Luke 10:25-37

[0:00] learning morning morning morning gospel and Luke after two bring whatever speed and where it will be preaching the problem Jesus is beginning of this Catholic Luke account and appointed seven disciples to go out and preach healing and cast out demons and send them out to do so and Jesus tells them basically this is my own layman's turn he says go into these cities and don't depend on yourself don't take nothing with you and he actually tells them the same thing on chapter nine some of the disciples he says go into these cities and put light on the gospel and he says but these cities or these residents don't receive you you shake the dust off your boots and move on and Jesus pronounces judgment on the cities that do so and on the towns and the residences that don't receive the disciples what we need to remember is it's not so much receiving the disciples not receiving the word that the disciples were preaching it wasn't receiving the gospel the good news that Jesus Christ

[1:32] Messiah that was promised in the Old Testament the good news was that he was indeed here and Jesus tells him he says go into these places if they don't receive you shake the dust off your boots and move on and we see the disciples return a little bit later in the chapter and Jesus had given them power to trample on the serpents and cast out demons and all these things and they returned rejoicing and crossed warning them though he said rejoice not that you have power over the evil spirit rejoice not that you have power to do these things but rejoice that your name is written in heaven we as Christians we need to keep to those words you know God gives us power yes I ain't saying I can pull off magic tricks standing here in front of you or anything along those lines but folks if I have God within me

[2:34] I have power within me for God is power and God is wife as we come into Sunday school this morning God has all of these things and I have the power of God within me I don't have power to create I don't have power to destroy as God does I don't have these particular powers but I do have the power of God residing in me and that power began abiding within me the moment that I got saved folks when I got saved and the Holy Spirit moved in the power of God moved right in with him and the power of God and the blood of Jesus Christ is able to wash away sins and make us whole and it's able to direct our paths and direct the the direction that we're going the power of God is able to do all these things so Christ gave warning to not rejoice in the fact that they had power that Christ had granted them but to rejoice in that their names were found written in heaven and for no other reason we haven't rejoiced on this planet

[3:40] I can rejoice in my name who's found written in the land and the book of life prays God but we come to this next section of the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke it will begin at first 25 in just a moment this is familiar scripture we're all familiar with it Jesus Christ is tempted by a lawyer really by a scribe at this point in Luke's account and Jesus's response is the parable of the Good Samaritan we're going to read both of these things here in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke so we'll begin at verse 25 in the 10th chapter of Luke it says, behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life he said unto him what is written in the law how readeth thou and he answering said thou shalt look the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul 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 said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor so we'll stop reading there we'll go on with the parable that Jesus spoke here in just a little while but again this man this lawyer this scribe he stands to tempt Jesus the scripture said my folks if you've got study bibles commentaries that you might use it may say that this scribe or this lawyer had good intentions in asking Jesus

[5:20] Christ of what he must do to inherit eternal life but folks the Bible plainly makes the statement that he stood to tempt Jesus Christ he stood to try Jesus Christ he was looking just as the Pharisees did and just as the chief priest someone else that was against Jesus Christ in his ministry did he was looking for Jesus to say something that he could entrap him with that he could turn the people against Jesus Christ the Bible says that he stood to tempt Jesus Christ and I believe what the Bible says this man did not have good intentions when he asked the question what must I do to inherit eternal life he had ill intentions he had evil intentions he had the intention of framing Jesus Christ of entraping Jesus Christ and turning everyone that was around him at this time against Jesus Christ against the son of God so this man he asked the question what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus turns it right back around on him and says what's in the law this man was a lawyer it was his job as a scribe to know the law it was his job as a scribe or a lawyer to interpret what the law the word of God said the Old Testament Scriptures it was his job when people came to him and said what about this problem that I'm having or what about that problem what about this sin or what about that sin it was this man's job to tell these people exactly what the Torah said and the rest of the Old Testament Scriptures it was his job to inform them what the word of God said and to rightly interpret it to these people so when he asked what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus flips it back around on him and says what says the law how do you read it how do you read the law and the man answered and said the law says the love the Lord I got with all that heart and all that mind and all that soul and all that strength and to love that neighbor as I said this man quoted from the book of Deuteronomy and he quoted from the book of Leviticus here and he quoted correctly according to the words of Jesus Christ but folks I'm afraid that our churches nowadays are full of people are full of so called Christians that can quote the Bible from beginning to end they know that Jesus Christ came to this world with the same sinners they know about his suffering on the tree on Golgotha they know all of these things but they do not know the man Jesus Christ this man here asked the question about eternal life

[8:12] Jesus Christ could have simply told him hey all you have to do is believe on me the Messiah the promised one all you have to do is put your faith in your trust in me but this man should have known what the Scripture said he should have known that the very seed that was promised in Genesis 3 was standing before him Jesus turned it around on him we do well we would do well not only as a local body of believers not only as a local congregation for a local church we would do well as the entirety of the body of Christ to read the Scripture and to take it to heart when your family comes to you and they say what must I do to inherit eternal life when your friends come to you when your spouse comes to you when your children come to you and they say what must I do to inherit eternal life in this tribe he was all about the law to do this and do that and you can have life but both Jesus Christ said he said he said the Scriptures they can in them do you have eternal life but they are the ones who testify of me the entire Old Testament they testify of Jesus Christ they testify of the grace of God they testify of the mercy of God for years for decades for hundreds of years but I am sending one that will release you from this oppression that will free you and if the Son of God frees you

[10:08] Hallelujah you are free indeed praise God this cry what says the law what says your law that you know so well and he answers and Jesus said that was answered right this dude who thought he should live and he goes on and the Scripture goes on and he said unto him but he willing to justify himself said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor this wasn't a sincere question it wasn't sincere at all there was nothing sincere about this lawyer or about this scribe nothing sincere about him and all he says and who is my neighbor well just was a Jew and he was not only a Jew he was a Jew of the Jews he was a scribe he was a lawyer he knew the Old Testament well he knew what they had of the Bible well at this point from the book of Genesis this man would have known the Scriptures he should have known exactly who his neighbor was the folks the Jews they were in the exact same boat the many of the Christians are in nowadays the Christians they want their for no more to go to heaven their folks are just on their family this man here this lawyer that Jesus Christ was addressing he says and who is my neighbor thinking that only the Jews were his neighbor hey those Samaritans were in his neighbors it was against what everything that this man believes they would be associated with a Gentile it was against his belief it was against his system it was against his religiosity and everything in it to be friends with anyone or be neighbors with anyone or be concerned with a welfare of anyone other than a fellow Jew and Christians are the same way shame on us we need to be out we need to be out telling people we are about to get into this parable here of the Get Samaritan that we've heard all of our lives we are about to get read this parable here that Jesus Christ spoke the folks you remember as we read through this parable at one time in your life you were just like that man that was on his way down to Jericho come to Jerusalem and he fell among the thieves he was just like he was though he was laying there naked he was laying there wounded he was laying there and he was half dead according to the scriptures but it took one to come his way and not just anybody could do it not just anybody was even willing to help this man but it took one to come his way and to give him aid and I promised that he would come back through at a later time we read this parable we read this parable when we think this Samaritan it's just showing what I'm supposed to be it's showing how good I'm supposed to be it's showing the good that I'm supposed to do and this one minute is a picture that don't you get me wrong the most you're going to deeper than that it shows exactly what Jesus Christ is in the life of the lost sinner as well yes in answer to this man's question what must I do to inherit eternal life and answered this question and whom is my neighbor

[13:34] Jesus spoke this parable we'll read it now it says in verse 30 in Jesus' answer 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 threese that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side and likewise a Levi 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 on his own beast and brought him to an end and took care of him and on the moral when he departed he took two pints and gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever they'll spend us 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 said to him go and do the likewise so here we have this short little parable that has so much in it that Jesus Christ spoke to this man that asked the question what must I do to have eternal life and who is my neighbor

[14:54] Jesus Christ spoke as he said there was a certain man we don't know who this man was but I am persuaded that the parables that Jesus Christ spoke most of them he would have spoke with the situations and with circumstances that the people would have been familiar with something that had gone on in their lives that they had heard tell of I am persuaded personally that this actually happened at some point down the line that the people or the person that Jesus Christ was addressing here this liar he would have been familiar with the situation but the parable says that this certain man went down from Jerusalem and he was going down the Jericho post that was the first mistake that he made church saints of God do you hear me now the place of Jerusalem that was the place that already God had put his name that was the place of blessing that was the place that God played for his own and this man had left the place of blessing he had left Jerusalem and he was headed south toward Jericho about 15 miles give or take he was going to a place that was cursed in the book of Joshua chapter 6

[16:08] Joshua said that any man that raised that city would be raising the walls upon his ownest and he raising the gates upon his youngest and he was leaving the place of blessing and he was going to the place of accursed that was his first mistake that wasn't his fault that he fell alone in the faith you're reading church history not in your vows but you're reading church history that Herod had released about 40,000 priests at this point relieved them of their duties they had no jobs they had many jobs in Jerusalem what did they retire to do?

[16:52] they were talking about priests they were talking about being highwaymen many of them did they were talking about what we read about here at this time there was only about 12,000 priests working the temple in Jerusalem you say Spencer only 12,000 my goodness you think about the jobs that the priests had though they were talking about the holy hours that they put into that temple service that Herod took it upon himself to relieve this 40,000 of their duties and many of them didn't have jobs to go to they didn't have anything to do so all they could do was retire to a lack of crime and these people are the very ones that very well could have been the one that seized upon this man that was going down from Jerusalem under Jericho, Jericho where the shavams lived it's where the chief priests lived it was not within the city of blessing it was to the city of Kers that they retired to because they loved the palms they loved the sadery they loved the people and they are instead a beater in the place of God they claim this is his own in the god said the Messiah would come to and the Messiah would rise from and still being in this place they had moved to a place south of here on his way when he fell among the thieves. And we read about a priest that came by. This priest comes by. And we read about a Levi that comes by. A priest in a Levi, two people that should have known the law better than anybody. Two people that should have known this law, that this water had just uttered that Jesus Christ about loving the Lord and loving thy neighbor. The two people on the face of the planet that didn't come by heaven stands. They didn't come by chance. They came because they had an almighty appointed time by God to go by there. They came by and just as the law is powerless to save anyone, these men that represented the law were powerless to help this man.

[18:59] My goodness, you read in the book of Ruth. You read in the last little bit of Ruth. There was a kinsman there in the Boas. There was a kinsman there in the Boas was willing to redeem Ruth.

[19:13] He was willing to take her in. He was willing to redeem her to take care of her and to prosper her. Boas was willing to do this, but the kinsman that was nearer than him, he had first dibs on her because of the laws, those laws of the land. But he said, I cannot redeem her. Hope the law cannot redeem you. You hear me now? The law is powerless to redeem you. It cannot do so. There was never a law written that was able to redeem you. That was able to redeem mankind. The reason that the law was given was to gold one was to show you that you're a filthy rotten black wicked disgusting sinner in the eyes of God. And the other reason that the law was given was to show the righteousness of the God that came here, manifest himself in the flesh and kept his law every judge and every tale, preset upon preset and line upon line. He was able to keep it all. It shows you your sin and it shows you his glory and his righteousness and his holiness. I promise you the law is not able to save you. He's meant to represent the law here. The priest in this crowd, the priest you could even say represented religion. Of course religion can't save you. You can be as religious as you want to. You can go to every church service, you can wear crosses around your mess, you can have the I'm a Christian bumper sticker all you want, you can wear the t-shirts, you can go to the the concerts, the gospel singing, you can do all you want to and still end up in hell. You can read the Bible day in and day out and be able to quote it better than any Bible scholar that has a reliverable ever lived that will not save you. What must I do to inherit eternal life? You repent and you believe the gospel. That's the words of the scriptures. That's the words that cross spoke in work chapter one. He said the time of God is at hand and the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand with technique and believe the gospel. This is the key to being saved. You repent of your wicked ways. You repent of your sinful life and you repent because you have believed the good news that has entered into your ears. You believe the Holy Ghost of God that has ripped your heart with conviction and showed you that you have offended and you have committed crimes against the cross. Holy God of the universe. Repent and believe. That's how we get saved.

[21:56] The priests don't believe that we're powerless to do anything. Jesus says they fast-bound the other side. They saw them. They saw them when they went to the other side of the road to avoid it.

[22:09] They think this is Jewish territory. That whole road that ran from Jerusalem down to Jericho. All but just the last tell-in that was before you got to Jericho. It was all Jewish territory.

[22:20] I miss that. Well that's another Jewish take here. I'm too good. Those of us that have true religion, those of us that have true salvation, it is our job and it is a commandment over and over in the scripture that we're going to help those that are in need. It doesn't say just your Christian brothers or Christian sisters. It doesn't say to love just your Christian neighbors or those that have been born again, those that have been saved.

[22:50] It doesn't say to love or to help those that are white and white only or those that are black or anything along those lines. It says to love thy neighbor as thyself when we are commanded in the scriptures. Even James says in James chapter 1, this is pure religion and undefiled.

[23:07] To care for the orphans and to care for the widows not because that's what's going to get us into heaven but because because we're on our way to heaven that's what we are called to do. Amen. We're called to take care of our neighbors. Take care of those that are in need. Yes, sir. These men here do the law.

[23:26] These men here represent the law, represent religion. They were unable to help. This American comes along the way. Imagine this lawyer's surprise when Jesus uses a Samaritan, a filthy haslamine in his eyes. That's what the Jews hated about the Samaritans. The Samaritans were half Gentiles and they were half Jewish. The Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans didn't take a whole lot of the Jews. They hated one another. Imagine what this Jewish scribe, this Jewish lawyer thought when Jesus said, but a Samaritan come down that way. And he saw the man. He didn't do like the priest and the Levite. Those that are full blooded Jews and those that are thoroughly entrenched in the law. He went to him. He didn't go to the other side of the road to avoid him.

[24:20] He says that he went to him and he bound up his wounds and he poured in wine and he bandaged him up. He poured in the oil and he poured in the wine. He bandaged him up and he held him along his way.

[24:33] And not only that, hey folks, this priest and this Levite that we read about earlier, they would have had their own animals as well. They would have had their own beasts as the scripture says the Samaritan has. There was no priest and Levite who would have walked all that way down to Jericho. But we read nothing about the beast that the priest was riding on, nor the Levite. Why is that? Because there was no occasion for the author, for the Holy Spirit to have it written about. But this Samaritan, this filthy, half-breed and this Jews-eyes, he let his beast.

[25:06] He got the hope of a man that had fallen among the feed. He lifted him up with his own power and he put him on his own beast. Hey, this man bandaged his wounds. He helped him. He put him on his beast. He turned it the rest of the way while he walked and put him in an inn to be cared for.

[25:27] My goodness, that sounds like my Jesus. Amen. I was lying there on the side of the road, just like you were. If you were sitting here and you're born again, I was laying there on the side.

[25:39] My goodness, it's just like God told the Jews over in Ezekiel chapter 16. He says, I looked down upon you. He said, you've been cast out in the field. You were laying there.

[25:50] You were polluted in your own blood and I looked upon thee and I said, live. Hey, Jesus Christ came by my way one day when I was on that road from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He saw my second state. He saw my helpless state and he helped me. He bandaged my wounds. He carried me, put me up and said, Hallelujah. I will come again. Praise the Lord. Praise God. Jesus, look, I'm one of the Jews. I saw you polluted in your own blood. That breaks the sermon about that one time. I ain't gonna do it now. The Bible says, I looked down upon thee and I said unto thee, live. Live. That's what this is about. He was saying to this stranger that he didn't know. Most I didn't know Christ when I was lost. I didn't know but he still came to me. He still came to where I was. I didn't know.

[26:53] I couldn't call him friend. I couldn't call him redeemer. I couldn't call him Savior. He was none of those things to me. He was just a fictitious person in my eyes. The cross came to where I was and he showed me just how real he is. He showed me the realness of mercy. He showed me the realness of love. He showed me the realness of redemption. Hey, this man that was that was left half naked or naked on the side of the road and beaten and left half dead there to just go on and wither and die and so the robbers could get ahold of some other poor soul that was passing by their way.

[27:33] This man was in the same shape that I was in when I was lost. But praise God, Jesus came my way. He saved my soul. He cleaned me up. He poured in the wine. He poured in everything that I needed.

[27:45] He bandaged me up and he put me up and he paid the entire price. It's my God who says that he paid two pence to the end keeper and he said if you spend anything more, hey, I'll pay that too.

[27:59] Hey, my Jesus, he is paying the ultimate price for my salvation. He paid the ultimate price for my redemption. He paid the ultimate price that I could have relationship with him with the Father and live with both of them eternally one day after a while. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Whatever whatever you spend, I'll pay that too folks. You can't not give the amen. You can't do it. Amen.

[28:26] I have a good time trying. I have a good time trying but I can't do it. I know I can't do it. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:42] Amen. I love serving him. Oh Lord I know that I cannot serve him like he served me. I can't serve him as he did. I can't go out and give my life for him like he gave his life for me. I ain't saying that it's impossible for me to be murdered as a believer in Jesus Christ. The folks even if I killed even if my blood was shed not one drop of my own blood is able to save one single soul on this planet but the blood of Jesus Christ is able to wash away all sins.

[29:15] And they just fully hold the power of sins. He's not only able to save the praise God, he's able to save to the other most power of the world. Amen. He said, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him the fellow unto thee? How much conviction do you think this law can fill? How much do you think his heart would be troubled? I would hope a whole lot. I would hope a whole lot. And he said, he will show mercy on him. And Jesus said, go unto him, then Jesus said unto him, go and do thou likewise. You go, you do this thing. You know the law.

[29:56] Folks, I didn't have a New Testament. We're reading the New Testament. We're reading an account out of the New Testament. All they had was the Old Testament. All they had was that and the Old Testament.

[30:08] Everybody said, my goodness, it's a book. There are several books. There are 39 books. There's nothing but judgment and nothing but condemnation. Folks, the grace of God is all over the Old Testament. God didn't have to call Abram out of her. He didn't have to bring up his children out of Egypt. He didn't have to deliver David. He didn't have to deliver Samson. He didn't have to do any things that he did in the scripture. And people look at him and say, God didn't deliver Samson. Hey, Samson's listeners, as one of the heroes of Christ, Samson got himself in trouble.

[30:41] No, yes, he did. But hey, I don't think that God was having listed in Hebrews chapter 11. If Samson had been, had, had died, had lost man, what we would refer to as a lost man, God delivered these people in the Old Testament. He delivered his people the Israelite. He delivered David. He delivered so many of them. And I was surely and utterly by nothing but the grace of Almighty God that it was done. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. God delivered me one day. He done it by the blood of Jesus.

[31:14] Thank you, Lord. He done it because of his grace. He done it with his grace. He done it that Jesus would not die in vain. He gave him one another. Even as God for Christ's sake, that forgiven you is the words of Paul to the church at Ephesus. He said, go and do the aquilise. Are we doing the aquilise church? Speaking to the church, folks, if you're out here lost and you're doing these things, I gotta do it for you. You're still lost. Don't care how good you think you are. Don't care how big a deed you do, how many hundred miles you feed, how many naked people you clothe.

[31:47] If you do it outside of Jesus Christ, it's all for naught. It's so that you'll get your own hand pat, hand pat or back pat from the world. And that's not a good reason. But we, the saved, born again, children of God, the bride of Christ, we do these things because of what? We have not only the power of God, and I spoke about it in the beginning of this thing. We have not only the power of God living inside of us, but we have the love of God, their body inside of us. And the Bible says, we all know that God so loved the world, he gave us all the God and Son. And if God loved the world that much, should not we love the world that much. If we have that same love about him within us, he says, go and do just like this Samaritan that I'm talking about. What a, what a shock to the guts this was for this scribe. Say, you want me to do as a Samaritan, as a half-greet, somebody's up-hanging, holding on high. Y'all remember in John chapter four, when Jesus goes to the world, that Samaritan woman's up there, and the disciples show back up, and they're like, why are you hanging out with this Samaritan woman? This is my own, this is my own paraphrasing. Why are you hanging out with her? Praise God, Jesus had special occasion to go by that window, because he knew there'd be a Samaritan woman show up there, and he knew that she was lost. He knew her spiritual condition, he knew her physical condition, he knew everything about that woman, and by the end of that conversation, praise God, you see that Samaritan woman running back into the city, saying, come see a man that told me everything about myself, he knew everything about me, come see this prophet, hey God, it done redeemed her. Jesus Christ had done set this woman free, and what did she do?

[33:30] Her first deed after being set free was she went to spread the gospel. We pass by people every day, church, every day of our lives. Sometimes we live with them, sometimes we work with them, we might go to school with them, we might pass them on the sidewalk, or in food city, or in Walmart, or wherever. We pass by people that are up right and walking, the folks really and truly, they're laying at the side of the road, and they're naked, and they're bruised, and they're wounded, and they need someone to pick them up, they need someone to bind their wounds, they need someone to point them in the way of the same Jesus that saved your soul. Take advantage of those opportunities, take advantage of them, church.

[34:13] I encourage you, it's our job to point people in the direction of Jesus. It's our job, this Samaritan, it was his job as a human being to help this poor soul that was on the side of the road. It's our job as children of God to help those that are in need. There's an entire lost world around us that stands in need of Jesus Christ. That's the message for this morning. God bless you, I appreciate your attention.