TITLE: You Can't Outsmart Jesus
TEXT: Luke 10:25-37
INTRO: Again, we look at another passage contained only in Luke. Remember, this incident took place on the other side of the cross, before coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So it was during the Dispensation of the Law, not of Grace. The Law said, "Do." Grace says, "It is done."
I. A LAWYER TRIES TO TRAP JESUS (25-29)
A. Who Were the Lawyers?
1. We see them time and again scheming against Jesus
2. A Lawyer (or Scribe) was an expert on the Law of Moses
3. He was not asking for information, but was hoping to trap Jesus in a mistake (v.25 "tempted Him")
B. His First Question
1. He asks, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" For him it was all about what one did.
2. Jesus counters with a question for ths expert, " What is written in the law? how readest thou?"
3. The lawyer was probably congratulating himself as he answered, "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 neighbour as thyself."
4. He summed up all the law, and Jesus gave him an "A" for his answer
C. His Second Question (v.29b)
1. He had hoped to trap Jesus but falls into the trap himself as he asks a second question,
"And who is my neighbour?"
2. You can't outsmart Jesus. He gives a parable that is loaded with land mines for the lawyer
II. YOU CAN'T PLAY GAMES WITH JESUS (30-35)
# When my father was in the Navy, he played checkers with experts and I soon learned that I would lose every time I played with him. Today, I don't play checkers with my wife, either.
A. The Lawyer Considered Himself Righteous
1. But his attitude was really, "Do what I say, not what I do."
2. The Scribes believed that only the "righteous" were their neighbors.The sinners, like tax collectors, prostitutes, Gentiles, and Samaritans were hated as enemies of the Law.
B. Jesus Knew the Hearts of the Scribes
1. He once said, (Mat 23:27) "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."
2. Jesus told him a parable in which a Samaritan was the hero [vs.30-35]
(a) The Terrible Thieves - interested only in what they could get
(b) The Passing Priest - too busy to care about others
(c) The Looking Levite - curious, but lacking concern
(d) They all desregarded the law
(e) The Serving Samaritan - had compassion & acted on it
C. Jesus Reeled the Lawyer In
1. Asked a question with only one possible answer (v.36)
2. Then told him to "practice what he preached" (v.37)
(Mat 23:23) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
III. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US?
A. Many Have Misconceptions About This Parable
1. It is not the gospel According to State Farm 'like a good neighbor..."
2. It is not the Good Sam Club doing good works
3. Being a good neighbor will not get you into Heaven
(Eph 2:8-9) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
B. Its All About the Heart
1. If you have been born again, you have a new heart
2. You love others because God first loved you
3. You forgive because you have been forgiven
4. You have compassion because God had compassion on you
(Mat 10:8b) "... freely ye have received, freely give."
CONCL: (Spurgeon) "Let it never be forgotten that what the law demands of us the gospel really
produces in us."
Amen
