If you would, please be turning
to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, and I want to
read verses 30 through 37. And 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. And by chance there came down
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. 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. 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 more, when I come
again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest
thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he
said, he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him,
go and do thou likewise. This account is our Lord responding
to this lawyer. And this is a lawyer that is
one who is supposed to be an expert in the law of God. This
lawyer was not trying to understand any further by having our Lord
teach him, He was trying to tempt Jesus Christ. So this lawyer
asked Christ, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Let's
go ahead and go back up and read that since we got a little bit
of time. Let's go back up to verse 25 and we'll read down
to verse 30. That way we'll get the account
here. And behold, a certain logger 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 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 thyself. And he said unto him, thou hast
answered right. This do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself,
said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And then we read the
account where we just read. Just as fallen sinful man does,
he wanted to know what he could do. Christ is about to let him
know this, although I'm not sure he understood what our Lord was
saying. Christ turned it back around
on him. Christ told him to tell how he,
that is this lawyer, reads the law. The man gave those two commandments
that our Lord said were the greatest commandments. So this man knew
the law. He just did not understand what
the law was telling him, and none of us do as we were born
and asked. He said, 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 love thy neighbor as thyself. Christ told the man
that he answered right. If he could keep those commandments,
he would inherit eternal life. Christ did not tell him if, he
just said, do them and you will inherit eternal life. The problem
for him, whether he knew it or not, is he could not do this,
nor can any man do this. We are told that the law cannot
give life. It was never meant for that.
And this, not because there's something wrong with the law,
but the law is weak through the flesh. Did this lawyer then say,
oh, Lord, I cannot do that. Help me, Lord. No. This lawyer went further and
said to Christ, trying to justify himself, it says, he said, who
is my neighbor? And that's my title. Who is my
neighbor? From that, Christ told him this
account or this parable. And I say account first because
it does not say it was a parable, but it has a purpose just as
a parable does. Now some may think that Christ
was instructing this man how he, that is this lawyer, could
inherit eternal life. And a lot of people think this
way. And I will be honest with you, I do this in my flesh until
God opens my understanding to see what he is actually telling
me, this flesh of mine wants to try to put me in the place
where I do not belong. He was instructing the man how
eternal life is to be inherited, but it would not be done by him,
nor would it be done by you or I with those things that we do
or do not do. Some of us are in this account. By that, I mean some of us can
see ourselves in this account by his grace and spirit, but
not everyone can see this. Some may see themselves in this
account, but their function in it is different than what our
Lord is saying. Maybe some think of themselves
as good Samaritans. Christ told this man this account
or a parable. He told this man something here
that has a certain story to it, but it has a far greater spiritual
meaning as do parables. What do we read about parables
from our Lord? Luke 8, 10 says, and he said,
unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see
and hearing they may not understand. Those who hear these accounts
and or parables may understand from these that they themselves
are being spoken of. We read that some of the scribes
and Pharisees at times knew our Lord was speaking of them in
some of these things, but they did not see or hear what they
were really saying. It most of the time brought them
to anger and hate against the Lord of glory for what he was
saying. But those who are reprobate or who do not have their eyes
open yet, they will have no sorrow to repentance. even when hearing
these things, and even if they know that these accounts or parables
are talking about them in some way. They will not have that knowledge
of Christ, who is their wisdom, if He is their wisdom. If they
are reprobate, then He is not their wisdom. Their own wisdom
will not enable them or cause them to see Him in what these
accounts or parables are saying. only to those who God opens their
understanding to what these are saying will understand. I have
asked this question before, and I've heard others ask this question
before. Who is my neighbor? Let's go
through this account, and we'll break it up this way. A certain
man, a priest, a Levite, a certain Samaritan. So number one, a certain
man. Here the parable starts out a
certain man. The word man is put in there,
but it doesn't hurt it any. Here we read again what man born
of Adam does. He went down. He went from the
abode of God, Jerusalem, to a place of fragrance, Jericho. He went
towards a place that looked good to him. It had a good smell to
him. It was a place that satisfied
him. He went to a place that he thought
was a better place for him to be than where he was. Adam took
that fruit from Eve and ate it because he wanted to. No one
forced him into doing this and no one beguiled him into doing
this as was done to Eve. He did this of himself because
he wanted to, and in doing so, he plunged the whole human race
into sin. It was him doing this that made
all of the human race, it has made me, it has made you what
you are, dead in trespasses and in sin. This journey he took
was a devastating journey. In starting out in this journey,
he fell among thieves. The decision Adam made to eat
of that fruit, to leave where God had placed him, that place
was a place of communion with God. That disobedience and rebellion
against God, that choice that he made was a devastating choice. This kind of choice makes, this
is the kind of choice that man makes with his will. His choice
is to rebel against the sovereign holy God. Adam had peace. He had no worries. But now he
has fallen from that place in a place among thieves. This decision
made him fall in with those who were about destroying him. We
come from Adam. These thieves took his raiment. That which he did have were taken
from him by the deception and lies of Satan and by the pride
and rebellion of man. His raiment was taken. that raiment
of peace and communion with God, that raiment I will call which
is the raiment of righteous ignorance. Before he ate that fruit, he
did not know he was naked. But once he ate that fruit, he
knew he was naked. What do we read in Genesis 3.11? Genesis 3.11 says, and he said,
and this is Christ speaking, he's the one that is her walking
in the cool of the day, and he said, who told thee thou was
naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? These thieves left him
with nothing. They not only done that, but
they wounded him. This wound left him unable to
help himself. It says he was left half dead. If he would have stayed there,
he would have surely have died if there was none to come to
help. This state that he was left in was one where he would
eventually see death, from which he could not come back unless
someone were to help him. We died spiritually in Adam,
dead in trespasses and in sin. God told Adam, in the day that
you eat thereof, ye shall surely die. He did, and as I've already
said, it plunged us all into a place where he went, into that
place where he went. Yet we still live physically.
Should we take our last breath, that breath that is healed by
God, in his hand we would perish. If he does not come to help,
if help doesn't come from someone, We see that there were some spoken
of here that see us in our state of half-deadness, but there's
no help given from these two who wandered by. There were two
who walked by and kept on going, as we will see. We need to keep
in mind the context of this man, this lawyer, trying to trip up
the Lord of glory with the law. So next we have a priest. So we have this priest. This
priest did not even get close to this half-dead man. This priest
typifies all the sacrifices of the law of God. This man represents
all the law and the sacrifices. The priests are the one who perform
the sacrificial duties. The law cannot do anything to
help us. These priests could not corrupt
themselves to get blood on them, which surely caused them to be
defiled. What do we read in Hebrews concerning the law and the sacrifices?
Hebrews 10 and verse 4 says, for it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. The offering
up of blood sacrifices of animals will never take away a man or
a woman's sin. We are told in scripture in several
places, their sacrifices he did not desire, but a body he has
provided. Let's turn over to Hebrews 10
there, where we read verse four. Hebrews 10, and I wanna read
verses four through seven. Hebrews 10, verses four through
seven. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. This is telling us that it is
not an offering up of these goats and calves and their blood that
does anything for us. Although they had to perform
these sacrifices or they would die. These sacrifices that they
did, the reason why they had to do these sacrifices is because
they pointed to that one who would be given a body. That man,
Jesus Christ, who is God. It is this body that would be
given as a sacrifice for those whom he is pleased to do this
for. Those for whom he passed by them and saw them laying in
their blood. These he shed his blood for them
so that they might be made free from the law of sin and death.
He would come and do the will of the father as we just read. But next we have a Levite. A Levite is one who I see representing
the whole law of Moses and all its commandments and the doing
of them. Not all Levites were priests.
Those who were not priests attended to everything that pertained
to the law to keep things clean and in their place. They had
a bunch of different functions for each family. Certain families
did one thing and others did another thing. They each had
things that they were to do in the keeping of the commandments
of God. I also see this Levite as those who work at trying to
keep God's law and are trying to get you to do the same. Those
who we are told in scripture, Matthew 23, verses three and
four, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe
and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say, and do not. for they bind heavy burdens and
grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."
The law, the law of Moses, could not help this man. The law of
Moses cannot help, and those calling for you to get to God
by obeying the law of Moses cannot get you there. God's law could
not mar its inheritance by getting this man's blood on him. And
this reminds me of Ruth when Boaz asked the near of kin if
he would take Ruth. First we read in Ruth 3.13, we
read, Terry this night, and this is Boaz talking to Ruth. tarry this night, and it shall
be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part
of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman's part. But if he
will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part
of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth, lie down until the
morning." And then we go to Ruth four, verses three through six
we read. And he said unto the kinsman,
Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth
a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought
to advertise thee, saying, buy it before the inhabitants and
before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem
it. But if thou will not redeem it,
then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it
besides thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem
it. Then said Boaz, what day thou
buy'st the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also
of Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem
thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." This kinsman
typifying the law could not help a dead one to live. The law was
not given to give life. It was given so that we might
know what sin is. The law is our nearest kin, though,
and if there is not another to redeem us, then we will surely
perish. We need someone to help, so then
we have next a certain Samaritan. This certain Samaritan, and the
Samaritans were not a total Jewish blood, they were a mixed breed
or half breed as some call it. And I see it this way as it pertains
to Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ is God and Jesus
Christ is man. He is this good Samaritan. He
is the God man. He came to where we are. He is
the only one who could do such a deed, such a good deed as this,
toward any born of Adam that he pleased to do this for. He
came down to this earth and being made a man and made under the
law, this he did to redeem them that were under the law. He is
our kinsman redeemer. He will redeem that one that
is dead. But he also comes to where we
are. He sees us polluted in our own blood and he comes to us
and says, live, and we live. He sees us and he has compassion
on us. He knows we cannot help ourselves. He knows we have put ourselves
in this place. He looks to show us mercy. This
word for compassion means to yearn. Our Lord yearns for us. He, in doing all He did for us,
is not going to leave us there polluted in our own blood. He
loves us and He has compassion on us. He takes us and He cares
for us and for our wounds. This certain Samaritan poured
in this man's wounds oil and wine. God comes to us by his
spirit, the spirit of Jesus Christ, and comes in to abide with us. Wine, this wine signifying the
new man that restores him to a state better than he was even
before Adam failed. But I believe this wine also
means he pours into our wounds the gospel, the good news that
he has taken care of you from the beginning and will continue
to care for you until you are with him. It says this Samaritan
put this man on his own beast. Jesus Christ finds us and he
puts us on his shoulders and he carries us all the way home.
Luke 15, four and five, we read of this. What man of you having
an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the
ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost
until he find it? And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." This is Christ and that's what
he does for his people. The ones wounded here picture
the people of God in their dead state of rebellion against God,
of dead in trespasses and in sin. If you do not see yourself
as a wounded, half-dead person, one that has no raiment for protection
against the wrath of God, then this is not talking about you.
What else did he do? He brought him to an end. He
will put us in a place where we are safe and warm and fair.
A place where there are others staying who have had the same
need as we do. Those who need their wounds taken
care of. Those who need a place of rest
just like we do. He gives us everything we need
until he returns. So in conclusion, this man asked,
who is my neighbor? Christ shows him. how we know
who our neighbor is and what our neighbor does for us. Our
problem by nature is we cannot see Christ when he speaks of
himself right in front of us and directly to us. We in our
flesh look to this flesh when we hear these things. We think
that in some way we can do something to aid ourselves in getting better. But we are wounded and are stripped
naked of our arraignment, our clothing. We stand before him
just as our daddy Adam did, naked before him. Yet this flesh tries
to put those garments of works of their hand to hide themselves
from God. It did not work for Adam and
it will not work for us. But God will come to us and he
will make sure we admit that we are naked and wounded before
him. but by his spirit, him giving
us life and his spirit bearing witness of Christ to our new
heart, we see who our neighbor really is. I need this kind of
neighbor. And if any other man is going
to be brought to a place of safety, he will need this kind of neighbor
as well. Unless we see who our neighbor
is, we won't survive. But if he reveals himself to
us, allowing us to see who our neighbor is, we will then know
that he has had compassion on us, bound up our wounds himself,
pouring oil on mine. He gave us a place to stay until
he returns. He has seen to it that we are
taken care of until he returns. He will pay for everything. no
matter what we spend or no matter what is spent on us or because
of us. Those who have been stripped
of their raiment. So who is my neighbor? I am certain
who my neighbor is and it is none other than the Lord of glory
himself. Anyone else who has Jesus Christ
as their neighbor is certainly a neighbor to me. Those who are
in this inn that have had this certain Samaritan take care of
them. They also will proclaim who their neighbor is. And it
will be the same neighbor that I have. But there are those who
we may come across who are wounded and half dead. We can tell them
of our neighbor so that they might know him. I can have compassion
on those who are in such a state just as I am. I can confess and
testify to this certain Samaritan who I know can help because he
helped me and others as well. Him who can heal the brokenhearted. He that will carry them all the
way to where they need to be. So if you want to know who your
neighbor is and you have need of such one, look to Jesus Christ
the Lord. He is certainly who is one who
can do good to you, but only if he wills. Can you bow down
to him? He can surely show mercy and
compassion, and it is him alone who can bind up your wounds and
carry you safely to where you need to go. The law will only
serve to condemn you. You look to the law for anything,
you will only see condemnation. Just as I am without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me. Are you blind, wounded, stripped
from all you have, naked before him? Come to him just as you
are. He, Jesus Christ, the Lord, he
is my neighbor. Is he yours? Amen. Dear Lord, apply these words
to our heart, dear Lord. May it be that Your name is honored,
dear Lord. Be with everyone as they go about,
dear Lord. With this cold weather, dear
Lord, protect us as we go about doing things. All these things
we ask in Christ's name, amen.