24-0616p Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(1:01) Now I’m going to go to Luke 10, and I’m going to read verses 25 through 37.

(1:21) And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, (1:28) Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, (1:36) What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, (1:46) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, (1:54) and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he, Jesus, said to him, (2:06) You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live.

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to (2:17) Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Then Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem (2:30) to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, (2:40) leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, (2:54) he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, (3:05) came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, (3:17) came where he was, and when he saw him, had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his (3:29) wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, (3:39) and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, (3:51) gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend (4:01) when I come again, I will repay you.

So which of these three do you think (4:11) was neighbor to him, who fell among the thieves? And he said, He who showed mercy on him. (4:24) Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. Now some things here, it says that a certain lawyer, (4:44) now a lawyer in those days is different from what we know as being a lawyer, (4:54) but they were those that were legally supposed to know what the law of Moses said, (5:06) and the commands handed down.

And at this point, this lawyer and Jesus was under the law of Moses. (5:21) They lived still under the law of Moses. So therefore, when he asked the teacher, (5:34) What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Then Jesus asked him, What is written in the law? (5:44) Which means the law of Moses, the law that God handed Moses.

And some of that we discussed (5:56) this morning. So we continue with love your neighbor tonight, and considering (6:07) what it says here. So he tells him, you know, the law says that you shall love the Lord your God (6:20) with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, (6:28) and your neighbor as yourself.

That’s what the law says. And we looked at Leviticus 19, 18. (6:44) It does say that you love your neighbor as yourself.

And when he told him, when he replied (7:01) to Jesus that, then Jesus, you have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. But now the (7:13) lawyer still wants to justify himself.

He still has another question. Well, who is my neighbor? (7:30) Then we get into a section which many refer to as the Good Samaritan. But I would like to suggest (7:50) one of two things.

Who is my neighbor? That’s what the lawyer asks. Maybe it should be entitled, (8:03) Who is my neighbor? Or maybe better still, in verse 36, Jesus asked him, (8:16) So which of these three, the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, (8:24) which of these three do you think was neighbor? Perhaps it should be entitled (8:34) Being a neighbor. And being a neighbor (8:45) means being compassionate toward someone.

It doesn’t say whether this Samaritan knew (8:58) this man that was left, as the left half did, by the robbers. It doesn’t say, but he nonetheless (9:14) had compassion on this man. He’s a stranger.

And I was thinking of the time from years back, (9:31) there were cards that were for someone or someones that were ill, needing uplifting, (9:51) maybe were in the hospital. But one of the members here didn’t want to sign (10:07) either one of the cards or maybe either card. Because I don’t know the person.

(10:18) Well, I didn’t know the person either. And on the other hand, the person didn’t know me. (10:25) But I still signed the card.

It’s uplifting to whoever it is to see the names of the people (10:38) they may not know who it is. And of course, I know I didn’t know. But still, I put my name.

(10:54) And there are people that I don’t know, that I know that are needing prayers. And I have prayed (11:08) for them, not knowing who they might be, but knowing that God knows who they are. (11:19) That he too will help them.

That he will help them and especially for those that (11:29) belong to the household of faith, even here, that we know. But yet, this American (11:42) had compassion on him, took care of his wounds and sent him on his own animal and brought him (11:53) to an inn and took care of him. So when he left or was leaving, he gave the innkeeper (12:05) two denarii.

He gave him money and told the innkeeper, take care of him and whatever more (12:19) you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. Just because we don’t know who really needs (12:34) our prayers doesn’t mean that we can’t pray for them. It doesn’t mean that if those cards that (12:42) are put forth to sign, that we can’t sign them.

So that’s been neighborly. You know, if we (12:58) do whatever is necessary. So I was wondering, you know, we put, you know, the good Samaritans, (13:08) you know, they know this section as telling about the good Samaritans.

He’s the one that (13:17) took care of this man. It just seemed like the priest and the Levite just (13:25) seemed like they didn’t want to help the man. But the Samaritan did.

And the Jews looked down upon (13:36) the Samaritan. I don’t know this lawyer, how he, how his attitude was toward the Samaritans. (13:57) But the Jews generally looked down upon the Samaritans.

They were half-breeds. (14:05) They called them or looked at them and just like looking down upon the Gentiles. (14:13) They’re not wanting to have anything to do with the Gentiles.

But it was the Samaritans (14:22) that took care of the man that had fallen among the thieves. So then the question (14:31) maybe should be, who was neighbor? Should we be neighbor? Do we pass by someone that really needs (14:49) help? And are we too busy or we think we’re too busy to help someone? But this is being a neighbor. (15:04) And certainly he had compassion on the man.

So we’ll, I’ll say some more later about (15:19) compassion. We’ll get to that. But now, as we’re trying to discuss, we are to love (15:34) our neighbor.

And we learn that by definition, now one of those definitions is showing true kindness. (15:53) That is the neighbor that sees someone that is in need (16:05) and this, this story is, is the fulfillment of that definition. (16:16) But we’re, but then love, you know, what we do should be motivated (16:26) by love.

And what we, what we do when we think of God that we should love God because (16:48) he loved us and he so loved us that he sacrificed his only son for us. And (17:01) that is what love is. For some people may think when we talk about love, that it’s that (17:14) warm feeling that we have inside or when we think it’s a mushy feeling that people get.

(17:26) That’s not what it is. There’s more to love than, than just feeling, feeling. (17:36) If we, you know, God truly loves us and he shows us that through providing for us physically, (17:50) providing for our salvation spiritually, giving his sign that our sins could be remitted, (18:03) that’s because he loves us.

Now in Romans 12 that I read, (18:16) the thing that I want to pay special attention to is verse 10. Love does no harm to a neighbor. (18:36) In other words, if we’re, we love our neighbor, these commandments up here, they’re in the negative.

(18:44) You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal.

You shall not (18:51) bear false witness. You shall not covet. If we love our neighbor, we won’t (19:04) commit adultery with somebody else’s, our neighbor’s wife or commit fornication (19:15) with someone close to him.

We just won’t do it. If we love God, we won’t do it. (19:25) We won’t murder someone if we have love for our neighbor.

So love does no harm. (19:37) And according to the King James, I believe it’s the King James Version, (19:43) love does no ill or works no ill to a neighbor. He says, therefore, love is the fulfillment (19:53) of the law.

Well, that’s what I was trying to attempting and wanted to get across this morning, (20:05) that yes, it was the law that they were to do good to the fellow man, a neighbor, a brother, (20:19) a stranger, even their enemies. They were, it was love. And it seems like just as people today do, (20:34) we miss the point that love should be behind our obedience to what God commands us.

(20:44) And just as the song that was before the lesson was love one another, (20:53) that’s what Jesus commanded us to do, love one another. And then in Galatians, (21:06) five, 13 and 14, I want to read what that says. (21:21) In verse 13, for you brethren have been called to liberty.

Only do not use liberty (21:32) as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (21:45) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor (21:55) as yourself. But you see, it will be through love.

Now, maybe if we had love as the basis for (22:13) what we do, instead of looking at it and saying, well, it says that we ought to serve one another. (22:24) Another said, it does say that, but it also says through love, serve one another. (22:32) So if we have love and have love for one another, love will be the basis for the motive for us (22:45) serving and serving one another.

We have love for each other. And so in Deuteronomy 11, (23:05) it says, therefore you shall love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, (23:16) his judgments, and his commandments always. Now we see, we come back to love.

If we love the Lord, (23:30) says you, you shall love the Lord and keep his charge. Well, you, there again, someone could (23:43) say, well, I am commanded by God to keep these commandments. We can name whatever (23:54) commandment that he tells us.

We may do these things, but it may not be through love. It may (24:06) be just because they’re a commandment. We’ve got to do them because we, but he also said, (24:16) you shall love, that is a commandment.

You shall love the Lord your God. And talking about (24:28) love, love not harming a neighbor, the fruit of the spirit is love. That’s the first thing there.

(24:42) And it says then that against such, there is no law. There is no law against love (24:58) and having love and having joy and peace and long-suffering and kindness and goodness and (25:08) faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There’s no law against these things.

But because some have (25:18) let hatred instead of love come in, then because they do what the hate produces, (25:36) then there’s laws that are brought up against those things. And then in first John three, (25:52) or first John two, verses three and four, says, now by this we know that we know him (26:08) if we keep his commandments. And then down in verse nine, (26:29) but he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not (26:37) in him.

So then in verse nine of first John two, he says, he who says he is in the light (26:52) and hates his brother is in darkness until now. And we can take that even to mean that this brother (27:05) is a neighbor. This brother is in the family, but also can be a neighbor.

(27:14) But if we hate a brother who we see, how can we say we love God who we haven’t seen? (27:22) And that’s what he brings forth. And then in first John three, verses 15 through 17, (27:45) get in the right book here. First John three, 15 through 17, (28:00) and whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need (28:09) and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? So he’s asking, you know, (28:24) we say that we know him or we have this world’s goods and then see someone else.

(28:42) We shut our heart up from him. We don’t have compassion on this individual. (28:52) How can we say that the love of God abides in him? So you say love should be the basis then for what (29:09) we do.

We are commanded to do good. We are commanded to do righteousness and help others. (29:21) But in both commands is the command to love.

To love a neighbor who just might be our brother (29:35) in need. Might be some stranger that we’d come upon that needs help. We need to have compassion (29:47) on that person and give that person whatever help he needs.

So thing that we’ve been discussing is (30:05) love your neighbor as yourself. Loving our neighbor. We love our neighbor when we do, (30:15) when we have compassion on the person and what his needs are.

(30:24) And we’ll love them by doing good to them. Showing them the way, you know, of life. (30:37) And so we need to show our love.

And if anyone here needs to show their love to God for (30:53) loving and sacrificing his son, you need to do so. Whatever you need to do in order to (31:08) to be pleasing to God, we would urge you to do so now. Remember, love God and love your neighbor.

(31:21) Why not do these things while we stand and while we sing?