Social justice, that's not the issue here, righteousness is the issue before God.

There was Jesus, the personification of heavenly mercy and forgiveness,

ready to give it lavishly to that lawyer, if the man would simply admit his wretched condition.

Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

When you think about the parables of Jesus, what comes to mind? Take today's topic,

the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example. Does it motivate you to love your neighbor or donate

to charities that feed the poor or fight for social justice? Some of those goals are noble,

but the truth is they miss the main point of the parable. So what is the point of the Good Samaritan

story? What was Jesus getting at? Stay here as John MacArthur answers that question.

As he unpacks this powerful tale, one of the most misunderstood parables, the title of John's

series, Stories with Purpose. And now here's John. We all know what it means when you call

someone a Good Samaritan. That's a compliment. That generally means that someone

shows kindness, mercy, compassion, care to some other person in need. And that's good. That's

virtuous. God is honored by that. But that being said, the parable of the Good Samaritan is largely

misunderstood. People are familiar with the story, but not so familiar with the point of the story.

Pretty simple story. Easy to understand. We even get the punchline, who's the neighbor,

the man who helped the sufferer. A lawyer stood up, pulled out of the crowd, came before Jesus,

took his position in front of him, for the purpose of putting him to the test. So he says,

what do I do to inherit eternal life? Now notice the path that Jesus takes. He said to him,

what is written in the law? How does it redo? What does the law say? You shall love the Lord,

your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your

mind and your neighbor as yourself. He said, that's the right answer. Verse 28, you have answered

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