Luke 10:29-37

Luke chapter 10, verses 29 through 37. But he, the lawyer that was speaking to Christ, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And Jesus answered, 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. 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, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an, in and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host. Sit unto him, take care of him. 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 thief. and he said, he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go, and do thou likewise. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. God in the Old Testament gave a command to King Saul to utterly destroy all the Amalekites. But so much so. Saul didn’t obey God’s command. Decided he would spare Ag, the king of the Amlicites, and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the animals that they had, all that was good. When Samuel came and saw what had taken place, he was quite upset with Saul, and he was quite upset with Saul, and he remonstrated. him with him he confronted him with regard to his disobedience but saul thought he had a good excuse and here’s what his his excuse saul said we say the best of the animals the sacrifice unto the Lord Samuel replied hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord and the kingdom would be taken from King Saul because of his disobedience in regard to this matter, for he had a rebellious spirit within him. The famous story of the Good Samarit is well known. You could probably ask the man on the street, at least they probably heard about the Good Samaritan. This story was told by Christ in response to the lawyer’s questionnaire, you recall, who is my neighbor? The lawyer remember came tempting Christ, desiring to discredit him. And so he asked Christ, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Well, Jesus directed him to what was written in the law? What sayeth the law? You’re a lawyer. What does it say? You’re a man who studies the law of God day and night. What do you read? Well, the man recited the two great commandments of the law. First, you’re the love of the Lord by God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, and so forth. And two, you’ll love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said, this do, and thou shall live. You’ll be declared righteous by God. Go ahead and do that. And you won’t be. condemned by God. Jesus, of course, was not saying that the man actually had the power to do this, was leading him to realize that he was a sinner who needed a Savior. And he is, of course, the Savior. However, the lawyer here sought to justify himself. And so he didn’t touch the first table of the law, which I thought was interesting. He jumped right to the second table of law. Wow, who’s my neighbor? He was going to try to reduce the name. He was going to try to reduce the name. neighbor down to maybe friends or people on his own, maybe a group, maybe the Pharisees, or whatever group, Sadducees, or whatever he was associated with. So the whole point here of this parable really revolves around this question exactly who is your neighbor. If you’re going to fulfill this commandant, what does it mean? Now, I have to dispose of something here before we get into. to the details of our text. I have to tell you this morning that I do not believe that this is an allegory that Jesus has given. I don’t think he told the story of the good Samaritan as a type and figure of himself in his great work of redemption. Is this work, this story meant to teach you something about God of Christ’s mercy to man? Many have explained the details. of this parable to make it fit this type of interpretation so that the story in some fashion would illustrate Christ’s work on behalf of sinners. But the question is this, did our Lord tell this story with a double meaning? Did he intend for you to interpret this in this manner? For example, Is the traveler that’s lying naked, wounded, and half dead, man falling and out? Are the priests and the Levites some type of form of religion, and it shows then the failure of religion to alleviate man’s sad condition? Is the Good Samaritan Jesus Christ who comes to save man? Is the oil and wine, the Holy Spirit, of the blood of Jesus Christ? Is the end the church? is the two pence, the two New Testament sacraments, is the innkeeper, the minister, is the promised return here the second coming of Christ. I know you may listen to this and you say, well, where in the world did people come up? This is what I heard when I was growing up. These are the kinds of things that you get sometimes when you come to these passages. People can find all kinds of ideas in them. My question to you is this. Do you really think this is Christ’s purpose in telling this story? Isn’t the real lesson here? What is the true nature of loving your neighbor? That seems to be the focus. This highly symbolic interpretation leads to all kinds of absurdities when you really get down to it. And really, it’s a dangerous way to handle scripture. For example, is man only only only a dangerous way to handle scripture? half dead fallen man. Maybe the Pelagians are right. The semi-plagians, the Armenians. Maybe they’re right. You see? Because he says man’s half dead here. And if we make that man fallen in Adam, then he’s not completely dead as the scripture says he is. Do we want to go down that road? Why is Jesus Christ portrayed as the Samaritan? I thought he was the son of Abraham, the son of David. I thought he was a Jew. I thought he had to be, according to scripture. So how can he be a Samaritan? How does that fit in with the storyline? No one explains that to me. Why is money? The two parents used to speak about the two ordinances of the New Testament church. And when Jesus says, if this is Jesus speaking, when he comes back, you’ll pay what was still owed. Does it mean he didn’t pay enough for the first time when he came, when he died on the cross? I mean, you see where we can go with this. Is the rescued believer to remain in a helpless state until Christ returns again? he’s still laid up? I just suggest to be careful. Sometimes it looks plausible at first. When we start looking at it in more details, he can get into all kinds of absurdities here. So my suggestion is don’t go down that direction with this. Let’s take it for what Jesus said it was about. He’s telling us about who is a true neighbor and who is not. Now let me begin by saying this. You may pay no attention to God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself. In verse 30, we read here about these things. thieves who attacked this man, who was going down from Jerusalem, which is up in the mountains, down to Jericho, was in the plains. So he’s coming down the road, and as he’s coming along these mountain roads, evidently, there were places where they could hide and come out and attack it, and they would rob him. I guess maybe he was by himself, and no one was around him, and so they attacked him. Loving your neighbor as yourself, is rather rare in this world. It’s not common, and it’s certainly not something that you’ll find in the natural man. This poor man is attacked by these band of themes. These are not only robbed him, but we read that they severely wounded him, they stripped him of his clothes, they leave him laying on the road half the day. What do they care about the man? Here he is traveling peaceably, maybe going about his business. and he’s maliciously assaulted. These highway robbers had no concern about this. They didn’t care whether he lived or died. They certainly weren’t loving their neighbor as themselves. What proof this is of the great depravity of man? I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident. It’s so rare that it hardly ever happens. That’s not true. These people were only concerned about enriching themselves, and a lot of people in the world are in the same. situation. So we must not think this is an isolated incident. Just a few weeks ago, there was a story on the news about a man who got off a bus in New York City and he was walking to his home. And he was accosted by 20 young thugs who knocked him down, punched him, kicked him, stomped on him, robbed him, tore every stitch of clothes off of him, and left him lying naked, there wounded and wounded on the sidewalk. See? Nothing changes. We’re not progressing for the better as we go through this world. We’re not getting more enlightened and better. We’re no different than it wasn’t Jesus’ day. Man’s depravity is still the same. He had done any harm to these people. Oh, he did was get off the bus, maybe done from work, and he’s going to go home. And he’s cruelly treated. They didn’t show him any compassion. They certainly didn’t love their neighbors themselves. John J. Harrigan once was national president for the Fraternal Order of Police. He was in the Philadelphia Police Department for 27 years. He said, there is hatred today in this country that is growing and grown. Near where I live, a man was walking to church and two men came up behind him and cut his throat. Another man was just standing on his throat. the street corn when a bunch of kids came along and they said let’s give it to him and they killed him. A little girl was walking up the street from where I live and a boy came along and stabbed her. He said all these things seem to just happen for no apparent reason, just pure hatred. Beware of expecting much kindness then from men. Few care for others except when they have an interested boat of maybe that there’s something they can gain from someone else. Here’s what scripture says about man in Romans chapter 1. He’s filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. He’s full of envy, murder, deceit, malignity, without natural affection. That’s what scripture says about man. Friends, fallen man is a hateful creature. There was no intention. There’s no intention. of loving his neighbor as himself. That’s a problem. That’s a problem. So you may pay no attention to God’s command to love your neighbor yourself. Some, most people don’t really pay much attention. Secondly, you may only pay lip service to God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself. Now here we have the Levite and the priest. Look at verses 30 and 31. And by chance, they’re came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, the Levi, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. So here are priests and Levi. No doubt, they were attended the temple worship services, or they were involved in the temple in some fashion or another, and they’re coming down from the temple, going maybe back home to where they live. Sometimes they would come from different. parts of the country serve at the temple for serve along and then they would come and go home again. Well, they came along and they came past this man who was lying there on the road naked and assaulted and wounded and so forth, bleeding. The word by chance means by coincidence, or we might say it so happened. It’s so happened that this happened. It was a God’s Providence. They came down this way. Now, these men were religious men. These men were directly involved in some capacity, you would think, of temple worship. And they’re familiar with God’s law. They were familiar with the duty to love your neighbor as yourself, weren’t they? Both of these men, because of their office and their position, ought to have been eager and motivated. to do good to this man who was lying there on the road, wounded, dying. These two men, no doubt, could teach others all about the two great commandments in the law, loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. However, they were hypocrites. Who bid others to observe and do the commandments of God, but they say and do not, as Jesus said, many of the religious leaders of his day were like that. Now here’s a prime example. These men were too selfish, too uncaring, too unloving, too unloving, to lift a finger to help this injured man. And they were religious people. They saw this poor wounded man, perhaps heard him groaning, and perceived without help, he would surely die. But did they care? No, they did not. The Levite even came for a closer look. He took a closer look at the man. But then they went over to the other side of the street, stay as far away as possible from the man and went on their way. I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t want to get contaminated. Because they were ceremonially clean or something. Who knows? My friends, there are many who are just like the priest and the Levite, whose religion is vain. Because they never practiced what, God commands. They may know what God commands, but they don’t put it in the practice. They don’t do what he said. The scripture says, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed and in truth. In 1 John 3, 18. There’s a very odd stature which adorns the wall on the ground on the ground. of Ribson Hall in Yorkshire, England. And it is commonly called the two-faced butler. On the one side, there’s a face that’s all smiles and politeness. On the other side is one that depicts nothing but insolence and impoliteness. The story behind this statute represents that there was such a butler who once served at the hall, who once served in this household. And one day after having received orders from the mistress of the house, smiles and all eager to obey, went his way. But then he was seen a moment later when he thought she wasn’t looking, sticking her tongue out at her and making all kinds of impolite gestures toward her. Well, he got caught. And so this statue was ordered, made, and erected in a very prominent place to shame him and to warn any other servants. If this is what’s happening. If you get out of line, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to shame you. Religious professors lacking salvation in Christ often do often do great harm to the people of God because they’re great hypocrites. It’s easy to see in the case of the priests and the Levite, they were two-faced. All religion, but when it came down to really practical Christianity or religion in this case, they didn’t show it. You may only pay lip service to God’s command to love your neighbors or something. Thirdly, you must put into practice God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself. Now notice this story here of the Good Samaritan, verses 33 to 35. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, had compassion on him, went to him, 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, gave them to the host, said on him, take care of him whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. This poor man was helped by a foreigner. This is the point of the story. A man who didn’t belong to his nation, wasn’t even of his religion. The Samarians, according to John Four, had no dealings with the Jews. The two of them were like oil and water. The priest, the Levite, refused to help a fellow Jew, but the Samarians, who belonged to another nation, reaches out and shows him kindness and compassion. The robbed man, though a Jew, was a man in misery. And so the Samaritan came and coming along, said, God help the man. The Samarid went to him. While the priest and the Levi kept their distance, the Samaritan went right to the man. They immediately began to assist the injured Jew. He bound up his wounds. to stop the bleeding. He used wine to wash the wounds as an antiseptic because it had an alcohol content in it. He used oil as a healing agent, putting oil on it, an aid in the quick mending of the wounds. He put this man on his own beast. He couldn’t just leave him there. He took him to an inn and walked there on foot himself. And he provided money to pay for it. for the lodging of this man, the food for this man, the supplies that this man needed, the care for this man. And he promised when he returned he would check up on the situation, and if he owed any more money to the man who was running the inn, he would pay him. Friends, you couldn’t ask for something more neighborly than this. This man loved his neighbor as himself. So here’s the Good Samaritan. Now, the point of all this story here is what we find here again in verses 36 and 37, your need to obey God’s command. Jesus says, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves, and he said he that showed mercy on him, and Jesus said on him, go and do thou likely. Jesus is driving home the teaching here. This lawyer wanted to reduce the neighbor. to someone maybe of his own religious sect, maybe of his own nation. He wanted to limit it down. Jesus is making it as broad as possible, isn’t he? The lawyer has to admit, and he probably didn’t like this, the Samaritan actually was obeying the law of God, loving his neighbors himself, whereas the priest of the Levite were not. It troubled him to confess that, but it was the truth, wasn’t it? The Samaritanianianianian. acted better than the priest and the Levi. The Jesus next words here, go and do thou likewise, define the lawyer’s duty according to law. Whoever you meet, who is in need, is your neighbor. Unless your love is as extensive as the Samaritans here, you can’t be claiming you’re obeying God’s command. There are some important principles we should draw from this text of scripture about loving your neighbor. And the first is this. You should love your neighbor without hesitation. It doesn’t matter if this person in need is of your nation. Does it matter if this person is of your own race? As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially under them, that are of the household of faith. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10. It is true. We have a special duty to our brother or sister in the Lord. Special duty to take care of that. But we have a general duty to take care of others who we come across, who are in need. You help this person, even if he’s not a believer in Christ. Even if he’s not a sound Calvinist, maybe he’s an Armenian. Maybe he is someone, you know, of a different religion altogether. Maybe he’s an Arab, a Muslim. Does it matter? No, it doesn’t matter. Even if he’s your personal enemy, you might say, but he’s my personal enemy. Really? What does the scripture tell us in Romans 1220? If thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. Don’t try to reduce this duty. then. See the broadness of this term neighbor. Love your neighbor without hesitation. You don’t have to think, well, go through the, check through the list and make sure he’s on the list of who you want to consider your neighbor. No, no. You meet a man who’s in need. He is your neighbor. Secondly, here, another point I want to make. Love your neighbor unselfishly. Now, the Samaritan here, didn’t do the bare minimum for this man that got robbed and beat up and left for dead. He went out of his way. He did all the good he could possibly do for the man. He didn’t skimp on the care because it was going to personally cost him something. You know, he didn’t drag him to the next village or, you know, take him to the next village on his donkey and drop him off and say, well, you guys need to take care of this guy. He’s not looking too good. Took him to the end. Paid for the expenses. Look care. You should help your neighbor according to your ability, not withhold your generosity to keep from personal sacrifice. I don’t want it to cost me anything. Well, sometimes it costs you something to love your neighbor. It costs you time. It costs you energy, maybe. You’re expending yourself on behalf of this person. Love your neighbor unselfishly. Love your neighbor with great tenderness and care. now the Samaritan here wasn’t cold and indifferent and extending his help you ever know do you ever ever anybody help you and they were really reluctant about helping you they you they were you know they were telling you how much out of the way they had to go to help you on this and they weren’t very happy about it you ever have that happen to you you’re keeping me from my business here i got to haul you off to the end to the end and take care of you everything was done here with loving you thought whatever skillfulness he possessed and binding the wounds and providing antiseptic and a healing agent and so forth he did he did his best strangely enough here he even considered what the man might need in the future you know maybe the man might need some more help i don’t know i’ll have to come back and i’ll have to check up wano he was willing to follow up on the man to see what could be done whatever we do for others let us do it in a noble manner let’s not do it begrudgingly let’s do it with real compassion for the needs of others which translates into actions toward it love your neighbor with great tenderness and care now sadly few professing Christians display any practical Christianity toward their neighbor and yet this is an important thing to do because often it’s through this all this means this good means that a door of opportunity to witness will be open to your native and if we don’t show the compassion toward them and help them then we’re never going to get the you know the door’s never going to open for us so we should take the opportunity as we can and do the best we can So you must put into practice God’s command. That’s what I see. King Saul gave lip service to obeying God’s command to destroy all the Amlicites. But he was condemned for. Don’t be guilty of giving lip service to your duty to love your neighbor as yourself, then you’re no better than the priest than the Levite. Many in this world pay no attention to God’s commands to love your neighbor, to love your neighbor, love the neighbor and we see that everywhere around us. It’s a completely foreign concept. I was at dialysis one day and one of the texts was talking to me and said, you know, everybody likes to take care of you because you don’t complain. You don’t give anybody a hard time when we’re there. So everybody fights to take care of you. And I said, well, I said, I said, I try to love my name. as myself and think about how it would be if I were in your shoes. And I know you’re going as fast as you can, and sometimes it takes a while for you to get to me and I’m waiting. But if I sit there and, you know, yell at you and complain and scream at you, that you’re putting me on late and all this stuff, I said, you can’t do any more than you’re doing. I see you’re busy. It’s not like you’re lollygagging around, you know, you’re doing the best you can’t. I bring all my stuff in this suitcase and I open it up and I can get it all out myself. Put it on me, you know, the pillows under my legs and the brace from my back and the pillow behind my head and the blankets. And when you take your blood, you get cold. They keep the room cold anyhow. But you get cold when they take some of the blood out for dialysis. So I got these, you know, you get your blankets on you and you got them all. I got my books and everything all lined up here with my… suitcase there and I got it all set up and I can do all that myself. If they don’t have it, the seat set up right with the back cushions properly, then I put them out for them while I’m waiting on the come. But he asked, you know, when we talked about it, he was sort of taken back when I told him, well, I should love my neighbor as myself. I try to practice that. And if I were in your shoes, that’s what I would want the patient to do for me. he didn’t know what to do with that. It’s a foreign concept. But for the Christian, who has respect for God’s commandment, this is an important duty, isn’t it? So let’s not neglect this. Let’s realize, you know, what God commands is broad. God’s law is exceedingly broad. So when it talks about loving God, it’s with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, the whole being. When it comes to loving your neighbor, that term is broad, too. You can’t narrow that down to just my friends or my group, wherever we need is in need as your neighbor. Let’s…