(Read Luke 10:25-3725And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love 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. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 30And 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, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? 37And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (Luke 10:25‑37).)
IT is a great thing to see clearly that the possession of eternal life flows not from that which you and I do, but from that which the Lord Jesus Christ is and does. External existence you will certainly have, but that is not eternal life. For a man to spend eternity in hell—do you call that eternal life? I do not. If you die in your sins, without eternal life, where will you spend eternity? It could not be with Christ—you do not know Him. It could not be with God, for you would be wretched with Him, in your sins. Your eternity will be solitary.
The point the Spirit of God has in relating this remarkable interview between the unbelieving lawyer and the Lord Jesus is this—that it brings out the way in which God can bless. It brings out the character of God. It shows plainly what man is, where man is, and the condition man is in; and it shows, likewise, how futile is mere religion to help him. And when it has shown the condition of man, and that human religion cannot help him a bit, then we get Christ coming in, under the figure of a Samaritan, and doing all that was necessary, and I do not want any more.
I will tell you what He does; first of all He cures me, then He carries me, and then He cares for me. That will do for me—I want no more than that. Fancy, cured by Christ, carried by Christ, and cared for by Christ, for time and eternity. Does not that do for you? If not, the reason is this—your eyes have never yet been opened as to what you are as a sinner before God.
You will probably say, I should like to have eternal life. It is a wonderful thing to possess, but the question is, How are you going to get it? Eternal life, according to the unfolding of Scripture, is association with Christ. He is the eternal life, and you could not get it apart from Him. “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)). Eternal life consists not exactly in being, but in knowing. It is the knowledge of divine Persons. It subsists in the knowledge of God’s blessed Son. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)). Now, seeing what it consists in, how can you get it?
This lawyer was pretty intelligent. He had read the Old Testament Scriptures, and to a certain point he believed them, because infidelity was not a thing that was current among the Jews. It is reserved for this cultured twentieth century to cut up and set aside the Scriptures. Not so the Jews. They revered the Scriptures; and although that man had no real link with God, he had read the Scriptures, and knew them, and when questioned by the Lord he gave a good answer, for the Lord says, “Thou hast answered right.” The man had no real interest in his question, but there was the Lord Jesus passing among men, and this unawakened man thought it a good opportunity to test Him. Will He pit His judgment against what Moses said?
“Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (vs. 25), was his opening query. I think you ought to wake up to inquire how you are going to inherit eternal life, for you are passing on to eternal damnation if you do not get eternal life. You must meet God, for you are a responsible creature, and your sins are your own, and are on you to this hour, if you have not yet found Christ.
This man says, “What shall I do?” He thought it lay with himself; he thought he was competent to earn it, he thought he could put himself right with God. He had heard of the grace of Christ, and how the blessed Jesus had been unfolding the heart of God, so he comes with this question, and the Lord answers him very simply. He puts him a question. You may have thought that man was deeply in earnest, but he was not, as he said, “What shall I do?” Jesus replies, You are a lawyer, you know all about it. “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” (vs. 26). Now a lawyer was a person educated in the Scriptures, whose business it was to read to the people the Word of God. A good bit of it had stuck to his memory, and he says, “Thou shalt love 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” (vs. 27). He answers very well.
The Lord then says to him, “This do, and thou shalt live” (vs. 28). Ah, the moment he hears that he began to wince, because lie had a conscience. So have you, so has every man. It is of no use to say, But we all fail. If you are going to draw near to God on the ground of legal obligation, and being what you ought to be, you must necessarily come under the curse of the law if you fail. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:1010For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)). Law is law; grace is grace. Every creature of God ought to have kept the law. Have you done it? You will have to own, I have not done it. No, you have not, nor have I. If you said, I have loved myself with all my heart, it would be the truth; or, I have loved pleasure, or ease, or comfort, — everything rating to myself. It is that which fills every man’s soul till he is converted. What place has God had in your life? You must admit, There has been a good deal of shortcoming.
Did anyone ever keep the law? Only One—a Man who, when He had done it, died for the man that had broken it. He could say, “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:2929And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29)). Even when a child of twelve, and found by His parents in the temple at Jerusalem, He said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:4949And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? (Luke 2:49)). There has been one man, thank God, that has answered to this—get hold of that—but you are not the man, I am not the man. And if I am not the man, I shall not do for God; and yet I am going to spend eternity with Him. How is that? I have known the touch of the Good Samaritan—I hope you will get it. And who is that? The One that comes and tells out the heart of God to man, when he is utterly ruined, and good-for-nothing. We have all broken down in responsibility, and are guilty, because in connection with the law there was condemnation. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:2020Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)). Then there is another side to the law, if you are going to take that ground before God: you must be perfect in all the affections of your heart God-ward and man-ward. Who would take that ground? Could you or I go to heaven on the ground that we had loved our neighbor as we ought, even if we leave God out of the question? Impossible, only Jesus has done this—no one else, and I must go to Him for salvation, so must you.
You may say, Why did the Lord tell him, “This do, and thou shalt live”? Because He always took people up on the ground upon which they came to Him. If they came to Him in their need, He met them in mercy. If they came to Him in self-righteousness, He had to break them up, and expose them to their own eye, and perhaps to other people’s also.
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). What I could not earn, did not deserve, and could never merit, thank God I have got. God gave it to me in His love, and I was wise enough to take it. You receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you give Him His right place, you take the place of being the poor needy sinner that you are, and let God come out in His love and goodness, and show what He is.
“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?” (vs. 29). That question gave the blessed Lord the opportunity of unfolding this pictorial representation of Himself, and His own activity in grace to needy, guilty man. “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho” (vs. 30). Now mark—it was a downward course, and it is a picture of every man’s history, yours and mine, but the Jew in particular. Jerusalem was the place of blessing, the spot where God’s temple was, the place of royal grace. Jericho was the place of the curse, and the traveler was on the road to the spot where the curse of God lay. Mercifully he never got there—I trust you will not. That is the road you are on.
By the way he fell among thieves, “which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead” (vs. 30). That is an exact picture of man’s condition as a sinner. He has departed from God. Adam got away from God, and all his posterity. He “fell among thieves” in the Garden of Eden. I see here the allegorical representation of it. Adam gets away from God through disobedience, and he loses his life, and everything that fits him for God’s presence, everything worth having. He gets a conscience of good and evil. He goes behind the trees to keep out of God’s presence, and although he had on the apron of fig leaves it was no real covering, and when God says, “Where art thou? he says, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:1010And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Genesis 3:10)). Had he not dressed himself? Yes, but his dress did not suit God; it might do for the relationships of life, but it would not do for God.
This traveler was stripped and naked, and he looked like a dead man. The thieves had sorely wounded him, too. Ah, what wounds sin has made. Are you a sin-wounded person? Sin has come in between you and God, and you are at a distance from God. You are afraid of God, you would not like to meet Him. Let Jesus save you now. Yours is a bad case; it is exactly like mine. We were both in our sins, on the road to that moral Jericho. That man was robbed, stripped, wounded, and left lying like a dead man in the ditch. “And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side” (vs. 31). You say, What a heartless man. No, he was not heartless; that was not the reason why he passed by. Why did he turn away? Righteousness compelled him. He says, I could not touch him, or I should be defiled and spoil my own position. The man looked as if he were dead, and the priest was bound not to touch the dead, so knowing he could not help him, he passed by. That priest came down “by chance”; and “the law entered, that the offense might abound” (Rom. 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)). Jesus did not come down “by chance”; He came on purpose. It was God’s thought from eternity to send His Son. The law came merely to raise the question of righteousness, and show man that he had none.
“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side” (vs. 32). The Levite goes nearer than the priest, but has to say, “I cannot help him.” The law cannot help you, religion cannot help you. Nothing connected with what you ought to be is of any value to you before God. What Christ is solves the question. It was not want of affection on the part of the priest and the Levite, but they were debarred by God’s own injunction from touching the dead, and the wounded man looked like dead.
The poor stupid lawyer thought he could get eternal life by something he did. It was a mistake. You may have faith in the priest, but he will not help you a hair’s-breadth toward God. Many a man has put his conscience into the custody of someone else, but it will not do. Religion cannot help you; nothing that springs from yourself can put you right. There is only one that can help you, and who is that? Jesus, and He loves to bless the needy.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was” (vs. 33). Why a Samaritan? The Jews disliked the Samaritans. The woman of Sychar said to the Lord, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, winch am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:99Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. (John 4:9)). Man dislikes God; the natural man is opposed to God. Men do not want God. Bring God into men’s sphere of life, and they are very much disturbed, and will tell you it is not the place, or the time. And more than that, men have the idea that God is against them. Even Job thought “he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy” (ch. 33:10). It was a great surprise to me that God’s blessed Son should leave those heights of glory, come down into this world, get hold of a sinner like me, save me, bless me, bind up my wounds, fill my heart with peace, joy, and gladness, and then carry me to a safe place, and say, I am coming back for you one of these days. He is coming back, and He has given me wonderful blessing in the meantime. Who would have thought Jesus would have done that?
“As be journeyed.” That journey was made on purpose— “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). Thus it was that “he came where he was.” That is beautiful. There he was in the ditch; and where has Jesus come? Sin had put us at a distance from God; we were under sentence of death. I see Christ on the cross, by the side of the thief, dying under the curse— “he came where he was.” If Jesus had not come to the very spot where you are, He could not have reached you. The priest could not come, nor the Levite, but Jesus came to bring out the truth of the love of God, and the deep desire of God’s heart for the blessing of man. Nothing held Him back—He was not restrained. He could go right into death, and annul it. He tasted death as the judgment of God upon man, that He might take you and me out, and bring us to God. He was not Himself defiled, though made sin. He could take sins, bear sins, own sins, confess sins, and die for sins, blotting them out by His own precious blood; and then He—the undefiled One—rose from the dead, having annulled death.
Then we read, “He had compassion on him.” There is love in the heart of God for you that you have never dreamed of. You have gone on all your clays the slave and victim of sin, and are about to pay the forfeit with your life. The Lord knows the end of your pathway. But here was love in His blessed bosom, and as a consequence He laid down His life for His enemies. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).
How close He comes. “We read, “And went to him.” There is no blessing for you unless He touches you; He must touch you. You say, Have I not to draw near to Him? Yes, in a certain sense; but this is the expression of the marvelous way in which the love of God comes down in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, to meet us in our need. He “went to him, and bound up his wounds.” What wounds were these? In Psalms 147 it says, “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (vs. 3). Are you a broken-hearted person because of your sins? He said in Luke 4:18,18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18) that He came to bind up broken hearts. He “bound up his wounds.” He had with Him the very thing that would bind up those wounds, and He poured in “oil and wine.” The oil soothed the wounds, and the wine was poured down his throat, and it brought him to life, it cheered him. He opens his eyes to discover he is an object of interest. Have you never known what this teaches you in figure? You have missed a great deal. If you have the gaping wounds of sin, and the sense of judgment coming, and that you are unfit for God, what a wonderful thing to see Jesus in grace coming to you, and to see that “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:55But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)).
That wounded man felt, I have found a friend. You trust Him, and you will feel similarly. Fling your own efforts overboard, leave yourself in His hands, let Him have His way with you, let Him bind up your wounds.
The next thing we read is that He “set him on his own beast.” What is that? You have no power, but Christ can give you power. You will receive the Spirit of God, who will carry you along. He cures him first of all, and then He carries him. You may say, I am so weak and feeble. Yield yourself to Him; He will carry you, and do with you as with the rescued man; for He “brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” They must have had a wonderful evening together, those two; and I have had a wonderful time in my history in the sense of how the Lord has taken care of me.
“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.” Has not Jesus departed? He has; He has left this scene, and what has He left behind? The “two pence” and the “host” may represent the Scriptures and the Holy Ghost, and “the inn” the spot where the saved soul is cared for. It is the way God puts His people together down here, and cares for them, comforts them, and furnishes all they ever want. Cured, carried, and cared for is really Christianity. Some folk are only half cured, because they are trying to cure themselves. They never get the joy of God’s salvation.
“When I come again,” is a sweet word. Christian, are you waiting for Jesus? He is coming again, the One who has blessed us, brought us to God, and filled our hearts with joy, peace, and gladness—He is coming again. I dare say the poor man was very sensible of all he had received, but had scarce time to thank his benefactor. We shall have time in eternity to thank Him: we shall soon see Him face to face, but now we have time to thank Him, praise Him, and speak well of Him in His absence. That man could say, I was taken up by a wonderful friend, and I owe everything to him. I can say the same. Jesus has saved, blessed, and cleansed me; delivered me from Satan’s power, washed away my sins, given tile the Holy Ghost, and furnished all I need on the road home, and He is coming back presently, and I shall see Him face to face. Can you say likewise?
“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him.” This lawyer had the sense of what the truth is. “Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” Be not a worker for salvation, but get the sense of what Christ is, and then be the expositor of it. If you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, eternal life is yours, and you will live here to be the unfolder of the grace of God to those that know not that grace. How sweet when we can say, I know Him. How blessed to be able to speak of Him as the One that has met all the need of our souls. May you be able to say, I have eternal life, for Jesus has given it me, and now 1 know what it is to belong to the Lord; He has cured me, carries me, cares for me, and He is coming for me.
“The Shepherd’s bosom bears each lamb
O’er rock, and waste, and wild;
The object of that love I am—
And carried like a child.”
W. T. P. W.