INTRODUCTION:

1. In Luke 10:25, we see that "a certain lawyer stood up" to ask our Lord a question. The term "lawyer" here refers to a scribe well versed in the Mosaic Law.
2. But this religious lawyer was evidently not sincerely seeking the truth, because we are he told this "certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him..." (10:25).
3. Tonight we will consider his question, our Lord's answer, and the well-known story of the Good Samaritan. The key words are found in Luke 10:37 -- "Go, and do thou likewise."

 

I. THE QUESTION (10:25)

1. This lawyer could be described as captious and sneaky. His question was calculated to entrap our Lord. He "tempted Him" (10:25).
2. In the Gospels, we see that "the common people heard him gladly" (Mark 12:37).
3. But the religious leaders were always trying to entrap our Lord.
4. "The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven" (Matthew 16:1).
5. "The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" (Matthew 19:3).
6. "This they (the scribes and Pharisees) said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him" (John 8:6).
7. Now if the questioner was sincere, it would have been an excellent question. In fact, eternal life is the greatest question in life.
8. Multitudes of people, both Jew and Gentile, religious and irreligious, great and small, rich and poor are ignorant of this!
9. Our Lord responded to this great question, by asking two questions of His own. He said unto him, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" (10:26).
10. "How readest thou?" Christ's question must concern
    Each eager, praying one, who would discern
    The real meaning of the Book of books,
    When through its pages he with patience looks.
    
    'Tis one thing, friend, to read the Bible through,
    Another thing to read, to learn and do;
    ‘Tis one thing, too, to read it with delight,
    And quite another thing to read it right.
11. The lawyer was doubtless endeavouring to justify himself by obeying the law (cf. 10:29).
12. He was trusting in his own works, and so our Lord pointed out that this man (or any man for that matter) could never obey Luke 10:27.
13. Notice, Jesus said: "this do, and thou shalt live" (10:28). Not, "this try to do, and thou shalt live."
14. There are only two religions in this world -- "do" and "done."
15. It has been pointed out that the lawyer had sufficient knowledge, but there was insufficient application. What was in his head had not touched his heart.
16. The lawyer had sufficient knowledge of the Mosaic Law (10:27), but no one can be saved by merely knowing the law, and there never lived a man, apart from our Lord, who ever perfectly kept the law.
17. James 2:10 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
18. The lawyer said that we are to love our neighbour. And so our Lord said to him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
19. But the lawyer, "willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" (10:27-29). Let us consider this question...

 

II. THE RESPONSE

1. The lawyer said, "And who is my neighbour?" (10:29). His question proved that he did not really love his neighbor as himself (cf. 10:27b).
2. For if he had loved his neighbor, he surely would have known him!
3. His question showed him rather obtuse. It was as if he was asking, "Whom am I required to love?"
4. F.B. Meyer said, "We cannot live alone. No one of us can be entirely independent of others. I am not only a centre, but I am part of another man's circumference; and every other man, woman or child I know is part of my circumference."
5. Our Lord responded to his question by telling the story of the good Samaritan (10:30ff).
6. This story is often referred to as a parable, but Luke does not call it a parable. It is probably a true story.
7. We are living in a day when most people know very little about the Bible. Sunday school attendance is in decline and these days fewer and fewer churches are preaching and teaching the Bible.
8. Few churches have Sunday evening services any more, and many of these services are not well-attended.
9. And yet, certain Biblical references are still very much a part of our common culture and vocabulary. For example, we often hear of a "good Samaritans" rescuing a person in danger.
10. There are "Good Samaritan" hospitals all over the world, including one out in West Islip, Long Island.
11. This "certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho" (10:30), a distance of about seventeen miles. In Scripture, one either goes "up to Jerusalem" or goes "down from Jerusalem."
12. This "certain man" went down a dangerous road (10:30). The book of Job says, "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7), and, "Man that is born of a woman is of a few days, and full of trouble" (Job 14:1).
13. Life is full of danger. We need to stay close to the Lord!
14. When people go down a dangerous road they often get into trouble, and that’s what happened to this fellow. He "fell among thieves…" (10:30).
15. Any road is a dangerous road if you are not right with God. If I was not saved, I would not want to ride on the highways or the subways. I want the Lord to be with me everywhere I go.
16. This man went down a dangerous road, and our Lord says he "fell among thieves, which stripped him…" (10:30). After robbing him, and stripping him, and wounding him, the thieves "departed, leaving him half dead" (Luke 10:30).
17. Stripped, wounded, abandoned, helpless, and half-dead!
18. What a vivid picture of the cruelty of sinners!
19. Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet, said:

          Man's inhumanity to man
          Makes countless thousands mourn!

20. We have here a vivid picture of the cruelty of sinners, and the cold indifference of many so-called "religious people."
21. Notice the two religious men would not stop to help him (10:31, 32). A certain priest happened to be walking by but he wouldn’t help. He deliberately crossed the road and "passed by on the other side" (10:31).
22. Our Lord said in John 10:13, "The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."
23. Many years ago I gave the Gospel to a friend of mine. He seemed very interested but he made a big mistake. He went down to the Roman Catholic church and spoke to a priest. He said: "My friend told me I need to be born again." The priest assured him he did not need to be born again (John 3). The priest told him to keep up with the sacraments, mass, etc. and all would be okay.
24. Our Lord said in Luke 20:47, "The same shall receive greater damnation."
25. Next came a Levite (Luke 10:32). The Levite "came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side" (10:32).
26. What a picture this is of religion without regeneration! There is much tradition and formalism in churches today but God is not in it!
27. Recently a Greek Orthodox pastor named George Passias was kicked out of his church in Manhattan for committing adultery with a staff member. Their adulterous relationship was going on for many years, and was well-known but he finally got fired when it was discovered that they had made an X-rated video together.
28. This adulterous priest was once the chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and was in charge of all the Greek Orthodox priests in the USA.
29. There are lost sinners all around us, beat up by sin, left wounded and half-dead by the devil, and the hypocritical religious crowd just walks by with their pomp and ceremony, carrying their big "WE LOVE JESUS" banner, and their big silver and gold crosses and crucifixes, holding up their candles, led by their worldly clergymen and clergy-women, dressed in their elaborate robes and religious garb.
30. I saw photographs of this priest Passias and his much younger girlfriend. He was wearing a long black robe and a big gold cross. His married girlfriend was wearing a mini-skirt.
31. Sinners are dying and going to hell. They need help. But the religious crowd just passes them by.

 

III. THE APPLICATION

1. The lawyer asked, "And who is my neighbour?" (10:29). The priest and the Levite passed him by, but the good Samaritan understood that this man lying half-dead on the side of the road was his neighbor (10:33-37). A neighbor in need!
2. To appreciate this story, one has to know a little bit about the history of the Samaritans, a despised people of mixed origin -- partly Jewish and partly pagan.
3. The Jews hated the Samaritans. But the priest passed by, and the Levite passed by, and only this certain Samaritan "had compassion on him" (Luke 10:33).
4. The Jews hated the Samaritans but you will remember Jesus deliberately went to Samaria to talk to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:3-14).
5. John 4:4 says, "And he must needs go through Samaria."
6. The Jews despised the Samaritans. In John 8:48, the Jews said to our Lord, "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?"
7. The Jews may have despised the Samaritans, but God loved the Samaritans!
8. Our Lord said in Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
9. Acts 8:4 says, "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them."
10. Many souls were saved in Samaria, and Acts 8:8 says, "And there was great joy in that city."
11. This Good Samaritan is a picture of the man God wants you and me to be. He wants us to be like Jesus, and this Good Samaritan is very much like our Lord.
12. Notice "he had compassion on him" (Luke 10:33).
13. Matthew 9:36 says, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them."
14. Let us be like the Good Samaritan, always ready to help some one in need. The Good Samaritan bound his wounds and "took care of him" (Luke 10:34).
15. The Good Samaritan was unselfish. He risked his life helping a total stranger, and he too was in peril from thieves. They could have returned, or other thieves may have attacked him.
16. The Good Samaritan was thorough -- he took care of everything (10:34, 35).
17. Our Lord drove home the point in verse 36. Here is the answer to the lawyer's question, "And who is my neighbor?"
18. "Go, and do thou likewise" (10:37). This is our duty,
19. Duty was discussed by the lawyer.
20. Duty was defined by our Lord.
21. Duty was declined by the priest and the Levite.
22. Duty was done by the Good Samaritan.
23. In heaven we will learn of the multitudes of sinners who were saved through the example of some "Good Samaritan."
24. The Good Samaritan was pitying, prompt, practical, and persistent.

"I am but one -- but I am one;

I cannot do much -- but I can do something;

What I can do, I ought to do;

What I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do" -- Edward Everett Hale.

25. John Wesley said:

          "Do all the good you can

          To all the folks you can,

          In all the ways you can,

          In all the places you can,

          As long as ever you can,     

          For Jesus' sake"

 

CONCLUSION:

1. In 1869, the owner of the New York Herald newspaper sent a young reporter, Henry Stanley, into the heart of Africa, with these instructions: "Go find David Livingstone, and get what news you can relating to his discoveries."
2. At that time, Stanley was a lost sinner.
3. The outside world had completely lost contact with David Livingstone, the great missionary and explorer, for six years, and he was ill for most of the last four years of his life.
4. Henry Stanley left for Africa, and on November 10, 1871, Stanley found Dr. Livingstone and greeted him with the now famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
5. David Livingstone's life and testimony served to convict the godless Henry Stanley, and soon he came to a saving faith in Christ.
6. Stanley later reported that he was surprised and captivated by the courtesy, dignity, patience and high morals of Dr. David Livingstone.
7. Writing of Livingstone, Stanley said, "Lowly of spirit, meek in speech, merciful of heart, pure in mind and peaceful in act...during health or sickness...he was, consistently noble, upright, pious and manly, in all the days of my companionship with him."
8. Dr. David Livingstone died in 1873 in Africa, allegedly from malaria (his wife died of malaria in 1862) and internal bleeding caused by dysentery. He died while kneeling in prayer at his bedside.
9. Think of all the good that one man, David Livingstone, accomplished.
10. Jesus said, "Go, and do thou likewise" (Luke 10:37).