How to Be A Good Friend and Love Your Neighbor

The Good Samaritan is the story of a man receiving aid from his cultural enemy after falling among thieves. This parable clearly reveals the true meaning of being a good neighbor. In this message, Adrian Rogers teaches us how to be a good friend to those who are suffering all around us.

• Criminal Inhumanity
• Casual Indifference
• Compassionate Involvement

Now you have to read through all of this. This man had a creed,
but he did not have salvation.
He knew something about the law of god, but he had no real life in his heart.
He was religious, but lost, and he’s looking for a loophole. He he had no question about loving god.
I mean, love god with all of your heart. He said, okay. I can do that. That’s fine.
But then Jesus said, and love your neighbors yourself. He said, now wait a minute.
Uh, who is my neighbor? Now what was this man’s problem?
He had no culty loving god because as far as he was concerned, god was nowhere around, but people were all over.
Now he didn’t he didn’t want to go too far. He didn’t want to love anybody. Didn’t love.
He could love god abstractly, but you see people are all around me, and he had to get this so called religion of his out of the ethereal and down into the real life in which he was living.
Trafound truth simply stated. This is love worth finding with pastor, teacher, and author, Adrian Rogers.
Would you turn in god’s word to Luke chapter
10.
When you found it, look up here for a moment.
I wanna talk to you today on this subject, how to be a good friend And the story that we have today is in a way a familiar one.
It’s about a parable perhaps the best loved parable that Jesus ever gave, except for the parable of the prodigal son the lost sheep and the lost coin.
This is the parable of the good Samaritan.
Now I have a special interest in this parable because in West Palm Beach, Florida, I was born a few years ago, in the good Samaritan hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, and that hospital received its name from the story that we’re about uh, to read to you, uh, today.
Now I want us to look, if we will, beginning in verse 25, And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, that means he tested Jesus saying master.
What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Now right away, we know this was not a sincere question.
This was a question from a a lawyer, an insincere lawyer testing Jesus.
and he said unto him, that is Jesus said unto him what is written in the law.
How readest thou And he answering said 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 neighbor as thyself, and he said unto him, thou has answered right, This due, and thou shalt live.
But he willing to justify himself. Now and to score that, are you gonna miss it?
He’s testing Jesus and trying to justify himself. He willing to justify himself said unto Jesus.
and who is my neighbor. And Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead.
And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way.
And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise, a levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was.
And when he saw him, He had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him upon his own beast and brought him to an end and took care of him.
And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out 2 pence and gave them to the host and said it to him, take care of him.
And whatsoever thou spend us more when I come again, I will repay the.
Which now of these 3 Thinkestyle was neighbor unto him, that fell among the thieves.
And he said, he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus, unto him, go and do thou, likewise.
Now let’s look at the story itself.
Jesus gave this parable And the first part of the parable is a story of criminal in humanity.
Look in verse 30. Here’s the parable that Jesus gave.
And Jesus answering said a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment that is his clothing and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead.
Now Jerusalem sits on a on a mountain, Mount Zion, 2700 feet above sea level.
Uh, Jericho is situated near the Dead Sea The lowest spot on the face of planet Earth.
The dead sea is 1300 feet below sea level. And so there’s a distance there of about 4000 feet.
And here’s the man going from Jerusalem, which was the city of a great god, down to Jericho, which was a Pagan city, a heathen city.
And, uh, so he’s going from the holy city to the Hellish City.
He is going down, down, down. He is a picture of humanity going away from god.
Now what does that have to do with us today?
Because we’re not just interested in this lawyer so long ago, not merely interested in this parable as wonderful as it is, but we have to ask ourselves what did it mean then?
How does it apply today and then, folks, precious friend?
You have to ask yourself, how does it apply to you Personally, this morning, did you know that we live in a city of people who are going from Jerusalem to Jericho?
That they’re on their way uh, away from god, going down, down, down, and they have been beaten and robbed by Satan.
There are those who are wounded domestically. Broken homes.
I hear more and more about broken homes and bruised hearts homes that are being divided by Satan, many who are wounded physically, people who have an addiction to drugs, and alcohol.
We have those who are hurting some of them, an army of the walking dead.
We have those who wounded economically.
You may go today after church to a good meal, but not everybody will.
Don’t get the idea because you have plenty that everybody has plenty.
And don’t get the idea that those who don’t have, don’t have just simply because they will not work somewhere in that category.
but I’ll tell you it would break your heart if you knew, uh, the poverty and the heartache that many have.
They have been stripped by the devil and wounded economically. And how many are wounded spiritually?
They may be living in fine houses, but they’re caught up in cults, uh, they’re caught up in humanism.
They’re caught up, uh, in liberal religion, and Satan has stripped them and left them half dead.
And in that row that you’re sitting on this morning, wherever you are, I dare say there’s somebody with a broken heart from aisle to aisle on that row that you’re sitting on.
somebody with a broken heart. Folks, ours is a hurting world.
They are all around us.
Hearts are crushed and bruised and bleeding and broken.
The people who need love. criminal inhumanity.
A man on his way.
down, down, down from the holy city to the hellish city who falls among thieves, stripped, Wounded, bleeding, dying, robbed.
That’s what Satan has done for us.
That’s the first part in this parable that Jesus gave is found in verse
30.
But you see, not only do you have that criminal inhumanity, But there’s another thing that’s just as bad, and that’s a casual indifference.
A casual indifference Look if you will in verse 31.
And by chance there came down, a certain priest that way.
And when he saw him, He passed by on the other side.
And likewise, a Levi when he was at the place came and looked on him.
and pass by on the other side.
A priest and a Levi Now the priest was the one who performed the religious rituals of that day.
The levites were the ones who were the custodians of the law.
So what, uh, these 2 represent are is religion.
Religion with its rituals and religion with its rules.
The priest, religion with its rituals.
the levite, reagent with its rules.
Now remember that Jesus is talking to a self righteous man.
A man who doesn’t want to love anybody that he doesn’t have to love.
May I say this, that this man that had been talking to Jesus was religious.
but he did not have spiritual life.
Jesus came to save men from sin and from And I believe the second is harder to do than the first.
A self righteous man, religion without Christ, Religion will make you a bigot.
Religion will make you cruel. Religion will make you self righteous.
If you do not have the lord Jesus Christ, you’re gonna have to understand that here was a man that asked Jesus this question.
He was already a religious man.
The apostle Paul before he got saved before he met the lord Jesus Christ was a religious man.
Listen to these verses. Found in Philippians chapter 3.
Paul is describing his life, BC, before Christ.
He says, circumcise the 8th day of the stock of Israel.
of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law Aparis say.
Now, folks, what you’ve just listened to, is a pedigree of no mean repute. Here was a dossier.
I mean, if you if you were looking to, uh, if Paul at this day had put this in his biographical sketch, they’d say this This is a top door guy.
I I mean, he had it all. He had the right birth. He had the right education.
He had the right attainment. He was right in the middle of it.
And then not only did he have the pedigree, he had the works to back it up concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is by the law, blameless.
He said, I keep these commandments, but then he went on to say, but what things were gain to me these I counted loss for Christ.
He said all of the things that I had on the positive side of the ledger I had to take from the positive side of the ledger, and I had to put them on the negative side of the ledger.
My birth my education, my zeal, all of it, he said.
I count them, he says, in the next verse, as but refuse.
as but done that I might gain Christ.
Again, I wanna say I’m speaking to some today and doubtless to many by television.
You are lost in religion. How sad that is.
The devil had just as soon send you to hell from the pew as from the gutter.
As a matter of fact, he’d rather.
Because so many people like this law, you are religious but lost.
If religion can save you which religion is right, which one?
CRISINUM, confusionism, mohammadism, Buddhism, zoroasterism, Judaism, Gatholicism, Protestantism, rheumatism.
Which one? Which of these religions can save? None of them.
Only Jesus can save.
Somebody said to you, one of those narrow minded preachers who think only baptists are going to heaven.
I’m a lot more narrow minded than that. I don’t think a lot of baptists are going.
And I think a lot of people are not baptists are going.
but I don’t think anybody is going without the lord Jesus Christ. Here was a man who was religious.
He had all of this. Again, Jesus came to save men from sin and from religion.
And the last is sometimes more difficult than the first.
Now the the priest represented religion with its rituals.
The priest came by Here’s this man lying in his own blood.
The priest who had been to church perhaps that day, to the temple, perhaps that day, uh, to, uh, to the synagogue perhaps that day wraps his self righteous robes around him, and he passes by and leaves that man wounded and bleeding and dying, and he just passes right on by.
What is Jesus teaching? Jesus is teaching that religion with its rituals cannot save.
And then the levite comes. Now remember that the levites were the custodians of the law.
The levite, the Bible says, it says something a little different about him.
It says he comes and he looks at him. He studies him. And then he leaves him.
The law can describe us.
The law can study us The law can condemn us, but the law cannot save us.
Here’s what the Bible says in Galatians 3 verse
10.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, For it is written cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Now I can see this man as he this lawyer as he comes and looks at that man and says, boy, what a mess you’re in.
Look at you. What were you doing down here anyway?
Don’t you know that travel on this road by yourself is dangerous? You have gotten exactly what you deserve.
And furthermore, you are going to die. So long.
That’s all the law can do.
The law can describe us The law can condemn us, but the law cannot save us.
Now Jesus in this parable speaks of religion. religion with its rituals and religion with its rules.
Your neighbor needs something more than that. This city needs something more than that.
They don’t care. That’s not what they need. They need compassion.
They need Jesus. They need a friend.
There are people out there who are bruised and battered and beaten and weakened and robbed and dying.
We come to church on Sunday morning and sing our songs and think we’ve done god a wild favor.
And many of us may be just like these people, that Jesus is describing right here.
Well, what was wrong with both of these men?
Their problem was not primarily gross inequity, but gross indifference.
And rather than being a part of the solution, they became a part of the problem.
They were not the ones who beat the man.
They were not the ones who rob the man.
It is not that they did something. It is they did nothing. Listen to me.
They did nothing. They simply passed him by.
Did you know that the sin of omission is greater than the sin of commission?
I’m speaking to some of you who ought to be in church this morning.
but you’re worshiping at bedside Baptist.
Do you think that this service on television is a substitute for church attendance when you can get here.
If I thought that I’d get off of television.
The Bible clearly and plainly says, that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.
Did you know that when you stay away from church, that it’s a vote to close the doors.
And if everybody voted as you voted this morning, there wouldn’t be anybody here today.
Think about it. All you have to do is simply nothing.
Jesus said he that is not with me is against me. You say, well, I’m okay.
I don’t I don’t oppose the church. That’s fine. I don’t know, friend.
That’s what the priest did passed right on by. That’s what the Levi did passed right on by.
And many in the church also are passing right on by those who have needs and hurts. Alright.
Now here’s here’s the third thing. First of all, what what did I say there was criminal in humanity?
We live in a world that is hurting Secondly, casual indifference. They passed on by.
Thirdly, compassionate involvement.
You’re going to see that the good Samaritan who did this man who ministered to this man is really a picture of the lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me tell you what Jesus is like.
Because what Jesus was saying to this man is, this is what you need to be like also.
First of all, Jesus had genuine compassion. Not false compassion, genuine compassion.
Look in verse 33, the Bible says he came to where he was.
And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. This is not mere sentimentality.
This is compassion. The word compassion Our English word comes from 2 words, calm, meaning with, and passion, which means to feel deeply.
A person who has compassion sees people through the eyes of Christ.
Compassion means with suffering, with feeling, And and the Bible says that the good Samaritan saw him.
The problem with so many of us is we just don’t see I mean, we just don’t look.
We’re so busy. We pay no attention. They are all around us. and they’re hurting and they need help.
His was a genuine compassion. It was a gracious compassion.
Look, if you will, in verse 33, The Bible says when he saw him, he had compassion to him and went to him.
He came to where he was. He memced ministered to him as he was.
This is what we need to do.
It it we don’t have to wait until they come to us. Go to them.
It was a gentle compassion. Look in verse 34.
and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.
Oil in the Bible is an emblem, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Wine is an emblem and a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ.
the oil to soothe the wine to cleanse.
The good Samaritan bound up this broken man. and bound up his broken spirit.
And then the lord Jesus, the good Samaritan, set this man upon his own beast and brought him to the end.
He had to bring him. He could not come of himself.
Now before the good Samaritan met this man, the good Samaritan was riding.
This man had nothing to ride on.
But after the good Samaritan met this man, the good Samaritan is walking, the man is riding.
That’s the substitutionary Ministry of the lord Jesus Christ. He allows us to take his place.
He is the one who takes our place. He is the one who comes to us where we are.
He is the one who’s moved with compassion. He is the one who pours in the oil.
He is the one who pours in the wine. He is the one who puts us upon his beast.
He is the one who brings us on where we need to go.
Now, folks, that is what we need to practice. That is what we need to practice.
That’s what it’s all about. being a friend. God moved my heart with compassion.
I’m just praying that you’ll do that. Folks, I’m telling you that coming to church is not enough.
The priest and the levite were religious.
the lawyer wanting to justify himself and say, what a good boy am I?
I don’t wanna love anybody. I don’t have to love. They’re out there folks.
They are out there. Now let me say something to you today.
If you don’t know the lord Jesus, Today, you’re one of those walking wounded.
You’re one of those who’s been robbed by Satan.
Oh, you may be living in a fine house, driving a nice car, but Satan has robbed you and beaten you.
Jesus today is still the good Samaritan.
Jesus loves you today, and he’ll save you. I promise. Would you bow your heads in prayer?
Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
And if you want to be saved, would you pray this prayer?
prayed out of your heart. Lord god, I know that you love me.
And I know lord that you want to save me.
Jesus, you died to save me, and you promised to save me.
Lord, right now, I want you to pour in the cleansing wine of your blood.
and the soothing oil of your spirit.
Lord, I pray that you will set me upon and bring me home.
I need to be saved. Save me lord Jesus. Pray it from your heart.
save me, Lord Jesus.
In your name, I pray, Amen.