Adrian Rogers - How to Be a Good Friend
Would you turn in God's Word to Luke chapter 10? When you've found it, I want to talk to you 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 bestloved 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 to read to you.
Now I want us to look if we will beginning in verse 25 through verse 37 of Luke chapter 10, "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 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 hast answered right. This do and thou shalt live.' But he, willing to justify himself," now underscore that or you're going to 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 inn and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, 'Take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.' Which now of these three thinkest thou 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 in understanding this story, we're going to have to understand the background and the setting. This man who came to Jesus was a selfrighteous man with a dishonest question. Now if you don't understand that, you're going to miss it. He was a selfrighteous man wanting to justify himself, and he had a dishonest question that he asked the Lord Jesus. The Bible says he was tempting Jesus, he was testing Jesus. Now let me tell you something about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you come to Jesus with an honest question, you'll always get an honest answer. But if you come to Jesus with a dishonest question, Jesus will not answer the question; He will ask you a question. Jesus always answered a dishonest question with another question. And so He just turned the question back on this lawyer.
You see, this man was a shrewd lawyer, he was a smart lawyer, because Jesus said, "Well, what do you read in the Bible in answer to the question"? Look again in Luke 10 verses 26 and 27, "And He said unto him, 'What is written in the law, how readest thou?'" Jesus said, "You're a lawyer, what does the law say"? "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.'" Now here was a man who had a good question. "What must I do"? Look again in verse 25, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life"? Jesus says, "What does the law say"? "Well," he says, "the law says you're to love God with your total being".
Now evidently this man had studied the Bible. He knew the Bible. He had analyzed the Bible. His answer came from Deuteronomy, and his answer came from the book of Leviticus. He knew all of that. But he had religion, but he did not have life. He was religious but lost. And so the Lord Jesus Christ begins to deal with this man because not only was he a smart lawyer, he was a bad lawyer. He was a dishonest lawyer. Right away he's looking for a loophole in the law. Jesus said, "That's right, love God with all of your being and love your neighbor as yourself," and then this man, the Bible says in Luke 10 verse 29, "Willing to justify himself," and said, "All right, 'Who is my neighbor?'" Look in verse 29 if you will, "And he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'"
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 had no question about loving God, I mean, "Love God with all of your heart". He says, "Okay, I can do that. That's fine". But then Jesus said, "And love your neighbor as yourself". He said, "Now wait a minute. 'Who is my neighbor?'" Now what was this man's problem? He had no difficulty loving God because as far as he was concerned, God was nowhere around. But people were all over.
Now he didn't want to go too far, he didn't want to love anybody he didn't have to love. He could love God abstractly, but you see, people are all around him. And he had to get this socalled religion of his out of the ethereal and down into the real life in which he was living. So he had no problem with the part that said love God with all of your being. But he did not want to love anybody on this plane that he didn't have to love. He was like the man who boasted so much about how he loved children. He said, "I just love children, I just love children". Till one day the man had poured a new driveway in front of his house and while the concrete was wet, the little kids came out there and made doodles and put their initials and so forth in the concrete. When the man came out, he was infuriated and began to chase the little children, and somebody said, "I thought you loved little children". He said, "I love them in the abstract; I don't love them in the concrete".
And that's the way this man was. He loved God in the abstract, but he did not love his neighbor in the concrete. He did not want to go further than he had to go. Now the apostle John must've been thinking about this man. Put this verse in your margin, First John chapter 4 verse 20, "If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar". Now I can tell you, if your heart is headquarters for hate, if you hate, don't tell me you love God, because you do not. You're a liar. "For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen"? Well this man, a shrewd lawyer, but a man with a wicked heart, was looking for an alibi, he was looking for somewhere that he could draw a line, he wanted a limit, he wanted a boundary, he wanted a minimum, he just simply wanted to get by.
Now that is the background for the passage of Scripture. This man, a dishonest question, tempting Jesus, said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life"? Jesus said, "What does the Bible say"? He says, "Well, 'Love God with all of your heart, love your neighbor as yourself.'" Jesus says, "Fine," but he says, "Now wait a minute, who is my neighbor"? All right, do you have the background? Good. Now let's look at the story itself. Jesus gave this parable, and the first part of the parable is a story of criminal inhumanity. Look in Luke 10 verse 30. Here is 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 mountain, Mount Zion, two thousand seven hundred feet above sea level. Jericho is situated near the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the face of planet Earth. The Dead Sea is thirteen hundred feet below sea level. So there's a distance there of about four thousand feet. And here is the man going from Jerusalem, which was the city of the great God, down to Jericho, which was a pagan city, a heathen city. And 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, from the holy city to the hellish city, from the heights to the depths.
And as this man is going from Jerusalem to Jericho, he falls among thieves. I've traveled this road, this Jericho road, many, many times, and it's a winding road going down, down, down, down, down, down, and the bus driver will always say when you get below sea level, he says, "Now raise the windows on the bus, we're going below sea level". And you go down, down, down, down, and there are limestone caves there and sharp curves and big boulders and rocks. It's a perfect place in that day and even today for criminals to hide, for muggers to hide, for thieves and robbers to hide. It was a very dangerous journey going from Jerusalem to Jericho. And that's what happened to this man; he fell among thieves.
What they did, they beat him, they stoned him, they kicked him, they stripped the clothes from him, they took all of his wealth, left him there in a pool of crimson blood, and he is dying, he is half dead, that means he is on his way to complete death. He is a picture, now, of humanity going away from God, battered and robbed by the devil. 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 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 emotionally. I'm meeting more and more little children who are the victims of abuse, and more and more young people who've become the sexual plaything of some perverted man, and their little hearts and lives are wounded, they're emotionally wounded. We meet so 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 are 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. Some are in that category, but I'll tell you it would break your heart if you knew of 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, they're caught up in humanism, they're caught up 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 daresay 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. They're 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. It's 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.
Look if you will in Luke 10 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 Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side". A priest and a Levite. 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 these two represent is religion. Religion with its rituals and religion with its rules. The priest; religion with its rituals. The Levite; religion with its rules. Now remember that Jesus is talking to a selfrighteous 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 religion, and I believe the second is harder to do than the first. A selfrighteous man, religion without Christ. Religion will make you a bigot, religion will make you cruel, religion will make you selfrighteous if you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to 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 verses 5 through 8. Paul is describing his life bc, before Christ. He says, "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee".
Now folks, what you've just listened to is a pedigree of no mean repute. Here was a dossier, I mean, if Paul in this day had put this in his biographical sketch, they'd say, "This is a topdrawer guy". 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 count as 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 dung that I might gain Christ".
Again I want to say that I'm speaking to some, 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 lawyer are religious but lost. If religion can save you, which religion is right? Which one? Christendom? Confucianism? Mohammedanism? Buddhism? Zoroastrianism? Judaism? Catholicism? Protestantism? Rheumatism? Which one? Which of these religions can save? None of them! Only Jesus can save. I hear people talk about they are, "Dyedinthewool Baptists". You'd better be a washedintheblood Baptist. Being a Baptist won't save you.
Somebody said, "Are you one of those narrowminded preachers that think only Baptists are going to Heaven"? I'm a lot more narrowminded than that. I don't think a lot of Baptists are going, and I think a lot of people who 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 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, to the synagogue perhaps that day, wraps his selfrighteous 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 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 continueth 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! And 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 iniquity 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 robbed 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 worshipping 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 in Hebrews 10 verse 25, 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 in Matthew 12:30, "He that is not with Me is against Me". You say, "Well I'm okay, I don't oppose the church, that's fine". No, no, friend, that's what the priest did, passed right on by. That's what the Levite did, passed right on by. And many in the church also are passing right on by those who have needs and hurts.
All right, now, here's the third thing. First of all, what did I say there was? Criminal inhumanity; 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 ministered to this man, is really a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Samaritans were a despised race. They were the ones who were left behind after Israel was carried away into captivity. And they intermarried; they married with the heathen round about them. And they were what people sometimes called a mongrel race, and they had some of their own religion, and they had some foolish ideas, and many of them were living in poverty.
And the Jews of this day, the Bible said in John 4:9, "Had no dealings with the Samaritans". None whatsoever. To fraternize or to be a friend to a Samaritan was an unthinkable thing. Now Jesus talks about a Samaritan and he calls that Samaritan, "The Good Samaritan". Notice in Luke 10 verse 33 through 35, "But a certain Samaritan," a certain Samaritan, I like that, 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. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, 'Take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again I will repay thee.'"
Who is that a picture of? That is 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 Luke 10 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 two words, com, 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 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. Thank God that the Good Samaritan, saw him. I was in an airport waiting for an airplane, and I had my briefcase. If I'm on the road I constantly take my office with me in my briefcase. And I was there, and I wanted to study, I needed to study, had work to do. I spread it all out. And the place was thick with cigarette smoke. In that airport, in Charlotte, in that gate you could smoke. I, oh, I just don't like cigarette smoke. I mean, I don't like to breathe it, I don't like to get it in my hair, I don't like to get it in my clothes. Hey folks, it stinks. It stinks.
And so I'm there, all that cigarette smoke. I said, "Well, I don't have to sit in this". I looked across there and there was an absolute empty gate. I packed all my books up, my briefcase was bulging, I finally got it snapped down. I went all the way across. I walked all the way across, way, way, way, way, way over here, not a person around me. I opened my briefcase, I took my work out, started to work, and from that gate over there, a man got up. Came all the way across, just like this.
Now, I mean a big gate, but he just sat down right there and here I am right here. And he takes out a pack of cigarettes and lights up. Right there! I'm breathing smoke out of his mouth. The old Adrian wanted to rise up, but Jesus said, "Down, boy". And so I just said, "Okay," to myself. And I put all this stuff back in the briefcase, I started packing it back up again. I'm going to move to another one. You know what he said to me? He said, "Don't move, don't move. I'll put it out". And then he said, "Aren't you Adrian Rogers"? Whew! I'm glad Jesus said, "Down boy". He said, "Aren't you Adrian Rogers"? "Oh," I said, "Yes I am". "Oh," he said, "I need to talk to somebody. I need help, I'm hurting". And I thought to myself, "Adrian, how blind you could've been that day. How obnoxious you could've been that day if you'd a let your old nature take over".
I'm telling you, folks, I'm glad that God overruled the old Adrian for a moment and let the new man come through, because 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 Luke 10 verse 33 and 34. The Bible says, "When he saw him he had compassion to him and went to him". He came to where he was. He minis, ministered to him as he was. This is what we need to do. We don't have to wait until they come to us. Go to them. It was a gentle compassion.
Look in Luke 10 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 inn. 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's what it's all about. Being a friend. "God, move 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 want to 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? Pray it 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 the beast of Your grace and bring me home. I need to be saved. Save me, Lord Jesus. Save me, Lord Jesus. In Your name I pray, Amen.