves,
which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead. There's a great picture of our
fall in Acts. You know what Jerusalem is? This
certain man here, One man. Well, one man represented us
in the garden. Adam. For as by one man sin entered
the world, and death by sin, for that death passed upon all
men, for that all sin. Romans 5. We fell in Adam. You know, most everybody will
agree we fell. The problem is, how far did we
fall? As I said, some people say, well, we fell, but we still
have the image of God. Oh, no. We fell in the spiritual
death. Some say, well, we failed, but
we still have a spark of good. We just have to fan it and turn
it into a fire. Oh, no. That spark went out with
the fall. We fell dead. And this certain
man, he's like Adam, He fell. He went from Jerusalem to Jericho.
Jerusalem is known as the city of peace. Adam was at peace with
God before the fall. You know what Jericho is? That's
a place of cursedness. God said, cursed is the man who
buildeth again Jericho. He fell from peace with God to
cursedness. That's our fall in Adam into
sin. We fell in Adam from peace with
God to damnation, condemnation, cursedness. How far did we fall? We fell all the way, Scripture
says, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Some say everything
fell except man's will. He can still muster up enough
will to turn to God and get God to respond to him. If you can
find that in the Bible, I'll eat it. It's not there. It's not there. It's not so.
Man fell and every faculty of his being has a mind, but it's
a fallen mind. He has a will, but it's a fallen
will, so that he will not choose God on his own. He has affections,
but they're fallen affections. They're always towards self and
towards sin. None righteous, no, not one.
None that seek after God. None that doeth good. It says
he fell among thieves, just like Adam fell because of Satan and
sin. Satan brought about the fall.
Satan's a thief and a robber. He tries to rob God of his glory.
Adam fell because he was deceived, but Adam was tempted and he knew
full well what he was doing. He rebelled against God. Stripped
him of his raiment. Stripped him of human righteousness.
Adam had absolutely no righteousness at all after the fall. Neither
do we, being fallen creatures. Human righteousness stripped
away. Do you know that's why we need a righteousness that
cannot be stripped away? And do you know in Christ I have
one? In Christ I have a righteousness charged to me that can never
be stripped away. It's an everlasting righteousness.
Adam's human righteousness could have been and was stripped away.
But you see, Christ clothed me with His righteousness, just
like the cast out infant in Ezekiel. He put that garment on him, put
that robe on him. It says here, he was wounded
and departed and left him half dead. I don't want to spiritualize
these things, but this may refer to the fact that we are physically
alive, but we're totally dead spiritually. Like I said, man
has a mind. I've heard preachers describe
fallen man just like a dead corpse laying in a coffin, and when
you're talking about spiritual death, that's okay. But now listen
to me, even you who are sitting out here today who don't believe
the gospel, you can hear exactly what I'm saying. What you cannot
do is love it, and bow to it, and submit to it, and believe
it. But you can hear me. I guarantee
you the fellows that Stephen preached to in Jerusalem heard
exactly what Stephen said. And they weren't like dead bodies
laying in a corpse in that sense. Because they got up and they
took some big rocks and they threw at him and killed him.
They hated what he had to say. But they were totally spiritually
dead. And that's what we are by nature.
That's why we need one to take our guilt As Christ took the
guilt of His people, take our curse, He became a curse for
us upon Himself. And then we need one who can
give us life from the dead. Spiritual life. Look at verse
31. Here's the inability of religion.
Listen to this. It says, By chance, now that's
the way we see it. That's an occurrence. We think
it's, you know, there's a lot of things we go around and we
look at things and the way they happen, we think it's all by
accident, all by chance, but it's not by chance, it's all
well within God's sovereign purpose and will. He worked out all things
after the counsel of His own will. It's just from our little
old finite minds, it looks like, well, that's just an accident,
you know, that's a, well, they call that a coincidence. But
no, God knew it all along. Just think about Joseph. His
brothers just happened to hate him. His brothers just happened
to throw him down a well. His brothers just happened to
get him out of that well. His brothers just happened to sell
him into slavery. And when he got down there, he
just happened to be Potiphar's assistant. And then it just happened
that his wife tried to seduce him and then lied on him. And
it just happened that Joseph went down into prison. It just
happened he met up with the King's bakers and the butlers and all
that. It just happened that he interpreted the dreams, and it
just happened that he became second in command of Pharaoh.
Boy, all that happenings. And Joseph summed it up in one
line, God meant it for good. You meant it for evil. It didn't
just happen. This didn't either. But here
came a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed
by on 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.
You see, the priest and the Levite represent religion, the Old Covenant. It's moral and ceremonial precepts
and ceremonies and sacrifices. And what he's showing here, I
believe by this, not only the selfishness of man, that's part
of it, that's there, we have that. There are people that we
want to help and we can't, people we want to help and we do, and
there are people we don't want to help. And I'll guarantee you
this priest and this Levite, sinners by birth, their own selfishness,
but there's a greater lesson here. They passed by because
they had nothing to offer. There's no healing in the ceremonial
law, in the law itself. There's no righteousness in it.
The blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. This
priesthood, this earthly priesthood could never make perfect the
conscience of man. Human works cannot save us. That's
what he's showing here. Not all the blood of bulls and
goats on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience
peace or wash away its stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood
than they. What they could not do, the precious
blood of Christ can and did do. But here is the power of our
Savior. Look at verse 33. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was, came where the man was, And when
he saw him, he had compassion on him. He says, but a certain Samaritan. I think about this, but God,
who is rich in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us. A Samaritan now, that's a guy from Samaria. You
know what he is? He's a half-breed. Remember when
Paul boasted in his lost religious condition, he said, I'm a Hebrew
of Hebrews. They said, I'm not a half-breed. He was a hated,
mixed blood. Jewish blood and Gentile blood.
Part Jew, part Gentile. He was a product of an intermarriage
with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. That's what he was. And this man here is like our
Savior. Somebody said, well, how could Christ be called a
Samaritan? A Samaritan was one considered
a stranger by birth and cursed. And Christ was not a Samaritan
by blood. Well, turn to John chapter 8. You're right, he was not a Samaritan
by blood. But look at John chapter 8. Something
interesting here. When our Lord is speaking to
the religious folks of His day, look at verse 48. It says, Then answered the Jews
and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan,
and hast a devil? No, he wasn't a Samaritan by
birth, or by blood. But they looked upon him like
a Samaritan. Because he told them the truth. And they hated
him. You see, he was despised and
rejected of men. Just like a Samaritan was by
the Jews. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And when
we crucified him, and I say we, because fallen humanity was represented
right there. When we crucified him, we crucified
him as a criminal, a malefactor. And I know this, he identified
with some Samaritans in his human nature. He told his disciples,
I must need to go through Samaria. Why? Because there was a Samaritan
woman down there that he intended to save. And he went there. I know that his people include
God's elect, his sheep among Gentiles and Jews and even Samaritans. And it says here, as he journeyed,
Christ was on a journey. When he came to this earth, he
was on a journey. It wasn't all accident, coincidence. He was
on a journey and he had a mission. And it was to save his people
from their sins. That's what he came to do. And
it says here, he came where he was. Now, man's religion says,
you come where we are. The religion of grace, Christ
comes where we are. Hannah said it this way, he lifteth
the beggar off the dung heap. He didn't even say, jump up and
I'll catch you. No, He came all the way down.
The religion of grace, Christ comes where we are. We're in
this world and by nature dead. He did not look at the man and
say, now you get up and come over here to me and I'll save
your life. That's not what He did. That's
what religion does. He came to us where we are. He
came to the cross. He came to the curse. He came
to our guilt. He was made sin. Our sins laid
upon Him that we might be made the righteousness of God. And
it says here, when He saw Him, our Savior saw us from eternity.
But when this Samaritan saw Him, had compassion on Him. He was
moved in His inner man, in His heart with deep compassion. Well,
let me tell you something. Our Savior was moved with His
heart towards us with compassion. He loved His own until the end,
the Scripture says. Now it says he'll have compassion
on whom he will. The principle of God's sovereignty
is working right here just like it always is. People don't like
that. But listen to me. He was not only able to save,
he was willing to save. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter. He opened not his mouth because he loved his people.
And then it says here he bound up his wounds. Look here in verse
34, "...he went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil
and wine, set him on his own beast, and brought him to an
end, took care of him, were washed in his blood, and clothed in
his righteousness, the bandages of healing. He poured in the
oil of the Spirit, and the wine of joy, and the gospel." He did
it all. Did you notice here that the
Samaritan did everything? The man laying there half dead
didn't do anything. The Samaritan did it all. That's
the way it is when Christ saves us. He does it all. He doesn't
ask us what we want. He doesn't ask us for our cooperation.
He makes us cooperate. And then it says He set Him up
on His own beast, brought Him to an end, took care of Him.
He brought Him to the end to be taken care of. Just the way
Christ is. When He saves us, He brings us to a gospel church,
a hospital for sinners. And in where we can have the
fellowship of His people, a place of food, shelter, protection,
where we can be fed with the Word of God. And took care of Him. He didn't
just drop Him off and forget Him. He made certain that He
was cared for, just like our Savior. Not only does He save
us by grace, but He keeps us by grace. And gave Him to the
host. That may be the gospel preacher.
You know, he told Peter and the disciples, he said, feed my sheep.
Feed my sheep. Give them the word. And he says
here in verse 35, he says, and on the morrow when he departed,
he took out two pence and gave them to the host. I don't know
exactly what that represents. It could be a lot of things.
It could be the Old Testament and the New Testament. It could
be the Spirit and the Word. But I know this. I know this,
we're taken care of. Said unto him, take care of him,
whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay
thee. That's not the reward of merit, the repayment of what
we've earned, but it's eternal life in Christ, which is the
evidence of what he earned. And then look at verse 36. He
asks this man, he says, Which now of these three thinkest thou
was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? The man said,
He that showeth mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go
and do thou likewise. Now which now of these three
was neighbor? Go and do likewise. I believe
this. Now, he's treating this man just
like he did the rich young man when he told him to sell everything
he has and give it to the poor and come follow me. What he's
telling this man is this, if you're going to be saved by your
works, then you go and do likewise. You love perfectly. But let me
tell you something. The issue of this parable is
this. Look, friend, you need a Savior. You need grace. You
can't do anything to inherit eternal life. Now, should we
emulate this Samaritan in helping people? Of course we should.
Yes. We should seek to be like Christ. But I'm going to tell
you something. Our only hope of salvation, our
only hope of eternal life and righteousness, our only hope
of eternal glory is not in what we do or try to do. It's in Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. It's in all that He accomplished
for our salvation.