Text – Luke 10:25-37; 2 Timothy 2:7; Deuteronomy 30:6; Matthew 22:37
“Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38). First thing first, and you cannot do that except the Lord has touched and transformed your heart that you put yourself last and put God first. Then you love your neighbour: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:39-40). It is as you do this, to love God first with all your heart, strength and mind, and then to love your neighbour as yourself, that you are ready for life eternal. Many people put this story of the good Samaritan on the forefront of their religious practices and profession. But none is good, except God. What if it were possible to be a good Samaritan but not a godly saint? What takes one to heaven is being a godly saint; that the grace and truth of God work in you to change and transform your life, and then by that grace, you know your responsibility to God, and your duty to your fellow man. Understand that one branch cannot replace the whole tree. Hospitality, doing good, giving alms, helping people, is like one branch of the whole tree of the Christian life. The branch without the roots of salvation, sanctification or true holiness will be worthless and cast into the fire. The good Samaritan cannot replace the Godly Saint. Good works, helpfulness, offerings, loyalty, being law abiding and innocent, being neighbourly, sincerity, living a sanctimonious life, all these cannot replace genuine salvation and true sanctification. Loving God supremely and loving our neighbours selflessly are the fruits of Christian experience with God. I pray God will do this in every life.
There is human hospitality; one company to another, one government to another or people to each other. That alone, being hospitable on the human level and helping others to make their lives better, cannot replace genuine and true experiential holiness. I pray the Lord will give us understanding and we will not be ignorant in this matter in Jesus’ name.
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF SAMARITAN HOSPITALITY AND HUMANENESS
Luke 10:25-33; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; 1 Peter 4:9,15-18
“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:31). Understand that this priest did not love God with all his heart, strength and mind, neither did he love his neighbour as himself. So whatever our worship, dedication or devotion may be, if we do not love God and our neighbour, it is empty worship, and we cannot get to heaven. “And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:32). There are people that pride themselves in their denomination and are not born again, nor do they love God with all their soul, heart, strength and without any reservation. They are superficial like the Levite. “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 on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:33-34).
This was a Samaritan not necessarily a believer or a saved, sanctified child of God. From the stories we read in the times of Jesus about the Samaritans, they were not known to normally take care of people like this. But this Samaritan was good though not necessarily godly; serviceable but not necessarily saved; might have spent so much but may not be sanctified. It takes holiness, deep in the heart to get to heaven. We have such people in our land, not necessarily Christians, but they take care of people, some even raise up NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to take care of people who are deprived of some necessary things in life. But salvation is still necessary.
Helping the homeless, widows and the vulnerable in our lands is very good, but we must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. Some people appear honest. There was a true story of a man who was very honest, but not faithful to his wife. He returned to the rightful owner a carton full of a large amount of foreign currency, but when his picture was to be taken with his wife, he refused to have his good deed publicised because he had gone there with a woman he was having an adulterous relationship with.
So we need to understand that being humane or a good Samaritan is not sufficient, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20), “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3), and “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). You must be born again to enter or see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), and except ye abide in Him, ye cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Salvation, and sanctification are very important, no matter what you do, without salvation and sanctification, you might end up in hell.
Works of your hand alone will not qualify you for heaven. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
It is possible to speak in tongues everyday publicly and privately without having the love of God in your heart, and so heaven eludes you. “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). This goes beyond being a good Samaritan, giving all your money to feed the poor. I pray that God will give us understanding and we will not replace salvation and sanctification with just doing good or being hospitable. Outward righteousness and being generous, charitable, and performing benevolent acts are good on earth, but they are not good enough for heaven. To get to Heaven, we must have God-sent and Heaven-made grace, that comes into our lives and makes us more than just good Samaritans but godly saints.
God will do it in your life. It’s good to be hospitable, giving large amounts of money to churches and charitable organisations, but this should not be stolen money (1 Peter 4:9,15-18). When judgement begins in the house of God, what will be your testimony? Is it just your good works without salvation? You must be able to tell the day you were saved and the change that happened in your life. If you are just coming to church without an experience of salvation, that you just plugged into the style of the religion but are not born again, your good works will just go down the drain; your name must enter the Book of Life; you must be born again, and go on to be sanctified, your heart circumcised. I pray for those who have missed it, that you will not miss it today.
