Problem Parables: The Good Samaritan - Stanley D. Toussaint

well I know the configuration of classes is Tuesday Thursday and Wednesday Friday I appreciate so much your attendance last Tuesday but I'm especially delighted that you came back a second time and you're back here on Thursday thank you so much for being here one of the goals of this week of course is to encourage expository teaching and preaching I just trust that as a result of these lectures or these messages your hearts will be challenged for the Word of God to teach it to preach it today I'd like to speak in a very very well-known parable it's the parable of the Good Samaritan now this week we've been taking parables that have problems built into them say there's no problem that one I understand the Avenue what's the problem wait until we get into it and you will see that there is a huge problem becomes intrinsic to the interpretation of the parable I would call this the world's most abused parable because as so often misused for instance I'm sure your internist like this it's an allegory the man who fell among thieves is a lost sinner and the Good Samaritan is Jesus and they just allegorize it that's an abuse of the scriptures that's not what it's saying at all that doesn't pay any attention to the context or perhaps you've also heard secular sociologists say that this is a motivation for good deeds to help the poor and so on now that's in there but that's not the purpose of the parable what is this parable all about now I'd like to look at this under four headings first of all this setting which is crucial Luke chapter 10 as you know it's in Luke chapter 10 the setting is given in verses 25 to 29 then you have the story the setting the story and verses 30 to 35 and then you have the sequel verses 36 and 37 and fourthly we're going to look at the significance of the story so four points I know normally you can only remember three but you're brilliant you can take four so we have here the setting the story the sequel and the significance let's start with the setting and behold when you see behold it sometimes means surprise and sometimes it means now I want to point this out to you probably be that's what it means here now listen behold a certain lawyer stood up now the lawyer here is not attorney in civil law as we think of one today but the lawyer was a student of the Old Testament Scriptures especially the law of Moses that was his work that's what he did he was associated with the scribes the scribes were also writers of the law but they primarily studied the Old Testament Scriptures so this man was gifted in knowing the Old Testament Scriptures at least and studying them so he stood up and put him that is Jesus the Lord Jesus to the test the verb is pay Rajal now as you know the verb pay Roger may simply mean to test for instance that's how it's used in James chapter 1 Conner it all joy when you fall into very testing is the same stem but then the same chapter in James going to goes on to say God doesn't tempt anybody it's the same verb by Roger so sometimes it may mean to test sometimes it may mean to probe to get some fault or failure or to tempt now quite clearly here I take it that this man is testing Christ to find some weakness in him after all this man is a lawyer he knows the Old Testament and here's this young rabbi born in Bethlehem but reared that little back rod at water village of Nazareth who has now set up camp in Capernaum this is his headquarters on the north side of the Sea of Galilee and he is Avraham by what does he know he's not taught he has never have any credentials what does he know so he came up to him and put him to the test saying teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life you'll notice that questions often a number of times by different people that was a strong question on the minds of these Jews what should I do that I may have eternal life probably the eternal life looks ahead to the millennium especially as seen in the resurrection of Daniel chapter 2 and so on probably looking head at the kingdom they didn't call it the millennium in those days it was the kingdom they're looking after the kingdom what shall I do with the verb the pronoun what is singler now that could mean a couple of things it could be what great read you think and I do that will guarantee me eternal life what one act or it may be looking at your life as a whole what what my life look like as a whole that I'm you have eternal life basically is looking at words what should I do well the Lord Jesus being the master teacher that he is turns the question back upon the questioner verse 26 he said to him what is written in the law how does it read to you it literally says how are you reading it but what do you get out of the law what do you see about it well the lawyer answers and the answered and said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself I admire this man think of it all the hundreds of laws in the Old Testament he distilled them down to two of God totally and love your neighbors yourself now that's genius you know if you ask her first a question goes round and around and around it ever gets the point he doesn't was topic he doesn't what he's talking about but if somebody goes at topic ping-ping-ping you can give it very succinctly very pointedly Einstein was a genius and he give us the formula E MC square didn't fill up a whole blackboard with formulas just e equals MC square energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light now that's genius to take something huge and great and distill it down that formula which by the way becomes a formula for the atomic bomb and the nuclear bomb and atomic energy nuclear fission all that is based on this little formula e equals MC squared and here this man takes the hold old testament distills it down to two question two statements the first one is Deuteronomy 6:5 you shall love the Lord your God with everything totally Deuteronomy 6:5 follows Deuteronomy 6:4 and it's not genius Deuteronomy 6:5 follows Deuteronomy 6:4 but they're related you all know Deuteronomy 6:4 is the great Shema of Israel every synagogue of every type for years for thousands of years they've repeated this statement here o Israel the Lord your God is one akov is one now don't number 65 follow that you shall love the Lord your God totally T a I which means think about it if there's one God no other God just one you o that God everything you are you don't have use your allegiance between many deities there's one and if there is one God he's God you owe that God everything they go together and the lawyer throw up saw it the second command is love your neighbor as yourself Leviticus 19:18 love your neighbor as yourself genius so the Lord Jesus answers and he said to him that is Jesus the Lord Jesus said to him you've answered correctly do this and you will live hold it hold it hold it that's salvation by works it sounds like do this and you live but you have to understand the love of God now what I'm about to say is basic and fundamental we never initiate love for God did you hear me we humans never initiate love for God all we can do is respond to God's love we love Him John says in first John because he first loved us so he says you shall love the Lord your God he you're simply referring to your response to the love of God he's basically talking about trust you love the Lord your God because you trust him in response to his love for you you can see it the preceding paragraph look at verse 21 at that very time he rejoiced greatly in the holy spirit and said and here we have a bolt out of the johanan blue as it has been called I praise thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and it's reveal them to babes how many years ago I taught a course of spiritual life and I gave a certain amount of memory work and this was one of the passage it's only the parallel is in Matthew I thank you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the wise brilliant and revealing to babes because I wanted to add scribe on the minds of those people the scholarship was not going to be in your to God now I'm for scholarship don't misunderstand me I'm for studying and knowing the languages etc death all I'm saying I'm simply saying that scholarship by itself will not make you know God more Curie you have to have the heart of a pain thank you Father Lord of Heaven Earth then he goes on to say this I'm beside the topic yes Father for the sir was well pleasing in thy sight all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and who the father is it with the father is except the son now get this and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him notice it's God that takes initiative and we can only respond so I says love the Lord your God you're responding to God's love and that was his response God loved Israel and he showed great compassion upon them even magnified himself and now the response of Israel was to love him so we're simply responding in faith now hear me carefully when it comes to God we only respond when it comes to your neighbor you take the initiative you love your neighbor as yourself you don't wait to be loved you love your neighbor as yourself you take the initiative so the Lord Jesus said that's right you do this and you'll live as you respond to the got the love of God you're gonna love your neighbor that's why the lawyer asks the question look at in verse 29 but wishing to justify himself you want to look good wishing to justify himself he said to Jesus and who is my neighbor ditching their digital does he never says a thing about loving God of the two questions of the two statements I should say the two commandments the one that he refers to is love of neighbor why just love of neighbor because you can tell how well a person loves God by how He loves people to go together in fact it's interesting I don't think there's any way you can measure love for God except for I do love people I stayed as a principle you can tell how well a person is getting along with God by the way gets one with people and I would tell seminary students pastors to be I don't care how gifted a person is how skilled person is how educated a person is how successful that person is if he can't get along with people for God's sake for Christ's sake for the church's sake and for your sake don't let him get them the board he'll turn apart because you can always tell how well a person's getting on with God by the way he gets along with people and the attorney knew that that lawyer knew that so he said who is my neighbor now that's crucial who is my neighbor was my neighbors our family family member oh yes I'd give my life for that person if my neighbor is a loyal friend I'd give my life for him if my neighbor is the person across the street who borrows my tools and never returns them I don't know if I would love him who is my neighbor so that's the city and the Lord Jesus is answering that question in its parable so we can go through the parable rather quickly you know it already so let's look at the story jesus replied and said a certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and not everybody that was in Israel would know that Jerusalem is about 2,600 feet above sea level and Jericho is about 800 feet below sea level and the distance is 17 18 19 miles just a short distance and if you variability Israel you know it's a circuitous route either going down or up and it's very rough terrain a place where robbers could use caves to hide out him and so on it was it's a dangerous trip in this man is traveling alone and we read he fell among the robbers they stripped him took the clothes off from him and beat him pummeled him went off leaving him half dead he was within inches of the end of his life lying on that roadway now the first person I came by is a priest and by chance Calvinists don't like that by chance it might be better to say in coincidentally it just so happened a certain priest was going down on that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side did you notice the direction he was going he was going down he was leaving Jerusalem now contrary to what most people think the vast majority of priests did not live in Jerusalem they lived in surrounding villages David the Magnificent organizer that he was divided the priests of the 24 orders in fact you have one of them named in Luke chapter one the order of Abijah it was one of the 24 priestly divisions and these priests would serve in Jerusalem one week at a time twice a year and also of course for the major major festivals but they would come twice a year to serve one week at a time and probably this man had served his week in Jerusalem he's on his way home to Jericho that's the probability and that may explain that may capital m capital a capital y that may explain why he passed by on the other side he get home and his neighborhood say mr. cohan because going to Hebrew music priest mr. Cohen where have you been I haven't seen you oh I've been to Jerusalem I served in the temple or you saw the temple anybody has seen the temple anybody was not seen the temple has not seen true beauty oh what a privilege let me shake your hand oh don't don't don't touch me don't touch you what do you mean are you so highfalutin now I can't touch it no on the way home I dealt with a man that had open wounds and had blood so I'm unclean ha ha ha that's a joke here's a phrase reserved in Jerusalem but he comes home defiled that may be explanation we don't know but he passed by on the other side a Levite comes along as you well know we read in verse 32 likewise and likewise a Levite also when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side now as you well know the Levites were not of the family of Aaron they're the the tribe of Levi but they were helpers to the priests they helped the priests they were a religious order they people paid tithes the Levites the device took that tithe and paid from it the tyre to the priests but they were part of the probably the religious order and this personal religious order so I'm passing by on the other side doesn't say which direction was going we don't know why it may be that his wife said I want to get home as soon as possible he didn't want to make his wife angry we don't know what it was it may be he thought it was a dangerous place to be it may be that in an appointment we don't know what it was but he just passes by the other side now verse 33 but death but a certain Samaritan as you know very well the Samaritans were despised by the Jews and the feeling was mutual on the part of the Samaritans the Samaritans were half-breeds when Assyria moved the northern tribe out of Israel they transplanted them with other peoples from other nations and they interbred so they're half priests that was bad enough that was not the main thing the main thing was the Samaritans had set up a rival religion at Shechem they had their own temple they had the Samaritan Pentateuch they had their own rituals their own beliefs the Jews to spite them and as Americans a to the Jews and this despised Samaritan goes by he was on a journey you'll notice that he had a destination probably had a timetable we have a time people probably because on our journey he was on a journey and he came upon him and when he saw him he felt compassion the idea of your guts you feel it near in your belly have you remembers you feel your deepest emotions right here your gut you receive a letter from the IRS you are being audited for your 2013 texts bring all your records that that of the you feel right here you have just won the clearinghouse publish our Clearing House publishing sweepstakes you are receiving $7,000 a week for the rest of your life could you feel right here okay this man was moved with compassion he felt it deeply he was moved with the compassion and he came to him instead of passing by he went up to the person and bandaged his wounds have you ever asked yourself where would he get the bandages you don't carry Pantages around when you travel he probably tore up his own clothes to make bandages pouring oil on the wounds the oil would be for the bruises to mollify the bruises and also we find out and wine on them the wine would be for the open cuts the surface kind of antiseptic so he ministered to them physically then we find he put him on his own beast a burden on his own be it's probably a donkey and he had been riding the donkey and now he gets off the donkey and he there must have been some effort to get that wounded man up on that donkey and he himself walked while the wounded man rode that beast and it brought him to an inn and took care of him sleepless night spending the night just watching over the person and on the next day took out two denarii I a Denarius was generally the equivalent of one day's work for a working man just to keep in wrong numbers we could say he took out $200 $100 a day I'm just saying that is a wrong number $200 for a total stranger and gave it to the innkeeper and he said take care of him in other words I'm paying not only for the room rent I'm paying for you to take care of him watch over him and whatever more you spend when I return I will repay you I'm coming back evidently I'm on a business trip when I come back I'll repeat you there's this story very simple story now we come to the sequel first 36 which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among they fell into the robbers hands hold it hold it look that's the wrong question the lawyer asked who is my neighbor and we say the neighbor is the man who fell among thieves that's not the question the Lord Jesus asked who is the neighbor the priest the Levite or the Samaritan he turns it around now why does he do that that becomes the problem and that becomes the answer to the story well you can tell this lawyer hates the Jews that hates the Samaritan so much he can't even frame the world look what he says and he said the one who showed mercy toward him the Samaritan and Jesus said him go and do the same what's this parable saying what is the significance of this parable I see three important points number one is not enough just to see a need you must do something and you can tell the Lord Jesus emphasizes that because you have exactly the same participle three times gheh dawn the dawn the dawn and when he saw take a look at it verse 31 and by chance a certain priest was going down on that road and when he saw him verse 32 likewise I leave it off also what he came to the place and saw him when he saw him and then the Samaritan when he saw him exactly the same verb the same participle three times and the Lord Jesus is stressing the fact if not enough just to see a need I marvel at my own hardness of heart I mean that I can see a need and say I'm have an appointment my time is precious I can't stop I can't do anything here and I just go and buy and I think I'm on every mailing list for every person that's soliciting funds the United States every day I receive one two three or four appeals for money and many of them I glanced at as I'm throwing them in the wastebasket now I think you have to do that because there's no way I could answer all those appeals but I could be much more sensitive to genuine needs it's not enough to see a need you must do something the second principle is this what you do is depend on what you see now we aren't sure why that priest passed behind the other side it could be as I said a fear of defilement it could be danger it could be some other reason the same thing with with the Levite but what he saw was at least a bother cannot stop danger whatever was what he saw determined what he did the Samaritan saw a man that was in desperate need what he did was determined about what he saw now that's not the main lesson not the number one it's not lot to see a need lesson number two what you do was determined by what you see this man saw a person that was indeed a neighbor the third one and this is the point what you see is determined by what you are that's why he turns the question around who was the neighbor why the neighbor was the Samaritan because he he saw a neighbor what you are is determined by what you see I worked my way through college in a hardware store and the department I work in most of the time was the Bolton's true Department we sold grocers thousands and thousands of bolts and screws to this day I'll look at a machine screw and say oh that's a round head steel machine screw at 10:24 or I'll say that's a that's a panhead sheet metal screw one inch by eight you just because that's where I work now I've studied the Bible a little bit I mean that I studied the Bible a little bit again I go back to first grade it's eight if any man thinks he knows anything he does not yet know Z Ototo and I would sometimes say to my students if you knew how much about the Bible I don't know you charge me - we shouldn't be in my classes there's so much I don't know there's so much I don't know but I understand this that what you see is determined by what you are and so it is I would listen to a sermon now I honestly say before my heart I honestly listen to the sermon to get her blessing to receive something out of it I know that's the heart of the faculty as well speakers come to Dallas seminary they're intimidated because the faculty is in the congregation or in the audience now I know the audio the faculty they have a heart for God they want to get blessing out of the message as well but I can't help it when I listen to a message I listen how is he how was he interpreting this how is he developing it is he illustrating it well what's he you just instinctively do that because that's who you are let's suppose there are three men in an automobile and you're driving that they're driving down a country award the driver of the of a car is a farmer have you ever been behind a farmer driving down a crunch Kaja Road he goes at trolling speed you know why you look at his head is over here and over here he's checking to see how his neighbor's soybeans are doing and how the corns coming and and this this hay crop is it ready for for a cutting and so he's a farmer that's what he sees I had an uncle who was a road builder and let's suppose this man sitting next to the farmer is a road builder you look at how the road is crowned what kind of a surface it has how is the drainage taking care of what kind of a a bank they have on the curves he just and when I was with that uncle I guess he was just looking at the road cuz it was built and the person in the back see there's a paint salesman he sees that mrs. White's house is going to need painting so he's going to call and her to sell her some paint and Joe's barn needs painting and the next farmer as as Machinery's been outside for two years you know that machinery is going to need some paint so he sees what by what he is we teach that to our children you ever notice that pussycat pussycat where have you been I've been to London to see the Queen pussycat pussycat what saw you there I saw a mouse under her chair now think about that here's the cat knows exactly where it's going and it knows why he's going there's going to London and the purpose is to see the Queen finals great open doors are opened and there is the Queen on her throne in all of her regalia and what's the Hat see a mouse because it's the nature of cats to see mice do likewise first of all respond to the love of God because all we can do is respond in simple love and faith and display that love by love your neighbor even people who are despised this pawn prayer our Father we thank you for this magnificent magnificent wonderful parable work in our hearts so that we not only love you Father by your spirit transform us and then because we love you we love people give us a heart for people may we respond by loving you and reaching out to people I pray this father for my own heart just as well as the students and the staff and the faculty in Jesus magnificent name amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 33,321

Rating: 4.6375403 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, neighbor, eternal life, response, initiative, compassion, awareness, heart, love

Id: Jywttx4Z8-Y

Length: 31min 29sec (1889 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2015