Good evening, everyone. Let's
begin our evening service by sitting and we'll sing 294, Savior,
like a shepherd lead us, 294. Savior, like a shepherd, lead
us, much we need thy tender care. In thy pleasant pastures feed
us, for our use thy foes prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast brought us Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast brought us Thine we are. We are thine, do thou befriend
us, be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flock from sin, defend us,
seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and sinful though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve
us, grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy favor,
early let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
with Thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Thank you. Let's turn to Luke chapter 10.
I'm gonna read this. We'll be looking at this in our
message and part of it, and so I figure I'll read it now to
go through. Let's start with verse 21. In
that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me
of my father, and no man knoweth who the son is but the father,
and who the father is but the son. and he to whom the Son will
reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples
and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that ye see. For I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and
have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and
have not heard them. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? And he said unto him, What is
written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering
said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and 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? And Jesus answering said, 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 priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by
on the other side. And likewise a Levite, 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 inn, and took care of him. And
on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave
them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him, and whatsoever
thou spendest 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 unto him, Go
and do thou likewise. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and your mercy. Lord, we We thank you for your
gospel. Lord, there is but one salvation,
and there is but one Savior. And Lord, we have nothing to
boast in of ourselves that you, by your grace, by your power,
by the Lord Jesus Christ interceding for us as our mediator and our
Savior, our husband, our friend, Lord, you have made us to see
the things which you show to your people, to your disciples,
to know your salvation, to believe that Christ is all. Lord, help
us never to be hardened in heart with religion that despises others
and justifies self and thinks only of self. But Lord, help
us to to hear Your Word, to see our Savior, to know the things
that You reveal to Your people by Your grace. Lord, help us.
Help us. You know that we are but flesh.
You know how weak we are. We know how undeserving we are.
But Lord, we come not because of anything that we have done,
but for Christ's sake, believing Your Word concerning Him, In
Him, we have forgiveness of sins, and that you receive all who
come to you, and you will not turn them away. And Lord, we
thank you for this night. We thank you for the fellowship
that we have with brethren. And Lord, we do pray for our
brethren that can't be with us, but would. And Lord, that you
would bless them, that you would heal their bodies, that you would
comfort them in any way that they are struggling or having
difficulty, you would gather together your sheep around your
Savior to hear your gospel word, and that you would bless it to
their hearts. Lord, we ask that you would indeed bless the people
in this area, that you would call them out of dead works religion,
and that you would gather them by Christ, under Christ, to hear
those nourishing, blessed words of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lord, bless this word tonight. Help me to preach this word faithfully,
clearly, plainly to my brethren and help them to hear it. It's
in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our next hymn will be 296, All
the Way My Savior Leads Me, 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, Here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. Oh, the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see! Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see! All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day This my song through endless
ages Jesus led me all the way This my song through endless
ages Jesus led me all the way Thank you. Good evening, brethren. Let's
go to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. We're just going to look at verses
20 and 21 tonight. And we'll take this passage,
and I want to look at the figurative language that's in it regarding
the blessings of our God for those that are under the blood
of Christ in this blessed gospel dispensation, this time since
our Savior came and established the covenant of grace and blessed
his people, blessed you to hear his word and to receive that
word powerfully by the giving of the Holy Spirit giving you
life and blessing you. So I pray we understand this
figurative language and then after we go through and look
at what we're seeing here in these two verses, we'll go and
look at a story that our Lord tells that I believe brings home
this message that helps us to see an example and to help us
to hear and understand this language that we're looking at tonight
regarding the gospel and the blessings of it. So let's first
read the verses of our text, but I'm gonna begin in verse
18. So we'll read from 18 down to 21. For I know their works,
the Lord says, I know their works and their thoughts, it shall
come. That I will gather all nations
in tongues and they shall come and see my glory. And I will
set a sign among them and I will send those that escape of them. unto the nations, to Tarshish,
Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javin, to the isles
afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my
glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
Now speaking of those that are escaped, those that have been
delivered from the wrath of God that is coming upon the inhabitants
of the earth for our iniquities, We're filling up the cup because
we, sons and daughters of Adam, have sinned and rebelled against
the true and living God. We're the sinners. But there's
a people that escaped that wrath by the grace of God. And so speaking
of those that escape, they're going to be sent out to declare
Christ's, the glory of God, Christ the glory of God among the Gentiles.
Now let's look at verse 20 and 21. And they shall bring all
your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations,
upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules,
and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith
the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a
clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take
of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord." Now there's
a few lessons here about the salvation of our God. First, we see the gathering of
the people under one salvation. There is but one salvation of
God. There's not many ways. There's
one way unto God. It's a narrow way. It's a narrow
way. And the second thing we see is
that that narrow way is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord blesses
us through the gospel ministry to hear of Christ, to see Christ,
to behold Christ, to know that Jesus Christ is the salvation
of God. He is the righteousness of his
people. And then third, we see that this salvation is established,
not under the old covenant, Not using the things, the pictures,
and the types, and the shadows of the old covenant, those things
that we're picturing, but rather the very picture itself. That
this salvation is established under the new covenant, the new
covenant of God's grace established in the blood of Christ. So let's
look at these three lessons more closely. First, He writes, and
they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord
out of all nations. So what the Lord is telling us
here is that there's many people in the earth. And these people
are full of idolatry. They have many gods and many
foolish ideas and many corrupt ways in what they do. But the
Lord is going to save his people one way. There is one salvation
of God. There's one true and living God
and he has the way that he saves his people. And so he's going
to gather all of them. It doesn't matter what nation
they come from, doesn't matter what language we speak, doesn't
matter if you're male or female, it doesn't matter if you're somebody
or nobody, if you're educated or uneducated, rich or poor,
God saves all his people. One way. There is but one salvation. Turn over to Ephesians 2. Here we see, picking up in verse
11, Paul is detailing this salvation. that two of the most opposite
of people, the most different of people, are brought together
by Christ under this one salvation of God. Verse 11, wherefore remember
that ye being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh. Time past. Once
you're in Christ, all the differences go away they all fade away you
were in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands all
those outward fleshly differences like the color of skin male or
female Whether you, doesn't matter what you look like or how you
talk, all those outward differences, your religion, your background,
your upbringing, all that means nothing, nothing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That at that time, ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. So when the Jews had their religion,
and they were given the types and the shadows and the pictures
in the law, they had the history, they had circumcision, they had
all these things which separated them from the nations and made
them a stench to the nations. And they despised their enemies. They despised those that were
in the Gentile lands, and the Gentiles didn't care for them
either. There was many, many physical and outward fleshly
differences. And the Gentiles had no part
in their religion. The Lord brought all that to
an end. The Gentiles, we're told, were in bondage under the elements
of the world, under the elements of the world. And Paul tells
us, when he's writing to the Colossians, he tells us a bit
about what those elements of the world were. He describes
them as philosophy and vain deceit. He describes them as being modeled
after the traditions of men, after the rudiments or the elements
of the world. We were in bondage to those things.
The Gentiles were in bondage. The Jews were in bondage to the
law, who thought that was their righteousness. They were in bondage
to the law, being under the curse of the law. And the Gentiles
were under the elements of the world, traditions, and stories,
and fables, myths, and legends. And they thought this was their
salvation. And so Christ put all those outward
things away. And you do the same. Don't look
at people on the outward, because you'll judge them and despise
them, rather than speaking the truth in love and seeing what
the Lord will do for them, whether He will give them a heart and
an ear to hear and to believe the things spoken. Now in verse
13, but now in Christ Jesus, Ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ. You guys had no part
in this, but now you do have a part by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us. between Jew and Gentile,
between Scythian and Barbarian, educated and uneducated, male
and female, all those things, he's broken it down, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances for to making himself of two, one new man, so making
peace." There he's speaking of that enmity that we have with
one another based on traditions, based on where we come from,
based on our families, based on what part of the country we
come from or different countries. All that stuff is put away in
Christ. And he says that law of commandments
was a stumbling block. It was part of the thing that
created enmity between people. And religion will do that. People
go to war over differences in religion. They go to war. I think
most wars, you probably could find that there's a lot of, a
lot of the issues at the heart of a lot of wars is differences
in religion, differences in tradition. And so Christ put away the causes
of division because we're all saved one way. We're all sinners. None of us has a corner on God.
None of us has a step up on one another because Christ put it
all away. None of us had anything to bring
to the table except our sin, our need of Christ. And that
he, now here it is what Christ did between us and God, how that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. So having
heard that, how many salvations, how many ways of salvation has
God given to his people? If you were just to take that
honestly, are there many salvations? Are there many ways to God? Not
at all. There is but one way, one Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Christ came to gather
all his sheep scattered, not just in the land of Judah and
Samaria, but among the nations wherever we are wherever his
lost sheep are he comes and gathers them together in one fold just
as he told the jews in john 10 16 when he said other sheep i
have and them also i must bring and they shall hear my voice
just like you that believe hear my voice and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd so that's the first lesson there's one
salvation second He says now in the second part of verse 20,
they shall be brought upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters,
or coaches, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts to my holy
mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel
bring an offering and a clean vessel into the house of the
Lord. Understand what the Lord is saying
here is that he's given to his church the gospel ministry. He's given to his church the
gospel ministry and Paul calls this ministry the ministry of
reconciliation. We've heard from God this salvation. what He's declared to us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the ministry that is
given to us to know this reconciliation, to know this Savior, and this
is the one that we preach. We go out and we declare the
redemption of Christ. How that He, by His own self,
for the love that He has for His people, went, bearing their
sins as their sacrifice, as their substitute, He went to the tree,
bearing the curse of our sin, and he laid down his life under
the wrath of God to put away our sin forever, to obtain forgiveness
for our sins, and to obtain for us eternal life, to give us life
in himself. And so he's given us this ministry,
we declare it, but that ministry must also be blessed by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit must attend that
Word and make it effectual to your hearts. The Holy Spirit
taking the things of Christ that are being declared in His Word.
that Christ is all, that Christ has done all the work and he
shows them to you, to a heart that's alive, that is fleshly
in a sense that it can be changed and molded by the true and living
God, a new heart that he gives to his children and he gives
them ears to hear and faith to believe the things that are being
spoken. So he takes and shows us the things of Christ and attends
that with faith. to hear and to believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so these horses, and in chariots,
and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, they describe
that gospel vehicle that carries us from death to life that bears
us up and does everything for us that we need from the Lord
because we cannot do it ourselves we don't know the way naturally
we don't know the way in ourselves Until we know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Until we see the things that
all his disciples see. Until we know that Christ is
all. That Christ is all. And so by
this gospel vehicle his people are brought to God's holy mountain. They're brought to the New Jerusalem. They're brought into the church
which salvation has become her walls. And she's enclosed in
that city of the Lord's people, the Lord's blessed people, the
church of God. And it says it's an offering
brought in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And that
clean vessel is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who sanctifies
his people, who sanctifies all our works, who sanctifies that
work which he does in us. making it acceptable and holy
and acceptable unto the Father. And he does this by his righteousness,
because he is our righteousness. You know, when Paul preached
Christ crucified, that's how he brought the Gentile nations
in. He just went there and declared what Christ had done. They didn't
have the scriptures. They didn't have those testimonies
of the prophets, or the Psalms, or the law. They didn't know
those things, and yet they heard. of the resurrection of the dead.
They heard what God did in Christ and they believed that word.
It came to them with power and so they were delivered from the
bondage that they were under in those elements of the world,
in their idolatry, in their folly, in their darkness, in their foolishness.
They were delivered from that bondage. so that they put aside
those things, those books of magic, and burn those books like
the Thessalonians, and they put aside those traditions of men
for Christ, just as the Jews were delivered from the bondage
they were under, being terrified, because they were under the law,
and thinking that by the law they had to work a righteousness.
And every time they saw themselves come short, they feared, they
feared, just like we do today. We are brought in Christ. Paul
said it this way in Romans 15 verse 16. He said that I should
be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. And so an offering acceptable
unto God by the gospel vehicle, we are brought in Christ. He
is the clean vessel, that pure word, that blessed word. He is
that blessed vehicle in whom we are brought to the Lord, being
sanctified of him. And so first is there's one salvation,
and two, there's one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 And
I will also take of them for priests, and for Levites saith
the Lord. Now you know that in the Old
Covenant only those born of Aaron's lineage could be priests You
had to be born of Aaron's family, of Aaron's lineage. It was the
Aaronic priesthood. Only those people could be priests.
And only Levites, you had to be born of the tribe of Levi,
only then could you minister in the things of the temple.
Only then you could do those things. The law required it. But if the Lord here is saying
that from all nations He'll call them for priests and for Levites,
then clearly this is not being established under the Old Covenant. with the things of the old covenant.
This is a new covenant, a covenant of grace established in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things are become new in Christ. Because that's
all that matters. It doesn't matter if you're circumcised.
It doesn't matter if you're uncircumcised. What matters is a new creature,
a new creature. And Christ Jesus is the one who
makes his people new creatures. And so he established the new
covenant of grace in his blood so he can call and make whoever
he wants to be a priest and a Levite. And that's what he makes his
people to be. Turn over to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter
2, God is just to forgive you brethren because Christ has made
you righteous and he's established this covenant, this new covenant
in his blood. 1 Peter 2 verse 5 Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You mean I can come not in the
Old Covenant, but in the New Covenant. In fact, you can't
even come in the Old Covenant. You can't do it. God won't receive
it. because it's a despising of him that is precious to the
Father. It despises Christ, but he receives all who come to him
in that clean vessel, the Lord Jesus Christ, born up upon that
gospel ministry with all the blessings being poured out upon
you, the blood of Christ, the spirit of Christ, giving you
life and forgiveness and righteousness and redemption. Look at verse
9 1 Peter 2 verse 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, and holy nation of peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. This is what the Lord is affirming
here. He's calling all you his people
to know. To know that there's one salvation,
there's one Savior, and it's established under a new covenant.
Don't blend that old covenant, the new with the old. You cannot
put new wine into old wineskins. It bursts it, it ruins it, all
is lost when you try to do that. It's a new covenant. That's what
he's declaring here in this thing. That's why he says, I'll make
them priests and Levites who had no part under the old covenant
because it's put away, it's put away. All right, now to further
confirm these truths, our Lord gives a story. to one who would
justify himself in keeping the law. He thought, wait a minute,
we don't need a new covenant. We've got a perfect covenant
in the law, and I'm doing it. I'm keeping the law. And that's
what many people to this day still think. They still think
that they come to God in the law, and that what we need is
more law, and we better be keeping that law. and they're just passing
Christ. They're not seeing Christ. Their
eyes are not blessed with what his disciples saw. When Christ
said privately to them, blessed are the eyes that see what your
eyes see. Blessed are your eyes that see
what your eyes see. And so our Lord, in this story,
he confirms that no man can save himself by the law. Here we cannot
work our way to heaven. We cannot work a righteousness
for ourselves by our works. And that old covenant law is
no help to you. Those who spend a lifetime under
the law are no better for it. No better for it. That's what the Lord shows us.
And we're gonna see, that's what he says in this story. I know
that's hard for some people to hear. You're telling me that
it's a waste of my time to sit under the law? Yep, it does you
no good. You will be not one iota better,
not one cubit of stature improved under the law. The only one who
improves, who brings us to the Father. purely, right in righteousness,
sanctified and holy is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that
came and heals the man who is robbed and beaten by thieves
who receive no mercy from the law, no mercy from the moral
law, the civil or the ceremonial. Only Christ can give life. All
right, let's go and see this now in Luke chapter 10. Luke
chapter 10. Now I'm not gonna read all of
it, but we're going to pick up in verse 29. There's a man, a
lawyer, Meaning that he was a studier of the law. He was an arguer
of the law. He was a scribe. He would, he
studied the law and thought he came to God by the law of Moses. And he willing to justify himself
said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? You see, Christ had
turned this man to the law and said, how do you read the law?
What do you see in the law? Because he asked, he wanted to
know how he could have eternal life in this man's stumble. This man's problem was trusting
the law. And so what Christ did was he
said, all right, that's true what you said. Go and do it.
Do that law and you will live. Now anyone who hears what the
law says knows I can't do it. I cannot keep the law perfectly. But I bring myself under the
curse of the law because I cannot keep it perfectly. Now, so to
justify himself, he was looking for ways out. to show that he
was keeping the law by asking, who is my neighbor? And so the
Lord tells him via a story who his neighbor is. Verse 30, and
Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem
to Jericho. That's us, brethren. 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." So the certain man in view here is the
elect in Adam, the elect of God in Christ, but were in Adam when
Adam fell. All Adam, Adam and all his race
fell in the garden. All, you could say to some degree,
he's the certain man. But specifically in view here
is the elect of Christ, the elect of God. And so we all fell in
him, and that's pictured in us going down from Jerusalem, down
from that heavenly city, down to Jericho. And the thieves are
two, the thieves are two, sin and Satan. And they stripped
him of his raiment, meaning that when they were done with Adam,
He had no righteousness, no covering for his sin. He was naked before
God. He was stripped of his righteousness,
had no raiment left. And we, like this man, are mortally
wounded. If God leaves us to ourselves
in that gutter, We shall die in our sins. We shall die. We
will not have a righteousness. We will stand naked before holy
God. And that description of being
half dead simply describes that here I stand before you physically
alive, but by nature, spiritually dead. I look like I'm clean. I look like a good man. And yet,
inside, I am full of dead men's bones. I can pretty it up, I
can make it smell good or look good on the outside, but the
Lord sees the heart and knows that in my flesh what I am by
nature is death, sinner, wicked, corrupt, evil, vile, wretched. That's what I am. Just waiting
for the physical light to expire and I stand before God half dead.
Next, we have a picture of the giving of the law, the giving
of the law, the old covenant here, verse 31 and 32. And by
chance, there came down a certain priest that way. The giving of
the law, that's the certain priest. And when he saw him, he saw him,
he looks over at him, and passed by on the other side. And likewise,
a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him
and passed by on the other side. What the Lord is showing us is
that there is no law given which can give you life. There's no
law. There's no law in the law of
Moses that can give you spiritual life. Not the moral law, not
the civil law, not the ceremonial law. There's nothing that you
can do under the law that can give you life. The law, when
it saw this man stripped naked, having nothing, looked upon him,
he saw him, and passed by. And the law gave him no aid. The law didn't even say, you
know, if you can just get yourself up over the hill, there's a town
right over there, and you can get yourself some help. No, the
law didn't say that. The law didn't even send anyone
back for the man to help him. The law didn't say, you know,
go fetch that guy out there, fellas, and bring him back here,
and let's get him fixed up. The law gave him no aid, because
the law could do nothing for him. The law left him exactly
as it found him in the first place. That man was in the exact
same spot when the law came up upon him and saw him and when
the law left him. He was in the same spot. The same spot. That's a picture
of every one of us who tries to fix ourselves and help ourselves,
improve ourselves by the law. You will be in the same spot,
the same spot. You can spend your whole life
laboring under the law and you will be no better off than this
man right here. You'll be no better off. You'll
still be naked. You'll still be half dead. You'll
still be stripped down, bloodied and beaten. Ruined, ruined by
the fall. The law demands perfect obedience. It demands perfect obedience.
We're already, like this man, stripped down. We don't have
a righteousness. We have nothing to give. We're
already naked. We can't keep the law. And so
we've been robbed by sin and Satan, and so the law cannot
heal. The law cannot clothe. The law
cannot comfort, and the law cannot restore. It can tell you what
sin is. It can say, you're naked over
there. You're naked. You've been bloodied
and beaten. You're wounded. And let me tell
you, you're guilty of it. You're guilty of being naked.
And here's the punishment for you. You're going to die. You're
going to die in your sins. And there's nothing you can do
about it. That's what the law shows us. It tells us what sin
is. It tells us that we're guilty
of it. And it tells us what our punishment will be. That's what
the law does. It cannot give you life. And so the coming of the law
And the leaving of the law declares to us loudly that by the deeds
of the law, there shall be no flesh justified in the sight
of God. That's exactly what this is telling
us, this story. And by the deeds of the law,
there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. And some of you
know people. You know people still laboring
under the law, trembling, afraid, fearful of death because they
haven't done enough. Because the law has left them
in the exact same place they were when they started under
the law. They started under the law. Now,
moving on to verse 33. But a certain Samaritan as he
journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. Now this is Christ. Now Christ
was not a Samaritan, but they called him a Samaritan. And Christ
is showing that even that one whom you call a Samaritan, me,
whom you charge me with sin, I'll show you that though you
despise me, I and I alone save my people. I can give life to
whom I will. I can heal the broken sinner. And so this is Christ and he
came on a journey. He came on a journey in the flesh
for love's sake. And his love caused him to have
compassion on this ruined, troubled, broken sinner, left to die. He had compassion on him. Verse
34, 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 inn, and took care of him. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is but one salvation, one salvation, and there's one Savior.
And Christ came. He journeyed from the glory he
had with the Father, robing himself in flesh, the likeness of the
sinful flesh, yet without sin. And he comes to where we are
in our sin, in our ruin, in our death. And he bears it for us. He bears, of course, as the spotless,
perfect Lamb of God to bear the sins and the trespasses, the
iniquities, the rebellion of ours against God. And He healed
our wounds, pouring in the oil of His Holy Spirit. pouring in
the wine of his blood to wash away the filth of our sin. And he sets us upon that vehicle
of salvation. He sets us upon himself. He bears
us up, the clean vessel. And he ministers to us in the
preaching of the gospel, telling us, declaring to us what he has
done, the Holy Spirit, taking the things of Christ and showing
them unto you, what Christ has accomplished and wrought for
you. And he carries you to an inn, to a church, where there
you will be ministered to, where there you will hear the gospel
and be fed and nourished and nursed back to health in Christ,
in Christ. being blessed of that gospel,
being comforted, not troubled, comforted by the gospel, settled
to know Christ is my all. He's my all. He's everything.
So he gives care to his people. Verse 35, and on the morrow,
When he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the
host and said unto him, take care of him and whatsoever thou
spendest more when I come again, I will repay thee. Now that saying, I've not heard
this anywhere, but that saying on the morrow when he departed
shows that that man on the journey laid himself down and slept. Picturing what Christ did when
he came here and going to the cross to die for the sins of
his people. And he was taken down off that
cross, dead, lifeless, laid in the tomb, and then rose again
when the Father raised him from the dead. And so he did all that
there. That's what's being communicated
there. And then he departed. He departed, having risen from
the dead and given his people what they need. He gives them
the gospel, he commissions his people with that word, and he
gives them all the means that they need to care for the people,
the ministry of the gospel. that they could go out and bring
them from the nations on mules, and coaches, and carriages, and
chariots, on horses, swift beasts, all of it. He brings his people
under the preaching of the gospel, and he pours forth the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Ghost. And when he returns, he'll repay
to every man according to his deeds. according to his deeds. And you, your deeds are blessed,
not of your own flesh, they're not your fruit, but the fruit
of the Spirit. And so this story conveys that
very truth that we saw in Isaiah, to see that there is one salvation,
to know that the Savior is Christ, and that this salvation is wrought
under the new covenant, the new covenant of His grace, not under
the old. The old can't help you. The law cannot help you. You
need Christ. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. And he finishes verse 36 and
37 of Luke 10, which he asks, 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 unto him,
go and do thou likewise. You're not going to save yourself
or your neighbors, teaching them the law. You're not going to
help them. They're going to be left the
same as they ever were, dead in trespasses and sins. We need
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go, carrying forth this blessed
gospel. That's how you bring them. That's
how they're comforted. That's how they're taught and
delivered from death. In Christ, the clean vessel under
the covenant of grace established in his blood. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and mercy. Lord, we thank you for the peace
which you've given to us in Christ. Lord, we see from your word,
you teach us, Lord, that we cannot be saved by the law. We're not
going to work a righteousness. We're not going to clothe ourselves
with righteousness under the law, but we need Christ and you've
given him. sending him on this journey,
laying down his life for sinners like us who are ruined and who
have nothing. Lord, we thank you for your love,
for your compassion, for your mercy, for your grace in Christ.
Lord, help us to always see and to hear the things which only
blessed eyes hear and see and only blessed ears hear. Lord,
give us of your spirit to grow, to be rooted in Christ, and to
grow in Him, enjoying these blessings of your gospel which you declare,
which you promise your people in Christ. Lord, we pray this
in the name of our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Let's close with 288, wonderful
piece, 288. And we won't sing the last verse,
of course. Far away in the depths of my
spirit tonight grows a melody sweeter than song. In celestial-like strains it
unceasingly falls. For my soul like an infinite
calm. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. What a treasure I have in this
wonderful piece, buried deep in the heart of my soul. So secure that no power can mine
it away While the years of eternity roll Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, In fathomless billows of love. I am resting tonight in this
wonderful peace, Resting sweetly in Jesus' control. For I'm kept from all danger
by night and by day, and this glory is flooding my soul. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. And me thinks when I
rise to that city of peace, where the author of peace I shall see. Chain of the song which the ransom
will sing, in the heavenly kingdom shall be. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Deep over my spirit forever I
pray, in fathomless billows of love.