Good Samaritan

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. I know, I know, I know. Mike Avendroth here,

NoCoRadio on a Tuesday or Thursday. Boy, the cars and the trucks outside are sure loud.

Wow. Anyway, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Don't forget there are two new books out,

King, How the Sovereignty of God Changes Everything, and The Chosen about election.

How do you like that name, The Chosen? Both on Amazon. Multiple orders.

Email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. All right, lots to talk about.

We could talk about Christian nationalism. Boring. We could talk about abolitionists.

They're in my feed on Twitter. Beware of people that in their bio it says something about abolitionists.

We could talk about all kinds of subjects. Today I want to talk about a parable that you probably don't interpret properly.

Yes, it's back to another adversarial No Compromise Radio Ministry. The parable of the

Good Samaritan, as one man said, is bad news. The parable of the

Good Samaritan is bad news. And I know what you're saying. You're saying things like, wait a second, aren't we supposed to love other people properly?

Aren't we supposed to be kind and merciful to those that don't look like us?

We even have things called Good Samaritan laws right from Luke chapter 10 in the

Bible. If you go help someone who's injured and you mess up somehow or they want to sue you, you are protected from liability.

Let's say you go give CPR to someone or first aid or you take somebody and drag them out of the middle of the road.

If you have done something that is reasonable, an action that is reasonable and not crazily, grossly negligent, you are not going to get sued.

Well, you could get sued, but you'll be protected. Let's say you do CPR on someone and you crack a rib or you see someone who's choking and you perform the

Heimlich and you crack a rib. You, if you're an untrained bystander trying to help, you're working outside of your normal duties, that is to say you're not an

ER doctor or not a doctor or not a nurse or something like that, a CPR trainer, you are going to be protected by this thing called a

Good Samaritan law. And I'm glad for laws like that.

I'm glad that the Samaritan was good. He did a good deed.

He was sacrificial. He was merciful. He was loving. But what's the point of the passage?

What's the point of Luke chapter 10? And the point is not what you think it is, because if you have the context or the occasion or the situation, that will help determine anything in the

Bible, especially parables. You want to know what the parable of the lost coin, lost sheep, lost son, slash lost sons.

You just look at the first two verses of Luke 15. It'll tell you why it was said, and it'll help you understand.

So that'll help you determine the meaning. So today on No Compromise Radio, let me give you the context of the parable of the

Good Samaritan. Verse 25, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him, Jesus, to the test.

So bad motives? Probably is going to be a good question, I bet. Do you think? Teacher, what shall

I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, what is written in the law?

How do you read it? This man was a lawyer, not a lawyer like law firms today, a lawyer, an expert in Old Testament law.

So Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, an expert. What does it say in your

Bible, Bible expert? That's a good question. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

And this lawyer gives Jesus the answer from the law, from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19.

He answered, the lawyer did, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly, that's an orthodox answer, literally, do this and you will live, live eternally.

All you have to do to get to heaven, to be a legal heir of heaven, is to perfectly love

God and perfectly love neighbor as yourself. That's all you have to do. Jesus is using the law, what we call first use of the law, to convict this man, to show him his sin.

That's what Jesus is doing, similar to the rich young ruler, and Jesus isn't giving him good news right now.

He's trying to show the man that there's sin that he must reckon with.

The bad news comes before the good news. Ephesians 2, you're dead in trespasses and sins, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ, by grace you've been saved.

Bad news than the good news. This is bad news because the necessity of obeying

God to get into heaven is something we can't do. Combine that with Adam, our federal head, he did not obey, now we've been affected by Adam's sin, credited to all of our accounts by immediate imputation, and our own sin now, we can't do it.

This man should say, have mercy on me, please, I heard you're gracious,

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. That is what the man should do. If you think about what the law does for the believer, it guides him or her, but for the unbeliever, it's supposed to convict.

It's supposed to show, okay, I don't measure up, I actually need to be saved,

I need to be rescued, and it is similar to Romans chapter 1, 2, and the first half of chapter 3.

Those chapters are written, especially 118 through 320, to show that you need a

Savior, to make you actually be glad that there's such a Savior as the

Lord Jesus Christ, who perfectly obeyed God and perfectly loved neighbor, perfectly loved

God, loved neighbor. Romans chapter 3, verse 9, what then? Are we

Jews any better off than the pagans in chapter 1? Are the religious people in chapter 2?

Not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written, and a lot of these come from the

Psalms, none is 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, their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive, the venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and ministry.

Okay, I'm checking my phone, I'm checking my...somebody's texting me, and I'm just just checking right now.

In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we come to Romans chapter 3, verse 19. Everybody listen up. Come on, it's time to listen up.

You're not listening. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, this is first use, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be accountable to God.

For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law is given to the unbeliever. When you evangelize, you should give the law to unbelievers, and you keep preaching the law until their mouths are shut.

That is to say, until they offer no more excuses. They offer no more defense. They don't blame other people.

They own it. They're not trying to exonerate themselves or somehow spin control or mince words.

They say to themselves and to you, I don't have any more defense.

I'm guilty as charged. I've sinned against this God, and I deserve to be punished.

It's like you're standing before God the judge, and your deeds that you have done are read.

Yes, guilty as charged. David Martyn Lloyd -Jones said, you do not begin to become a

Christian until your mouth is shut, is stopped, and you are speechless and have nothing to say.

You put up your arguments and produce all your righteousness. Then the law speaks, and it all withers to nothing.

It becomes filthy rags, and you have nothing to say. This is

Job 40. I put my hand on my mouth. You see, because by the works of the law, no one shall be justified in his sight.

Maybe justified in their own sight. Maybe justified compared to other lawyers. To think back to Luke chapter 10,

I'm not as bad as other people. Well, at least I didn't do fill in the blank. No, the law declares guilty.

In your sight, there's no man that's righteous. Psalm 143, verse 2.

If you're here today and you're not a Christian, the law, love

God and love neighbor, is pushed up against you, and you should probably say, I'm condemned.

If you're listening to this show, I am guilty as charged. And then that's when you hear the good news of the gospel, and you hear the free offer of forgiveness found through faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone.

And you think, oh, what a Savior. He lived for me. He died for me. He was raised for me. Thank you.

Now, back to Luke chapter 10. Jesus said, you've answered correctly, do this and you'll live. Here's the law.

All you have to do is obey it perfectly, and you get to go to heaven. And then he's going to give the parable.

The good Samaritan has bad news that is a further reflection of the law, because this guy's not going to be quiet.

If you look at the end of chapter 37, he said, the one who showed him mercy, and Jesus said, go and do likewise.

Do this and you'll live. Yes, go and do likewise. The book ends in Luke chapter 10, verses 28 and 37.

Help us determine that the parable of the good Samaritan is not good news.

It's an attempt to further show in the story of a parable, just like with Nathan going to David about the little sheep, the little lamb, for the person, in this case, the lawyer, and in Nathan's case,

David, for them to say, guilty. Guilty as charged. This good Samaritan is perfectly described as, or described perfectly as, loving neighbor.

And doing goes up to him, binds wounds, anoints with oil, loads man on mule, takes him to an inn, stays the night, pays the money.

Do, do, do, do, do. This is how you must live, always. If you go do this, you keep showing mercy like this, do it your whole life, even when you were, you know, 10, 20, 30, you should be doing these things.

You want to inherit eternal life by doing? Then do it, when the good

Samaritan is bad news. Here's really the key. In context, the good

Samaritan parable isn't telling you what to do. It's not telling you what to do.

It's not giving you an example to follow. It's telling you what you should be doing, but you're not.

It's telling you what you should be doing, and you're not. Here's what you don't do.

You don't love people like this, and you have not met the duty of loving like this, to love your neighbors yourself.

So you need a Savior. You need me. I'm on my way to Jerusalem to die for sinners like you.

Not good news, but bad news. And you should say,

I don't love God like I should, and here with the good Samaritan parable, I don't love like that. So now we come to the parable.

Isn't that fun? You say, well, I don't even need to know what the parable's about now, really. It's just the details. I get the main point.

Yes, but isn't Jesus a great storyteller? Jesus is a great storyteller.

You don't have to make this parable walk on all fours. We're going to see exactly how this unfolds.

This is not an example to follow. This is the law to show that we don't do this. We're not doing this at all.

This is just like that lawyer who stood up and put him to the test, what do I do to inherit eternal life? It's just like the rich young ruler.

That's what I probably should have said. Remember verse 29 of Luke 10? But he desiring to justify himself said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

You know what? I'm going to try to get out of this. I'm going to try to sidetrack this whole thing.

You know, the law is pretty, you know, love your neighbors yourself. Okay, love, agape, myself,

I got that. Well, you know, can you give me a definition of neighbor? Maybe, you know, is it my friend, relatives, other

Jews? Good teacher, what must

I do to inherit eternal life? This is what I was saying earlier with the rich young ruler. Why do you call me good? No one does good except God alone.

You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear a false witness, honor your father and mother. And he said, all these

I've kept for my youth. Instead of saying, guilty as charged, convicted, he says that.

This lawyer is the same. This lawyer is trying to defend himself, justify himself, literally.

And isn't that what the world does? Isn't that what you did before you were saved? Trying to justify self, lower the law's demands, somehow thinking you can keep them, or at least you keep more than other people.

Humility says, I can't do this. Lord, I'm lost, I'm helpless,

I'm hopeless. Please, I throw myself on your mercy.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, that we'll read about in Luke chapter 18. Versus, oh, you know what?

Let's try trick questions. Who's really my neighbor? Get the focus off of me, get the focus on neighbor, right?

Isn't that really what's happening here? Love your neighbor as yourself. Who's my neighbor?

Come on, Leviticus 19 .18, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.

So, see, is it just one of my people? Leviticus 19, verse 34, a stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you are aliens in the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God. So, aliens too,

Gentiles too. Leviticus 24 .22, you are to have the same law for the alien and the native born.

I am the Lord your God. Let's have a little debate, Jesus. That's probably the best thing to do so I don't have to think about me.

Let's start thinking about other things. The context is not, here's what you should do.

Here's what you don't do. That's the context. Showing the lawyer his sin.

Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, Luke 10 .30,

fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. I've seen this road before.

I've seen the land, kind of the gully, the caves along the side, 17, 18 miles, descent about 3 ,000 feet, and crusaders even built a little fort there halfway to help people back in the days of the

Crusades. Pompeii had to wipe out the strongholds that were in this haunt, dangerous, narrow ravine, caverns, hiding places, ambush.

One called the road the red way or the bloody way. A writer said it was like a gauntlet of greed and danger.

Some in the 19th century had to pay money to locals to travel through without getting killed.

Bandits. And here this guy's walking and he fell among robbers.

Now, the trek from Jerusalem to Jericho would most likely mean that this man was a

Jewish man, and he's surrounded by the robbers. And this is not just like a pickpocket.

This is, you know, maybe try to kill the guy, take all of his money, take his clothing, because that was valuable back in the day.

Clothing's worth money. And they beat him. It's where we get the word plague, like a stroke or a blow.

And literally, they leave him half dead. Could be in a coma, could be unconscious, at least.

And most people are thinking, this guy's a Jew. I said, Mike, you just said that a while ago. I know, I just said it again.

Oriental pilgrims who repair to the Jordan have the protection of an escort of Turkish soldiers.

And others who would make the same journey must go in company with them or provide for their safety by procuring a special guard.

Hardly a season passes in which some luckless wayfarer is not killed or robbed in going down from Jericho, from Jerusalem to Jericho.

The ravines, the almost inaccessible cliffs, the caverns furnish admirable lurking places for robbers.

They can rush forth unexpectedly upon their victims and escape as soon almost beyond the possibility of pursuit.

And if you wanted to try to figure out a nationality of people back in those days, what they wore and how they talked, this guy, he can't figure out either one of those if he's unconscious and he doesn't have any clothes on.

We probably need somebody to help this man, don't you think? This guy's an image bearer. He needs help.

He's a human. He needs assistance. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

It's like, wow, help is on the way. Robbers treated him badly.

Jewish clergy, they're going to do the right thing, like lawyers and scribes. Now, by chance does not mean random molecules of the universe.

It's a figure of speech. It's a parable. And it's just like, oh, this guy just happened to show up.

We don't believe in luck. We don't believe in kismet. We don't believe in fortune. This is just the way

Jesus used the word. By chance, somebody's going to help.

Now, priests, they came from Aaron, descendants of Aaron, and they did work in the temple.

They were on a rotating basis, and then they were done doing their service of sacrifices and temple things.

They would go from Jerusalem to Jericho. Many of them lived there.

And so, instead of helping the man that's laying there half dead, this priest goes to the other side.

He has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your

God, Micah 6 .8. That's all. From the human perspective, just kind of coincidentally, you see this guy.

One writer said that not less than 12 ,000 priests and Levites dwelt at Jericho.

So, they've got done with their job. They were offering sacrifices. They did the incense. They did the services, and they did their stint for two weeks.

That's normally what would happen, and then they would go home. Sacrifice twice a day for two weeks.

Here, these people are upper class. They know Torah. And when he saw them, he goes to the other side.

Who knows what he was thinking? Now, lots of people said, well, he's a priest, and he doesn't want to touch a dead body because he could be defiled, and then he wouldn't have any—he couldn't serve in the temple, and that's a rare honor to serve there.

But he's on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho. It's not like he's going there.

Even if he was going there, he should stop and help. I mean,

I don't think it's right to say, well, he gets back from Jerusalem, and he is telling everybody about what he's doing in the temple and how wonderful it is.

And by the way, now he's ceremonially unclean, and he'd be all embarrassed. No, we don't have any idea why he doesn't do it.

We just know there's no help, no mercy. He goes on the other side. They came, he came, he saw, and passed on the other side.

You know, you're hearing a sermon about kindness at church, and you see somebody on the side of the road, a friend, and you just keep driving.

So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. He even gets closer, came to the place, saw him.

That's a little added information. He goes on the other side, too. Levites also help in the temple, and they help the priest.

It's like the elders go by the priest, then the deacons go by. The Levites, they took care of utensils, they took care of oil and incense and wine, and they had to be helpers behind the scenes.

Again, he has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your

God. He got a little closer. Exodus 23, if you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

If you see the donkey, the one who hates you, lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it.

You shall rescue it with him. If you do that for an ox or a donkey, even your enemies.

Priest goes down the road, goes on the other side. Levite goes to the same place, goes the other side.

Some Pharisees thought that even if your shadow went over a corpse, you would be defiled.

I mean, this guy's close enough. You can probably see if he's breathing, groaning. If you're going to help an ox or a donkey, maybe this guy did something bad and God's judging him.

Maybe other people are going to ambush me. Maybe it's a setup. Maybe he's not even really hurt. Love God, love neighbor as self.

Came, saw, passed on the other side. Do we need to know why they didn't help?

Text doesn't tell us, but it's wrong not to help. Next verse.

But a Hamas terrorist, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

Oh, sorry. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

Now, so far for the leaders, for the priests and the Levites, came, saw, go to the other side.

Came, saw, go to the other side. Came, saw, move with compassion, goes to the man, gives him mercy, do, do, do, do, do this and live.

This is to show that lawyer that if you want to get to heaven by doing, it better be perfect doing.

This is lavish doing. This is above and beyond doing, and make sure that you do this perpetually, all the time.

People hated Samaritans, and here in the original, it's moved to the front of the sentence, so you get a real emphasis.

A Samaritan. I mean, remember they said to Jesus, aren't you a Samaritan, demon -possessed? These half -breeds,

Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The story of the good Samaritan, what do you mean?

There are no good Samaritans. That's the idea.

Anyway, I can't believe it. It's already 30 minutes. Time's up. No Compromise Radio. When the good

Samaritan is bad, when it's law, nobody lives like, loves like that. We're going to have to talk about it more when we come back next time.

But nobody loves like that, except Jesus, who's perfectly loved neighbor, perfectly loved

God. My name's Mike Avendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. The new book,