Sermon – “The Good Samaritan”

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’[a] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”[b] 28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” 29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he de-parted,[c] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

I know we’ve all been times where it’s been we’ve had times where it’s been difficult to pray where it’s been difficult to to praise that sometimes we don’t even have the words we hurt so bad but you know those are the times where our soul cries out and there’s a scripture and I’m not sure where it is that he hears the cries of our heart and he does and sometimes that cry that prayer might be nothing more than a man and it might be an oh Jesus help me it might be help me Lord but you know what in that moment it’s enough it’s enough. Amazing how those songs speak to our hearts they stir hearts they stir something within us they speak to us and you know it’s that second song What’s really spoke to me says I want to know you more how many here want to know Him more and more don’t be bashful it’s only a couple of years I want to know him more kids do you want to know him or you’re not heads there Gary I know Gary’s been serving the Lord for over fifty years and he raises hand he wants to know the Lord more so we can never know all there is to know about the Lord after serving thirty or forty years fifty years or five years we should always want to know him more to know His love more completely to understand him in a greater way and he will always give us more faithful to seek Him face to be diligent to pray to study study His word God is so good all the time and all the time God is good this morning my message is about the Good Samaritan are we the good Samaritan which we should be the Good Samaritan scripture concert Luke Chapter ten continuing in Luke Actually I read this part of Luke a couple weeks ago. RATHER Well I want to back up and see what led up to this passage and when I read as a lot I was still or disturbed my heart to preach on it but then I had to back up and read some more so that I preached on the first half of Luke last week so this will be the continuance and Luke Chapter ten hear the word of the Lord. And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying Teacher What shall I do to inherit eternal life and he said to Him Jesus said to him what is written in the law what is your reading of it so he answered and said You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself and you know I have often said we’ve heard people say in our problems that the law can’t save you right we’ve heard it said we’ve heard that proclaim from the pulp it’s you can’t be saved by keeping the law but what did Jesus say to him what he said What must I do inherit eternal life and Jesus said what’s written in the law all wow I might have to take back what I’ve said in the past because Jesus said what’s in the law and he answered rightly said You shall love the Lord your God So my friends that part of the law if we love God with all of our hearts with all of our mind with all of our strength with all of our being we shall have life and have eternal That’s Jesus’ words he said to him you have answered rightly do this and you will live my friends if you love God If you love your neighbor says you will live Jesus own words but he wanted to justify himself said to Jesus and who is my neighbor you know he had no problem with the putting God first loving God but whose money abroad just exactly who is my neighbor tell me tell me Jesus everybody I’ve met interactions Once you have good and this it’s our neighbors everybody. Then Jesus answered and said to him he’s going to time a parable a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing wounded him and departed leaving him half dead now by chance a certain priest came down the road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side likewise a Levite when he arrived at the place he came and looked 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 so he went to him bandages wounds poured on oil and why and set him on his own animal and brought him to an end and took care of him on the next day when he departed he took out two denarii gave them to the innkeeper and said to him Take care of him and whatever more you spend when I come again I will repay you so which of these do you think which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves and he said to him he who showed mercy on him then Jesus said to him Go and do likewise they got out his blessings to the air in the reading of His Holy Word let us pray Heavenly Father we do thank you and praise you for your word by that we thank you that we can get to know you more every day we thank you that your work reveals your will and your plans for a lives and father I just pray that our hearts will be open to receive what you have forced Today Father God May we expound your mercy Father God May we walk in your ways and may we love our neighbor and father we know that our neighbors all those we meet and follow just help us to have the love that you have for all those that you put in our paths or God or May you be glorified through your church may your name be lifted high in Jesus’ name we pray men I don’t know if you remember the Scriptures that I read last week but the last part of the scripture that I read last week in verse twenty one Jesus did this it was written in this in that hour Jesus read joist in the spirit and said I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes even so father for so it seems good in your sight Jesus had just finished reading Joyce into the Father. That he had revealed all these sayings that you know the seventy went out and come back he revealed all those things to babes in not the elite not the prudent men not the ones that were wise in their own eyes it wasn’t the priest it wasn’t the Fair see it wasn’t those he revealed it to babes so they’d know more than just finished rejoicing in the IT TO THE LORD and that and this lawyer stands up one who would be considered among those wise and prudent and ask this question What must I do to inherit eternal life in truth my friends it is a wonderful question it is a very good question one hopefully that anyone watching that does not know the Lord that they’re going to ask themselves that question or someone here if you haven’t asked that question it’s a very good question that it’s some point in everyone’s life I hope they ask that question and if you don’t know Jesus Christ our Hope is today that you ask yourself that question What must I do to have eternal life what must I do to be saved I think of the Apostle Paul and Silas they were in jail they had been in prison for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and you know those prisons back then were nothing like our prisons today you know they didn’t have the televisions and the entertainment and all those sayings it was a dark and gloomy place where they were bound and in prison and it was about midnight it was approaching midnight so there are a dark place the keeper of the prison the jailer he’s asleep the doors are a lock the prisoners are in the Spriggan cells and are bound he is asleep but he has awoken by all kinds of commotion there is an earthquake and the doors are shaken the doors fly open when he wakes up he sees the doors open he fears the prisoners are all gone he’s going to take his own life because he figures Ahmad’s will take my own life because I know the rulers are going to put me to death for allowing the prisoners to escape Paul sees that he’s about to take his own life I don’t know if he was going to follow any sword or just run the sword through him self but he’s going to take his own life Paul cries out. Do yourself no harm Paul had compassion on all men even the prison guards he had compassion on all men others might a distant when it’s not what he’s going to. Have we’re going to get even with him but Paul had compassion on him not only was the earth shaken that day or that night a set should say because it was about midnight not only were the door shaken but that man’s heart was shaken his heart was shaken by the compassion of Paul and Silas because they did not escape they were too busy singing praises and worshipping God but His heart was shaken so he cried out to Paul what must I do what must I do to be saved Paul said Believe him a little Jesus Christ believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that’s what we must do there’s a difference between the jailers question and the lawyers question to the jail your jailers was genuine The lawyer was trying to test Jesus he was trying to trap him you know it’s very evident that the lawyer was very educated very educated in the laws and the Word of God because He answered right on the mark you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself he had it he had it memorized and there he knew it he knew the law very well he should have also known Deuteronomy six sixteen that you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him and Massa but understand the reason that he had no problem tempting Jesus is because he didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah by friends if you believe Jesus is the Lord don’t tempt him you can ask the Lord anything but don’t test the Lord. You know I could go down a long bunny trail about testing and not and all that stuff but I did begin long winded and I don’t want to do that I don’t want long winded often now but the main focus is the condition of the heart that’s what this whole passages about the condition of one’s heart it is why we ask what we ask we can ask Jesus anything but why are we asking are we asking the test are we asking because we want to know him or it’s why we do what we do do we do it with selfish motives or we do it to bring Him glory Jesus knew the lawyers reason for asking he knows why we do what we do my we ask what we ask the lawyer is seeking to justify himself in verse twenty nine when he said Who is my neighbor if someone has the mindset that they could be saved by their works saved by the law they’re going to ask those kind of questions that’s what they’re going to naturally do there’s nothing wrong as I say with asking what is Why are we asking you know you take your car to some of these places that have them service in this and that those there advertisement is you know we’ve got this fifty point checklist you know we were this checklist we checked the wipers we checked the fluids we checked the brake We checked this we checked that we checked this we checked this that’s what the lawyer had that’s what those wanting to be saved by the law have they’ve got their handy dandy little checklist Well I can’t say that I can’t say this I can’t do that I can do this I can eat this I can’t sing this I can’t do that they’ve got their handy little checklist they go through and almost good on that checklists but it doesn’t look so good in here in their hearts the reason why they ask these things our faith is not based on our works our faces but faith is based on our hearts the lawyer knew all the traditions he knew the law he wanted to know what he had to do I have to do something eternal life meant to him God’s kingdom in a natural sense coming he didn’t understand a spiritual sense of God’s kingdom he didn’t understand the spirit of God. For him it meant what can I physically do he didn’t understand Grace there was a judge who understood grace and mercy he actually though was the mayor of the time one night in one thousand nine hundred thirty five Furillo H. new Guardiola mare of New York New York City showed up one night at night court in the poorest section of the city he dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench now I guess if you’re the mare you can do that you’re in charge he’s in charge of that city he can do that he sent home one case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren but Guardia said I’ve got to punish you ten dollars or ten days in jail is your fine and as he spoke he threw ten dollars into his own hat then he find everyone in the courtroom fifty cents for living in a city where a person had to steal bread so that she could feed her grandchildren the hat was passed around the woman left the court room with her fine paid an additional forty seven dollars and fifty cents in her pocket so I did the math the judge put the ten dollars in that means there was ninety five people in that courtroom that’s a lot of people in a courtroom and I didn’t but that judge understood mercy he understood God’s grace he paid her fine and find everyone else maybe lots of fun us if we’re not Mars for as we should be right Romans three twenty three twenty four says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace. Being justified freely not by our works but freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus brothers and sisters and those watching are fine our penalty for our sins is not a mere ten dollars it’s not even one hundred dollars not a million dollars The penalty for sin is death and just like that judge did that night in New York City Jesus Christ paid our fine he paid the full amount he didn’t pay partial he didn’t get paid what in a partial mount he paid the full amount was ten dollars are fine for our sins as death and Jesus Christ paid off on in full debt has been cancelled we are freed from the penalty of our sin when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord saves savior It’s simple as that is simple but yet so profound God’s people need to understand mercy because mercy is an integral part of God’s dealing with mankind so we must understand it the Greek word most often used for mercy mercy is evil US which means compassion means pity to show mercy in the Strong’s Concordance it adds it is especially active it is active signifying that mercy is not just a feeling it’s not just an emotion that we have within us it’s something that we express in a tangible way it is an action it is a something we do it should be a part of who we are since it is sets a part of who God is it needs to be a part of who we are as believers that’s what Jesus is trying to express in the parable of the Good Samaritan in the parable Jesus contrasts the unloving or the unmerciful actions of a priest and a Levite with a loving actions of a Samaritan you know everyone knows what a parable is it’s a a simple toot of a it what could be a true story. It’s a fictional story of something that could actually take place and you know we have an author in our midst there writes biblical fiction and she’ll take biblical some biblical characters and make up some new characters but there’s a whole lot of truth and a whole lot of what I’ve read of her writings there’s a whole lot of facts there so there is a lot of truth so the story that Jesus is using today may have worked very well been an actual event that happened that he knows about but they didn’t know about it very well could have happen Samaritans were considered irreligious they were despised by the Jews of all the people that Jesus could have picked to be the faithful one the merciful one he picks Samaritans by his actions by his activity this Samaritan was obeying the sectoral Central Command of God’s law all to love your neighbor the central command of his law Love your neighbor the priests in the Levite who were so meticulous about observing the law yet were breaking the most important part of God’s law the call to help those in need it’s a warning to not be self-satisfied with their own religiosity the Word of God remains the standard of all conduct always to be careful to measure our behavior by what it says here’s why I say that story could have been very true that road was very notorious for its danger and difficulty that road between Jerusalem and Jericho that road probably to commemorate this parable has a building on it that is known as the Good Samaritan in even today the Good Samaritan N. but if it was a true story related to a true story why would the priests walk by on the other side of the road why would he go around that poor man that had been injured and lying there half dead why would he go around Could it be because. That road was so notorious that there had often been muggings and beatings along that road that he had walked and seen many lamp on that road that he become desensitized to it could it be that he was fearful for his own well being thought well if I take the time to stop and help this man I’m obligated love myself there might be two of us live here could it be that he thought well if I stop and help this man and what if he dies in the midst of my helping him then I’m going to be unclaimed and I’m going to have to go through all that burden some ritual.