Now if you'll take your Bible
please and let us have our morning reading. Luke, the Gospel of
Luke, chapter 10. We were in this same Gospel last
Sunday morning. Then we were in chapter 18 in
the parable concerning the Pharisee and the publican. This morning
in chapter 10, I thought this would be a wonderful passage
to follow up the one that we looked at last Sunday. This one
having to do with the parable of the Good Samaritan. So our title will be this morning,
Christ, Thee, The One and Only. good Samaritan. And you would
just, you would be surprised at how many people in past generations
and places and so forth that have preached or written concerning
this passage that miss totally, entirely the fact that Christ
is the one and only Good Samaritan. Now, we have to start at verse 25.
There's just no way to start at verse 30 because the event
that transpires between the Lord Jesus and a certain man who's
called a lawyer which makes him not a lawyer in the sense that
we have lawyers, but in religious issues and Old Testament laws
and rules and regulations and all that kind of stuff, this
man was supposed to be exceedingly well-versed. So there's a conversation
between himself and our Lord Jesus, and it is that conversation
that gives rise to this parable that we've come to know as the
parable of the Good Samaritan. Alright, let's begin at verse
25 in Luke chapter 10. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, the Lord Jesus, saying... So here's
the first thing I want you to know. The man who poses this
question is not being honest with our Lord. He has an ulterior
motive. It is designed, as it is called
here, to tempt Christ. That is, to trip Him up, to make
Him look foolish in the eyes of His listeners. So you've got
to catch that. Because you can't understand
the parable unless you understand what this man's motive is. Motive
has everything to do with what's real on the inside. It's still
that way with us. So his question is, Master, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, the question in one
way of looking at it is flawed because he's asking what can
he do to inherit eternal life? And the quick answer to that
question is nothing. It's what God can do. It ain't
what I can do. But there's another side to the
question that makes it at least not quite as bad as that first
view. not necessarily the proper way of speaking, but I'm sure
that sometimes people might use that expression and not actually
mean what it implies. So we'll just leave it just like
we find it. Master, what shall I do that I might inherit eternal
life? Our Lord said to him, what is
written in the law? What does the law say? The law of Moses, the law of
the Old Testament, the law of God. What does the law say? What is written in the law? How read you? How do you How do you read what's
in the Old Testament? That is, what is your understanding
of what the law demands of us? And here's the answer. He answering
said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself. Now this man was no dummy. He
condensed the whole of the Old Testament law into just two things. The Ten Commandments are divided
into these exactly two things. Love God perfectly and love my
neighbor. perfectly. And our Lord said
in verse 28, you have answered right. This do and you shall
live. If you can do this, you will
have earned, merited, inherited eternal life. If the man is honest
at all, He would immediately fall at the Savior's feet and
say, Lord, save me or I perish. Anybody, anywhere, deep down
inside, should know better than to think that we do, can, have,
or will love God with all our heart. There ain't but one thing
we love with all our heart, and that's our self. and our sin. And it is only a miracle of grace
that can give us a heart that does love God and even then we
are ashamed at how little we love Him. This world is full
of pretense. It is filled with Pharisee-ism. Here we have it full grown right
before our very eyes. The man makes no mention about
the side of the issue having to do with loving God, but he
takes, he challenges our Lord on just one aspect of those two
things, and that is the loving of our neighbor. So in verse
29 he says, Here's the dead giveaway. If
we just read our Bibles looking at what it says, actually thinking
about what it says, it would jump out at us and hit us right
in the face. It says, but he willing to justify
himself, to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my
neighbor? who is my neighbor?" And that
gives rise to this parable. And Jesus answering said, a certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a distance of some
fourteen miles. Jericho is a city under divine
curse. God, in Joshua's time, pronounced
a curse on that city and on anyone who rebuilt it after Joshua and
the children of Israel destroyed it. This city, if I remember
right, is said to be 600 feet below the sea level of the Mediterranean
Sea. And there are some 12,000 priests
and Levites who work at the temple in Jerusalem and reside in Jericho. So they make this trip a couple
of times a week, maybe more. And it is a very dangerous road.
So our Lord says, a certain man Got to catch this now. Went how? Down. See, Jerusalem is the holy city.
I mean, it's a picture and type of the heavenly Jerusalem, which
is a holy city. And any going down from Jerusalem,
spiritually speaking, is going from that which is glorious and
wonderful to that which is under a curse. So it says 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." You know, the only thing we would have
done different, we wouldn't have worried about the clothes, we
would have just beat him half to death to start with. But not
in that part of the world. Clothes were prized. Prized. We got more than we got
closet space to hang them. They stripped him of his clothes. Didn't want to mess the clothes
up. They don't mind messing him up. Wounded him. Departed, leaving him half dead. Half dead. What an expression. Half dead. We'll have to come
back to that. And by chance, this is the only
time in the whole New Testament, that you'll find this word, by
chance. Chance. By chance, there came
down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, who also
served in the temple, 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. When he saw him, he had
compassion on him, 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, the next
day, when he departed, he took out two pints and gave them to
the host. And said unto him, Take care
of him, and whatsoever you spend more when I come again, I will
repay you. Which now of these three think
you was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And a
first grader can answer this. And he said, He that showed mercy
on him Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do you likewise." All
right, I'm back in Luke chapter 10. And I call your attention to verse
29, the verse just prior to the actual parable itself, the Good
Samaritan. This lawyer, this scribe, we
read, but he willing to justify himself instead of God justifying
us in Christ. He willing to justify himself. Now when you add that statement
to the one that began In verse 25, when you take the word tempted
and the word justify himself, this teaches us that this man's
motives were completely off base. He did not really come to the
Lord Jesus to find out what to do to have eternal life. He came
to the Lord Jesus on purpose to try to expose Him to ridicule
in the face of the people that were around Him. So let's look
for just a second at this expression, to justify Himself. Now, right here in Luke's Gospel,
I can show you some things that will clear that up and help us
to understand it and appreciate what the statement is about.
If you'd turn for a moment to Luke chapter 7. Luke 7. Three statements in this chapter
in Luke 7. The first one is in verse 29. Here is a description. John the
Baptist is the subject at this point in chapter 7. And in verse
29 it tells us of the people that heard John the Baptist preach
and submitted to his baptism of repentance. Here's what that
meant. And all the people that heard
him and the publicans, remember the publicans now from last Sunday,
all the people that heard him and the publicans, not republicans,
publicans, sinners, notorious sinners, traitors, what did they
all do? justified God. That it. Here's what that means
simply. No longer take my own side, but get on God's side against
myself. That's what it means to justify
God. Now how do we know that this is what they did? Because
they submitted to John's baptism in the Jordan River. Here it
is. And the people that heard it
and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism
of John. Look at verse 30. But the Pharisees,
uh-oh, and who? Lawyers. Now who was that character
we were reading about a moment ago? A lawyer. A religious lawyer. I mean a
lawyer in religious things. But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized
of John. Now to verse 35, but don't worry,
don't get upset. If they won't believe, I promise
you, someone will. Here's what it says, verse 35,
but wisdom is justified of all her children. God has a people
whom he's given to Christ. And I promise you, I don't know
who they are, but whoever they are, I promise you, they will
believe. They will justify God even in
their own condemnation because the Lord sees to it, brings it
to pass. One more Scripture, I can't stick
to Luke altogether. If you'd go to your right just
a little ways, you'll bump into the Gospel of John, chapter 3. Let me give you another picture
of this matter of justifying myself or justifying God. It's
one or the other. There's no middle ground. You
can count on that. John chapter 3, beginning at verse 19. John 3, 19. Why is it that poor sinners,
enabled by God's grace in Christ, why is it that they're willing
to condemn themselves in order to justify God? And here it is. And this is the condemnation.
Here's the problem. Here's the issue. That light
has come into the world and that light is none other than the
Lord Jesus who proclaims Himself to be the light of the world.
That light is none other than gospel light, the light of God
revealed in the gospel. This is the condemnation. That
light has come into the world and men, people, me, you and
everyone else Love darkness rather than light. Why did we love darkness? Why do we love darkness better
than light? Because our sins were evil. Evil. Verse 20, John 3, For everyone
that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth, does
truth, comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought, worked, accomplished in God, and not
in myself, but in Him." My friend, that has something to do with
this matter of Justifying God or justifying ourselves. Now, here's a man on the road
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he falls among thieves. They
take his clothes, they beat him half to death, and leave him
on the side of the road. Along comes a priest, and then
a Levite, and finally a despised, hated Samaritan. And when the Lord Jesus created
this parable, he chose these characters with utmost care. He deliberately, willfully placed
the Samaritan in the part of the one that showed mercy. The
Jews hated Samaritans above everybody else. When they wanted to go
from Judea to the province of Galilee to the north, the shortest
route by far was to go straight. They went all the way across
the Jordan River, up the east side of the Jordan, and then
back across the Jordan into Galilee. They wouldn't so much as put
foot in Samaria, despised them. And the feeling was mutual. I
mean, it just wasn't one-sided. They just hated each other. Yet
the Lord Jesus puts this despised Samaritan as the man that showed
mercy. And when he did so, he was drawing
for us a picture of himself. of himself. Christ, the only
good Samaritan. Now what is this parable designed
to teach? In the first place, it is our
Lord creating this parable on the spot to respond to what this
lawyer, this scribe had said to him, who is my neighbor. And he's going to tell him who
his neighbor is. Now this story that our Lord
puts together and the characters that are in it and the events
that transpire is all designed to teach us what has happened
to the whole human race. What's taken place since the
Garden of Eden and right now. And for that matter, for the
rest of time to come, however long that is, everything is here
in just one little spot in our Bible. It's all right here. Every
last bit of it. Here's a man on a journey, falls
among thieves, is left for dead. That's exactly what has happened
to the human race. Well, when did it happen, preacher?
In the Garden of Eden with the man who is our federal head and
representative, the father of the human race, Adam. Adam indeed fell among thieves.
He came out of that half dead. He died spiritually and he began
to die physically. And that's where you and I are.
We're born into this world a sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. What happened to Adam is what
happened to this man, and by virtue of it happening to our
federal head, it happens to the whole race who are in him. So
we come into this world fallen. in Adam's fall in the garden.
We come dead in trespasses and sins. Only God in grace, in Christ,
and in mercy can set us free. And in order to do so, in God's
miraculous method of grace, everything hinges on justifying God to my
eternal salvation or justifying myself to my eternal damnation. One of the two. That's where
we are. That's where every age of men
and women like ourselves that live on this earth are. That's
simply, this is what life is. It is that somewhere between
the cradle and the grave, God will cross my path with the gospel
of His grace in Jesus Christ. And if He gives me mercy, if
He sends me help and aid to conquer my rebellion and my resistance
and my determination and my sin, then I'll be humbled by that
grace and fall at the feet of the Lord Jesus and find myself
forever from that day until I leave this world a beggar for God's
grace in Christ. Now, my friend, that's what happened
in this parable. But I'd have you to know that
that's not the only place in our Bible. If you turn to Ezekiel
chapter 16, this is not the only place in our Bible that such
a picture as this is drawn. And in Ezekiel, which is, let's
see, it's after Jeremiah and Lamentation, Ezekiel 16. If you've not ever seen this passage,
you've got to see this. And I don't have time to do anything
but to deal with one statement out of it, but it is a glorious
picture because it is describing to God's people how they arrive
in this world. If you know anything about the
Jewish race, I guess you could say that about Caucasians and
a whole lot of other ones for that matter. Americans, that's
not a race, but it's a pretty sizable group of people. And
we're all pretty dumb, you know. But the pride and arrogance of
being a Jew. And in this chapter, the Lord
says, your mother was an Amorite and your daddy was a Hittite.
And those were two despised groups of people to the Jews. And that's
how this chapter opens. But the picture I wanted to show
you is in verse 6. In verse 6. Here's how a sinner
is saved by grace in Christ. The Lord says, and when I pass
by you, not when we pass by him, when he passes by me, and saw
you polluted in your blood, and it turns out that here's an infant
of just a few hours tossed out into an open field and succumbs
and dies. The blood was never removed from
the baby's skin. The cord was never tied, just
thrown away. You know about that. It happens
occasionally. We all just draw back in horror
as if no human being could be capable of that, and that just
isn't how it is. We're all capable. Trust me. We've got the same nature. Same
nature. Here this infant is, cast out
in the field and dies. Look what happens. What I'm telling
you is this is how God passes by sinners and saves them in
Christ. When I passed by and saw you
polluted in your own blood, I said unto you when you were in your
blood, live. God said, live. Yea, I said unto you when you
were in your blood, live. And what can a sinner do when
God commands him to live? All he can do is become alive,
born again. Lives! Spiritually I'm talking
about! Alright, let's go back to Luke
10 just for a little bit. I want you to look at what we'll
call the passers-by. The people in the parable and
the people in the Bible who may be said to be our passers-by."
Here this man lays, half-dead, whatever that means, critically
injured, bleeding, wounded, just passing by. The law passed him
by, for no man can be made righteous by the law. The law cannot bless
sinners, only the righteous. And since we're not righteous,
the law cannot bless us. There is no obedience, no commandment
to be obeyed that can give us life. That's the whole purpose
of this parable, is to shut the boasting mouth of this lawyer
who thinks that he's mastered loving God with all of his heart,
and if he has a problem, it just might have to do something with
who is his neighbor. And our Lord in this parable
makes it as clear as words can say it that men are not justified
by legal obedience. There's no law keeping of any
kind that can save a poor sinner. The law blesses the good man,
not the bad, and we're all bad. So it can't help us. The only
thing it can do is shut my boasting mouth and point me to the Savior. There's my only hope right there. The sacrifices can't help you.
Look at Hebrews chapter 10 just for a second. Tenth chapter of
Hebrews. The ceremonies can't help him.
All the sacrifices and all the offerings in the world can never
put away sin. Let me read it to you straight
out of the book. Verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 10. For the law, I'll
read you like it is and then I'll shorten the sentence. The
law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very
image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually, can never make the comers thereunto
perfect. Now let me shorten that. The
law can never make perfect. It can't make me perfect, or
you perfect, or anyone else perfect. It just can't do it. Well, how
do we know this? Alright, let's read the second
verse. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? If one particular sacrifice could
perfect us forever, and we offered that sacrifice, why would you
keep offering it? Why the repetitive nature of
all the sacrifices of the Old Testament? Because they could
not put sin away, but only typified and pictured the coming of that
One who could and who did put sin away. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered because that the worshiper once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance. Instead of being able to forget
it, there is a remembrance of sins every year. But in this
same 10th chapter of Hebrews, the Lord Jesus Christ is set
before us throughout this passage. And in verse 14 of Hebrews chapter
10, Here's one offering, one sacrifice
for sins forever that did put away sin. For by one offering,
Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified, those
that are made holy in His blessed work and in His grace. The law
cannot do it. The sacrifices cannot do it.
The ceremonies cannot help. If Abraham passes by, he can
give us no aid. Why? Because our wounds are spiritual
and not physical. Moses can come by and cannot
help us. Why? I'll tell you in just a
second. Not only Moses and Abraham, but
even Aaron the high priest. He can offer sacrifices, but
we just read that they won't put sin away. How come people
of such stature, of such importance, what if we had all the patriarchs
and all the prophets and all the priests in the whole of the
Old Testament? They still could not help us. Do you know why? Because they
lay half dead in this wounded man just as much as me and you.
They need the same amount of help that we need. We need God
and we need Him in Christ. And the Lord Jesus has indeed
gone to Calvary's tree and put sin away. But He willing to justify Himself
said unto the Lord Jesus, and who is my neighbor?