The Good Samaritan Series

He spoke in parables to help those who were willing to understand, to understand deeply.

It is my hope that through this series, that those of you here desire to understand more and live life in accordance with Jesus’ teaching so that as we discuss the parables, the Lord would draw our hearts closer to his and compel us to action in life.

As the story I told this morning made us wonder about were the compassion is of people in this world, we are going to look at a story that Jesus told that also talked about compassion.

It is a familiar story to most of you here, even if you are not regular church goers.

It is the story of the Good Samaritan.

Turn with me to Luke 10:25-37

Slide

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in response to a question.

Today we are going to be asking and answering several questions about what Jesus is talking about, but I want you to keep in mind this first question he is asked.

Luke 10:25

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

That is a good question.

One that I am sure that many people want the answer to.

There are others, though, that really aren’t looking for an answer, but only a way to justify what they think.

I want you to notice that this person really did not want the answer to this question.

He wanted to test Jesus because he thought He knew more than Jesus.

He knew what the OT said.

Jesus, of course, knows this, so He replies back with a question.

Luke 10:26-28

26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’"

28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Wow!

We have an answer to the question.

Jesus tells us if we would just

Love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind and

Love our neighbor as our self

we will have eternal life.

Excellent! Let’s go do that.

Wait.

This response leads us to a couple of further questions.

What does that look like?

How do I do that?

Let’s take the first part of that.

How Do we Love God?

Slide

Well ,Jesus, who is God, said

John 14:15

15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Obey His Commands

Slide

So we love God by obeying His commands.

Now if I was a betting man, I would bet that this teacher of the law thinks he has obeyed God’s commands pretty well.

This man was very much like the rich young ruler. He thought he was good enough to earn his eternal life. In fact the rich young ruler asks a similar question of Jesus.

Matthew 19:16-17

16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

Jesus did not say Love God, but obey the commandments.

We show our love for God by obeying what He says.

So those who were listening to Jesus, those who had ears to hear, were probably thinking of their own lives and asking themselves these very questions.