Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 10? While you're turning there, tonight
we will observe the Lord's table together. And also, if you plan
to attend the get-together for the adults on the 21st of this
month, please sign the sheet on the back table because we
need to have a number to plan for. Luke chapter 10. Now, most of us are familiar
with the story of the Good Samaritan, aren't we? As a matter of fact,
we have a hospital here in town that takes its name from this
story. Let's begin reading in verse
30 of Luke chapter 10. 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 that 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 to
him, take care of it. 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. Now, here we have the
story of the good Samaritan. Now, what led the Lord to give
this story? He had a reason for it. You'll
notice in verse 30, Jesus answering. He was giving an answer to something. So let's look back up in verse
25. Now this story begins with a dishonest question that had
a bad motive behind it. That's how this story begins.
Interesting way for it to begin, isn't it? Look in verse 25. And
behold, A certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, we know that this
man was tempting the Lord Jesus Christ. He had no good motive
in what he was doing. He was putting the Lord to the
test. Now, what is meant by that? Well,
look over in Luke chapter 11. Verse 53, And as he said these things unto
them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently.
and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying weight for
him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might
accuse him." Now, here we have this picture of the scribes and
Pharisees. When our Lord was preaching, they were just trying
to get Him to say other things, thinking we'll catch Him to say
something inconsistent, and therefore we can condemn Him. Now, that's
what was going on here with this man. He had a wicked motive of
wanting to to tempt the Lord, to test the Lord, hoping the
Lord would say something contrary that they could accuse him. And
you know his question, he had a bad motive, he was tempting
the Lord, but his question tells us about this man that he was
a basically dishonest man. Just this question, what shall
I do? that I may inherit eternal life,
even when he asks this question, he lets us in on the fact that
he is a basically dishonest man. Honesty would say, what can be
done for me? It's evident that I can't do
anything to inherit eternal life. Honesty would say, what can be
done for me? Is there any way I can have eternal
life? What must I do to be saved? Obviously, I can't save myself.
What must I do to be saved? And somebody that comes into
God's presence by what they do, their works, that is a basically
dishonest person. You just can't trust them. They're
liars. They may claim to be truthful,
religious, honest men, but they are liars. This is the testing
of a liar. Turn with me to 1 John. Let me
show you this from the scripture. 1 John 1. Verse 5. This then is the message
which we've heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light And in Him is no darkness at all. Now if we say that we
have fellowship with Him, I've got fellowship with God. I pray. He hears my prayer. I love Him. He loves me. We have sweet fellowship. If we say we have fellowship
with Him, I know the Lord. He knows me. And walk in darkness,
we lie. and do not the truth. We've just
lost all credibility. Now, a lot of times folks will
say, well, what's that walking in darkness? Does that mean you're
practicing sin in secret? Now, it's wrong to practice sin
in secret, but that's really not what he's talking about.
He's talking about walking in the darkness of salvation by
works. That's what he's referring to.
Now, the next verse bears that out. If we walk in the light
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all
sin. Now, if we say we have no sin,
and there the word is a noun. If at any time I say I have no
sin, what does the Scripture say regarding me? We deceive
ourselves. And the truth is not in us. At
any time for me to make this profession, I've got no sin.
I'm a liar. Because I always have this sinful
nature. While I'm in the flesh, any time I speak, that sinful
nature is there. Anything I do, that sinful nature
is always there. So if I say I have no sin, I
deceive myself. The truth is not in me. If we
confess our sins, Agree with what God says about them. He's
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, now
that's the word's a verb. If we say we've not sinned, we
make Him a liar and His word's not in us at any time. Now listen
to me, I'm preaching the gospel here. While I'm preaching the
gospel. God's truth is true. There's
no sin in His truth. Yet if I say it because of who
is saying it, there's an element of sin in it. It's me. It's my flesh. If I say it, even
if I quote Scripture, you know, I can't even quote Scripture
without sin because I'm going to quote Scripture in such a
way as to make myself look good. I'll put some kind of edge on
it even when I quote the very truth. So this man, what he demonstrates
to us when he asks the Lord, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He lets us in on the fact that
he's a dishonest person and the scripture lets us know he had
a bad motive in asking it in the first place, doesn't it?
Now this is what this parable is an answer to. Now let's go
on reading. Luke chapter 12, I mean chapter 10, I'm sorry. Verse 25, And behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, What shall I
do to inherit eternal life? Verse 26, he said unto him, what
is written in the law? How readest thou? You know, I
love the way the Lord answered him. What's written? That's the
only answer. What is written in the word of
God? Look at the emphasis the Lord himself puts on the scriptures.
Now, the only way to answer any question is what sayeth the scriptures? There is no other answer. You
know, even when the Lord answered Satan's temptations, how did
He answer Satan's temptations? It is written. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant
Word of God and our only rule of faith and practice. Somebody says, well, our church
confession and creed agrees with that. Oh, great, that makes me
feel better. The Bible is our only rule of
faith and practice. So, the Lord says to him, what
is written in the law? How readest thou? Verse 27. And
he, this lawyer, 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. Now this man gives his answer
and it was a good one. Hold your finger there and turn
back to Matthew chapter 22. Verse 35. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question tempting him. There we have a
bad motive in this question once again, saying, Master, which
is a great commandment in the law? What's the most important
one? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment, and the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. Now, this man obviously gave
a good answer, didn't he? Verse 28. And he said unto him, the Lord
speaking to this man after he gave this answer, Thou hast answered
right. And you know what this tells
me? You can give the right answer and be as wrong as you can be. That's a scary thought, isn't
it? You've answered right. You've given the proper answer.
Thou hast answered right. And I love what the Lord says
next. He says, Thou hast answered right. This do. Not just being able to give the
right answer. This do. And thou shalt live. Love the
Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor
as yourself. Yeah, that's the right answer.
Now do it. Do it and you'll live. You see, the Lord met this man
on the ground he came. He came on the ground of works
and the Lord says, OK, I'll meet you on that ground. If you do,
in fact, love God with all your heart and all your soul and all
your strength and all your mind, if you love your neighbors yourself,
you'll live. Verse. Twenty nine, but he willing
to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Now here is a perilous position. Instead of confessing how he'd
broken the commandment, I've not loved God with all my heart
and all my soul and all my strength. And I've not loved my neighbors
myself. I'm confessing my sins. Have mercy on me. Do something
for me." That's the way he should have responded. But no, the Scripture
says, he willing to justify himself. A perilous position. He was willing
or desirous to justify himself. Now there are two types of people
in this world. People who stand guilty before God. and people
who are willing to justify themselves. That's the only kind of two people
there are. People who stand guilty before God. Guilty as charged
and people who seek to justify themselves. Now, when somebody
is willing to justify themselves, he's always looking for a loophole.
Phyllis says, well, who's my neighbor then? I can just see
the smart aleck way he answered that. Who's my neighbor then?
I guess he thought he did OK on the first commandment. Well,
I've loved God with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength
and so on. I think I'm OK there. At least I can at least pretend
to be. But maybe I'm a little bit cloudy on this issue of loving
my neighbor. Maybe I've been a little bit
selfish here and there. But he's still looking for a loophole.
Who's my neighbor then? Who's my neighbor? And the Lord gives this story
in response to that. We read in verse 36 of our text,
Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that
fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed him
mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go
and do thou likewise. Now, we're going to look at this
story from two different angles, both of which are necessary to
an understanding of this story. You know, I was somewhat surprised. I read about everything I could
on this story to see what different men say. And there was a debate
between the different writers and commentators and so on as
to whether or not this story should be used to illustrate
the gospel or whether it should just be used to illustrate what
Christian conduct ought to be. And they would debate which way
it should be used. And that amazed me that that
was a debate in the first place. Both. Both. Yes, it's a beautiful, wonderful
illustration of the Gospel. And if you can't use it for that,
the Scripture is basically meaningless. As a matter of fact, our Lord
was answering a man about salvation by works or salvation by grace,
and He's given this story to illustrate how a sinner is saved.
But this is also a beautiful exhortation to Christian conduct. mercy, the good Samaritan. Now, it's obvious to me that
this is both. Now, first, I want to look at
this as a beautiful illustration of the gospel. And really, this
is the first application of every passage of scripture. That's
what we look for first. It's a picture. It's a beautiful
illustration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's
look at the language. Verse 30. 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." Now, this language is unmistakable.
What this is a reference to and a picture of is the fall of man. He left Jerusalem, the place
of peace, the place of God's blessing. He left Jerusalem and
went down to Jericho. Now we know from Joshua chapter
6 verse 26 that Jericho has been placed under a perpetual curse. Now, the language is unmistakable.
Why does the Lord use language like that? He goes from Jerusalem,
the place of God's blessing, to Jericho, the place of God's
curse. And the scripture says, He fell
among thieves. That doesn't mean He just tripped
and fell down. This is talking really a reference
to the fall of our first father Adam and what happened as a result
of that. He fell among thieves. Now, what happened in the Garden
of Eden? What really took place? Adam fell. He fell from this
state of righteousness before God. He fell from this state
of innocence before God. And he fell into a place Of course. Adam fell, and what he did, he
did as a representative man. When he sinned, you and I sinned.
Listen to this scripture. Romans chapter 5, verse 12 says,
For by one man sin entered the world. You want to know what
the origin of evil is? Adam. Adam. That's all the information
the Bible gives us, and that's all we need. Don't need anymore,
do we? You can perplex yourself over
this, you know, and it's an exercise in futility. Adam is where sin
came from. But did God allow it? Of course
He did. Could God have stopped it? Of course He could have.
But still, this is the way that Bible answers this question.
By one man, sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men in that all have sinned. You see, what Adam did,
he did as a representative. And when he sinned, you know
who else did? You and I did. He did what he did as a representative.
And I actually sinned. It's not simply that his sin
was charged to my account. No, it goes further than that.
I sinned when he sinned because I'm united to him. He did what
he did as a representative. And I've said this before, before
somebody gets upset and says, why should I be held responsible
for something somebody else did? Well, for one thing, you did
it. You're being held responsible for what you did because when
he did it, you did it. That's what the scripture teaches,
representation. But if you want to take it that
way, look at this also. Here's the only hope you have.
If you can be charged for somebody else's sin and it become yours,
you can also be charged for somebody else's righteousness and it becomes
yours. That's the only hope you have.
So here we have this man leaving Jerusalem, going down to Jericho,
the place of curse, and he fell. And you and I fell in him, and
the stripping of his clothing is the losing of his righteousness. All men have no righteousness. None whatsoever. There is none
righteous, no, not one. Now, I was thinking about that
passage of Scripture. There's none righteous, no, not one. And I asked myself,
is this a doctrine to me or is it a description of me? Is this a doctrine that I give
assent to or is it something that I see is true regarding
me, what I am in and of myself? He was stripped of His raiment. I mean He had nothing left. He
was naked. There is none righteous, no,
not one. And the wounding speaks of the
results of his sin, and he was left half dead. Now, someone
says, how can you be half dead? Well, the Lord's just giving
a story. He's just giving a story, and there's nothing wrong with
this kind of language. You couldn't say he's completely dead, because the story wouldn't
work if he was completely dead, would it? He was half dead, but
this is a reference to what we are as a result of the fall.
Dead. Dead. Graveyard dead. in trespasses and sins. That
means there's nothing I can do to perform the functions of life.
I'm dead. I can't believe, I can't repent,
I can't love. What I am in and of myself is
dead in trespasses and sins. This man went down and he was
left half dead. What could this man do to save
himself? Nothing. So verse 31, there he lays in
the ditch, naked, wounded, half dead. Verse 31, and by chance,
literally by coincidence is what the word means, by coincidence,
there came down a certain priest that way. And this was a Jew, and remember
this man was a Jew. He was a Jew. And when his fellow
Jews come by, a certain priest, he came by that way and when
he saw him, He passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite,
when he was at that place, he came and looked on him and passed
by on the other side. Now, the priest represents the
moral law. The Levite represents the ceremonial
law. What did they do for this poor
man? Absolutely nothing. They came
and looked on him and they went their way. They looked on him
and they passed by. Can the law save you? No. God's law. We love God's law. Oh, how I delight in the law
of God after the inward ban. And every believer can look at
that law without fear because we have perfect righteousness
before that law. But can personal obedience to that law save anybody?
No. The priest and the Levite looked,
and they went their way. Verse 33, But a certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he
had compassion on him. Now here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is that Good Samaritan. And here's what's so wonderfully
glorious about Him. He came to this poor fellow where
He was. Not where He should be, but where
He was. He came to Him in His death.
He came to Him in His inability. He came to Him where He was. Thank God He comes to us where
we are. Not where we should be, but where
we are. You see, the false gospel does
not come to us where we are. It comes like this. God loves
you. He wants to save you. Christ
died for your sins and paid for them all, but you must blank. before what he did will work
for you. You've got to do something before
you can be saved. Now, it's nice, but what's that
do for you? If there's some work I need to
perform before I can be saved, if there's something I've got
to present God before He can do something for me, what good
is that going to do me? That's a false message. It may
sound good, but it's not good. That won't save anybody, this
message of a false gospel. God's done all He can do. Now
you need to do your part. If that's the case, nobody in
this room is going to be saved because you can't do anything.
That's just the truth. It's like a man throwing a rope
down into a pit where a man has fallen in and broken every bone
in his body and saying to that man with every bone in his body
broken, if you can just hold on to the rope, I'll pull you
up. That's cruel, isn't it? That's cruel. But that is the
message of the false gospel. It's impossible and it's cruel.
There's cruelty and false doctrine. But the good Samaritan did nothing
like that. He came to this man where he was in his inability
and in his helplessness. And look what it says, verse
33. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, unlike the
Levite and unlike the priest, the scripture says he had compassion. on Him. Oh, would to God that
I could describe the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was moved by compassion. I couldn't help but think of
that passage of Scripture in Mark chapter 1 where that leper
comes up to the Lord Jesus Christ and he falls down on his face.
He says, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. He had no
doubt about the Lord's ability. If you will, he wasn't real sure
about his willingness. And I understand that. I understand that. Sometimes
you go, how could the Lord love me? How could the Lord have mercy
on me? How can the Lord do something for me? That leper felt that
way. He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You know
what the scripture says about the Lord? It says, and Jesus moved with
compassion, said to him, I will. Be thou clean. Do you know I could say to everybody
who thinks, how could the Lord have compassion on me? Why would
He ever look in mercy my way? Because He delights in saving
sinners. That's the character of our Lord.
He was moved with compassion. And our Lord comes to this man
laying there naked and wounded. He couldn't do anything to help
himself. And the Scripture says He was moved with compassion.
Our God is gracious. He delights in saving sinners. He delights in showing mercy. That's His character. That's
who He is. The good Samaritan was moved
by compassion. And what did He do? It says in
verse 34, He went to Him. He went to Him. Now, I must come
to Christ. But you know who does the first
coming? He comes to me. Now, I come to Him. Indeed, I
do come. But there's a reason I came. He came to me in mercy
and grace. It says, He went to him and bound
up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Now, that represents
something. He came and bound up his wounds,
pouring in oil and wine. That wine represents the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The oil represents the grace
of the Holy Spirit. Oil is many times in the Scriptures
used as a reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. And so this
talks about the work of Christ for us and the work of Christ
in us. Here's how I can be healed. Christ shedding His precious
blood for me, putting away my sins, making me perfect before
God, and God the Holy Spirit giving me life. That's what He
poured in oil and wine. This is the hope of a sinner.
The work of Christ for him, the work of Christ in him. the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ washing away my sin and making me perfect
before God, the grace of the Holy Spirit giving me a new heart,
a new nature, a heart to believe, a heart to love, a heart that
sees and believes the gospel. He came in pouring in oil and
wine. Now in the fall, Adam's sin was
imputed to me and Adam's sin was imparted to me. It was charged
to me, and I stood guilty before the law, but it was imparted
to me too. That's why I'm born into this world a sinner. His
sin was imparted to me. But the blood of Christ, the
wine and the oil, takes care of both of those problems, doesn't
it? Thank God for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go on reading verse 34. He 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 end, and took
care of him." Isn't that glorious to have the Lord Jesus taking
care of you? Verse 35, 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. Now this is
a complete salvation. He left no loose ends. He doesn't begin a work of grace
and not carry it out. You see, he that hath begun a
good work in you will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ. He said, whatever you spend,
I'll pay for it. You take care of him. Verse 36, which now of these three thinkest
thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he
said, well, that's obvious, he that showed mercy on him. Then
said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. Remember this
man's question, who's my neighbor? He tells us who his neighbor
is. And he says, you go and do likewise.
Now, not only Do we see the gospel in this narrative? And we do
see the gospel in this narrative beautifully, don't we? I think
this is a wonderful illustration of what our Lord does for us,
but this is actually also the code of conduct for every disciple
of Christ. Go and do thou likewise. Mercy is our doctrine. And mercy is our practice. That is seen in this beautiful
parable. Mercy is our doctrine. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His what? Mercy. He hath saved us. Sovereign mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Now that's the only kind of mercy
there is, is sovereign mercy. He's got to decide to have it. It's
His mercy, but our hope. This is why I believe I'm going
to be brought into glory, because salvation is by the mercy of
God, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. That's our doctrine. This is
the doctrine of the Bible, salvation by the mercy of God. Thank God
for that. Not only is that our doctrine,
that is our practice. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Now, if you're a believer, You
personally want to be the good Samaritan in this life. You want this for yourself. Now
I have no doubt, if you're anything like me, I've been reading, I've
been thinking about this good Samaritan and it makes me feel guilty, but I tell
you what, I want to be just like him. I want to be just like this
good Samaritan. Now this man who was wounded
was a Jew. And the Samaritans had no need
to help him because they were enemies. Remember how the Jews
wouldn't have anything to do with the Samaritans. And so when this Samaritan helped
this Jew, he helped a man who wouldn't reciprocate with him.
I guarantee you, if you were to turn it around and it would
have been the Samaritan laying there, that Jew wouldn't have
done anything for him. But this Samaritan, He wasn't like that. This man couldn't do anything
for him. There wasn't any reason why he should have helped him
as far as a reason goes, but he did it anyway. Now I'm sure that Mr. Levite and Mr. Priest could have
found a lot of reasons why they shouldn't help him. You know, it's easy to find excuses
to not be merciful. Easy. Look what he did, but a certain
Samaritan, verse 33, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he
saw him, he had compassion on him. He did not say, now listen
carefully. He did not say, now, if there's
anything I can do to help you, let me know. He didn't say that. He did all that was necessary. for this man without even being
asked. Isn't that beautiful? The way
he conducted himself. He was moved by compassion. He
came to him and did everything that was necessary and he gave
of himself. I'm sure he had a tight schedule,
but he stopped. I'm sure it was inconvenient
for him, but he stopped. And he gave of himself in a merciful
way. It was costly. It was costly. But it didn't matter to him what
the cost was. He was a merciful man. Remember, blessed are the merciful. for they shall obtain mercy. And he saw it all the way through. The Samaritan went to him. He bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine. He set him on his own beast and
he brought him to an end and took care of him. And on the
morrow when he departed, he took out two pens 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. He gave without
being asked, And he saw it all the way to the end. Now, which of these three, verse
36, 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. Now followers of Christ
are like their Lord. merciful people. And if I'm not
a merciful man, I've not experienced the mercy of God. You see, there's
something that makes them merciful. They've experienced the mercy
of God. And seeing God's mercy to them, I'm that man laying
in a ditch, dead, unable to save myself, and He had mercy on me. And now, in my heart, I crave,
I desire to be this merciful man, this good Samaritan. Everybody without exception that
has experienced the mercy of God should be, wants to be, and
is a merciful person. That's what this fellow did.
He showed mercy. Now, has Christ had mercy on
you? Go and do likewise. I hope we leave this building
inspired to be merciful men and women just like this good Samaritan. May God make every one of us
just that. Let's pray together.