The Good Samaritan

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So this parable that Jesus tells, the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is responding to a lawyer who asked that question.

Well, who is my neighbor? Let's look at Luke 10, starting at verse 25. It says, And behold, a certain lawyer, or it would also be called a scribe, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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 rightly. Do this and you will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor? So he's not getting it. Or maybe he is getting it. He just doesn't want to listen.

Verse 30,. Then Jesus answered and said, Notice Jesus doesn't tell him specifically. He's telling him the story so he can realize it himself. Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now, by chance, a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side.

They didn't want to help this man. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went in and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?

And he answered and said, He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. So that statement by the lawyer in verse 29, Who is my neighbor? Jesus doesn't give a straight answer. I think Jesus knows if he gives a straight answer, this guy is going to come back with some verse from the law out of context, because there were verses where the Jews were to remain separate from the Gentiles.

And that's often what it turns into just a back and forth of, I get this verse and you have this verse. So what Jesus did is he tells this story, because as you know, the Jews had disdain for anyone who is not Jewish, and they especially despised the Samaritans.

So in this story, Jesus is calling him to think differently. Back in Luke chapter six, verse 31, Jesus gave what we call the golden rule. And he said, Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise, right?

This is the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Also, the Bible says in Galatians six, verse 10, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to people just like us, our own family, just people in our church.

No, that's not what it says. As we have opportunity, let us do good to all. And then especially to those who are the household of faith. So yeah, there is a sense in which we take care of our own first.

I mean, you do have an obligation to your own children above the neighbor's children, but you are to love the neighbor's children also, and you're to love your neighbor.

We're to love everybody.

Isn't this the point that Jesus is getting at? Who is my neighbor? Everybody, every human being is your neighbor, not just the guy who lives next door. Do good to all, love all. That's the Christian message.

So that's what this statement means. That's some context about loving your neighbor as yourself. Hopefully that will help as we move to point number two. Now that we know what the scripture is teaching, what is the scripture not teaching?

Love, Law, and the Misuse of “Love Your Neighbor”

When the Bible mentions love or love your neighbor, what does it not mean? Is this being misapplied today? I would argue this is one of the biggest issues out there that the word love is being redefined, and now it's sort of an excuse to get around all sorts of different things that the Bible says.

The word love is being used as an excuse to guilt. Okay, are you listening? The word love is being used as an excuse to guilt and to gaslight Christians into supporting whatever that person's agenda is or whatever the world's agenda seems to be at any given moment.

And I'm going to need a little grace here from some of you. So can you extend grace?

Okay.

Who remembers this one? Well, you need to get injected with this experimental medicine. No, I don't. Well, yes, you do, because love your neighbor, love your neighbor as yourself. Listen, you're entitled to your own opinion, okay?

Nobody is entitled to their own interpretation of the Bible, though. That is not what that verse means. It's a possible application if all these facts are true. I mean, I can get what people are saying, but that's not what that verse means.

But this is the big issue right now in evangelicalism. People are saying, well, you need to support this. You need to support this behavior. Like, no, the Bible calls that sin. Well, you need to support it.

Why?

Well, love your neighbor as yourself because of love. That's what's happening. So it's not hard to see what's taking place. People are taking one verse out of context, one concept out of context, and they are using it to undo other verses, to contradict other statements in the Scripture that are very clear.

It's often people who do this. It's often the same people who like to pit the teachings of Jesus over and against the teachings of the Apostle Paul. Have you ever heard someone do they quote a verse? Usually it's about, there's a few main issues that people don't like today in the 21st century, and you quote the Apostle Paul, and then they want to quote Jesus as if Jesus undoes the Apostle Paul.

It's not the way it works.

And love does not undo the Ten Commandments. Actually, if you properly understand the Ten Commandments, it really is all about love. Because if you love someone, you're not going to harm them, lie to them, steal from them, etc.

So this is what's happening. Some of you have noticed this, others maybe this is new to you. But this is a massive problem in the church today. So people are using the word love, infusing their own meaning into it, and they're attempting to use that as an excuse to make the Word of God other places of none effect.

Basically, this is the 21st century version of putting man-made traditions above scripture. You might have chapter and verse in the Bible, but they have an emotional story they want to tell. Well, we should care about people's feelings.

It matters, people's lives and what they've gone through. But that doesn't undo the Word of God. So we need to find a balance to be able to meet people where they're at, care about what they're going through, how they feel, but still we listen to what God and His Word says.

That's not always an easy thing. I already mentioned a week or two ago how that passage, Matthew 22, this is where Jesus quotes Leviticus, love your neighbor as yourself. I already mentioned a few weeks ago how the law, really Jesus, by quoting that, is summarizing the law.

Jesus is summarizing the Ten Commandments. He is not abolishing the Ten Commandments, as some evangelicals are trying to do today. They're trying to abolish the Ten Commandments. Probably the most famous evangelical pastor in the United States, in a sermon, he actually said, God says, thou shalt not obey the Ten Commandments.

Like, no, you shouldn't.

Thou shalt do that. Thou shalt not. He said, no, don't obey the Ten Commandments. Now, some of you think that's crazy and I'm making it up, but again, he's probably the most popular evangelical pastor in the United States.

If you boil it all down, what are we talking about? The new morality is basically the world's version of morality. The new morality in some churches today is the world's morality. So what's happening, people don't like certain parts of the Bible and they're trying to use love as sort of like a trump card to undo whatever scriptural teaching is giving them problems.

And all I'm saying to you is here's what's happening and please don't fall for it.

Who's seen this?

Who's noticed this? That love is being used in this way. Okay, so I'm seeing a lot of heads shaking, a lot of hands. Don't fall for it. The way we show Christian love is not to cave into the culture. There's nothing loving about that.

Caving into the culture is not love. It's just a lack of courage. It's just a sign of weakness. And you know what James 4 verse 4 says about friendship with the world? This is why people do it. They want to make friends with the world.

What does the scripture say? Friendship with the world is enmity against God. You can't be a friend of the world and be a friend of God. It's just not possible. So we either have the mind of Christ and believe the word of God or we have the mind that everybody else has and we just go along with whatever the next thing is.

So what the church needs, what this church needs, what every church needs, we need strong men and women who do not compromise the scriptures. It's much easier to go along with the flow, isn't it? And we need to swim against the tide.

Okay, just to recap, affirming people in their sin. This is really what it boils down to. Affirming people in their sin is now being called love. Do you realize God never once affirmed anybody in their sin?

You remember the woman caught in adultery and how they dragged her to Jesus and they wanted to stone her? And, oh, Jesus, what do you say about this? Of course, they were trying to trap him and get him into all sorts of trouble.

And Jesus forgave the woman, didn't he? And he didn't want her to be stoned. So Jesus accepted her. He did affirm her as a person because he cared about her. But you know what he said before she left?

Go and sin no more. So listen to this. Affirming people in their sin is actually hate. Affirming people in their sin is actually hate. Why do people affirm them in their sin? Because if you say something, they're just going to get upset and you don't want to deal with it.

It's easier to just tell them what they want to hear. And it's so much easier for you. And I'm not saying that's what people's motivation is, but dig down to the root cause. That's what it's about. You cannot affirm people in their sin.

Say, but pastor, doesn't the scripture say that God loves us just the way we are? Do you think that God loves you just the way that you are? No, he doesn't. He loves you despite the way you are. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So God may love me just as I am, but he doesn't want me to stay just where I am. Yeah, but we have that hymn, right? Just as I am. Yeah, but you don't stay there.

You grow.

Christians are to be overcomers. But the world wants us to tolerate and accept anything and everything. And it's just a way of, well, it's a really clever way of doing it. If somebody comes to you and says, hey, the Bible's not true, deny the Bible, go against God.

You're not going to do that as a believer. But when the serpent approached Eve, he had all sorts of double talk and convinced her with this line. It sounded good. You're going to be like God, but it wasn't true.

So we, as Christians, we don't tolerate certain things. Oh, I can't believe that. There's not a single person in this world who tolerates everything. Even the people that talk about tolerance and acceptance, there are certain things they don't tolerate.

So now, does that mean be rude and be confrontational and be unkind? No, I believe in being kind, but we need to be kind and firm, don't we? Oh, but you need to be more open-minded to what the world is saying.

Some people are so open-minded, their brain has fallen out. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.