Would you turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 10? I've been preaching through the Gospel according to Luke and the morning services at Christ URC, and so that's usually what preachers do. They bring whatever it is that they're serving to the other place. Your pastor's doing the same thing in Santee. One of the things that stood out to me in the Gospel of Luke are all the wonderful parables. parables are tremendous. And there's so many good ones to choose from, but certainly this one that we'll hear today is one of the more well-known parables to all of us, even maybe those who aren't believers and outside of the church, the parable of the Good Samaritan. So let's hear that today. Let's hear God's Word. In Luke chapter 10, beginning at verse 25, And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, 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 he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, and he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, take care of him and whatever more you spend i will repay you when i come back which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers he said the one who showed him mercy and jesus said to him you go and do likewise for the reading of god's holy word well if i'm correct today is the 26th lord's day of the year and I do believe that makes it the halfway mark for 2013. I only remember that because we're preaching through the catechism Lord's Day by Lord's Day, exactly Lord's Day by Lord's Day for the first time since this is the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism. But I was thinking how that means that we are halfway from the beginning of the year, and I wonder how we're doing with those New Year's resolutions that we set. I'm sure you had at least one at the beginning of the year. You know, we want to be better people, right? We want to be healthier people, happier people, nicer people. And so usually at the end of each year, at some point, we begin reflecting on the things that we would like to see change in our life. And if you're like me, you usually set some kind of New Year's resolution and I'm going to do these three things. The older I get, I've learned to make them shorter and shorter the lists because usually I fail. I'm just setting myself up for some kind of failure. But generally what we desire is to be better people, more loving, more kind, more gentle, less harsh. And many have interpreted this story of the Good Samaritan to be that kind of principle. You know, if we could all be like this, we would be better people. Helping those who can't help themselves loving others and that's the truth if we all did that the world would be a better place let's not kid ourselves but the question is is that really what this parable is about it's a familiar parable to us it's so familiar to people even in the world that it's comedy here even as you're watching the news in the evening when somebody helps a stranger what do they usually call that person? A good Samaritan. They say, well, a good Samaritan came along and helped a stranger without thinking of any kind of repayment, and this person is the better for it. But the story is one that often gets misinterpreted. It gets misapplied. It's a story that the world often is ready to receive, ready to listen to, because generally we all want to be better people. But the truth is, if we're better people, yet not justified people by God, there's a huge danger in that, isn't there? In fact, it's deadly. And the point of this parable is not about being a good Samaritan to others so much, but rather about how to inherit eternal life. Jesus is unpacking what it means to love our neighbor, showing us that we must look for a righteousness that comes from outside of ourselves, a righteousness that only he can offer. And really, that's what all of his parables are about. They're ultimately all speaking of what he and his kingdom brings and how it rearranges things from the way they are in the world. And so if we want to understand that parable properly, well, we need to see the context, really, in the way Jesus tells this story. He really begins telling this whole story as an answer to the lawyer's test. The lawyer puts him to the test. That's the first thing we see. There's this lawyer, and he has a test for Jesus. And this lawyer was an expert in the Mosaic law. That's the kind of lawyer that he was. Luke uses a term there that indicates he was a scribe, a person trained and credentialed in interpreting the law of Moses. And like most lawyers, this one loves a good debate, loves a good chess match of the wits. And Luke says that this lawyer, he stood up to put Jesus to the test. And he uses this word test only one other time that I could find in the gospel. And it's used when Jesus was in the wilderness earlier, when he was being tested by Satan. tempted by the devil. And you remember how Jesus rebutted Satan by quoting Deuteronomy 6 saying, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And so now here comes this lawyer essentially doing to Jesus the same thing that Satan had been doing in the wilderness. He's testing him. He's trying to trap him. That's what the lawyers and the Pharisees are always doing as you're going through the gospel of Luke. You see, they're constantly trying to ask him the one he can't answer, trying to trap him in his words, trying to corner him, trying to get him. And so this guy, no doubt, sharp, intelligent, stands up in front of others, deliberately where they can hear, and he asks Jesus, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, he wasn't asking an honest question. He was testing Jesus, trying to trap him. Nevertheless, it was an important question. In fact, it's the most important question that anybody can ever ask you. If somebody asks you this week, so, you're a Christian, what can I do to inherit eternal life? Well, loved ones, there's no more important question than that one in the whole universe. How can I be right with God, essentially? Now, it's the question to ask. The question. The most important question that every human being ultimately must ask. What do I have to do to be good enough to go to heaven? And let's remember that most people, they are asking that question back in their mind. They're coming up with the wrong answers, of course, because we're sinners and we suppress the truth. But everybody ultimately is asking that question. What do I have to do to be good enough? to go to heaven well this is the question that the lawyer asks jesus even though it wasn't an honest question he was he had other motives he knew perfectly well that the old testament spoke of an eternal inheritance he knew the law and the prophets like the back of his hand he knew that the prophet daniel for example had foretold of the resurrection on the last day and eternal life that would be granted to the righteous he knew the old testament he knew that when the the future blessing would come, that there would be some who would inherit it. So he's asking Jesus, what must I do to inherit that eternal life? And Jesus answers the lawyer's question with a question. He knows that this lawyer knows the law, and so he says, well, what's written in the law? How do you read it? And this lawyer probably could have quoted the whole Torah. And he answers by quoting a line from Deuteronomy 6. and a line from Leviticus 19. 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 it was the right answer. It's correct. And Jesus acknowledged that. You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. Do what the law requires and you will inherit eternal life. It's as simple as that. Now, of course, loving the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself is something that ultimately we can't do. But nevertheless, it is the truth. If you do it, you're good enough for heaven. The problem is that none of us can do it perfectly. Everyone knows intuitively, right, that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. Everybody knows that. Last evening, my family and I were down in La Jolla trying to escape some of the heat, and we were there in our favorite spot that we've been going to since our children were little, overlooking the tide pools. Beautiful evening, the sun's going down, lots of people are down there, their dogs, bringing dinner, which is what we did. I was listening to this conversation that was going on next to me, It was these young people, three of them, who had sort of a survey. And it looked like they were part of a church, a youth group of some sort. And they were conducting an evangelistic survey and asking people questions, which I thought was kind of interesting. And it kind of led to an opportunity to ask questions about the gospel, about sin, about heaven, hell, all of those things. And they were speaking with this woman. And, of course, I caught the conversation being something spiritual. And my ear kind of went over. And at one point in the conversation, one of the young men asked, if you were to die, would you go to heaven? And the woman said, well, I hope so. The answer we would expect for most people. And the young man followed up with the best question and very gently said, well, why would you say that, ma'am? Why do you believe that you would go to heaven? How do you think she responded? the way that we would expect most people to respond. Well, I've tried to do good. I've generally tried to be a good person. I have not done anything really bad. Now, look, we all know that. Look, we're reformed. We come here. We know law and gospel. But loved ones, let's not forget, this is how everybody thinks generally. Everybody knows intuitively that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell, and they're hoping that they're in the former group, not the latter. And generally, they think they are. And that's something that we encounter every day with every person that we come across, pretty much. And we see it here in this story. The problem, of course, is that God reveals that no one is good enough by His standards to go to heaven. If the law is the means, if God's law, God's requirement is the means by which I am justified before Him. It becomes a crushing burden that no one can bear. Who then can inherit eternal life? And when that question is put before us, we can only respond really in one of two ways. We either recognize that it is an impossible standard that we can't attain, and so we are forced then to look for a righteousness outside of ourselves, or we try to find some loophole in the law. We look for some weasel clause, something that allows us to get by so we can justify ourselves. We try to redefine the law in order to make it more manageable. And that's what this lawyer does here. Like a good lawyer, he looks for a loophole. He puts his own interpretation on the law. Luke says that the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Good question. And he thinks he's trapped Jesus in his words. For who can interpret what a neighbor is after all? He thinks he's found that loophole in the law that will allow him to justify himself. If you can't love your neighbor perfectly, which he knew he couldn't. Well, just redefine what it means to love your neighbor. And that's how our sinful heart often approaches God's commands, right? Let's face it, even as Christians, we often look for loopholes. Well, love my spouse. Well, yeah, but it, I mean, it doesn't mean that. All of what he's saying there, I mean, does it? and we look for different ways to interpret things. We want to redefine the terms. We look for an interpretation that sits well with us. Oh, isn't there some way I can find a divorce that is still okay in the eyes of God? We try to lighten the burden of the law to make it something we can actually carry. And in those days, there were many interpretations on what the word neighbor meant. The Jews often limited the idea of neighbor to only other Jews. Well, you're not going to love Gentiles. We just love Jews. Others restricted the term even further to just Jews who were right-standing citizens, upright citizens. Those are the people I need to love. It's easy to love the lovely, but don't love the unlovely. And we find the same attitude in our own hearts, loved ones, don't we? Sure, we want to be kind to others, but only to those whom I deem worthy of my kindness. Sure, we want to help the poor and needy, but only to those whom I think are worthy of my help. We want to redefine the terms in order to justify our selfishness and our sin. We look for ways to get ourselves off the hook when it comes to God. But loved ones, we've got to remember when we do that, when we look for, we set terms on the way that we are going to love other people, we need to remember that is not grace. That is not mercy. That is just another form of law. Grace is, mercy is getting, is not getting the judgment that you deserve. You know, the cop pulls you over, you were breaking the law, and he lets you off. That's mercy. Grace is getting something good that you didn't deserve at all, a gift. As preachers, we're always looking for ways to illustrate that, and there's a million ways, and then once in a while it gets illustrated to you. And about a month ago, it got illustrated to me, grace, when I took my son to the Padres game. My son, a little leaguer, seven years old, loves the Padres, tells you all the whole lineup, take them to the game. One evening, free tickets, and they're in the nosebleed section, but hey, they're free, right? That's fine. And so we go there, we get there early, and he's got his Padres uniform on, and he's got his Padres hat on, and, you know, he's cute as a button, so he stands out. And we get there early for batting practice, and Cameron may have been one of the center fielders. He tosses him a ball, and oh, his world just changed. He didn't deserve that. And then we go up to our nosebleed section where we're watching the game. And, you know, Chase Headley, the third baseman, looked about that big. And we're watching. And it's the bottom of the first inning. And this woman comes walking around. And she sees my son and walks over there and asks him if he plays baseball. And, yeah, he plays baseball. He's kind of trying to push her out of the way so he can see. And she says, how would you like to be upgraded? I said, sure. I mean, everything from where we're at is going to be an upgrade, so why not? And she pulls out these tickets, and where are they? They're the Lexus Home Plate Club, right behind Home Plate. And I saw the three-digit big number of how much they cost, and my eyes became like platters, you know. And she says, well, come with me. And a police officer comes, and then they take us down through this tunnel. I don't know where we were going. I thought maybe they were going to kill us or something. and we go through this place and there's where all the Padres park their cars and here's all these, they stamp our hand and we go and suddenly there's Chase Headley. We can see the stitches on his jersey. And not only that, but they said, hey, all food and drink is paid for. There's a waiter that comes to you. You're in this big cushy chair. I couldn't believe it. And I thought, well, this is grace. We didn't deserve any of this. And then of all things, at the end of the game, the home plate umpire sees my son and gives him another ball. What kid goes home from an MLB game with two balls? I went my whole life looking for a ball. I never got one. It's grace. It's grace. But really, that's not even God's grace, because grace would come to the unlovely. Grace would have been if we were not Padres fans, but we were Dodgers fans, and we were outside, and we were banned from the park. And they came, and they went to the highways and the hedges, And they said, you, you unlovely Dodgers fans, you're coming and you're going to enjoy this. And transformed our hearts. God's grace is amazing. But we need to remember that, loved ones. Setting terms on things is not grace, is not mercy. Saying, I will love those who are lovely. And this is what Jesus is doing in this story. He's redefining the terms that this lawyer had set. He wants to redefine God's terms, this lawyer does, to justify himself. And recognizing this, Jesus answers the lawyer with this famous parable. We know the story. This man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. That road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous, desolate, 17-mile road. It was known for bandits and robbers. He didn't go through there alone. And so he's telling the story that they would have been familiar with, saying this guy was beaten by robbers, stripped of his clothing, and left for dead. And then he says three people come by, and the first is a priest, and then a Levite, and guys you would expect to help, you know, guys that are supposed to be representing the love of God to God's people. And he says they didn't do anything. They're more concerned about their own well-being and scurry off, and yet it was a Samaritan. And now he's ruffling feathers, you see, because the Jews didn't like Samaritans. When the priest and the Levite each walked by the man, they passed by the other side. They were apathetic. They didn't help. But the Samaritan, he showed love. He showed help. He went to the side of the road and bound up this man's wounds, Pouring on oil and wine, costly items in the ancient areas. And he sets him on his own animal, and he brings him to an inn, and he takes care of him. And the next day, he pulls out money, which was about two days' wages, and says, here, take care of him. And then he tells the innkeeper, who were known in those days for being a little shady, look, whatever it costs, I will take care of. You just do whatever is necessary. I mean, that's the equivalent of nowadays giving your credit card to a mechanic or something and saying, here, just take care of whatever you need for my car, and I'll just pick up the bill when I come back. You can imagine. But that's the kind of effect that his storytelling has. It was a shocking story. It would have been shocking enough, really, if it was the priest who did this or the Levite who did this, but it was the Samaritan. And the Jews hated Samaritans. This went way back, their animosity toward one another, way back to the days of Nehemiah. But the Jews, the only good Samaritan was a dead Samaritan. But Jesus turns the table. That's the nature of the parables. They turn everything upside down because that's what his kingdom does. It redefines everything. His kingdom is the kind that brings in the outsider who receives the kingdom by faith and casts out the insider who tries to justify himself. And then Jesus asks the million-dollar question in verse 36. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Jesus reverses the perspective on the lawyer's question. Rather than worrying if somebody else is a neighbor, well, do I really have to show him love? Is he really my neighbor? Jesus shows that the true nature of the law calls us to be neighbors to everyone who is in need. And the answer was obvious. Jesus completely escaped the lawyer's attempt to trap him, and now he's got the lawyer trapped. Jesus is challenging the lawyer who was challenging him, and he's no longer the challenged one. He had become the challenger in a sentence, and the lawyer knows it. He's stuck. He can't even bring himself now to say the truth, to utter the word Samaritan. He says, the one who showed him mercy, the Samaritan. You know, in our day, maybe it would be the illegal alien or whatever. Whatever group of people it is that you tend to think, well, you know, that's the one Jesus used. And he says, that's the one that showed mercy. Now you go and do likewise. And the challenge of Jesus reveals the real character of love in God's law and the fact that we failed to keep it. Jesus destroys the lawyer's false interpretation of God's command to love our neighbor. There is no loophole. There is no weasel clause. There is no, well, yeah, love, but not these. If we want to know what it means to love our neighbor in a way that will merit eternal life, well, this is what it looks like. This lawyer, even though he was considered wise and full of understanding, people looked up to him. He had failed to grasp the essence of the law and the essence of God's kingdom. Remember what Jesus said in the previous scene. We didn't read it, but he rejoiced and thanked the Father that he had hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. That's why Luke places this parable where he does in the gospel. Each scene connects to the next. This lawyer who was trained in the interpretation of the Mosaic law was an example of one whose eyes of faith were still blind to the kingdom of God. But Jesus gives him a sobering wake-up call to open up his eyes. You go! And do likewise. But who can do this? Really, who can keep the law in this way all the time? Who can love their neighbor as the Samaritan did in this parable? Can we be a neighbor in this way to everybody we meet on the side of the road? Can we actually find every homeless person we see and love them the way that the Samaritan did in this parable? Should we give all of our belongings, all of our money, all of our time to helping each and every person we find? And remember that in this parable, Jesus is only unpacking the second great commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. He hasn't even begun to unpack the first great commandment. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. See, Jesus' point is that we cannot do perfectly what God's law requires. We need a righteousness that comes from outside of ourselves. That's the point of this parable. He's not giving us a parable that says, now go and be nice and be better people and make the world a better place. Those are good things to do. Don't get me wrong. Those are good things to do. And the church should be known for its love and generosity and charity, not only amongst us, which is the first priority, but even to those beyond, loving our enemies, Loving those who cannot repay. We should be known in our communities as being generous and loving so that people are attracted to the light. But that's not the point of this parable. If we interpret this parable in that way, then we're really guilty of doing with this parable the same thing that the lawyer was trying to do with God's law. The parable of the Good Samaritan is not a suggestion to justify ourselves by being kinder and gentler to others. The parable of the Good Samaritan, rather, shows us that we cannot justify ourselves by being Good Samaritan. And if we think we can, well, then we've done the same thing that the lawyer did with the law. And we'll eventually either say, well, these people aren't my neighbors, or, well, being a neighbor doesn't require that much of me. We'll reduce the requirement. If we see how deep and how broad being a neighbor to someone really is, Well, we realize we cannot do it. We're no good Samaritan at all. So what's our response then? How should we respond to this parable? Well, the correct response is to trust in the one who rescues those who cannot save themselves. You see, each one of us is like this man laying half dead in the road. Sin has ruined us. Sin has beaten us up. and has left us incapable of saving and rescuing ourselves. There is none righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Romans 3. Yes, it is true that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. But according to the Bible, it's also true that no one is good, not even one. No one has done good enough to inherit eternal life. No one can save themselves. We're like that man beaten on the side of the road, incapable of getting up, incapable of walking uprightly. We need someone else to rescue us. And that's what Jesus has done. That's what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the good Samaritan. He's the one who's come to rescue us. And yet he did far more than the Samaritan did in this parable. We can't even do everything that the Samaritan did in this parable. And yet Jesus did far more. He came and bound us up, bound up our wounds. How? By taking our sins upon himself. As Isaiah said, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his stripes, we are healed. And in one sense, he became the man beaten on the side of the road, bloodied in our place. But he was not merely attacked by robbers. He was crucified and suffered the judgment we deserve for our sins. And he was not merely abandoned by others. He was abandoned by the Father for our sin, as he became our sin. And having paid our whole debt by his death and having been raised from the dead, He credits His righteousness, His good works to us, so that now when the Father sees us, He doesn't see our lame and feeble attempts, our self-righteous attempts, self-congratulatory attempts at loving our neighbor, our lame excuses for not loving our neighbor. The way he sees us now is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He sees us as if we were perfect Good Samaritan. Perfect Good Samaritan. It's all a free gift. He gives his obedience to us in exchange for our disobedience. Because we can't justify ourselves. Only God can. So what is the proper response to this parable? Trust in Christ. Trust in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. Trust in the one who rescues dead sinners on the side of the road. But how does that mean that this parable says nothing to us about loving our neighbor? Well, of course not. God wants us to love our neighbor. The good news is that the good Samaritan who rescued us from our sins is also now transforming us to be like him. And that's, again, what his kingdom does. It's bringing a new creation. You know, in my heart, I'm not someone who naturally has compassion on other people. My heart is full of love and compassion toward others. I'm not even a nice person by nature. And whatever niceness you see in me, which probably isn't a whole lot, is only by the grace of God. Because God is doing a work. The good Samaritan not only credits his righteousness to us, But his work is also doing that transformation in our heart, in our mind, so that now we are free to have compassion and mercy on others. That's what his kingdom does. In one sense, Jesus was saying in this parable that this is what his kingdom looks like. People loving not only their neighbors, but even their enemies. But we can only begin doing that after we stop thinking that being a good Samaritan is a means of justifying ourselves before God. It's only when we see that we've been rescued by Christ and His compassion and mercy that we can truly have compassion and mercy on others. And recognizing that because He is rich in mercy, because He is rich in love and would love us and would pull us out of the ditch, Beloved ones, now we're free to show compassion and mercy on others without expecting anything in return. Now we're free to love others, free to be exposed even, free to show charity to others because we've received the radical charity of God. Which one of us hasn't received God's radical charity in Christ? Now we can freely show charity to others because we're rich in Him. Because this is ultimately the fruit of that salvation that God has given us. Loved ones, let us love our neighbors in joyful gratitude. Let us love our neighbors freely because of the grace that has loved us, that has rescued us from sin, death, and hell. For we have this salvation. We have this grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. one who is even far greater than the good Samaritan. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how you remove our burdens from us. We thank you for saving us and rescuing us when we were half dead on the side of the road. For making us alive together with Christ when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Thank you for your rich mercy and the great love with which you have loved us. That even while we were your enemies, you reconciled us to yourself through Christ, all by your grace. Cause us now, we pray, Lord, to be those who freely love others, freely reach out to the unlovely and seek to show compassion and mercy. Help us, Lord, we pray, by your Spirit, as we look only to the Lord Jesus Christ, our good Samaritan. Amen. Thank you.