Ecclesiology
Lesson X
Presenting the Gospel
The Good Samaritan Story
January
4th, 2007
When one sees the doctrine of ‘grace’ as taught by the Apostle Paul,
then one can see grace in other portions of Scripture in a new light. Luke 10 is an example.
Luke 10:
25-37
(26) He said
unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
(28) And he
said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
(29) But he,
willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
(36) Which now
of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the
thieves?
(37) And he
said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou
likewise.
The Lawyer wanted to know
what to DO to inherit eternal life.
And Christ at once, turns him to the law. Few realize that the law is the enemy
of man and not the friend that most people would have
us believe. Men say it is necessary to
keep the law in order to be saved. They
say this is what Christ taught this lawyer.
Therefore, we must keep the law or be lost. All we have to do to keep saved is to love God
and love our neighbour.
However, whenever the law is
mentioned, we must enquire, first of all, what the one using the law is using
it for. In the case of this lawyer,
Christ used the law to reduce the man’s boasting to speechless guilt. (Did you notice that the lawyer did not
reply, when Jesus said, “this do and thou shalt live”?) He had turned the lawyer to the law and the
law left him without a word to say. As
Romans 3:19 states, “Now we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to
them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God”.
To love the Lord with ALL the
heart, All the soul, All the mind and our neighbour as
ourselves, without any modification, is the requirement of the law. And once broken there is no second
chance. The broken tables of stone could
not be mended. Christ agreed with the
lawyer. What you have said is right. But he added, “this do and thou shalt
live.” Evidently this man was not
doing. To know to do right and to do
right are two different things.
Scriptures and experience teach that no man ever did right perfectly
(except Christ). No one has ever
escaped Hell and received eternal life by doing the best one could. For it must be perfect obedience to the
law or none at all.
This man, like all men, when
found wanting, begins to justify himself. By asking, “Who is my
neighbour?” The light of the story
following “the try again principle” cannot and does not work. The voice of the law says just one thing, and
if ever man hears its thundering voice, once is enough. The law says, “The soul that sinneth must
die.” There is no mercy in the law as
law. The law is without mercy.
It was this fact that the
law is without mercy, Christ preached in the incident of the story of the Samaritan
as illustrated by the Priest and the Levite.
The meaning of the whole discourse may be summed up in these words: “The law can do nothing to help sinners
obtain eternal life.” It can only
condemn and increase their guilt.
Jesus illustrates the use of
the law in the man who was robbed of all that he had. This is what the law does to everyone under
the law. “There is none righteous no not one.”
All are sinners, helpless and without strength. This is the picture Jesus presents here. The most ancient of all delusions is that man
may attain eternal life by doing. Men have for ages tried to find eternal life
without a Mediator. But helpless people cannot help
themselves!
The heathen have no
mediator. The law cannot mediate, it can
only condemn, and in this sense it must “pass by on the other side.” It has nothing in common with the Mediator at
all. This story of the Good Samaritan
illustrates the truth that eternal life is given without one doing a single
thing. Can any say that the man, with
his raiment gone, wounded and half-dead, could move toward God?
Jesus reveals our spiritual
condition. The helpless must have a
sacrifice before he can approach God.
This man could not offer a sacrifice.
He could not move. Therefore the
law, represented by the Priest could do nothing for a man unless that man could
bring a sacrifice, and the Levite who collected the money could get nothing
from the man, for he had nothing with which to pay, and the law is without
compassion. But salvation is not by the
law.
It is the kindness and love
of God to sinners that is taught here. “But after
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us ...”
Titus 3:4-5. God does not ask a single
thing from the helpless. And we are all
helpless. If salvation is to be had, it
must be through the work of another.
Another poured in the oil and the wine and bound up the wounds. The wounded man was lifted and placed on the
donkey in the place of the Samaritan.
Christ took our place and we take His.
We ride in the place of His provision, His work as Saviour and by this
way alone we get to the Inn. We do not
walk at all. We are brought to the Inn
of Justification.
Salvation by the walk of the
believer is out of place in the gospel of grace. We cannot walk, is the teaching
illustrated by this helpless man. The
helpless are never taught to walk until they are safe and secure within the
The Lord never takes a man
in on probation. He does not put us on
probation until our sores are healed, and then give us a home! Why, we couldn’t even set ourselves up to
look even half respectful! We needed aid
and help from someone outside ourselves.
And the good news to sinners
is that all, every last obligation and expense of our cure, is placed upon
Christ’s account. In salvation, Jesus
paid it all. We pay nothing and the
reason we pay nothing is because we have nothing with which to pay. This kind of payment man cannot pay. Sin is likened to a debt which must be paid
and creature-man cannot pay it.
Young lawyer, believe. To get into the kingdom, you pay
nothing. And you pay nothing to be kept
in the kingdom. The two pence was a
token that all would be paid. All would
be paid by another, even Christ. All our
obligations Godward were assumed by Christ.
They are taken care of until He comes again when sores are no more, when
the Church sins no more!
But while the Church is on
earth she needs caring for. The believer
is in the Inn, sores and all. We are
neither working for our salvation, nor paying for our keep. Those trying to “keep saved” do not recognize
the office of the Inn nor the Inn-keeper.
We are not the keepers of
our salvation. God does not leave the
keeping of our souls in such useless hands.
The keeping of our souls is in the hands of our Faithful Creator.
1 Peter 2:25
He is not a faithless,
helpless creature as we are. This Inn-keeper
knows His business well. He has taken
care of cripples now for more than 5000 years, and we are sure He can handle
our case.
Christ taught this lawyer
that there is a righteousness which is greater than that of the Priests and
Levites, a righteousness received wholly on the gift principle. With such a Caretaker as God, we are always
safe. Eternal life is a gift of God .
Romans
6:23
(23) For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.”
We have no hope of
justifying ourselves. Christ is the Head
of the Church. He built it for sick,
bruised folk. He cares for the sick. He is the Good Shepherd and there never was
an under-shepherd to hold that distinction.
He lives to intercede for the Church.
It is under His care.
Are you willing to ride to
the Inn on another man’s beast and be taken care of until He comes again? Do you want eternal life on the gift
principle or are you, like the lawyer, trying to justify yourself by
law-keeping? The gospel terms as
illustrated in this story are: Nothing down and nothing to pay. The blood of Jesus Christ justifies the
sinner and the intercession of the Saviour saves to the uttermost.
Hebrews
7:25
(25) Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
God has made full provision
for the robbed, bankrupt, ruined, battered, helpless, hopeless sinner.
This is the gospel as found
in Luke 10:25-37
(Adapted
from a sermon of M. V. Brown preached in the 1930’s).