And a very good morning to everyone. We are pleased to have you. If you are just visiting us today, I would like us to turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, to the Gospel of Luke. We are going to read chapter 10, verse 25 to verse 37. Needless to say that the story is a continuing story from chapter 9, from earlier chapters where we are taught Jesus Christ's intent on going to Jerusalem started off and this story is one of the events that was happening on his way to Jerusalem He was going to Jerusalem not for holiday. He was going to Jerusalem to give up his life for the ransom of many. So he is already on his path to go and fulfill his mission to save. So let me ask that we read from 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 saw likewise a Levite when he came to the place and saw him passed 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. Let us pray together. Father in heaven, we want to thank you for the privilege of hearing your words. We know, our God, that we would have never known you, we would have never discovered you had you not revealed yourself and even given us your word, through which we come to know you. And here we are. We want to pray, Lord, that you will help us to pay attention to what you have to say to us this morning. We want to plead, almighty God, that you will not let us go through this as though it is just motions, but, Father, that you will touch our hearts, that your spirit will give us understanding of these things that are spiritual, that you will help us, O God, to desire to do them when we have heard. And, O God, that we may also seek repentance for where we have sinned against you. We do want to pray for your servant that as he stands, O God, help him to stand only in your strength. And our Father, clear his mind of his personal things, that he will not speak anything that is of his own. But Father, that he will represent what you have to say to your people. We pray asking these things in that blessed name that you have given to us, that of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brethren and friends that are gathered this morning, the passage that we are looking at is one of those passages in the Word of God that are familiar We become familiar of it, at least we get to know about it even from infancy, from childhood. But it is also familiar with people who have nothing to do with church. People possibly who have never even stepped in church. The story of the good Samaritan, the parable of the good Samaritan. Now, the world uses this story simply to mean someone who helps a stranger. If someone helps a stranger, normally they will be referred to as a good Samaritan. The intention of the teaching from the Lord Jesus Christ was not to end at that. It might be that someone who helps a stranger indeed is a good Samaritan, is a good neighbor to that stranger, but the parable goes far deeper. And this is what I have discovered, that there are a lot of stories in the Bible, especially having been through Sunday school, that I understood in a certain way and then the world also understands them in that way and then we have carried ourselves on that path. That is the way we understand it and we convince ourselves this is what it teaches. But as you get to study and to look at what God intended and what the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching, then you realize there is much much more to the story than we have traditionally held on to. And I pray that we will be able to, with clear minds, look at this story and see what the Lord has to say. The Lord Jesus Christ here is exposing the heart of self-righteousness On one hand, but he also shows us the radical nature of the kingdom of God That it is far beyond what we might be thinking as humans He is revealing the true meaning of neighbor love and confronting us with what we are naturally inclined to, which is we want to limit obedience to something that is convenient, something that we can manage, something that we can walk through and plan around, and then let God just be a part of our lives. Ultimately, The Lord here is pointing us to the mercy of God. We read in our court worship how God is compassionate, slow to anger. In fact, in another place, God is described as one who is swift to bliss. And you know what objects are the recipients of this mercy from God, it is those that have offended him. The righteous God, the holy God, those that have offended him, he expresses compassion and mercy towards them because In another passage we are told, He knows we are dust. We cannot help ourselves and so He lifts us up. Now, that is what the Lord Jesus Christ is pointing us to so that we ourselves will be able to express mercy to those that are in need. This passage begins not with a gentle inquiry, we see You know, there's a lawyer that is introduced who comes to test the Lord Jesus Christ. In our common language, he came with a message team. He was trying to set up the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, there is a spiritual test in his question. There is something that is revealed in his question. What is revealed about him? And the passage ends not with just excitement about the story, about the parable that the Lord Jesus Christ tells. It ends with a command where the Lord Jesus Christ says, go and do likewise. So today, brethren, we are going to look at this again. We're going to pick up some lessons that the Lord Jesus Christ highlights for us in directing this story. In the first place, we see in the question that the lawyer asks is revealed something that is common to all of us. There are certain things that we have in our minds and we sometimes ask God or we ask God directly but we may ask God through proxies. For example, we may be challenging our parents whom we are under authority of or we may be challenging our employer or we may be challenging any form of authority And we start asking questions that suggest they are too much. Possibly they don't even deserve to rule over us. If we had our way, we would remove all forms of authority. What it does is it reveals our hearts. So we are going to look at the revealing question in the first place. And behold, I'm reading again, verse 25, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test. This word is the same word that is used in James, where he says, do not put God to the test. Putting God to the test, so God does not tempt, he does not try to get you into a pico, into a place where you can, you trip. God is not le satari pa mano, so to speak, to try and get you, to fix you. This is what this man is trying to do. And he says, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And someone might even wonder, I mean, if you are looking at this carefully, you might wonder and say, but who would be playing games with his life? He goes to ask a question. That means everything for him, but he is trying to set up the Lord Jesus Christ. He's asking, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And 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. What was the intent of the lawyer? He stood up to put him to the test. This man was an expert in the law of Moses. There was a law of Moses, the instructions that had been given by God through Moses, which is basically the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. He was an expert in the teachings of those books And he stood up not to learn, but we are told to test His interest therefore, though the question was about how can I inherit eternal life? What must I do to inherit eternal life? We see that he is not interested in eternal life He is not interested in salvation His interest is self-justification Possibly he wanted a theological debate He wanted something to talk about You know, this man is known to be a teacher in Israel, Jesus Christ So, he goes there to try and test him He doesn't want personal transformation Oh, dear friend, you might be like this man. You come to church quite all right and no one forces you. But you know, you are always arguing against the things of God. You are always quarreling against the word of God, if it is in a Bible study, if it is a scripture that is written, you are always but, but, but against it. Your interest is not your salvation. You're going to change. Your interest is not securing peace with God. Your interest, possibly, is to just be respectable. Your interest is to just maintain peace with your uncle or your aunt who you live with, because you have to go to church. His question, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life, is also framed Like eternal life is an achievement. You ought to do something so that you can get eternal life. This is what he's asking. Something to be earned by doing. In fact, this question rightly put is saying, what is it that after having done, I will earn eternal life? What is it that after having done it, I will qualify for eternal life? This is the question that he asks. And it reflects his legalistic mind. And this is the mindset of many that are religious. In fact, this man was not a man who was offended necessarily by the things of God, who wanted to keep away. It is someone that was always there. in the synagogues. He was there identifying himself with the God of Israel. And this is a problem that we can fall in, even ourselves. And then the Lord Jesus Christ gives him not an answer, but a counter question. And he asks him in verse 26, What is written in the law? How do you read it? You know what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing? He is affirming His Word. He is affirming the Old Testament as the Word of God. And He is pointing to it as the authority. That is the standard against which we must measure all our questions, all our confusion. We can only get answers from the Bible That is what the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us here He doesn't start answering him from common sense, from logic He takes him back to the Word of God He affirms the Word of God and now forces this man, the lawyer to articulate what he already knows And the lawyer is put in a corner. What does the law? What is written in the law? And not only what is written in the law, how do you, an expert, you are an expert, how do you read it? What is your interpretation? And put in that place, he quotes Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five, where we have the Israelites being taught what they are to proclaim and what they are to say acknowledging that the Lord is one and you are to love the Lord your God with everything about you with yourself and with everything about you but he also goes to quote Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 which teaches love for neighbor And the Lord Jesus Christ says, you have correctly summarized the law. And it is interesting that this man, instead of going to start talking about the first commandment, the second commandment, the third, he summarizes just the way the Lord Jesus Christ elsewhere has summarized it. Love God, love neighbor. Love God with heart. so strength and mind and then on the other side love neighbor as oneself and the Lord Jesus Christ commends him he answers you have answered correctly and then he says do this and you will live what? the Lord is saying if you do this then you are going to have eternal life so you can actually do something to earn eternal life Well, maybe yes, you can. This is pure law. And he says, you must obey perfectly. You must have perfect love at all times. And if you are able to do this flawlessly, without faltering, you are able to do this Continually, you are able to do it without hesitation, you will indeed live. But dear friend, just look at yourself. How many people have you proposed that you are going to love, you are going to do good things for them? And you have faltered just in the next 20 minutes. He is saying, this is pure law. He is saying, this is what the law says. And then when you look at the law, then you discover you are overwhelmed. You cannot obey God. You cannot fulfill all the law at all times perfectly. And the Lord is telling him so that he may think, can I indeed end my salvation? Can I indeed do something so that having done it, I will end eternal life? It is impossible. It is not possible. The law reveals our inability. We are unable to help ourselves. We look at the law and it acts like a mirror. It exposes our faults and our corruptions, our sin, our failures, our infirmities. And it sends us in a tailspin of panic. How can I find peace with God? This is what He expects of me. But it is too overwhelming. I cannot do it. I cannot obey God and please Him. The law reveals our inability. And that is where the Lord Jesus Christ leaves him. He says, if you obey perfectly at all times, without fault, without failure, you will live. Now he realizes he cannot, the demand is too high, so we see him trying to evade that standard. The lawyer tries to evade, and in verse 29 we are told, desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? He tries to change the subject. Who is my neighbor? You've dealt with people who you are sharing something with them, and when you're about to convince them, then they change the topic. What about this? What about that? When you say, no, no, let's first talk about this. No, no, but what about this other? This is also important. He is trying to justify himself. And he's trying to use a subtle way of justifying himself. What is he trying to do? He's trying to set up a standard that he defines, which he can fulfill. He is trying to limit the demands of the law. And he wants a neighbor that he can manage. In Leviticus there, chapter 19, verse 18, when the Lord is telling the people to not do harm to their people, it appears as though he's saying to your relatives, to your own people so that they grew up to interpret neighbor to mean the one that is in your circles the one that is outside your circles is not your neighbor so you only do good to your family you only do good to the Israelite family you only do good to those that do good to you That is why the Lord Jesus Christ challenges them. He says, if you greet only those that are your friends, what good is that? If you are unable, you do not greet your enemy. And he teaches about loving your enemy rather than hating them. He is challenging this long-held belief and practice among the Hebrews. And that is why this man also comes and he says, who is my neighbor? Because there are some people that I shouldn't do good to. There are some people that are too much. And everyone understands that they are nasty. There is no way that you can embrace them. He wants something that he can manage, he wants love that fits comfortably in those prejudices that he has Now to combat this, instead of the Lord answering that question where he asks and says, who is my neighbour? The Lord tells a parable And this parable is telling not to try and help him on the path of self-justification but to try and expose him so that per adventure he may turn and you can see the compassion of our Lord He exposes you not because he just wants to embarrass but so that you may see your need of him You may turn to him You may have done something shameful in your life and it comes to light. The Lord causes it to come to light. It is not just to embarrass you to end there. The Lord wants you to see your need of him. And he tells a parable. And he tells the parable, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he's using words carefully. He's going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Going down. In fact, they were going downhill. Jericho was downhill and Jerusalem was uphill. And there was a distance of about 27 kilometers between Jerusalem and Jericho. The man was going down and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed and leaving him half dead. This was a place that was well known. It was a rocky place. It was a difficult terrain. And there were robbers and criminals that would hide in the bushes to attack and rob people. And this man fell. among the robbers. 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, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, then he goes on. We see here a victim that is helpless, in verse 30. He was going down on this notoriously dangerous route. And we are told he is attacked. His clothes are taken away. He is beaten up. And then they thought he had died. And so they left him. Interestingly, the Lord Jesus Christ here has not identified. He has not given us a name. He has not given us the ethnic background of this person. He just says a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho In the teaching that is coming here, we see that it was not important to indicate what type of person this was What was important was that he was in need Need was the only qualification for mercy, the mercy that was shown by the good Samaritan. But then we also see there is a failure of religion. There are two people that have passed here who are known to have been, if you like, Christians, church goers. There was a priest, and there was a Levite, an assistant to the priest. Maybe they feared that they are going to be ritually defiled. Because the Bible teaches that in the Old Testament that they were not to touch a dead body. If you touch a dead body, then you are ceremonially unclean. Maybe that is the reason. Maybe they feared that it was a trap. The criminals were around the corner, and they were suddenly going to spring up and attack them. We do not know. Maybe they thought it was not convenient. They were going to be delayed. Or they were going to become dirty, just physically touching blood. It is messy to touch blood. I remember there was an accident one time. We were leaving Lusaka, going back to Copper Belt when I lived on the Copper Belt. And right in front of us, a bus overturned from nowhere. And we were shocked. So we stopped and we ran there trying to see what we can do. And people were injured. There was another bus coming from Chibombo direction. And we stopped this guy and we started pleading, can you take these people, you take them to the hospital. And the driver appeared to be like, you know, like unconcerned, like he's not hearing us. And later on, we learned that he was saying, no, no, no, no, you don't carry people from the accident scene. You don't take them into your vehicle. Because the misfortune that led them To have that accident will follow you And so they didn't want to help and he left So we don't know about this Whatever the motive they saw but yet they moved on They were not moved. They were not troubled. And their failure here is not a failure of ignorance. It was a failure of indifference. They didn't care. They didn't care whether this person would remain and die. Maybe there was still life which could be salvaged. And there we are. You shall not kill includes you shall preserve life. When you see there is life which is threatened, you go there and try to help. That is the command. And they passed by. And the Lord Jesus Christ is showing us that proximity to religion does not mean the same thing as presence of mercy or presence of the virtues that are in God. You can be a church goer. You even wear the uniform and be a person with a bad heart, unconcerned about the experiences of people around you. You can be an elder. You can be a preacher. You can be a ministry leader, a deacon, youth leader, house group leader with a bad heart and consent. You see people going through pain, people that need help and it is in your power to help and you pass by, conveniently avoid them. That is the failure of religion. But brethren, the story does not end there. We are taught in verse 33, but, different direction, but a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he also saw him like the others saw him, But we see, he had compassion And there is the difference They saw they had no compassion, they passed by He saw he had compassion Oh friends, let us quickly see through the verbs that are used in relation to the Samaritan The Samaritan, first of all, is despised And when they hear the audience that Jesus is telling the story to hear, that now he's talking about a Samaritan, already their minds are not interested. They are looking at the Samaritan as an unclean person. We saw the other time we were looking at the Samaritan woman, how they were considered. They were outcasts. In fact, the Samaritan was used as something that you use to despise someone when you refer to them as a Samaritan. When the Lord Jesus Christ accused them of trying to kill him, then they said, now we know that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed. It is show of war. If you understand from the Pemba side, or Copper Belt, Ichishobo, Kushoba, you are using a Samaritan as Ichishobo. But then we see here, this is the person that sees him. He sees him, and what we see here is that he is aware of what happened. He noticed the hurting man. What does that mean for us? That we must cultivate spiritual awareness. We must be on the lookout. A lot of us today, we are busy. We are distracted. And we often do not see suffering that is around us. We don't see it because we are busy. We are trying to make the most of time. Time is a scarce resource. And we are pursuing this and the other, and we do not see the suffering that is around us. How can we learn from this man? Slow down, dear brother, slow down, dear sister, and perceive the needs that are around you. Pay attention to those that are particularly lonely, those that are overlooked, those that are struggling, and pray that the Lord will open your eyes to be able to see This man, we are told that he had compassion. He had compassion on this person that had been attacked. Do you allow yourself to have compassion? Do you allow yourself to feel deeply concerning someone who is struggling? Do you put yourself in that place? It could be that maybe you have never experienced difficulty, and therefore you have no connection to that. But the Lord says, place yourself there. Though we are encouraged to have emotional self-protection, we do not want to be sucked in. The Christian life requires that we open ourselves up You cannot be that, you know, this stoic who is emotionless, who does not, you're just in control We have to, we have to allow the pain of others to affect us Dear friends, we are also told that he went to him He not only saw him and had compassion, he went to him He moved towards the hurting. That is the lesson we can learn. Let's move toward those that are hurting, not avoiding them. The Bible talks about the poor are despised even by their own relatives. And it talks about one, there's a friend who who sticks closer than a brother. Their hope is in Christ. Their hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us that we portray Christ, we portray God here on earth by what we do for others. Let us not run away from those that are struggling. Let us go there. A brother has lost a job, and all of us now keep away, we are fearing you'll be asking for money from us. No. If they are in need, it is actually our responsibility. And when they begin to do well, now we are calling them, oh Mrs. so and so now is working for World Bank and all. This man moved towards the hurting. Go towards that friend who is battling with questions. They are struggling with their faith. Possibly they are getting depressed. What about that one who has been sick for a long time? Or do you only go to those that, you know, appear to do well when they are sick, then you are running there. But those that are the lowly in the church, when they are ill, you don't even know. Do you know, personally, all the people that are on that list in the church bulletin? Or you just think, well, these are just names, statistics. Like the people in Ukraine who are dying, you know, just numbers. But you are here. where the Lord has placed you. Is that your neighbor or not? And we are told he bound up, that is the next thing. He bound up his wounds. Bring healing through practical help. Practical help. You can promise people you'll pray for them, but there is something practical as well. This is what this man does. He bound him up. He bound him up. And what does he do? He poured oil and wine on him. He even spends his own resources. He gives up what he owned, what he treasured. You know this oil and wine that he had? He didn't take it as festive kit that I might meet someone who has been beaten. No, no, no. This was for his personal use and possibly for his family. And he sees a need. He brings comfort using his resources. We can use our money for benevolence, not just personal security and personal comfort. Invite lonely people. Share food. But we also see that he set him on his own animal. What you intend to use for yourself, you can give to others. Let them use. Relieve people. Ah, no, no, no. You know, we must be responsible. You know, we have worked hard for these things and we must save, we must invest. And this is for the future. You can't just give away. Here it is. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is teaching us. He's giving us the example. And besides, He Himself gave up so much for us. He's not saying, give away your children, give away everything. He's saying, you give up something that you cannot... In fact, this is in Jesus' definition, you can afford. That is why He's saying, He gave what belonged to Him what was intended for him for this man. The wounded man rode on the donkey while the Samaritan walked so that he can save his life. What about the fact that he brought him to an inn? He brought him to an inn. He took him to a place where he was going to have safety. He didn't leave him in the place where he was exposed. Bring people to church who are hurting. Provide help and be available. They want to cry, be there and let them cry. You know, they can be helped by counseling. Point them to the elders. Let them and those that are able to counsel in the church that they may be helped. But we are also told he took care of him. He took care of him. You know what he did? He committed to ongoing support. He committed to ongoing support. You can do that, be available. You have attended to a brother, you have helped here and there. You can go back and find out how is it going now. Because you know, when the story started, it said, the parable, Jesus says, by chance, a priest was going. You know, chance, we know that, well, we know, this is what we know, that nothing happens by chance, by accident. But Jesus says, by chance, this is what happened. You know what he's saying is, that from our human perspective, there are certain things that look unexpected. You were not expecting them. And in fact, he's trying to emphasize that Opportunities for mercy come unexpectedly. The opportunity for someone, for you to help someone will come when you are not expecting. Suddenly someone comes up and they have this big problem. They have a patient who is dying and you have a car, you can help them. Possibly you are planning to go somewhere else, you are planning to go out. It is your anniversary. And they suddenly Sure. He's unresponsive. This is what the Lord is teaching us. It is providence that he brings, which to our, from our perspective, looks like it is an accident. It is by chance. He is still in control of it. And he tells us, be available. He took care of him. He committed to ongoing support. Going back to check how they are doing. We were just singing. We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. That's what we were singing. What does it look like? I love that from the young people, you know, they ask this question because they want it to be practical. What does it look like to walk together, walk the mile together, to help each other? This is what the Lord is teaching us. And we are told he took care of him. But then he also paid. He paid for ongoing care. Mercy is expensive. It is costly. It is not just occasional kindness. And perhaps the greatest shock that the Lord Jesus Christ brings up here is that he uses an ethnic outsider, someone who is despised, to teach us, to teach the religious expert what God-pleasing love looks like. And the lawyer had asked, who is my neighbor? The Lord Jesus Christ asks him the question after telling him this story. And the question is not, who is my neighbor, but will you be a neighbor? Because the Lord asks, who of the three people is this man's neighbor? And remaining proud, he cannot bring himself to say, the Samaritan. He says, the one who showed him mercy. Yes, he was right. The one who showed him mercy. And you know, here he is not saying, the neighbor is the man that is wounded. The neighbor is the one that is helping. And the challenge is to us. Will you be that neighbor? He asks a question, a command is given, which of these three? And then he says, the one who showed him mercy. And then the Lord Jesus Christ gives him a command. And he tells him, you go and do likewise. This is the core of the kingdom. This is the ethic, doing right in the kingdom. This is the love that reflects the father's heart who is compassionate and slow to anger But brethren, there is also this tension that we can see here Does it mean that if you are helpful to people then you are going to have eternal life by doing that? He says no That is not the case. The kingdom of God, you come in because you have entrusted yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. And because you have been changed, now you are able to do these things. We are that man in the ditch, broken, helpless. And we are saved by the one who crossed that infinite distance to rescue us. The Lord Jesus Christ, the true good Samaritan is Christ himself. And once he has shown mercy to us, we can show mercy to others. You know, the Apostle Paul teaches, he says, we have been comforted so that we may be able to comfort others, so that we may be able to meet the needs of others. Our needs have been met. God has shown us mercy so that we can show mercy to others. And how do you show mercy? This is what we have just been going through. How far should I go to fulfill this duty? Some of you might be asking, do I really have to love that person that has hurt me? The Lord has opened it up. It is everyone. Your neighbor is everyone in the world. But am I supposed to help everyone in the world? The Bible teaches us as far as it is in your power to do good, do good, help. and help those that are in the household, help humanity, but especially believers. Let compassion disturb our comfort, dear friends. It costs time, it costs money, it costs emotional energy, it costs personal comfort. And we should be asking ourselves, who in my life is lying on the side of the road, beaten up, emotionally, spiritually or financially? And we remove boundaries that we set up artificially. Social class, social status, you know, they're educated. and the uneducated, the knowledgeable and the ignorant. The Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us to attend to all because he has attended to us. He has shown us mercy. Let us show mercy. Oh, dear friends, you who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, he can show you mercy. He will show you mercy. Call on him. and he will abundantly pardon. May the Lord be gracious to us as we consider these things. Amen.