Would you turn back to Luke chapter
10? Lord willing, tonight we're going
to look at Paul's message to the Ephesian elders. And I want
to look at the entire message, and after that we'll probably
bring five or six messages out of the individual instructions. But I've entitled this message,
The Good Samaritan. Samaritan. Now this is one of
the most well-known and one of the least understood of all the
parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. There were some 40 parables. We have the Good Samaritan Hospital
here in town. It was named after this parable. This is a very well-known parable. I dare say there are many people
who have not heard something about this parable. And this
story has been used to champion the cause of helping those who
cannot help themselves. And that is a good thing. Now, what struck me about this,
I was reading this passage of scripture this week, and this
verse of scripture hit me like a ton of bricks, verse 29. But he, this lawyer, willing to justify himself. This is the common conundrum
of mankind, willing to justify themselves. We can always find justification
for what we do. We always have a good reason
for doing it in our own minds. We can sin. and justify our circumstances
force this. It's different with us. We can
vindicate ourselves. I dare say most people that have
left this church had a good reason to do it. Men are able to justify
themselves in whatever they do. I'm good at it. I can always
find a good reason for what I've done. Men are quick. And if you know anything about
yourself, you know this is true about you. Men are quick to justify
and vindicate themselves. Now, this man did the worst kind
of self justify. The worst kind of self justifying
is when you think that you have something to do with your salvation.
You think you justified yourself. That's what it comes down to.
You think, well, The reason I'm saved is because of something
I've done. I did something that somebody else did not do. That
other person rejected Christ. I received him. I am the cause. And that is a form of self-justification. Anything that you do, I don't
care what it is, anything that you do that causes you to be
saved, that is an act of self-justification. I am the ultimate cause, not
Christ. Now, there are two people, two
kinds of people in this world. Then you fall in one of those
categories. People who justify themselves
and people who justify God. Now, I'm in one of those two
camps. I'm either justifying myself Or I'm somebody who justifies
God. Now, what does that mean? You're
like David when he said that you might be clear when you speak
and just when you judge in Psalm 51. Now, what David was saying
was, if you cut me off and send me to hell, you're just and right
in doing so. Where do you fit in there? Do
you know, do I know anything about justifying God? Now, what does the parable of
the Good Samaritan teach? Yes, it teaches us to be good
to those in need. There's no question about that.
Every one of us should follow this example. As a matter of
fact, look in verses 36 and 37, where the Lord says, which now
these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him, but fell among
the thieves. And he said, he that showeth mercy, then said
Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. Yes, you and I are
called upon to practice what this man did, but if that is
all I see, I have missed the point altogether. Now, what is the teaching of
the Good Samaritan? Well, let's begin in verse 20,
and behold, a certain lawyer. Now, remember, this is not an
attorney the way we think of in our day. This was an expert
in Jewish law, a certain lawyer. stood up and tempted him. This man had a bad motive. He
had an evil motive. He had a wicked motive. He was
trying to trap the Lord. He was trying to get him to say
something contradictory where he could accuse him. He tempted
the Lord. No good motive in what he was
doing. Saying, master, teacher, I think
it's interesting he didn't call him Lord, he called him teacher. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? Now the two things that strike
me about that statement. What shall I do? He thought he
could do it. He thought he could do it. And
he mixed works and grace. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? Now, if you inherit something,
you didn't do anything to inherit it. You inherited it because
of who you are. Aubrey will inherit whatever
we have. She's a great daughter. Happy
Father's Day. Thanks for doing that when I
didn't do that at first. I should have. But Aubrey's a
great daughter, but she's not going to inherit anything because
she's a great daughter because she's a daughter. That's it. You inherit something not because
you've earned it, but because of who you are. How many people
who are relatively worthless have inherited great amounts
of money simply because they were somebody's child. That's
happened so many times. It's not because they earned
it, simply because of who they were. So this man was mixing
works and grace. What shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And the Lord said in verse 26,
what is written in the law, how Readest thou? I love the way
when this man came to the Lord on the footing of law, the Lord
sent him to the law. He didn't quickly correct him. You shouldn't be saying that.
He said, what does the law say? And this man gave a great answer,
an accurate answer. He couldn't have answered this
better. Verse 27, 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, do you remember when somebody came to the Lord
and said, what's the greatest commandment in the law? Do you
remember how he answered? He answered the way this man
gave. The greatest commandment is to
love. The Lord thy God, with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with
all thy might, and thy neighbor as thyself. That is the greatest
commandment. So this man gave a spot on answer. One thing that I would notice
about this man is he had no understanding of what he said. He gave the
right answer. But he should have been led to
see, just like you and I should be led to see, that if that's
the case, we are guilty 24-7, every minute of every hour of
every day of every week, all the time. We are all the time
guilty of breaking the greatest commandment. We've never loved
God like this. and we've never loved our neighbor
as ourselves. This man should have seen that
he's nonstop guilty. He should have seen, and you
and I should see, that me and you are examples of what God
meant in Genesis chapter six, verse five, when God saw the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil nonstop. Now that's what this man should
have seen, but he didn't see it. And judging by his answer,
I think he thought, well, I'm good to go on the love God part,
but I'm not totally sure about the neighbor part. So I need
that explained. But let's look at what he said.
Verse 28. And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right. This do. And thou shalt live. You've given the right answer.
Do it. And live. And I have no doubt
that this man had some feeling that the Lord obviously believed
he had none yet, or he wouldn't have said it that way. This do,
and thou shalt live, but he willing to justify himself. And that
covers every human being. He willing to justify himself,
said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? I can hear his tone
when he says that. Who's my neighbor? The Lord answers, and Jesus answering said, a certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He went down because
Jericho is 3,000 feet lower than Jerusalem, and it was a
dangerous trip, well known in that day as wrought with peril
and problems, thieves and robbers. And as we go on reading, we find
out that it was not the priest nor the Levite that helped the
man, but a certain Samaritan. Now, this is very important.
For a Jew to call a Samaritan a good Samaritan would be an
oxymoron. They hated the Samaritans. They
despised them. They were very prejudiced against
the Samaritans. As a matter of fact, you remember
when the Lord talked to that woman in Samaria from the well? She said to the Lord, why are
you talking to me? The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
You all don't have anything to do with us. And when the Jews
were angry with the Lord, they said, say we not well that thou
art a Samaritan. That's the worst thing they could
call him. Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast
a devil. And yet it was the Samaritan
that came to help this man. That's very important. Not a
Levite, not a priest. But the Samaritan, he was coming
to help a man who no doubt would have despised him. I have no
doubt that this was a Jew that had come down and the Samaritan
could have looked at him and said, why should I help that
man? He hates my guts. He would do everything he can
to get rid of me. Now keep that in mind as we think of this Samaritan
who came to this man. 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. Somebody thinks, well, how can
you be half dead? Well, That's so to speak, but
we're gonna consider that a little bit more in just a moment. He
left him half dead. And by chance, verse 31, it happened
is what that means, it happened. There came down a certain priest
that way. And when he saw him, he saw this
man wounded, bleeding, half dead, he's gonna die. What to say he
did? He passed by on the other side.
He didn't have time to deal with it. He had to get to Jericho,
and he had a good reason, and he couldn't deal with this man. Now, there's one reason that
he didn't deal with this man. He didn't love him. There was
no love. If that was his child, You can
bet he would have stopped and done whatever he could. If that
was someone he loved, you can be assured that he would have
done whatever it takes, but he did not love this individual. So he passed by and went on and
left him. Likewise, verse 32, a Levite of the tribe of Levi, Now, all
priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. This
was a Levite. When he came to the place, he
looked on him. This is worse, really. He looked
on him. He came, stopped, looked at him,
looked at him bleeding, looked at him perhaps unconscious, just
in bad shape. He looked on him and he went
his way. He went on to Jericho, did nothing
for him. Why? Once again, he didn't love
him. Remember, this is about loving
your neighbor as yourself. He had no love for this person,
but verse 33, a certain Samaritan, the one who the Jews despised,
hated. A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,
came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. He was moved with compassion. by this sight that he saw." Now,
probably most of us have given a bum $5 once or twice and thought,
well, we did our duty. This is a whole lot more than
that. I want you to see what this man did for this man who
he knew probably hated him. And yet, he was moved with compassion. 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. And I have no
doubt, he was using his own personal clothing to bind up these wounds. Now, I don't know what all was
involved in it. I don't know if there were broken bones, big
cuts, bleeding. But he used his own clothing,
his own goods, to bind up those wounds. pouring in, lavishly
pouring in, not just dabbling, at great expense to himself,
pouring in oil and wine. And after that, he set him on
his own beast. He walked and had this man on
his beast and he brought him to an inn and he took care of
him. He did whatever was necessary to help this man. And on the morrow, verse 35,
when he departed, he took out two pence. Now, two pence is
not two pennies the way we think of. It was a considerable amount
of money. It was enough for him to stay there for a month or
two. It was a large deal of money. when he departed 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, I will repay thee. He took full responsibility
to that man. He left nothing undone. Whatever
it takes, I am going Now, remember, he did this for a man he didn't
even know. He didn't even know him, yet
he was moved by compassion to do this for this man. Now, that is what it means to
love your neighbor as yourself. You'd do this for yourself, wouldn't
you? You do this for yourself quick.
You do this for your loved ones. But what about somebody you don't
even know? This man was quick to do everything that was necessary
for this man. Now, I know that I do this, I
believe, for you. I love you. For somebody I don't
even know, I think it's reasonable to say
that none of us would have ever done like this to somebody the
way the Samaritan did for this poor man. What a blessing. This good Samaritan that did
all this for this man he did not even know. Verse 36, the Lord asked this
question, Which now of these three thinkest thou was a neighbor
unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, well, he
that showeth mercy on him. The Samaritan, he's the one that
was the neighbor to him. Those other fellows weren't neighbor.
They didn't play the part of a neighbor, but the Samaritan
did. Then said Jesus unto him, go
and do thou likewise. Now, if you would love your neighbor
as yourself, you do likewise. But more than that, we're given
the gospel in this passage of scripture. And if all I see from
this is how I ought to treat my neighbor, I've missed the
point altogether. This good Samaritan, is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And me and you are in this ditch
just like he was. And we can see the gospel so
clearly here. Now what I find amazing is I
read several commentaries, I listened to some messages on it, and one
of the things that kind of shocked me is that so many people said,
don't look at this as a gospel type. And I thought, why? They said, did the Lord ever
intend to teach the gospel from this? No, he was intending to
show us what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. I
beg to differ. The gospel is in here as clearly
as can be said, given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the first
thing I would notice is in verse 30, when Christ gives this story,
a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell. among thieves. And he was stripped of his raiment
and wounded. And those thieves departed leaving
him half dead. Now this represents the fall
of Adam. He fell. He fell. And me and you fell
in him. When he fell, you fell. When he sinned against God, you
sinned against God. Now somebody may think, how could
I be held responsible for what somebody else did? Because you
did it. You did it. You were in Adam.
When Adam did it, you did it too. And don't think for a second
that you wouldn't have done the exact same thing. For sure you
would have. And if you say, well, that's
not fair. How can I be held responsible for what somebody else did? Well,
you did it. Number two, the only hope you have is found in this
teaching, because if you can't be held responsible for what
somebody else did, you can't be saved by what somebody else
did either. That is what is so important about this. This fall
represents me and you. And notice it was thieves and
robbers that did this. What does Christ call Satan?
A thief. A thief and a robber. That's
the title of Satan. He was the instrument in this
fall, but he's God's instrument doing God's will. This fall happened according
to the will of God. Couldn't God have kept Adam from
falling? Of course He could have. Did
He? No. All according to His purpose. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world and God purposed the fall for
His own glory. I know somebody thinking you
saying God's the cause of evil. You can say whatever you want
to God's God and he is in control and whatever happens, happens
according to his purpose. He's God. I'd hate to think of
this life without that. He is God. This man fell among
these thieves and the scripture says he was stripped. You know
what that means? He lost all righteousness. When
Adam fell, he was stripped of all righteousness, that covering,
and me and you have been stripped of all righteousness. We stand
before God guilty, sinful, without a drop of personal merit or righteousness. Now that's the case regarding
me, and that's the case regarding you. Stripped! And he was wounded. Oh, the wounds our sin brings,
the sorrow our sin brings in our own lives and in the lives
of others. The wounds, bruises, putrefying
sores, as Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter one. Oh, the wounds that
come as a result of this. And that man departed, leaving
him half dead. Now, how are you half dead? Somebody
says, well, the Lord was just letting us know of the severity
of the wounds. Maybe, but think of this. When Adam fell, he was half dead.
He was still alive physically, wasn't he? But he was dead spiritually. And I really think that's what
the Lord's referring to when he's talking about being half
dead. Somebody says, well, that's just talking about how bad he was. Well, yeah,
but that's not the point. The Lord is very careful in the
use of every word. Adam was left living physically. You don't remember when the Lord
said in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Well, he
did die that day spiritually. He's still alive physically.
I'm looking at some people who, no doubt, are half dead. You're
alive, but dead in Adam. Now, such was the fall. Fell, stripped of all righteousness,
wounded. And you know something about
your wounds? Half dead. Verse 31, and by chance. It happened. Somebody says, is
there good luck and bad luck? You know better than that. God's
God. He's God. He's in control. There's no such
thing as luck. Somebody said, I had bad luck. You had good
luck. No. God's purpose. But the Lord
used this language and it means it happened. It happened. 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, the
Levite, when he was at that place, he came and looked to him and
passed by on the other side. The priest represents the law. The law can do nothing for you
except continue. The Levite represents all the
ceremonies. They were responsible to keep
up everything for the feast days and the whole day. Ceremonies
can do a thing for you. You can be baptized a thousand
times and it won't wash away one's sin. You can take the Lord's
table. You can attend the means of grace.
Ceremonies will do nothing for you. The priests and the Levites
could do nothing for this man. Verse 33, but a certain Samaritan,
the one that The Jews hated it, not the Lord Jesus Christ, the
man we have all by nature hated and turned thumbs down on. A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,
came where he was. And this is so important, false
religion works religion tells you where you have to be in order
for Him to do something for you. Why you need to fill in the blank,
whatever it is, before He can save you. You need to get your
life straightened out. You need to stop this particular
sin and start doing this particular good thing. You need to change.
You need to be sincere. You need to do all these things
And only in doing these things will God have mercy on you. You've made yourself a fit object
of mercy because of the things you have done. Baloney. That's all I can say to that.
It's just not true. If he didn't come to you where
you are dead in sins without anything to bring to the table,
you won't be saved. He came to him where he was,
not where he should be, not where he ought to be. but where he
was half dead, wounded, stripped of all righteousness, he came
to him where he was. I'm so thankful the Lord came
to me where I was, where I am, not where I should be, but where
I am. He came to him where he was. And when he saw him, unlike the
priest and Levite who just went on their journey, he had compassion. I thought of the leper. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion. put forth his hand and touched
him, saying, I will be thou clean. He went to him, verse 34, and
bound up his wounds, pouring in, and that's not just dabbling,
that's pouring lavishly, pouring in oil and wine. Now, that was
medicinal, I realize that, but that represents something. The
wine represents his precious blood. The oil represents the
anointing, the grace of God, the Holy Spirit. It's the work
of Christ for you. And it's the work of Christ in
you. The only thing that would save this man is the pouring
in of oil and wine. The only thing that will save
somebody like me or you is the precious blood of Christ and
the work of God, the spirit in giving us a new nature. And let
me tell you something about the blood of Christ. It ain't no offer. It ain't no
attempt. Everybody he shed his blood for
is saved. Can't take that too far. I hate it when preachers present
the blood of Christ as shed for everybody and offered. That wouldn't
save a fly. There's not a bit of gospel in
that. It's contemptible. The blood of Christ saves. and the grace of the Holy Spirit. He's invincible and irresistible. He gives life. It's called the new birth. That's the work of Christ for
you. His precious blood putting away your sins and making you
perfect before God. How perfect? Romans chapter 8 verse 30 says
we're glorified. That means the end of salvation
has already been completed. Glorified. It doesn't say we
will be glorified. It says we are glorified. Somebody says, I don't see that.
I don't either, but I believe it. I believe it. That's how complete this salvation
is. This is what the blood of Christ actually accomplished.
I'm already glorified. His blood healed this man. His grace came. to this man,
and what did he do? He took him to the inn, he took
care of him. You know, that's what the Lord does. And on the
morrow when he departed, he took out two pence. Now, I think this
is interesting. Gil, in his commentary, says
two pence is the Roman amount of money that would need to be
used in order to pay for the silver atonement money. It was
the Roman amount of money that was used to pay for the atonement
money. That's how much the atonement
silver cost. Now, do you remember what the atonement money is?
Everybody in Israel, whether he's rich or poor, had to have
the atonement money, and it was the same thing for everybody.
If you were rich, all you had to have was that silver shekel.
If you were poor, you had to have that silver shekel. The
point being, the blood of Christ is the payment for everybody.
It's not it same thing if I'm saved I'm saved with the same
payment you're saved with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and He said I'm taking full responsibility Whatever this man if you spend
anything else, I'll take care of it when I come again. You
see he is coming again He is coming again now what would make
somebody say that's not the gospel and You have to be willingly blind
to see, to say that this is the gospel. Now, which now of these
three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the
thieves? And he said, he that showeth mercy on him, then said
Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. Now, I love the way
the scripture says in the Beatitudes where the Lord said, blessed
are the merciful. And this is what every believer
is. For they shall obtain mercy. Every believer is merciful and
the reason being is they have obtained mercy. And this is the
life. Go and do thou likewise. Thank God for the Lord Jesus
Christ, that good Samaritan who came to me where I was and poured
in oil and wine, set me on his beast, brought me to the end,
and he's coming back for me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our good Samaritan, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who came to us where we are,
fallen, stripped, wounded, half dead, and poured in the wine
of his blood and the oil of his grace to cause us to be accepted
by you. that took full responsibility
for our salvation, how we thank you for him. Now, Lord, bless
this message and bless us. Lord, leave us not to ourself. Reveal thy son to us for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.