JESUS’ JOURNEY
The man who asked this question thought that he had a right to life eternal. Many people think that today, that they have a right to their life and that through their own works they will be accepted. But the truth is, dear friend, that man has lost his right to live; through your own sins, you lie under the sentence of death. The sense of that brings home to us our need of a Saviour. The man who asked this question hardly felt that need, but Jesus in speaking to him brings up that he needed a neighbour, someone who would come close to him in spite of all his need and bring in the wealth of divine blessing. Jesus speaks about a man who fell into a half-dead state; he was alive, but he was not truly living, and he was a man who was needing help. That is your position tonight, dear friend, in this preaching, that you are in need of somebody to help you. They are very scarce, in fact there is nobody that can help you but Jesus. That is what came out in this story which Jesus tells, that the law could do nothing. There was a priest, and a Levite, but the man was beyond any help that they could bring. If you look to the law, it only condemns you the more, as it did this man who asked the question.
But, friend, in spite of all your need, I want to speak of a Man who has taken a journey to help you. As to the priest and the Levite, they were passing incidentally; they happened to be there; but the Samaritan journeyed to where the man was. I do not know where you are tonight in the need of your soul, but Jesus has the answer to that need. The state that you may feel—and I hope you do feel it—has not turned Him away. It turned away these other two men, but the Samaritan came to where he was and was moved with compassion. Oh, what an answer to man’s history, that Jesus has taken His place in the likeness of men. We sang in our hymn:
From heav’n the Saviour came (Hymn 245)
- just to where you and I are in all our need. He came in unrecognised. The Samaritan was a despised person in those days, but Jesus took that position; He took His position among men. He was not spectacular among them, as it were, and that journey that He took led Him to the cross. On the way, what blessing He bestowed; there was never a need that He did not meet in young or old; the children He blessed, the lepers He cleansed, the dead He raised; that was all in the journey of Jesus. There was none outside the scope of divine blessing. He was moved with compassion; this gospel is full of that. Persons who men put outside the city, such as the ten lepers, Jesus freely handled them. But that journey, as I said, led on to the cross because death was our portion; the consequence of our sins was the grave; but He upon whom the heavens had been opened and who had been proclaimed to be God’s beloved Son, journeyed that way of His own accord. There is no man that can escape death, but Jesus journeyed that way, as I say again, of His own accord. He went there, beloved, that He might bind up these wounds that you have tonight, that He might pour in this oil and wine, speaking of the outflowing of divine blessing toward you in all your need. Jesus in going into death bore what was due to you and me in the righteous judgment of God. There He was, as the ends of the gospels portray Him, rejected by men, despised, nailed to a cross, God’s beloved Son. In the face of all that man would heap upon Him, He uttered that cry, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
Oh, what a Saviour! Men gave Him a crown of thorns. When Pilate said, What shall I do with Jesus?, man’s cry was, Away with Him! But, beloved, God’s eye was on that scene; it could well have been on that scene looking judicially on man, for the greatest sin that had ever been committed was being perpetrated there; but the fact is that God’s eye rested on Jesus as He took upon Himself God’s judgment against sin. He upon whom the heavens had been opened was there on the cross; the heavens were darkened, speaking of the judgment of God; but He was able to bear it. Had God visited men then, as He righteously could, in judgment, that would have been the end of man. But there was a Man there upon the cross who was able to bear the judgment. No offering was ever like that before. There was a holy, sinless, perfect, blessed Man, the Saviour of sinners, on the cross bearing the judgment of God that was due to you and to me. That was the journey that He took. It is a blessed fact that He came to take that journey, came from heaven to die. He knew full well, as no creature could know, what the judgment of God involved, but as knowing it He says, “Lo, I come to do thy will”. I say again, What a Saviour! There He is on the cross, darkness lying on the world. Think of God’s feelings as Jesus bore that judgment. It was all poured out upon Jesus. The gospel is that He exhausted that judgment; God’s wrath that was due to man. Jesus bore it in its fulness. Then God raised Him from among the dead. He not only died, but He was buried, that was the distance to which He went. But our sins were taken away, as the type says, to “a land apart from men”, see Lev 16: 22. He carried away the sins of those who believe; they will never be brought up again; but He has been raised. He died for our sins, and was buried, but it was not possible that He could be held by the power of death. God has highly exalted Him at His right hand.
That is the end of His journey, beloved; the cross was not the end. The end of the journey is that Jesus is in glory, crowned in heaven. There is no name so precious in heaven as the name of Jesus, because He has satisfied God about the sins of the world. John writing his epistle says He is the propitiation for our sins, “but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, 1 John 2: 2. That is why the gospel goes out today, because the work of Jesus has satisfied God as to the sins of the universe. That is why this half-dead man could be touched, you know. There is nobody outside the scope of the appeal of the gospel. May every heart that hears it tonight be left with that impression, that God is able to reach you where you are with all the wealth of His mercy, pouring in all that is available through the work of Jesus.
Now the gospel is a very personal thing, it says, he “came to him, and seeing him, was moved with compassion”. That is the attitude of Jesus towards you tonight where you sit; He is moved with compassion about you. You may be sitting under the conviction of your sins, you may be feeling the guilt of your history, but Jesus is moved with compassion about you. He is ready tonight to come just where you are with all the resources of His love. This man was not able to move. Would that the conviction of your sins would bring you to this. It was no use directing this man to do good works, telling him to improve himself, live a new life; he was just there entirely dependent upon all that divine wealth would pour in. How ready the Saviour is to take up your case! The truth is, you know, that He knows your history better than you do. You maybe only remember some of your sins, you could hardly feel the guilt of them all; but He knows them all, and yet He would commend Himself to you with all His resources, and would pour in the oil and the wine.
Jesus tonight is not coming to condemn you. He did not raise with this man how he got into this state. The law would have done that; the priest and the Levite would say, How did all this happen? Jesus does not come to raise that with you. He comes that you may be ready to put your trust in Him and in what He has done, to feel the awful hopelessness and helplessness of what you are, and to be ready to receive all that the oil and the wine would speak of. You know, they are fruits of another country; they are what has come from somewhere else in all the soothing power of divine goodness. There was some expression of it at the beginning of the Acts as Peter was preaching; what an outpouring there was there of the oil and the wine! To a nation with the guilt of rejecting Christ fresh upon them, Peter says, “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2: 36. He does not say, He has made Him Judge, but he says He has set Him forth as a Saviour for all. That is the oil and wine of the gospel, beloved, that from that glorified Saviour there is shining out tonight all that would meet your case.
There was this man; he was not able to walk, it says that the Samaritan “put him on his own beast, took him to the inn and took care of him”. I would like tonight, beloved, to draw you to the arms of the Saviour; there they are outstretched in blessing; he would have to stoop down to pick this man up; He will take all the responsibility about your case; He will take it all. Let not your sins keep you away. The enemy, in many gospel preachings tonight, will be active to remind people how bad they are, but God knows all about your state, and there is nobody outside the reach of the wealth of divine mercy. The Samaritan meets this man with all that he needed to bring him to the inn. The persons who are blessed in Luke’s gospel are all brought in and left in a place of safety. The gospel does not leave you where it finds you; the gospel has provided a wonderful sphere of protection and blessing where you will be cared for. It is not only that Jesus has gone into heaven, but the gospel would bring you to a place of safety now, a place of blessing and salvation where your soul will be cared for. Do you know something of that? Maybe you know something of Jesus as your Saviour. Have you proved the wealth of the gospel as bringing you into a place of safety? The world today is a dangerous place, but the Samaritan carries the man to where he will be cared for; and there is a system of blessing and protection that is going to continue until He comes again. How full the gospel is, beloved; it is not only to remove your sins, it is to set you up superior to all the bondage that is in the world. The Samaritan says to the innkeeper, “Take care of him”. Are you conscious of being in a circle like that, where you are cared for? This man would never leave the inn; he would never again go into an area where he would be overcome by these robbers; there is a wonderful system of care here today, where the gospel, and the fruits of the gospel, are enjoyed. What fine conversation there would be in this inn as one and another was able to tell of his experiences. All come in through the Saviour’s grace, all come in one by one, each the subject of the Saviour’s compassion and love. As I said, those resources will never run out. The power of the gospel would appeal to you to stay in this area of divine blessing. God forgives you your sins, and He does that in perfect righteousness as you have faith in Jesus. That was what every one of those persons in that inn would have, faith in Jesus. They extol Him as the alone Saviour of sinners, who was able to save, and as there in that inn they would enjoy all that divine love proposed for their safety and blessing. I would appeal to you tonight to stay in the area where the gospel is enjoyed. It may be that all here have accepted the gospel and know Jesus as their Saviour, but I would appeal to you to stay in the area where the blessings of the gospel are enjoyed. They are not enjoyed in the world. Jesus loved this man too much to leave him where He found him. He does not only want to forgive you your sins, but in the gospel He wants you. So He is coming to this inn again; He says, “When I come again”. He is coming into this area where these persons are looking for Him; they are looking every day for Him to come back, to look upon Him then not only as the One who had met their need, but as the One who was great enough to fill their hearts. We shall see Him then no longer as a certain Samaritan, but as God’s glorious Son. That is what we are looking for, beloved; we are not exactly looking for the lowly Jesus, we are looking for the Son of God from heaven, the One into whose hands God has given everything, and those hands are outstretched tonight for your blessing. May you in the faith of your soul make room for that blessing to come in in all its wealth and its fulness, for God’s glory and praise. Amen.
GŐTEBORG, SWEDEN
4th August 1985