And Who Is My Neighbor?

In verse 25 in just a moment, Luke chapter 10 and we'll begin reading in just a moment from verse 25. It says, and behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted or tested him that is Jesus saying, master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, that is Jesus said unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? He answering said, thou shalt love thy 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 willing to justify himself said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor? Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more before we continue. Lord, thank you this day for your word.

We have the privilege of reading and through it knowing you, knowing the God who created us, knowing the savior who came and died for us on the cross of Calvary, the one who has purchased us with his blood that we might live to the praise of his honor and his glory. Thank you for this day and for these that have come, the opportunity we have to worship and praise your name together. We pray Lord if there be one here today that's never received Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their life that today indeed might be their day of salvation Thank you Lord for this privilege to preach your word Lord, may Jesus Christ be seen and all we say and do this day in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Here we see a a a very well educated man.

He's called a lawyer. He was very familiar with the Old Testament law, the Mosaic Law of the Jews and he came to Jesus. It says here, tempting or testing him. Question wasn't entirely sincere. That would indicate and he asked Jesus a question in verse 25.

He says, master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The first thing that jumps off the page at me when I read that verse is a little word two letters, D and O. Jesus got this lawyer came to Jesus and he said, master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Right away, he revealed something about himself just with the question that he asked. In his mind, there was something that he could do.

There was something that he must do, some some work, some law that he must keep that he might inherit eternal life. Yet in his mind was all about what he must do. But what does the Bible tell us about eternal life? What does the Bible tell us about salvation? Well, Ephesians two eight and nine, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of.

Works. Works, lest any man should boast. What does the Bible tell us? Well, salvation is by God's grace. God's graciousness toward lost sinners who in no way are capable of earning God's favor.

Are no way capable as sinners of earning heaven because we are tainted by sin through and through. It's not a matter just of what we do. It's a matter of who we are and there is only one who can change who we are and that's Jesus Christ and in our sin, we are incapable of earning. His favor or merit. The Bible says in Isaiah sixty four six, our righteousness, our do goods, are as filthy rags.

It's like if somebody changed the oil in their car and they got all that greasy, grimy oil all over the rag and then walked up to you and said, I noticed your windows on your house there need to be cleaned. Here's a rag. Go clean em. What would you love? What would you do?

Why would you look at em? You go, ew. You know, I'm not going to clean my windows with this rag. Before you can clean the windows with that rag, the rag has to be what? Washed.

And we're like the rag. And there's only one who can wash away our sins. And who's that? Jesus Christ. No, salvation is by God's grace.

It's not something we can or have or are able to earn. It is as it says here, the gift of God received when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Not of our works but based upon the work of Jesus Christ when he died on the cross for our sins. The lawyer didn't understand that. He thought that there was some work that he could do to earn God's favor.

This lawyer was not necessarily of the cloak and dagger group that followed Christ to find calls to accuse him but it was certain that he was more interested in the challenge and the debate than he was unfortunately the answer. In his answer here, we'll see he thought to make who look good. He thought to make himself look good. Not God, not Jesus, not others, but he thought to make himself look good and so, he quoted from Old Testament scriptures, Deuteronomy chapter six and Leviticus chapter nine. In his answer that he gave here to Jesus in verse 27.

Jesus turned the question back on him in verse 26 and says, well, what do you think? And he answered and said, well, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself and so he thought, well, I'm I'm I'm smart. I'll show him and I'll go to these passages rather than going to the 10 commandments. Technically, he was right. However, he was trying to show off.

He was trying to as the Bible says here, thinking to justify himself and so, he gave an impressive answer and he also gave an answer that was difficult to measure. You know, if you gave thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor or thou shalt not lie. Well, it's pretty easy to be condemned and prove that you haven't kept that one. It's pretty easy to be condemned and say, if you've taken God's name in vain, the third commandment. But he thought, well, I'll I'll choose one that's a little more difficult to condemn me with and something a little less specific.

So, when Jesus said, well, that's a good answer. The lawyer said, yes, but who is my what? Who is my name? Who is my name? When it says, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Well, well, who is my name? How can I know? The lawyer is saying, if I complete this or not. The lawyer like the Pharisees and the sadducees were sadly very distant from God. Despite their religiosity, despite their knowledge of the law, they had no real relationship with God and had very little desire to know him.

Paul described them in second Timothy three five in this manner. He said, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away. Having the form of godliness, they knew the law. They knew some of it knew it backwards and forwards but they didn't know the God of the law. They just knew the law.

The law was there to point men to who? To God and to point men to Jesus. Not for the law's sake alone. But these knowing the law still denied the power thereof. By humbling themselves before who?

Before God. They love the debate. The intellectual back and forth but they had no real longing to get right with God. Therefore, they turned to passages they thought could not condemn them or laws that they thought they could keep. This man might have gotten away with it.

Had he not have been talking to who? Had he not have been talking to Jesus. Jesus knew his heart and Jesus is God knows all the what. He knows all the answers and Jesus knew right where to go. To show this man and others that were standing around.

That he did not meet this criteria. And that he was not as he thought in his own eyes. Righteous. Before God and so he told a story. Verse 30, verse 30.

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 departed leaving him half dead and by chance, there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side and likewise, a Levi when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side and a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him, he passed by. No, it's not what it says. No, it says, he had what? He had compassion on him. Unlike the Levite and the priest, he had compassion on him.

Well, what did that mean? Well, that means he cared and as we see, he stopped. Verse 34, he went to him. He bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, took care of him, and on tomorrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, take care of him and whatever thou spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto that him that fell among the thieves.

And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go. And do thou likewise. Here we have the story of the Good Samaritan in context. Now, a lot of people have heard the story of the Good Samaritan but Jesus isn't just telling a story about a a do gooder so to speak just to encourage us to do good.

There's more to this story than that and by learning it and reading it in context, I think we'll learn a few very important things. He is giving this an answer to the lawyer and his question, who is my neighbor? And so Jesus here reveals to him, what he means by by the way, Jesus is God. He's the God of the scriptures. Therefore, when that verse was written in Leviticus chapter nine, whose words were they?

God's words, they were the words of Christ and so, who better to expound upon what they mean than God himself? So, he says here, a man so we see a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. That was a very commonly traveled road. Jerusalem and Jericho are a few miles from one another about a days or or a few days journey depending on how fast you're walking from one to the other. The road was fairly well traveled but it was curvy and there were places that were kind of hidden and so sometimes thieves would hide along the road and they would catch people unawares.

They would take their belongings and sometimes beat them up, mug them so to speak and this is exactly what happened to this man and they left him laying on the road all beaten and it says here half dead. He was he was not faring well at all and as he was laying there on the road and couldn't do anything for himself. Desperately needing help. A priest came by. Now, priest in Judaism, in in the Old Testament, the priest was a servant of the Lord who served God in the temple, in the Tabernacle, and represented God before the people.

He was a religious leader to whom everybody looked up to. He was someone that was supposed to be above reproach. An example, who was tasked with teaching as well as exemplifying what it meant to be a servant of who? To be a servant of God. Now, God is a spirit.

The Bible tells us and and God in heaven gives responsibilities to his servants here to help people like this man. It was in need. But the priest seeing the man laying there in the road, didn't stop to help him. The Levi, very similar didn't stop to help him either. Why didn't they stop to help him?

Why, why, why, why seeing him there? Did they, did they, instead of, they, they went to the other side of the road. Won't get anywhere near him. And walked down the path. Why?

Why didn't they stop to help him? Well, maybe they were too busy. They had appointments that they just couldn't what? Just couldn't miss. Just couldn't be late for.

So, that guy was going to take time. Don't have time for him. More important matters are at hand. Maybe they thought, well, you know, the robbers that beat him up, they might be hiding around here somewhere. So, I'm going to walk on the other side of the road.

I don't want to get mugged and beat up myself. So, I'm going to go on. I don't know what was in their mind but I do know this. They didn't have compassion. They cared more for who?

Themselves than they cared for this man. They were not loving him as themselves. As the Bible says, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Therefore, like many people, even sometimes us, I'm afraid. We're too busy.

We're too important to stop to help somebody else in need. What great examples they were, Very poor ones. However, a Samaritan, a man hated by the Jews, a man considered outside the promises of God, saw the man and stopped to help him. Now, who was the Samaritan? Well, the Samaritans were a group of people that lived North Of Judah, Jerusalem, and South Of Galilee, Galilee was to the North, Judea was to the South, in the middle was Samaria.

These were people that had intermarried with Gentiles. These were Jews who were left thereafter the captivity who then intermarried with Gentiles, non Jews who moved into the area before the time of Christ and so they were considered by their Jewish brethren. They were considered half breeds. There in their mind were almost worse than Gentiles. They were because of their intermarriage outside in their minds, the the promises and privileges of being a Jew and they treated them likewise.

They treated them like dogs which they might would call them. When they traveled from Judea up to Galilee, they went way out of their way not to travel through Samaria lest they run into a Samaritan and be defiled. By having even conversed with them. This is why the Samaritan woman at the well was shocked when Jesus, a Jew, asked her for a drink of water because most Jews wouldn't have received a drink of water from a Samaritan. That water was tainted.

And when defile them before God. That's the way they thought. So, this Samaritan who isn't all that welcome in Judea was traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho and he saw the man who was most likely a Jew laying there, beaten on the road but he had something that they didn't have. What did he have? He had compassion What does that mean?

Well, he looked at him when he saw him He cared He cared He cared as much for his that man as he did for who? For himself And so what he do? Well, he stopped. He stopped to help him. He gave of his time.

He placed his own life, health, and jeopardy, gave of his money, his possessions, and in doing so, he probably saved this man's life. He, unlike the priest and the Levite, he was unlike the priest and the Levite who upon noticing the man's need demonstrated no concern. This man demonstrated great concern. For someone he didn't know and for someone in who all likelihood would have not showed him the same care. Or courtesy.

The Samaritan was a slap in the face to the self righteous lawyer whom Jesus was talking to. This lawyer would have certainly considered himself far superior to the Samaritan yet in Jesus's story, who's the hero? The Samaritan's the hero. The Samaritans who the Jews considered unrighteous and filthy just by virtue of their birth. Jesus is showing to be far more righteous than the Jewish lawyer who knew the law backwards and forwards.

Jesus didn't answer the question, who is my neighbor? Jesus answered the question, whom will you choose to be a neighbor to? That's the answer, Jesus. That's the question Jesus has answered. To whom will you be?

A neighbor. Because anybody could define what was a neighbor next door across the street is is he two streets over? You know, is he in the next town? Who's my neighbor? That's what the lawyer would say.

Jesus was saying, your neighbor is whoever you choose to be a what? To be a neighbor to. The lawyer was all talk. The Samaritan actually did something. Seeing the need and passing by is no better than seeing it all together and maybe worse.

Your neighbor is anyone in need and the test is not in the knowing or seeing but the test is in the what? In the caring and the doing, okay? Hold your place there in Luke. Turn with me if you would back to James chapter one. James chapter one.

It's after the book of Hebrews not far before Revelation at the end there. James chapter one and verse 22. James chapter one verse 22. There James writes, he says, but be you what? Doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forget it what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue with therein, he be not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work. This man shall be blessed in his need. It's not in the knowing or the seeing, it's in the caring and the doing.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only. So, you might be thinking right about now. Well, hey, you know, it's about the what? It's about the doing. Well, that goes back to this guy asked, what must I do to have eternal life?

So, Jesus saying, hey, if you help your neighbor, then you must you must be going to have what? Eternal life. Is that the point? No. No, that's not the point of the story.

Here is the point of the story. This lawyer thought that he could do something to be to earn salvation to be declared righteous before God and Jesus is opening his eyes to see that he just isn't one He just isn't good enough Because he would never stop to help the what? The Samaritan had he been? He just isn't good enough. There's nothing he can do.

Salvation has to be received as a as a gift. Just as this poor man beaten and left on the side of the road had to receive the Samaritan's help as a what? As a gift. Nothing he could do. He was totally dependent upon the help of somebody else.

This lawyer was totally in need of what? He thought that he was the one that was going to help but he was actually the one that was in what? That was in need of help. And that's why Jesus came. You see, Jesus is the good Samaritan.

And we are the ones beat up and left left spiritually dead. By the side of the road of life Unable to save ourselves and desperately in need of being saved. By somebody else. And that somebody else is Jesus. You see, the lawyer was a sinner and incapable of saving himself.

Christ who was maligned and rejected of the people just like in many ways the Samaritan was. Gave of himself. Jesus went out of his way. He left heaven. He humbled himself and he became a human, a creature of earth, became a servant, to men, and then became sin for us, who knew no sin on the cross of Calvary.

The just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty there, he died for my sins. On the cross of Calvary. He died for years. But God commended his love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died. For you.

The righteous. Jesus died for our sins that we might be made or declared the righteousness of God in him. Second Corinthians five twenty one. Then, after rising again from the dead, Jesus ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the father, interceding in behalf of all those who come to him humbly in faith. And say to Jesus, I'm a sinner.

I need help. Please, save me from my sin. That's why Jesus took the suffering and the penalty for your sins and mine on the cross Of Calvary. So that we through faith in him might be saved and receive the gift of eternal life as this man beat up on the road, received it by the hands of the good Samaritan. Jesus associated himself with falling human beings so that he in turn could take my help and yours and now he is in heaven with his arms open wide inviting you inviting all sinners to come to Christ and be saved.

Not only wiping off the record the sins of the past but also of the future. Just as the Samaritan even promised to pay the innkeeper for any future expenses incurred by the man. Did you notice that in the story? The guy who brought the man to the inn said, here's some money, pay for what he needs, and whatever else he incurs when I come back through, I'll do what? I'll do take care of it.

Praise God. Jesus Christ paid for the sins of my past, my present, my future on the cross of Calvary. He looks to God the father and he says, whatever he incurs, that's on me. That's the price he paid on the cross of Calvary. That's the salvation he has to offer to you.

He who is righteous offers his righteousness to you. He who was without sin took upon himself your sin. So that you might be saved through faith in him. The answer is not in the works of the law. The answer is by putting our faith in the good Samaritan Jesus Christ and letting him do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves.

The question this morning is twofold. Are you the lawyer? Are you the man beside the road help Galatians two sixteen Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Maybe you're here today and you think, well, I go to church. I'm okay.

I I read my Bible ever so often. I'm okay. I I don't I don't hurt people so to speak. I'm okay. I I I don't commit adultery.

I don't do this. I don't do that. I'm okay. But you're not okay because by the works of law shall no flesh be justified because if you get down to the nitty gritty and really look at it, the fact is you like this lawyer will never keep it all. You can't because you're a sinner.

But Jesus kept it for you. And he died for you. And he offers to pay the price for you. So, don't be like the lawyer. Be like the man who who recognized and knew he had a need and received the gift that was offered to him by the Good Samaritan as Jesus offers you a gift today and the second part is this, Christian, are you acting more like the Samaritan or the priest?

Do we look down our nose at others whose plight is worse than our own? Do we judge people and treat them unlovingly because of the group we think they belong to? Are we too busy to stop and help? Remember, as a Christian, you represent who? You represent Jesus Christ.

He has given you the gospel. He's given you his spirit that you might go out into a lost world and tell people in need that there is an answer. That there is help. That there is a solution to their problem. So, that you might notice those who hurting and be sensitive and show compassion as your savior and help them as the good Samaritan did.

I am a crossing guard at my kid's school and I was standing there holding the sign the other day and there was a mother and her child riding bikes down the sidewalk and the the something went wrong with the child's bike. I think the chain fell off and one of the high schoolers came out of out of the building was coming down the sidewalk and because of the traffic and stuff, there was nothing I could do to get over there to help and I was hoping as I watched that the teenage boy would stop to offer assistance but you know what he did? He walked off the sidewalk and walked out and around and just like they weren't even there. But how many times are we guilty of the same? We who know Christ and have been given such a great gift.

What opportunity we have to be like that Samaritan and share that gift with others. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for the gift that we have in Jesus Christ, our savior. Lord, help us. Lord, open our eyes to help all of us to see.

That our good works, our righteousness are are not enough. Lord, no matter what law or what passage we pick to try to justify ourselves we we can't make it on our own. For we're sinners. But we thank you that you sent your son who was without sin. Who came to this Earth, though rejected and reviled by men, he died for men on the cross.

He died for each and everyone of us. And Lord, if there's one here today that's never trusted you as Lord and savior. Never humbled themselves to repent of their sins and look to Jesus and cry out, Lord, save me. Lord, help me. I pray today that as we give this hymn of invitation, they would come and I pray Lord that we who know you as savior.

The opportunities that are around us and Lord, as we have received your compassion and love and your grace and forgiveness, Lord, may we look for opportunities to demonstrate that and to share it with others this week. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen.