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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S highway. (9) Those whose eyes see and whose h earts are moved w ith pity, are God’s messengers of mercy to a suffering world. v. 25. W liat shall I do? This law yer implied th a t etern al life was to be obtained by doing. Jesus told him something to do and thu s brought him to see he had not COMMENTS FROM done it and th a t MANY SOURCES if he were to get K eith L. B rooks etern al ' life, it could not be by anything he could do (Rom. 6 :23 ; Jn. 5 :24 ; 3 :3 6 ). Jesus directed him to the Old T estam ent law, for he was no t yet ripe for th e Gospel, the law must shu t a man’s mouth about doing before he is ready for th e Gospel (Rom. 3:19, 20). — Torrey. v. 28. This do. Laying emphasis on “ th is” to indicate where th e rea l diffi culty lay, and thu s nonplussing the ques tioner himself.— Jam ieson. But how are we to get th is love? We cannot m anufacture it. We cannot love to order. Love is not a work, it is a fruit. Two people are much together and love is born. When we are much w ith the Lord we are w ith One who already loves us w ith an everlasting love and when we tru ly come to love Him every other kind of holy love will follow.— Jowett. v. 29. W illing to ju stify himself. He tries to get him self out of the diffi culty by throw ing on Jesus the defini tion of neighbor which Jews in ter preted very narrow ly and technically.-—- Alford.. Who is my neighbor? Versus “Whose neighbor am I? ” This lawyer merely wishes to te st our Lord’s ortho doxy. Jesus shifts th e question from intellect to conscience and practice, and th a t pinches.—Willcock. v. 30. Jesus answering. The main purpose of this answer is to show ,how far off men may be and yet be neigh bors.—Maclaren. Man w ent down from Jerusalem . The occurrences of provi dence would yield us many good in structions if we would carefully observe and improve them.-|^-Henry. The par able contains blessed Gospel tru th s. Jerusalem is th e city of God. Jericho represents th e world. The trav eler is a type of humanity. Man has fallen in th e awful road which leads down, helpless and hopeless. The failu re of p riest and scribe illu strates the inability
cannot see in th is picture of th e S am ar ita n the work of the Son of God in behalf of fallen man; who cannot see the manifold compassion of the G reat H eart who journeyed from Heaven’s glory to life’s highway to m inister to our need,— to take our place on the cross and give us His place on the throne. (Matt. 20 :28 ). Here is love whose only lim it is the extrem ity of m an’s need, and here is admonition from the lips of Him who is pictured as the Sam aritan, b u t who is indeed th e gracious Saviour. Go thou and do likewise. (1 Pet. 2 :2 1 ). II. THE GOOD SAINTS, Acts 2:44-47. Devotion to the Lord and to Each Other. This is a beautiful picture of the early church and evinces w hat is possible among saints, when they are dom inated by the Holy Spirit, through the Word. It is in contrast w ith th e sto ry of the Good Samaritan, where the picture is of Christ’s love to the lost. H ere it. is a picture of loving fellowship and sacri fice for members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. PRACTICAL POINTS. (1) Your neighbor is th e man who needs you. C2) Helping a neighbor is not a ques tion of proximity, bu t of possibil ity of service; not of geography, bu t of graciousness. (3 ) E tern al life is neith er m erited nor inherited. (4) W hat Christ did on the cross elim inates forever th e word “ do” , for it is forever done. (5) The lawyer answered the question, but it does not answer his need. (6) The S am aritan ’s compassion was accompanied by practical common sense. 1 1 ) S atan ’s victims are all along the way. You can play th e Sam aritan act whenever you choose, side are only passengers on the
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