LUKE 10:30-37 "JUST LIKE JESUS"
A) This is one of the most familiar parables that Jesus taught called "The Good Samaritan."
* The interpretation is evident! * Christ was trying to get across to a certain Jewish lawyer the
truth about neighborly kindness!
* His main teaching in this story is that the Samaritan was a neighbor to the dying man by the
road! * As far as I know, that’s all He meant to teach!
B) A parable normally has one central teaching!
* Sometimes we attempt to make it mean something far different than its basic lesson.
* This may be one of those times! * However, I do believe that this story has a most wonderful
symbolic application to man and his life in this world.
C) Therefore, I’d like to take it out of its context and use it as a figurative story,
* That has meaning much deeper than the physical experiences of the traveler from Jerusalem
to Jericho. * I think you will see in this man a figure of all men!
* The road he traveled is the same road traveled by you and me!
(1) A DOWNHILL ROAD - V.30! * This could have been any man! * Rich, poor, good, bad,
* Educated, ignorant, important, unimportant, black, white, any man - He’s a type of all men!
A) "Went down from ..." * Geographically the road that led from Jerusalem to ... was downhill.
* From an elevation of 2500 ft. in Jerusalem, the road ran down into the Jordan Valley where
Jericho was located. * The road of life, traveled by all men, is a downhill road!
* Men and rivers take the way of least resistance and that is always downgrade!
* It takes no energy to coast downhill! * Illus. Automobile out of gear on the side of a mountain!
* Freewheeling, it will gain speed all the way down! * A ball placed on an unleveled surface will
roll downwardly, faster and faster pulled by gravity to the lowest point!
C) So it is with man! It is as if I were placed at birth on the side of a hill.
* Down that slope I began to roll before I was conscious of what was happening.
* When I came to myself, I was well on my way and picking up momentum down the road of life.
* A twig cast into a stream is caught in the current and carried downstream all the way to the sea!
* It takes no effort to float! * Even so, men caught in the current of life are carried on to a destiny!
* This river of natural life empties itself finally in the lake of fire!
(2) JERUSALEM TO JERICHO! * The road in the story led from Jerusalem to Jericho.
* Jerusalem to the Jew was the city of God! * It was the heart of his religion!
* The center of his culture, the capitol of his country - It was the place where God dwelt!
A) In Jerusalem was the Temple, in the Temple was the Holy of Holies!
* In the Holy of Holies was the Shekinah glory, the symbol of the presence of God!
* When Daniel prayed in Babylon, he raised the window, looked toward Jerusalem and called
upon Jehovah! * To Daniel, God’s dwelling place in this world was in Jerusalem!
B) But this man wasn’t going to Jerusalem! * His back was turned toward the city of God!
* He was headed toward another city ... Jericho! * Jericho was a wicked city and very worldly!
* In NT times, it was the favorite holiday ground for royalty! * It was a place of lust and sin,
* The dwelling place of 10,000 demons, a city of great wickedness!
C) Here was a man who had left God and set his face toward the godless city of the world!
* Isn’t that typical of natural man? * Man does not seek after God, man runs from God!
* Men are not trying to find God, they are dodging God - Rom.3:11 "There is none that ......."
* Man is not climbing his way back to God, he is coasting downhill farther & farther from God!
* He’s not becoming better and better, but worse and worse!
D) Man is not interested in spiritual things, he’s concerned with worldly things!
* His ambitions, plans, motives, are all slanted toward this world!
* He is living for Jericho, its pleasures, prestige, position, and popularity.
* He has left fellowship with God in Jerusalem and is rushing on to indulge in the sins of Jericho!
E) At the top of the hill is Jerusalem, the city of God ... Heaven,
* At the bottom of the hill is the eternal darkness of hell!
* Everyone of us is somewhere along this road, traveling in one direction or the other, up or
down, toward heaven or hell & if you’ve never repented ..., you’re headed toward hell!
(3) HE FELL AMONG THIEVES - V.30! * The thieves are typical of the devil!
A) Notice what they did to the man! * The Bible gives us the gruesome details!
* They stripped him, beat him until his body was black with bruises, ripped open his flesh, left the
broken, bleeding, nude body dying in the ditch by the side of the road!
B) Doesn’t that sound like the works of the devil?
* He’s man’s greatest enemy ... he’s not your friend! * He’s out for no good!
* Everything he does has one purpose - to destroy God’s chosen creation, man!
* Satan will strip you of all that is decent and moral and good, he will rob you of all that brings
happiness and peace of mind, he will wound you physically, mentally and spiritually!
* After he has finished wrecking your life, he will drop you in the ditch of hopelessness and
leave you there to die! * The devil is a liar, taskmaster, slavedriver, and a terrible boss!
* He pays off in counterfeit money, don’t listen to him!
* Don’t yield the control of your life to him, you’ll be forever sorry!
(4) LEFT HALF DEAD! * This man’s physical state is symbolic of the spiritual state of all men!
A) Lost men has no life without Christ! * This wounded man is said to be "half dead."
* That is, half only in the sense that death was working in his body and he couldn’t stop it!
* Eternal spiritual death is already at work in every unsaved man!
* Here is a man wounded, weak, broken, bloody, dying and forsaken!
B) He is helpless to save himself ... he has no remedy, no cure!
* He can’t lift himself out of the ditch! * Isn’t that a picture of the human race?
* Spiritually, man is wounded unto eternal death, he cannot save himself!
* This man’s hope was in the good Samaritan, which is a type of Christ!
(5) THE PRIEST - LAW - V.31! * The priest was the administrator of the law!
* He was in charge of carrying out the ritual of the Jewish religion & ceremony of Jewish
worship! * He is a good type of all law and religion! * Now notice this!
A) He passed by and left the dying man to perish in the ditch!
* There is no law on earth that can save a soul from death - Rom.3:20 "Therefore by the deeds ..."
* The 10 commandments cannot save you, the laws of Leviticus can’t save you!
B) I’ll tell you what the law will do ... It will throw its weight against you for breaking it!
* The heavy foot of a broken law will push you down into a pit!
* The law will kill and condemn, but it cannot save you! * Its pitiful to watch man struggle under
rules and regulations making a desperate effort to save himself!
(6) THE LEVITE - MORALITY - V.32!
A) The Levites were that particular tribe of Israel out of which were chosen the priests!
* This was the group that stood with Moses in the wilderness during the rebellion!
* They were a special tribe - they lived by a strict moral code & their lives were well disciplined!
* If the priest is typical of law and religion, the Levite would be a good example of morality!
B) The sad truth is evident ... He passed by on the other side ... Morality can’t save!
* "But Preacher, I’m not that bad!" * Illus. 1000 sins - 1 sin ... pay full penalty!
* So, morality walks right by the poor dying man and leaves him helpless, wounded and perishing
in the ditch! * What man can’t do for himself, what the law cannot do for him,
* What morality can never do, God can do! * And here He comes down the road in the person
of the good Samaritan! * Notice how much this sounds like Jesus!
(7) THE SAMARITAN - JESUS - V.33!
* One day the Lord Jesus looked down from heaven and saw lost humanity.
* Helpless, broken, dying in the ditch by the wayside!
A) The pitiful sight broke His heart and He was moved with compassion!
* In His bosom a throbbing ache began! * He loved this race of unlovely men, this world of
rotten humanity ... He must save them! * So the Bible says, "He went to him."
* He came to where he was! * God’s own Son stepped down from His throne in heaven!
* He laid aside those royal robes that were always His! * He set aside that crown of majesty that
He had worn since before the worlds were!
B) He wrapped Himself in human flesh, boarded Himself on a golden jeweled chariot,
* And across the black skies of a dark Judean night, He passed from heaven to earth,
* From eternity into time! * God had become a man & in swaddling clothes was laid in a manger!
* Phil.2:5-8 "Let this mind ... Who, being in the form of God, thought it not ......."
(8) THE SALVATION - V.34! * Constrained by compassion, Christ came down from heaven,
* Went into the ditch of suffering and death, put His loving arms under the bleeding, bruised
dying man, lifted him up out of the ditch and "bound up his wounds, pouring in oil ......."
A) Doesn’t that sound like salvation? * Jesus binds up the wounds inflicted by Satan,
* Washes them clean in His own blood. * Then He pours in "oil & wine" ... the Holy Spirit!
(9) THE SONSHIP - V.34! * The Samaritan simply exchanged places with the dying man!
* He got down off his beast, down into the ditch, lifted the man up out of the ditch and put
him on his own beast! * How much like what Christ did for me!
* He descended His throne, came down to this world, got down in the ditch and set me upon
His throne in heaven! * He changed places with me!
A) He took my hell and gave me His heaven! * Took my death, gave me His life!
* Took my sin and gave me His righteousness! * Took my place as a dying man, gave me His
place as a son of God!
* Today, positionally, every Christian is seated with Christ in the heavens upon the throne,
adopted into the family of God!
* God is your Father, Christ is your elder brother & you are joint heirs with Him to all the worlds!
* Without Him you would perish, with Him you own the worlds!
(10) THE CHURCH - V.34! * Then the Bible says, "And brought him to an inn, and took ..."
* I’d like to refer to this as the church! * The church is the institution established by Christ in
the world to care for those whom He saves!
A) It is necessary for the care and nourishment of newborn babes in Christ!
* When a baby is born, what do you do with him?
* Suppose you left him lying helpless in the yard!
* You didn’t feed him, clothe him nor warm him! * He would die!
B) Suppose you would put him in a refrigerator? * Good place for steak and pork chops,
* But a poor place for babies! * Put him in an incubator where it’s warm!
(11) THE ASCENSION - V.35! * It still sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it!
* One day He said to His disciples, "I must go away from you for awhile."
* He was taken up in a cloud and ascended up into heaven!
(12) THE RETURN - V.35! * "When I come again." * Still sounds like Jesus!
* The first time He walked upon this earth, He carried a cross, left bloody tracks and wore a
crown of thorns! * The next time He’ll carry a rod of iron, a scepter of authority,
* Wear a crown of glory and sit upon a throne!
* He wont be pushed around, He’ll do a little pushing Himself!
(13) THE PAYDAY - V.35! * "I will repay thee."
A) Rev.22:12 "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every ......."
* Matt.16:27 "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and
then he shall reward every man according to his works."
B) Payday is coming! * Rewards will be handed out based on our faithfulness and works!
* Rewards are for disciples, not sinners!
CLOSE
A) Are you ready for Jesus to come? * He will repay you for all that you’ve spent!
* No more and no less! * So what have you spent for Jesus?
* If He came today, how much would your check be?
B) Or if you died today, could you say these words as a testimony:
* That which I spent, I had ... That which I saved, I lost.
* That which I gave to Christ, I now have! * Will you hear, "Well done thou good and ......."
