The Good Samaritan, Part 2

Luke chapter 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan. We've entitled our series, The Searchlights for the Soul. That's what the parables are. God is shedding light on the condition of all of our hearts, helping us to understand the true condition of our lives. We're beginning the second section of parables in Luke chapter 10.

The parable of the good Samaritan, Luke chapter 10, verse number 25. "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the law? How does it read to you? And he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?"

"Jesus replied and said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went off, leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him, and when he saw him he felt compassion, and he came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend when I return, I will repay you. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands? And he said, The one who showed mercy toward him. And Jesus said to him, Go and do the same."

Our outline is the same. It's the same throughout all the parables that we're going to do. We go then to the interpretation and then look at the implications for your life and for mine. Very simple outline. It's not very difficult at all. And as we look at the interpretation. The interpretation. The lawyer wanted to know: is there a time when I can stop loving my neighbor? And Christ says, You need to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Think about that for a moment.

You know, the Bible says everybody loves themselves. Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 29 says, "No man ever hated his own flesh." No man ever did that. So all these people who walk around saying, oh, woe is me, you know, I'm just no good, and I don't like myself, and oh, you know, that's just a lie. Because the Bible says every man loves himself. They love themselves. You love yourself, I love myself. We are so narcissistic, it's unbelievable. And Christ says you've got to love your neighbor just like you love yourself. That makes it very difficult, doesn't it? Because I don't want to treat you like I treat me. That takes too much time. That takes too much energy. If I spent as much time on you as I do me. That I wouldn't have enough time for me. So I'm not going to give you all the time that I do spend on me because, after all. My life's about me, it's my world, and you're just living in it, right? That's the way most people think.

And so Christ says: listen, you need to understand. What the Bible says about meeting the needs of your brother. And if you're going to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, you've got to understand what it means to love your brother. Let me give you five principles.

Number one is this. Love is driven by Christ. Loving your neighbor has to be driven by Christ. Because nobody in their natural realm is going to reach out to their neighbor and love them. And I know that there are many people, many Hollywood celebrities, many athletes who go out and they feed the hungry and they do all kinds of good things for people, thinking that somehow that's going to give them a good standing in the community and that's going to give them a good standing before God. It might give them a good standing in the community, but before God, all their righteousness is as filthy rags.

You see, the problem with that is the motive. And a lot of people serve the needs of others and want to do good for others because they are on TV or they're written up in the paper or someone else is going to see what they do. You see, true love. Doesn't care whether or not it's ever seen. True love doesn't expect there to be anything done in return. This man, this Samaritan. did not expect the man on the road to do anything in return. In fact, he didn't even care if the guy did anything in return because that's not what he was about. He just wanted to do what needed to be done so the man was taken care of. But real true love is driven by Christ.

Paul says very simply these words: love. That was demonstrated at Christ's crucifixion is now displayed in his new creation. And that love compels us, it moves us. That's why Romans 5:5 says, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." You see, God says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Leviticus 19:18. That's the law of God. Alright? Now, the only way you can do that is because of Romans 5:5. The love of God now is shed abroad in your hearts.

You can never stand and say, you know what? I just can't ever love that person. Wait a minute. Yes, you can. You choose not to love that person. But if you're a child of God, you can love that person because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts. You have become a partaker of the divine nature. Peter says, so the nature of God, which is to love, now becomes a part of the Christian's life. And so now he is able to be moved and compelled to love based on what God has done in his life.

See, the bottom line is: if you don't love God, you will never love your neighbor. You've got to love God first, right? You see, if you don't love God first, you're going to manipulate your neighbor. But the love of God, because it compels you, causes you to touch the need of another individual. You see, this is how you know that you're doing stuff compelled by the love of God. You do something for somebody? And never ever expect a thank you, never expect anything in return. In fact, you don't even really care whether or not that you ever get recognized because that's irrelevant to you.

You see, if at any time you say, you know what, I did that, they did not even give me a thank-you note. Why did you do it? So you would get recognition? You know, they didn't even give me a phone call and say, hey, you know what? Thanks for doing that. Well, what was your motive? You see, the motive of God says, you know what? If they don't respond, it's irrelevant. Because I want to serve my God. And I'm going to serve my God by serving my fellow man, no matter what my fellow man does. The love for your neighbor is driven by Christ.

Number two, it's displayed by compassion. It's displayed by compassion. All three of these men passed by, and all three of these men looked at the same guy. But only one of the three responded differently than the other two. Only one did. He felt compassion. He saw the physical need, and something stirred him on the inside. Same word used of our Lord over in Matthew chapter 9 when he saw the multitudes. And the text says that he felt compassion for them because they were wayward. They were like a sheep without a shepherd. You see, our Lord had compassion, and that is, love is displayed by compassion. That is, you see the physical need and you meet the need. You just don't see the need and walk on. You see the need, and you do something about the need. That's what Christ did. That's what He expects us to do with our neighbor. So love is driven by Christ, love is displayed by compassion, and love is demonstrated by contact.

Love is demonstrated by contact. He went out and he actually touched the guy. Notice he doesn't say, gee, I wonder if there's any more robbers around here and they're going to get me if I go over and help this guy. You know, a lot of times we think about that, don't we? We're driving down the road. And some old lady on the side of the road, there she is. Oh, I'd love to stop and help her, but what if I stop and get hit by a car? Oh, I'll just drive on. There she sits. Well, what if she gets hit by a car? We don't seem to care about that, do we? Let's just drive on. But we begin to think about the obstacles. Love ignores the obstacles and gets involved. Love ignores the obstacles and looks for the opportunities. And this man saw the opportunity. He wasn't worried about what would happen to him if. You know, what if the robbers are still around and they're waiting for me to come and therefore they're going to rob me? No, he went over, he touched the man. There was a need. He needed to meet the need. So he did. Love means taking a risk. Think about it. The priest and the Levite, they weren't willing to take that risk. But the Samaritan, he took the risk. Not knowing what would happen to him, not knowing what the condition of the man was until he actually contacted him, touched him, turned him over to see his condition. Love is demonstrated by contact, driven by Christ, displayed by compassion.

And fourthly, love is dispensed with care. Love is dispensed with care. When Jesus asked the lawyer, which of these three men demonstrated that he was a neighbor, the lawyer answered, the one who showed mercy. And that's right. The one who showed the tender, merciful care. Listen to the words of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 14, verse number 21. "He who despises his neighbor sins, but happy is he who is merciful to the poor." Proverbs chapter, same chapter 14, verse number 31. "He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy, he who is merciful to the needy, honors God." You see, this man showed mercy. This man was mercy full. That's why the Bible says that we are to be merciful even as our Father in heaven is merciful. Luke 6, verse number 36.

That's why, when we get to the end of our parables in Matthew chapter 25, and Christ takes the sheep and puts them on the right, and takes the goats and puts them on his left. And it says, "when you saw me hungry, you fed me. When you saw me thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When you saw me naked, you clothed me. When you saw me in prison, you came to visit me." And they said, "When did we see you in prison, thirsty, naked, hungry?" And Christ said, "What? When you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it as unto me." And then to the goats, what's he saying? "When I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was thirsty, you didn't give me anything to drink. Naked, you didn't clothe me. In prison, you didn't visit me." And they, "oh, Lord, when did we see you in prison? If we would have known it was you, Lord, we'd have been there. Lord, if we had known you were hungry, we would have given you something to eat. If we had known you were thirsty, we would have given you something to drink." He said, "When you didn't do it to the least of these, my brethren, you didn't do it as unto me." That's why James says in James 2:13, "the judgment will be merciless to those who show no mercy." And Christ says to the goats, "Depart from me into everlasting punishment." Harsh words.

Love is dispensed with care. This man cleansed the wounds of the wounded man. He poured alcohol on this man as an antiseptic. He used oil to soothe his pain. He bound up his wounds. He gently and carefully placed him on his own beast and took him to a place of comfort. This man showed mercy. This man was caring. That's why 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love does not seek its own welfare. Love is driven by Christ, displayed by compassion, demonstrated by contact, dispensed with care.

And lastly, loving my neighbor is distinguished by cost. It's distinguished by cost. You can't love someone without it costing you something. It was John Henry Jowett who said the ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing. Translate that over to your marriage. The marriage that costs nothing accomplishes nothing. And this man had to give up a lot. He had to give up his time, right? He had to give up his time. He had to rearrange his schedule. He had to give up his money. He had to give up his ride. The beast, I don't know what it was, a donkey, a horse, I don't know what it was. He had to give up his ride here to walk. This man knew the cost of meeting the needs of someone else. He had to use his alcohol and his oil to tend to the wounds of this man. This man did not seek his own desires. But what he did was distinguish himself from others by sacrificially giving what he had away so this other one would have his needs met. Oh, that is so important.

You know, we miss that. You know, we like to give because we have the money. We like to give because we have the means to give. But very few of us ever sacrificially give. Very few of us ever give so much that it costs us something. But that's what true love is all about. That's what you're loving your neighbor is all about, right? And that's what this man did. I like what Ephesians 4:29 says. It talks about God giving you a job. So that you can meet the needs of other people. You see, we think that we have money so that we can, you know, pay a mortgage and pay a car payment and go to the grocery store and all that's good and well, you got to do that. But God gives you a job so you can meet the needs of other people. We forget about that. Why? Because God wants you to actively be pursuing those people who are in need and demonstrating His character to them. And therefore, he'll give you a pay raise. Therefore, he'll give you things so you can learn to give them away, so you can learn to help other people who are in need. Because he wants you to understand the cost in giving.

"Greater love hath no man than this. That a man laid down his life for his friends." It says in Ephesians 5:25 that Christ gave himself up for the church. And that's how husbands are to love their wives. By giving themselves up. Paul said of Christ over in Galatians chapter 2, verse number 20: "that the Son of God who loved me gave himself up for me." That's the character of someone who loves their neighbor. So Jesus says, having understood this, I want you to go and do likewise. That's the implications. Point number three. I want you to go and do likewise. I want you to be like the Good Samaritan. That's what I want you to do.

The implications fall in two categories. Number one, for the unbeliever. Number two, for the believer. If you're here tonight and you're an unbeliever and you've never given your life to Christ, I will let you know something. The Bible says you can never earn your way to heaven. "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Spirit of God." It tells us in Titus chapter 3 verse number 5 that it is of the mercy of God that salvation is given to us. You can't earn it. You can be here tonight and you can do every good thing in the world, but it's not going to get you to heaven. It's not going to happen. Because you can't. Keep God's standard. If you break the law in one point, you've broken the whole law. And nobody can keep the law perfectly. That's the standard. It's a perfect standard. And nobody's perfect. And God knows that. And so therefore God says, I want you to throw yourself on me. I want you to throw yourself upon me because I am a merciful, kind, compassionate God, and I will save your soul.

If you're an unbeliever tonight, you've got to love God. You have to. Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16:22: "whoever doesn't love God, he's cursed." He's cursed. 1 Corinthians 16:22. You've got to love God. If you don't love Him, you're cursed. So, how are you going to love Him? The only way you can love Him. Is because He first loved you, right? That's what the Bible says, 1 John 4:10, and 1 John 4:19. The only way we can love God is because He first loved us. And now we can begin to reach out and love him in return because of what he's done for us. And then, and only then, because of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, can we reach out and love our fellow man? If you're an unbeliever, you can't earn your way to heaven. You can't work your way to heaven. You can try to justify yourself all you want, but the only way you get there is by the grace and mercy of Almighty God.

Number two, for the believer. For the believer, Christ says, I want you to go and I want you to do likewise. This week, maybe it's already happened to you, you're going to encounter someone who has a need. It's going to happen tomorrow at work or on your way to work. It's going to happen somewhere this week, maybe next, but it will happen. Maybe it already happened today. And Christ says to you, I want you to go, and I want you to do likewise. I want you to be able to meet the needs of your fellow man. That's very important. Why? Because your fellow man needs to understand the character of God. And the way you do that is to reach out to them, to touch them at their deepest level of need. Take the opportunity to share Jesus Christ with them.

The Bible says over in Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13, verse number 8. "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law." A loving man, a loving woman is demonstrating the fact that they don't commit adultery. They don't steal. They don't murder. But they truly love their neighbor as they love themselves. And Christ says, You fulfill the whole law. Owe no man anything. But to love one another. So important. It says in Galatians 6 that we are to do good to all men, especially to those of the household of faith.

I want you to think of the opportunities that God places before you this week and see how you can do good to people. Not because we're in to doing good things for people, because the Bible talks about how we're to meet the needs of our fellow man. And I want to reach out to them and show that anybody who has a need is our neighbor. And we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And the next time you see somebody in need, you say, what would I want someone to do for me? That I will do for them. That's what needs to happen.

So you've got to ask yourself some questions. Question number one is this. What in your life needs to change in order for you to do what Jesus said you need to do? What needs to change? Number two, you ask yourself this question. Which of the characters in this story do you identify with the most? The priest? The Levite? The Samaritan? The guy on the side of the road? I don't know. But who do you identify with? And then you ask yourself this question: when you hear of a need, when you see a need, what is your very first response? Think about that for a moment. You hear about a need. What's your very first response? Usually it's I don't have time for that. I don't have enough money for that. I don't want to do that. Isn't that your response? That's my response. I'll be honest with you. Oh, I don't want to do that. I don't have time for that. What's your very first response? And then you need to ask yourself the question: what excuses do I give not to meet the needs of my neighbor? Because no excuse is justified if I have the means in which to meet that need.

I want to read you a story. Story in the Bible. Story about a man. And you see how you fit into this situation. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 22, that we are to love. One another deeply, fervently, doing everything we can to touch the needs of those around us. Very practical illustration. It reads as follows. "My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, You sit here in a good place. And you say to the poor man, You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scriptures, you shall love your neighbour as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy for mercy triumphs over judgment."

It is so easy, so easy to show partiality. It is so easy for us as people to make distinctions. It is so easy for us to look at one man and see another man and say, I'll greet that man, I won't greet that individual, and thus show distinctions, thus be partial, and yet we are to be merciful to all men. We are to love our neighbor and thus fulfill the law of God. Loving our neighbor is so important for us to, in a very tangible way, reach out and touch the needs of people around us. Look for your opportunities. Look for that avenue that God has placed before you to touch the need of someone else. And watch how God works in and through your life as you are used by God.

Let's pray together.