Oh, Father, it is so good to be in Your presence, so good to be in the company of Your people, so good to know that You have given us everything that we need in Thy Son, right up to this very moment.
And so we look to You this morning, that You would bring light to Your Word, that You would enliven it, that as we hear it, we would be changed by it. We trust the Holy Spirit to do this, that there would be this anointing for the speaking and for the hearing. And we trust that You will change us this morning.
Speak to us, O Lord. Your servants are listening.
Numbers of years ago, as a much younger man, my brothers and I—some of you know my brother Steve, my brother Michael—we had a reputation of sorts that most any project conceivable to the mind, we could do with a butter knife.
I mean, it was like the only tool that I ever possessed was a butter knife. You could use it for screwing things. We would turn the handle, holding the blade and using the handle to bang in nails. We just figured that was about as much as we needed to get by to accomplish most any job that came our way.
There was also an occasion when it came to painting. I had this little house out on Long Island, a real small little house. It was a bungalow at one time, and the time came that it needed to be painted.
I did have a six-foot ladder, and I asked my brother Stephen to come and help me paint the house. It was not too bad—the front of the house and the back of the house—working off of the six-foot ladder. But then we came to a problem when we came to the sides of the house with this peak. What would we do?
So my brother and I painted as far as we could reach off of the ladder. Then I took my Volkswagen, pulled it alongside the house, and put the ladder on top of the Volkswagen. Then I painted as far as I could, got down, moved the car a little bit, put the ladder back up, climbed up, and painted.
Well, much to the consternation of my family, and especially over the embarrassment that they thought they would be facing as the neighbors saw us doing this painting job, you know, it was not very successful.
And sometimes we go throughout Christian life just like this. We try to live out this life with our own tools, with our own equipment, and we are faced with futility, disappointments, and discouragements.
So today, if we would look at some of what God has for us, I have had this on my heart for a number of months now to share. The main Scripture we are going to be looking at is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
I have had it on my heart for a few months, but the Lord has the right timing for everything. I am very glad that our brother Lance was here and sort of precipitated this by what he shared about love.
And so I feel that this is the time that God wants to speak to our hearts about that particular parable. In 1 John 3:14-15, it says:
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
It does not say that he who does not love his brother will sometimes find this life without much satisfaction in it. But the Word of God here is very strong. It says, “He who does not love abides in death.”
If we do not love, our life will be filled with death. There is no gray area here. This is how plain God makes it to us. He makes it plain for our salvation’s sake, because if we are living in death, we will never experience the fullness of the life of God, the hope that comes with it. He says, “If you do not love the brethren, you will abide in death.”
And we might say to ourselves, “Well, I really do not hate any of the brethren. I really do not hate anybody.” But when you look back in Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus says that you have heard of old that if anyone were to murder his brother, he would be subject to judgment, He says, “But I say to you, if you so much as call him a fool, you would be subject to that same judgment.”
And so it really causes us, I think, to examine ourselves, because there is not any gray area here. You either love, and love wholly, and love fully, and love sacrificially, or you really do not love at all.
Because the kind of love that we are called to is just that kind of love and nothing less. We are not called to friendly associations with one another. We are not just called for backslapping and handshaking. We are called to sacrificial love for one another.
In 1 John 3:16 and 23, it says:
Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
That is the love we are called to. Verse 23:
And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ,
and love one another, even as He gave us commandment.
And I think it is unique when he says, “This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.” You see, in order to love like this, we need to believe on the Lord Jesus—that He is able to do in us all that He has spoken of in His Word.
He has equipped us, well equipped us, that we could love as we are called to love. We need to believe that. Otherwise, we will return to our own tools, our own equipment.
But we need to believe God. God says that this is what you need to do: “This is My commandment, that you believe in the name of the Lord Jesus,” because in that name is power. In that name is ability.
You know, I come to you today weak. I am as weak today as I was the day I gave my heart to Christ. But I have to say something else, and this is something I think we need to hear: we are weak and unable, but the truth is this: in Christ, we are able.
We can live in the victory of the Lord Jesus. We can have an overcoming life every day. It says, “This is His commandment, that you should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ.”
In Christ, we have all that we need pertaining to life and godliness. Do you believe that, though? Are we walking in the truth as He is? Are we walking in the light as He is the light?
And John, in that same letter, in 1 John 4:20-21, says this:
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.
And this commandment have we from Him,
that he who loveth God love his brother also.
I want us to keep in mind, as we begin to look at this parable of the Good Samaritan, this thought: this is His commandment, that you believe in the Name; you believe in the power of the Name of Christ; you believe that He is able to do what you and I cannot do. And what He is calling us to do is to love.
So now, if we turn to Luke 10:25, we will read it through, and then we will go back and take a look at this.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou?
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.
And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Jesus made answer and said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion,
and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the morrow he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will repay thee.
Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers?
And he said, He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
“And behold, a certain lawyer.” Some translations say, “a doctor of the law.” He stood up and tested Him.
Now, I wonder really what was going on in this lawyer’s mind. He was a doctor of the law, and he came to ask a question of Jesus. He was a man who knew the law, who had studied the law. He was a man whom people came to ask questions of. He was one who settled disputes between people based on the law. He was well versed in the law.
What was his mindset in asking this question? Or, as it says here, he tested Jesus with this question. What was his mindset? Well, I think we can look at it two ways.
One way in which we can look at it is the way some of us operate even within the body of Christ. Some are very skeptical. They come as skeptics. They come sometimes quite cynical because of what life has done to them and with them.
And so here we are in the body of Christ, and we are sort of sitting on the periphery of things, looking in, as it were, from the outside, never really giving ourselves fully. We are waiting, as it were, for the hammer to drop.
It is like—and I am sure many of us, anyway, have had these sorts of things occur in fellowship—where you are standing on the periphery, not really giving yourself, and yet so easily pointing the finger and saying, “They are just not doing it right.”
“If they would only do it this way, or if they would only see things this particular way, it would be so much better.” And they are almost waiting for something to go wrong so that they can say, “You see, I told you so.” And yet they never really give themselves.
Or it is those who are very cynical. You see someone who has gone down the wrong path, has made a mess of things in their life, and has done it repeatedly. But then all of a sudden, something of the grace of God begins to work in their lives.
They come before the assembly, or they come to you and say, “You know, I am really sorry for the way I have been. I am sorry for the many times that I have hurt you. And I just want to tell you, God is doing something in my life.”
And we sort of say something like this: “Yeah, yeah, that is real good. I am happy to see that.” But inside, what we are really saying is, “You know, a leopard cannot change his spots.” And we are almost waiting for that person to fall.
Have you ever had that going on inside of you, just waiting for the wrong thing to happen? But you know what it says about love? It says love believes all things.
It does not mean that I believe in you, but I believe in the power of God, Who is able to transform lives. And so even this one who has had a track record of failure, I can believe God that God can come into that person’s life and change them, and they can be a witness and a testimony of the power and grace of God. Love believes all things.
So was the lawyer that kind of person? Was he saying, “You know, I have to ask Him this question. I want to see where He is really coming from. I want to see if He is genuine, this Jesus, this Nazarene. I want to see what His agenda is. I want to see if He is out after something for Himself, or if He is really a man sent from God. I am going to ask Him this question: ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”
Or could this have been something going on in his mind? This teacher of the law: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Here I am. I am a teacher of the law. I have studied this thing backwards and forwards. I pay my tithes. I give alms to the poor. I am at the temple serving. I am going from house to house and trying to help.”
“And even though I am doing all of these things, yet there is this emptiness inside of me. I do, I do, but yet I still do not feel close to God. I do not know. I am beside myself. The harder I try, the behinder I get. What can I do to gain eternal life?”
What frustration. Do we sometimes feel like that? Or are you feeling like that? Is that your Christian life—a life of doing and exercising and serving, but yet filled with all kinds of frustration? Not really sensing the life divine, not really sensing eternal life, fullness of life, overcoming power in your life?
What frustration. Why go on? And some people get to that point: “Why go on? Look how hard I have tried all of these years, and what is there to show for it?”
Could that have been what was going on in his heart, filled with frustration? “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?”
I find that very interesting. He says, “You have this in front of you. What is written in the law? You have studied over all these years. Do you not understand what I am trying to say? What is your reading of it?”
And so he reads, or he quotes from the law:
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.
And Jesus said to him, “You have answered rightly.”
You do not need to turn there, because it is almost the same in Mark 12:29-31. There is a situation here where Jesus encounters a scribe. The scribe had been standing there while Jesus was talking to the Sadducees about the resurrection, which the Sadducees did not believe in. But the scribe noted how well Jesus had answered the Sadducees.
And he asked Jesus this question: “Which is the first commandment of all?” In other words, which is the commandment that is above every other commandment?
And Jesus answered him:
The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.
The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other but He. And to love Him with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Wow. The scribe said, “Awesome.” And Jesus recognized it and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
So Jesus says to this lawyer, “You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live.” And I think something inside that lawyer said, “I cannot. I just cannot do this. I have tried. I cannot.”
Maybe that is something you say to yourself at times: “I just cannot. I have tried, I have tried, I have tried. I just cannot.” Well, maybe you have just got to stop trying.
Maybe this is a time just for believing. You cannot, and I cannot. But those things that are impossible for men are possible with God. He is the One Who is able. It says, “This is the commandment: believe in the name of Jesus.” Believe that He is able.
What good does striving do? Because all of your service, all of your good deeds and my good deeds, if they are not issued out of love, as we recently heard from 1 Corinthians 13, all of it is worth nothing. Nothing.
It is all reduced to this: love. There was a song that I heard many, many years ago when I first became a believer. It said this: “The gospel in a word is love. Love thy neighbor as thy brother. Love, love, love.”
It is always reduced to this. It is always reduced to love. And that is what Jesus is saying here. And this lawyer is saying, “I cannot.” And Jesus is wanting to say, “My son, but that is why I have come. You can. I have given you everything that you need.”
But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “Well then, who is my neighbor?”
You know, the Jews had a very narrow conception of who their neighbor was. And maybe for a different individual, they narrowed it down even more. You see, for the Jew, only another Jew was really his neighbor. They had nothing to do with the Gentiles, and they had nothing to do with the Samaritans.
The Samaritans, in the eyes of the Jews, were heretics. As a matter of fact, they even used the name in a derogatory way. “I would call you a Samaritan if I did not think much of you. Ah, he is just a Samaritan. You are a Samaritan.” That is the way they thought of them.
And yet their conception of who was their neighbor could be narrowed down even more than that. There were many synagogues in the cities, and they called them guild synagogues. A guild synagogue was formed by a number of men—twelve men—based on their trade.
It might have been the synagogue of the tentmakers or the synagogue of the butchers, or—you know what I am saying? So maybe their conception of who was their neighbor was those people who came to synagogue with them. “They are my neighbor, those whom I will associate with and help,” and so on and so forth.
Sometimes we have that same kind of conception of things. “Well, I am labeled over here, so these are really my brothers and sisters, and the rest of you, I guess, are out there somewhere. But you guys are really my brothers and sisters.” Or, “It is just us over here. We have got the corner on the way we should be meeting.”
Maybe we have that sometimes, that sort of conception of what our neighbor is. But I think Jesus is about to blow that right out of the water here.
Then Jesus answered and said, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” This little journey from Jerusalem to Jericho was about nineteen miles through a valley. From what I understand—and, as a matter of fact, I even heard Lance say this many years ago—even to this day, that section of land is notorious for thieves and robbers, for ambushes taking place along that way.
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. This certain man—we are assuming, the inference being given—was a Jew traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Who is this man? Who was this victim? The victim is you. You are the victim. And I am a victim.
In John 10:10, it says:
The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy:
I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
The evil one, what he wants to do in your life and in my life, is to come and rob us of the life of God. He wants to kill us. He wants to destroy us. And we see that happening in so many ways.
We are the victims. We have been victimized over the years. From before the time that you knew the Lord Jesus, there was a plan to snuff out your life. There was a plan against you that you would never come to know life, and life to the fullest.
It was a plan devised by the evil one, our adversary. And he does it in so many ways: abused as children, abandoned by mothers and fathers, misunderstood by brothers and sisters, put out by different groups, wounded, sometimes destroyed, spirits killed.
We are the victims. We have all been victimized.
Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at that place, came and looked, and passed on the other side.
Now it is interesting. Again, there is an inference made here that they were coming from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jericho was this large city, and it was this city of priests. It was a place that housed priests and Levites. There were thousands that lived in Jericho.
And it was assumed that these men had done their temple service. Now they were coming from serving God in the temple and going home. And as they were going home, they passed this man, half dead.
The Lord says, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
And they could have had their excuses. The priest could have seen him, not wanting to get too close, and said to himself, “Oh, this is a dangerous place for me to be. I had better get out of here because this might happen to me.”
Or, adding insult to injury, the Levite, when he came along—at least the priest walked on the other side—the Levite came over, had a look at him, and said, “Oh yeah, this guy is in real bad shape here. Yeah, but he is only half dead anyway. What can I do to help him?”
“Let me get on my way before something worse befalls me. What do you expect me to do? Anyway, he might be deserving of this. Who knows? This might be just God’s punishment for his disobedience.” And boom, they get on their way.
“I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Can they pass on the other side?
But you know, it is an interesting thing. Here they are, these priests and Levites, who are supposed to be religious people and know the law. But it is interesting, and I will just read this from Deuteronomy. Here they were not able to help this fellow Jew, and they broke the law by passing him by.
Because in Deuteronomy 22:4, it says:
Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way,
and hide thyself from them:
thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
Sometimes that is what we do, brothers and sisters. There are those who are so wounded amongst us. These are the ones we just sort of want to walk on the other side of the road. “If I do not look, I cannot be responsible, so I really do not want to get myself involved with them.”
Those are the not-so-pretty ones, the ones that are really difficult. The ones that, when we think about helping them, we say to ourselves, “You know, if I start this thing, it is going to take some time because they are in really bad shape.”
So if I do not pay attention to them, if I really do not look at them, then I will not be responsible. There are those like that amongst us. We would just rather not take note of them.
And then there are those all around us who do not know the wonderful saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Here we are with exactly what they need. And out of embarrassment—and that is what it is most of the time—it is not lack of opportunity. Oftentimes, it is because we are embarrassed.
“What are they going to think? I am a holy roller or something.” We get embarrassed. There are probably other words we could use for that.
I remember many years ago, I was riding the subway. I had just been in the Lord a couple of years, and I used to have my Bible with me all the time. I was doing construction work in Manhattan. I used to ride the subways, and I would open my Bible and read the Bible.
Then one day I was sitting there, and I went to my Bible, and all of a sudden I got this sort of feeling. I closed my Bible and put it under my tool bag.
And when I did that, the Lord spoke to my heart. I mean, He knocked me off of the subway seat just about. He said, “If you are ashamed of Me before men, I will be ashamed of you before My Father.”
And that is exactly what was happening. That is exactly what was happening that day in my life.
But there are so many just around us who need the Lord, who just need to hear the good news.
But a certain Samaritan—and I just want us to catch that—a certain Samaritan was going by. And as he journeyed, he came where this man was, this man who had been laid waste by the thief. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
He could have had very similar excuses as the priest and Levite. He could have said to himself, “You know what? If I were lying here and this Jew passed by me, he would pass me right by, because those Jews say they cannot have anything to do with us Samaritans. So why should I stop and help him? He would not help me.”
But it says that he saw him and had compassion on him.
So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. How symbolic: the oil speaking of the Holy Spirit, the wine speaking of this antiseptic, the blood of the Lord Jesus that cleanses us from our sins.
And he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Is it not wonderful that when we came to the Lord Jesus, He did not just leave it to us? But He says, “I am going to send you the Holy Spirit, Who is going to be your Helper, your Teacher.”
And on the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to the innkeeper, “Take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.”
Who is the innkeeper? You are the innkeeper. I am the innkeeper. The church is the innkeeper.
Jesus comes and says to us, “Jerry, these are My children, and you ought to take care of them. Bob, you ought to take care of them. You ought to nourish them. When they get hurt, you have to bind up their wounds. You have to be there for them.”
“You are to be there to correct them when they are going wrong. You have to be there to encourage them to go on. You have to be there to heal them. You are the church.”
And whatever you do, whatever you expend, do not think it goes unnoticed. Because when I return—
When Jesus returns, He is going to say, “Come. Come into the kingdom that I prepared for you, because I was hungry when you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was in prison, and you came to visit Me. Sick, and you were there for Me.”
“When did we do this?” Whenever you did it to the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me. You are the church. This is the inn. You are the innkeeper.
You are the innkeeper. You are the inn. So am I.
So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?
Well, who was the Good Samaritan? Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Jesus is the Good Samaritan.
He is the One Who comes along, Who has bound up our wounds. He is the One Who has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. He is the One Whose blood was shed on our behalf. He is the Savior. He is the One Who keeps us. He is the One Who nourishes us. He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. There is no other Good Samaritan. It is Him. It has always been Him. Wonderful.
It is always reduced to this. It is always reduced to love. We love Him because He is the Good Samaritan, because He first loved us. Everyone else will disappoint. He never disappoints.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan, and He says, “Go and do likewise.” Jesus never says, “Go and do likewise,” and leaves it up to us to do it, as I said, equipped with a butter knife.
But He says, “Go,” because I have given you everything you need. Everything you need. Go and do likewise. Go and love.
And that is what He is calling you and I to do, very simply. There is no escaping this issue of love, just like we read right in the very beginning from that letter of John.
If you do not love, then you abide in death. But Jesus says to this lawyer who asked Him that question, “You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live.”
If there is shallowness in your life, in your Christian life, if there is disappointment in your life, if there is this sense of frustration in your walk in the Lord, then I would say this: examine yourself.
Are you giving yourself away in love? Not out of duty, but are you giving yourself away in love?
If so, then you will experience, and I will experience, life—abundant life, a life full. Are you giving yourself away in love? Are you going and doing likewise?
Dear Heavenly Father, we are so grateful to You for Your Son, the Lord Jesus, Who is this Good Samaritan Who has rescued us.
And now we just look to Him to be our life, to do this impossible thing. But we trust that You will do it by Your Spirit, O Lord.
We bless You today. You are the great Lover of our souls, and You have given us everything that we need in Yourself. We have no complaint. We have no room to complain. Everything that we need, we find in You.
Lord, I pray that we would believe.
Amen.