Luke chapter 10 is often referred
to as the parable of the Good Samaritan. A parable, you know,
is a story, it may be either true or false, that is used to
illustrate a specific truth. If the story is false, it is
permissible because the purpose is not to sell the parable, but
to explain more clearly the specific truth of which the parable is
used to illustrate. And since the scripture does
not say this is a parable, it could have actually happened.
But that's irrelevant because, again, the purpose is not to
sell the parable, but to make clear the truth being illustrated
by the parable. Certainly our Lord uses this
story as a parable to teach another truth. Many well-meaning writers
have said that this is simply a lesson on showing compassion
to others in need. And it's taught that way a lot
of times. But ignorantly, they are simply trying to sell the
parable. It's not the parable I'm concerned
with. this morning but the truth our
Lord is teaching and the specific truth he is teaching is this
and this would be our subject or title this morning how not
to be saved how not to be saved that's what our Lord is teaching
now in verse 25 we read of a certain lawyer and the word lawyer here
does not mean an attorney not what we'd call a lawyer nowadays,
but it means rather a doctor of the law of Moses, one studied
and respected as an authority on the Old Testament law. Now,
obviously, as the Lord Jesus is teaching, the people are seated
and listening to him teach. And this verse says that this
one man took it on himself to stand up, to interrupt, to disrupt, and in the words of
the text, to tempt or to test or to try the Lord Jesus. He
wanted to disturb. Disrupt, discredit, and destroy
the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he speaks up with
a question, and it's a very good question, he thinks. Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? Well, in the very first word,
his hypocrisy surfaces. He called Christ Master, which
means teacher. But Christ wasn't teaching this
man anything, and he knew it. Christ knew that, and the lawyer
knew that. But he asked, Master, what shall
I do? And that mindset has plagued
the human family through the generations of time. What shall
I do? Since man did something to get
into trouble with God, it stands to reason man can do something
to get out of trouble with God. So we ask this question, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Well, you don't do anything
to inherit something. If you have to do something,
You've not inherited it, you've earned it. Now, the Lord knows
this man is not sincere in his question. Therefore, he did not
answer the man's question with any hope for the man. He did
not say, believe in me. That's the way to eternal life.
He did not say, come unto me and I will give you rest. No.
He's not offering this man any hope, but rather he meets the man where
he's at. God will meet you where you're
at. And if your heart has not been broken and torn and brought
by the Holy Spirit to cry for mercy, then you're not going
to hear any word of salvation. No. He meets him where he's at. This man is hung up on law, and
he pretends to be a law keeper. So the Lord answers his question
with a question. What does the law say? Verse
26, He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest
thou? And the man answers correctly.
In verse 27, he reaches back and he quotes Deuteronomy 6.5,
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul
and strength and mind. And then he reaches back and
picks up Leviticus 19.34, and love thy neighbor as thyself. So he gives a good answer. Now,
if this man were sincerely troubled about his soul, he would have
confessed right here, I have not, do not, and cannot love
God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I have not,
do not, and cannot love my neighbor as I love myself. But he don't
do that. He quotes this two Old Testament
scriptures. But in verse 28, the Lord gives
him credit. Thou hast answered right. This
do and thou shalt live. The Lord is saying to him, you
don't really have a question, mister. You've got the answer. You just told me. just go and
do what you know to do you've got it well this man was hung
and he knew it and so verse 29 says he but he willing to justify
himself said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor notice with me
that he ignores the first part about loving God. And he just
goes straight to the neighbor part. Well, that's where his
trouble is. That's where our trouble is.
He goes on in pretense of wanting to be specifically accurate in
knowing who is meant by his neighbor so he can love his neighbor.
And he just bypasses entirely the problem, the first problem,
that the reason I don't love my neighbor like I should is
because I don't love God like I should. And the reason I can't
love my neighbor like I should is because I can't love God like
I should. See, he just bypasses that. And he asks, who is my neighbor? And so it is in answer to this
question, then, that our Lord gives the Good Samaritan story
or the how not to be saved story is what I'm calling it. Well,
first of all, it's a story of absolutes. And the word the scripture
uses here repeatedly is certain. Notice in verse 25, it's a certain
lawyer. In verse 30, it's a certain man. In verse 31, it's a certain priest. In verse 33, it's a certain Samaritan. Our God is a God of certainties,
absolutes. And not only absolutes, but it's
a story of attitudes. Attitudes. The attitude of the
thieves was that beat this man up. What is yours is ours, and
we'll take it. That's the attitude of thieves.
The attitude of the priest was, what is mine is mine, and I'll
keep it. I don't have time to fool with
anybody in trouble like that. But the attitude of the Samaritan
was, what is mine is yours, and I'll give it. So there's attitudes. Now, this man was traveling.
And we understand it was a distant journey, some 14 miles from Jerusalem
to Jericho. It was not just an afternoon
stroll. It took some time and energy
and effort, a distant journey. It was a dangerous journey. This
stretch of road was noted for thieves, ambushers along the
way, along this winding rough road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Not only that, it was also a
downhill journey. Note the wording in verse 30,
a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And it's
not just downhill geographically, but the picture is downhill spiritually. Jerusalem was the blessed city. Jericho was the cursed city. Way back in the days of Joshua,
God put a curse on that place, and anybody that would rebuild
it, but they did. So this man is going deliberately
from the city of blessing to the city of cursing, and he fell
among thieves. Look at that word fail. Here
is an awful fall. It doesn't say he came up on
some thieves. It doesn't say he met some thieves,
but rather he fell among thieves. There's a fall. First, they stripped
him of his garment. And there's many lessons there,
many things, many lessons in these things that happened. Raymond,
stripped him of his Raymond, his clothing, which was much
prized in those days. Everybody didn't have their closet
hanging so full they couldn't get no more in there. Clothes
were a precious commodity. And so they stripped him of his
clothes first, which speaks of that great thief, the devil,
Satan himself. taking the clothes of innocence,
stripping our father Adam and all his posterity, including
you and I. But I'm not going to bog down
in the specifics of this story used by the Lord as a parable. But he goes on to tell how the
man is left wounded and half dead. And a certain priest came
by and moved over to the other side of the road and ignored
the man. Well, now I can identify with
this poor fellow right here in this verse because I have had
the blessed privilege of walking down the streets of Hendersonville
or down the aisle of the Walmart or down the aisle of the mall
and had men of the cloth switch sides to avoid coming face to
face with me. What about that? So I'm right
here in the book with this man. So the priest passed him up,
and likewise a Levite, another religious man of the tribe of
Levi, which is the priestly tribe, he passed him up. Verse 33 says,
but a certain Samaritan Now, you know, the Jews hated the
Samaritans. And I can really imagine it getting
under this man's skin that the Samaritan is going to be the
good guy in this story. I guarantee you that got to him.
I can imagine that. Because it gets under my skin
every day television, government, society, all the media. It gets under my skin that someone
other than God-fearing, hard-working American citizens is made out
to be the good guy. That gets under my skin. It does. So this gets to this fellow, a Samaritan. He's the one who
takes the time, goes to the trouble, and the expense of being a true
neighbor, a true friend, and loving this man by doing all
he can to help him. Of course, we know that the good
Samaritan is Christ. Oh, yes. But in this story, The lawyer
don't think any more of the Samaritan. He don't think any better of
the Samaritan for what he did. Why? Simply because he was a
Samaritan. His religious prejudice would
not allow him to approve of a Samaritan in any case, in any wise, in
any way. And so when the Lord Jesus finishes
the story, stay with me now, we'll be through in a minute,
not going to be long today. When the Lord Jesus finishes
the story, he says to this logger in verse 36, which now of these
three, referring to the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan,
which now of these three thinkest thou, which one do you think
was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves and the answer
is very obvious and the lawyer says so in verse 37 and he said
he that showed mercy on him then said Jesus unto him go and
do thou likewise Christ is saying your question to me was in the
beginning What shall I do? Well, here's your answer. Go and do what the Samaritan
did. There's the answer. But this
man did not love God. He did not love anyone but himself.
It was not in his nature. It was not in his heart. to do
what the Samaritan did. So Christ was not really telling
this man how he could inherit eternal life. He was telling
him how he couldn't, how he could not have it. And the mistake of many people,
the mistake of many preachers in this passage, is that of trying
to make us the Good Samaritan. Be a Good Samaritan. No, that's
not what our Lord did. He's the Good Samaritan. We're
the man that was beaten up and left for dead. We're not the ones that can do
anything. We're the ones that need something done for us. Oh, I want to say this morning
how blessed of God we are just to understand this wonderful
truth. So many this morning, by their
works, by their doing, by their religious deeds, by their religious
commitments, are convinced as certain as their breathing that
they're making points with Almighty God by their doing. But it's
just not so. It's just not so. And how blessed
of God you are this morning, and I am this morning, to understand
this truth. Religion teaches us to be the
Good Samaritan. God's Word teaches us that we
need the Good Samaritan. The gospel teaches us that Christ
is the Good Samaritan. He came from Jerusalem to Jericho,
heaven to earth, blessing to cursing, was made sin for us,
ministered to our great need, and solved the problem completely. Remember now, the Samaritan in
this story, he never dropped a couple of coins in the ditch
beside the man and went on his way as if to say, well, if he
ever comes to, maybe that'll help. No. According to the story,
listen now, the Samaritan left entirely whatever else he was
doing. gave all his attention and all
his resources to minister to this man's need, and he did it
fully and completely. Hence, the heresy of those who
would think we could add to what Christ has done for us. in the matter of our acceptance
with God. It's not so. And so to you this morning, dear
heart, struggling day after day in your life and in your spirit,
in your heart, over the sin and the shame and the mistakes and
the failure over the years, Christ gives hope. This Samaritan never stopped
and began his work by saying, you ought to have been more careful. You ought to have brought along
some protection to keep from getting beaten. No, no. Too late
for that. Too late for that. It's too late for you and I to
recall a single day, a single hour, a single moment in our foolish and sinful lives. But Christ gives hope right where
we are. You see, his word for seeking
sinners is not the same word he had for this self-righteous
Not the same word at all. His word for seeking sinners
is not that we must do something to make ourselves better. Oh,
no. His word for seeking sinners is, come unto me. Not to the preacher, not to the
church, but come unto me. every one of you that labor,
that struggle with the guilt and shame of your sin. And they're heavy laden. You're
loaded down. It's more than you can carry.
Bring it to me, and I will give you rest. Not I might, but I
will give you rest. Now he didn't say if you'll do
the right thing, if you'll experience the right
thing, if you can feel the right thing. No, you must look outside
of yourself. The answer is not in you to do,
to experience, to feel, or to find. Give it to me. Don't go anywhere
else. Don't do anything else. Cast
all your care upon me. I'll give you rest. None could
say it better than the songwriter said it. In the old hymn we just
sung, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Not mine. not yours, but his,
Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. And I've known some sweet ones.
Some of y'all think y'all are sweet ones. But the songwriter
said, I dare not trust the sweetest frame. I dare not trust my precious
old grandma with my eternal destiny. I dare not trust my daddy or
grandpa that was a preacher with my eternal death. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame. But holy lean, holy entirely
on Jesus name. It's his oath, his covenant,
his blood. It's all about his doing that
supports me. in the whelming flood. When all
around my soul gives way, when there's trouble on every side,
He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
and all other ground is sinking sand." This man Ask the Lord, what shall I do?
What shall I do? And the Lord told him what to
do, but he couldn't do it. How not to be saved. But thank God for his word to
seeking sinners come unto me. And I'll give you rest. Bless
his holy name. Stand with me.