THE GOOD SAMARITAN or AM I MY BROTHERS KEEPER
THE GOOD SAMARITAN or AM I MY BROYHERS KEEPER?
Luke 10:25-37
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
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 neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,( A rocky, winding, treacherous descent of about 3,300 feet in 17 miles. That stretch of road was notorious for being beset with thieves and danger.)
and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, (10:33 Samaritan. For a Samaritan to travel this road was unusual. The Samaritan himself was risking not only the thieves, but also the hostility of other travelers.)
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, (oil and wine; probably carried by most travelers in small amounts as a kind of first-aid kit. The wine was antiseptic; the oil soothing and healing.);wine Holy Ghost fire, oil, the Holy Ghost.
and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
25–29. (Slide 2) The lawyers question was a continuation of the Pharisees plan to entangle Him in His talk (Mat. 22:15-17 concerning the giving of tribute to Caesar) and again in (Mark 12:28 in asking what is the first commandment of all), 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 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: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
(Slide 3)
Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan in answer to the self-justifying question of a lawyer, And who is my neighbor?
Deut 10 19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Impartial Love.
John 15 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Christ Set standard
Romans 12: 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Not false.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: Abounding
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently
(Slide 4)
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
(Slide 5)
30. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
He was probably a Jew. The way down is from approximately 2600 feet above sea level to approximately 800 feet below sea level and is through a treacherous wilderness. Thieves and robbers waited for lonely travelers. This man was attacked, beaten, robbed, and stripped of clothes.
31–37. Two Jews, a priest and a Levite, passed by but did nothing to help the poor man. Remember there is history with them.
(John 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.) There is no love loss between these people and the Jews.
(Slide 6)
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, (oil and wine; probably carried by most travelers in small amounts as a kind of first-aid kit. The wine was antiseptic; the oil soothing and healing.);wine Holy Ghost fire, oil, the Holy Ghost.
(Slide 7)
Then a Samaritan came along and aided the robbed victim, even seeing to his full recovery by paying for his stay at an inn. This Samaritan was a true neighbor. He had a compassionate heart, a helping hand, and unlimited concern.
He gave up personal comfort, physical energy, and valuable time.
As one preacher expressed it, the robbers beat him up, the priest and Levite passed him up, but the Samaritan picked him up.
The thief said, “What’s yours is mine, I’ll take it.” The priest and Levite reasoned, “What’s mine is mine, I’ll keep it.” But the Samaritan said, “What’s mine is yours, we’ll share it.”
Let us heed Jesus’ final injunction to the lawyer, Go, and do thou likewise (vs. 37).
Three Philosophies (Slide 8)
1. The Thief:
His philosophy of life says, “What you have is mine.”
This is socialism or communism.
2. The Priest and Levite:
His philosophy of life says, “What I have is mine.”
This rugged individualism has gone to seed.
His cry is, “Let the world be darned, I will get mine.”
This is godless capitalism.
3. The Good Samaritan:
His philosophy says, “What I have belongs to you.”
This is a Christian philosophy of life.
“What I have is yours if I can help you.”
Now our Lord intended that we bring this parable right down to where we live. We are told that a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves.
That is a picture of humanity. That is the race that has come from Adam. Mankind came from Jerusalem, the place where they approached God, to Jericho, the accursed city.
Humanity, you see, fell. Humanity found itself helpless, hopeless, and unable to save itself.
Humanity was dead in trespasses and sin—this man who had fallen among thieves was half dead.
The thieves are a picture of the Devil who, John 8:44 tells us, was a murderer from the beginning. Concerning this subject our Lord said, “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers …” (John 10:8).
When the multitude came to arrest Christ, He said to them, “… Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me” (Matt. 26:55). The Devil is a thief, and our Lord was crucified between two thieves—this is quite interesting, is it not?
Then we are told that a certain priest passed by on the other side. He represents ritualism and ceremonialism that cannot save a person. Someone has said that the reason the priest passed by on the other side was that he saw that the man had already been robbed! There was nothing for him to gain.
Next, a Levite came by, and he too passed by on the other side. He represents legalism.
Neither ritualism, ceremonialism, nor legalism can save.
Then a “certain” Samaritan passed by. Verse 34; he sees the mans’ situation and after checking him over he tends to his needs a little wine to clean the wound and oil to help with the healing process.
Then he places him on his donkey and takes him to an inn, pays for his room and board and tells the innkeeper when he returns if there are more charges he will pay for them then.
James 5:14 is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Whom did the “certain Samaritan” represent?
He is the One who told the parable.
When ritualism, ceremonialism, legalism, and religion could not do anything to help man, Christ came.
He is able to bind up the broken-hearted.
He is able to take the half-dead, lost in trespasses and sins, and help him.
This parable has a practical application for you and me today. Any person you can help is your neighbor. It does not mean that only the person living next to you is your neighbor.
People need Christ, the Good Samaritan. There is a great deal of talk about getting the gospel out to the world, but not much of an effort is made to see that people know about Christ.
It is like the young fellow who was courting a girl. He wrote her a letter and said to her, “I would climb the highest mountain for you, swim the deepest river for you, cross the widest sea for you, and cross the burning desert for you!”
Then he added a P.S.: “If it does not rain next Wednesday, I will come to see you.” That sounds like the average Christian’s commitment to Christ!
The world today is like the man that fell among thieves and needs our help.
The world needs Christ. Christ cannot only rescue us from drowning, but He can teach us to swim.
Ritualism and formalism see humanity drowning and say, “Swim, brother, swim.” But man cannot swim. Man is burdened, weighted down with sin.
Legalism and liberalism push across toward man and say, “Hang on, brother, hang on.” But man cannot hang on. The heaviness of our grief from sin is more than we can carry.
There is a song, which says:
“I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore,
very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
but the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
from the waters lifted me, now safe am I.” Christ lifted me,
My friend and He can lift you too.
That is the message of the Good Samaritan.
Conclusion: Let’s end with this:
1 John 4:7- 11
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.