All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. We'll be looking at this passage,
verse 25 through verse 37. I want to take the time to read
the whole thing at once, but we're going to go through this
verse by verse, the Lord willing, and I've entitled this message,
A Good Question, A Bad Motive, and A Clear Answer. a good question,
a bad motive, and a clear answer. And those will be my three points
of the message this morning. First of all, I want us to see
a good question, a good question. And that is brought to us in
Luke chapter 10, verse 25. It says, and behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted him saying, master, here's the question. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? This man asking this question,
this lawyer, he was a lawyer by trade. He was a master concerning
the law of Moses. He was a man who taught in the
synagogue, expounding the law to the people. He was a learned
man, a very educated man in the law of Moses. And not only did
he teach the word of God, he was familiar, very familiar with
the scriptures. So familiar were they that they
actually were scribes. They actually transposed the
word of God. They would rewrite the word of
God. And he was of the sect of the
Pharisees. That's who these people were.
And this question that this lawyer asked is a good question. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? What is so good about this question?
Well, first of all, this is the question of the ages. This is
the question that every one of us should ask this morning. It
is a good question. I believe it's the most important
question that anyone could ever ask because of this one fact. It deals with eternity. Now we ask questions all day
long concerning temporal things, don't we? We ask questions, we
say, well, what do I gotta do with my money? What should I
do with my money? What should I do? How should
I have a good family? We ask temporal questions. We
think, well, what's the best place to take my car when it
broke down? We ask questions about temporal things all the
time. Where can I go to have a good
time? What's the best place to vacation? We ask questions like
that all the time, but these things, they're not bad questions.
They're just, they don't deal with matters of eternity. They
deal with things that are passing, that are temporary. Look around
you. Everything you see is temporary,
isn't it? It's fleeting. Everything we
see passes away. I'm telling you this, we are
all standing on the precipice of eternity. Every one of us
this morning, we are standing on the brink of eternity. We are all standing at death's
door and have no idea when that door will open for us. We know
this, one of my daughter's classmates, 14 years old, my friends, and
God took her. I'm sure ten years ago they were
all excited about her future. And her future was only 14 years
of life. We read about this every day.
This is what God tells us, isn't it? All flesh is as grass. Andrew Golden cuts grass. Grass it cut and it just withers,
dies. And the glory of man, the best
that man could have is a flower of grass. And the grass withered,
the flower faded away. You and I, friends, are dying
men, we're dying. Some dying faster than others,
but dying nonetheless. And what awaits after death?
It is appointed unto men once to die and what? After this,
the judgment. You see why this is a good question?
Because it deals with matters of eternity. It deals with matters
of standing before God. It deals with matters of eternal
life. What must I do to inherit eternal
life? Eternal life is the question,
friends. Friends, God will judge all men.
I'm telling you, this is a question you should ask right now. Don't wait for a more convenient
time. You know why? There won't be one. Isn't that
what that ruler said to, I believe it was Felix, he said, I'll wait
for a more convenient season. You know what? That season never
came. Friend, there's coming a day when God will descend from
heaven. In a great white throne, John
says, he saw that heaven and earth fled away, and he saw the
dead small and great stand before God, and the books were opened,
and they were judged out of the things in those books according
to their works. And the sea gave up their dead
that were in it, and death and hell delivered up their dead
that were in them. And they were judged every man according to
his works, and death and hell were cast in the lake of fire.
This is the second death. What this man was asking is,
how shall I escape the second death? How shall I escape the
wrath of God? How shall I stand before a holy
God and have eternal life? It is a good question. It is
a good question. Make no mistake, all men will,
whether you believe God or not, all men will be judged according
to their works. Not what the scripture just said. He said
everyone will be judged according to their works. What a good question. What shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Have you asked it? Have you asked
that question? Don't ask it of me. Have you
asked it yourself? But there was a problem with
this man's question, and it wasn't the question itself, but rather
the motive. And this is the second thing
we see is a bad motive. Just as important as the question
is the motive in which we ask it. Why are you asking this question? Why was this lawyer asking this
question? He asked a good question, but
really his motive was to discredit the Lord Jesus Christ. His motive
was not asking for information, but rather trying to justify
himself, exalt himself, and abase the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
that, what it says. He said, behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and what? Tempted him, tempted him. This man was not
asking for information or out of a heart of brokenness over
sin, but rather pride and contempt for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
why did he do this? Well, we can see this, why he
did this and what stirred him up in verse 21. Look what the
Lord says. This is what stirred up this
lawyer to ask this good question, but with this heart of pride.
Look at it in verse 21, it says, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. 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 revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. Here's what got him. All things
are delivered to me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, who
the Son is, but the Father. and who the father is but the
son and he to whom the son will reveal him." You know how condescending
this was to that man, that learned man? You see, the scribes and
Pharisees and the lawyers, they thought they revealed God to
people. They thought that they were the
ones to reveal the Father. And Jesus just tells them, no,
all is given to me and I am the only one that can reveal the
Father to you. How condescending this was to
this man. The Pharisee thought that they
were the only ones that had the knowledge and these peasants
looked to them. Jesus was tearing down their
traditions. He was tearing down all of their
power. You see, he was taking their
power from them. They had no real power. He was
just exposing that they had no power. Is this not the same thing that's
hated by the world today? The same message is hated? Is
this not the message of God's sovereign grace in this matter
of salvation? That salvation is by a revelation
of God and not by men? Listen, I'm preaching this gospel
to you this morning, but I'll tell you this, I can't reveal
Christ to you. I have no power to reveal Christ
to you. I can't reveal Christ to myself. How could I reveal
him to you? And yet here's these religious
men that think they have some power. I was listening to a program. I'm flipping on the radio. I
don't suggest you do this. It's really just disappointing.
Listen to religious people by random. This one guy, he had
told this congregation, very large church, very large congregation.
He was talking about the blessing of Aaron upon the people. And
he said, lift up your heads and look to the sky. I'm going to
pronounce a blessing on you. And he repeated that, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee, Lord make his face to shine upon thee.
He had no power to bless them. That was a picture of Christ.
Christ blessing his people. Christ is the only one that can
bless you. Christ is the only one that can save you. Christ
is the only one that can reveal himself to you. That's it. Salvation
is by divine revelation. And whom will God reveal Christ
to? You listen to this, whomsoever
he will. You got a group of people listening to this same message
this morning. Everyone listening to the same message this morning.
God will pass over some and God will save others. Now, you may not like that, but
you know what? It don't matter. That's the truth. God will save whomsoever he will.
This message is hated. It was hated by this Pharisee,
this lawyer, and it's hated by natural man. This man asked a
good question with a hard heart trying to overthrow this gospel.
With Jesus knowing his thoughts, this man maybe had a good appearance
before men, but not before God. And today you may act very religious,
but God knows your heart. Am I right? God knows what you're
thinking. God knows how you feel. God knows
your thoughts before you do. Scripture says he doesn't look
on the outward appearance but on the heart. It's my prayer that God in grace
would cause every sinner to have a heart of earnestness and not
a heart of pride. I like what he said to Saul.
He said, Saul, Saul, why kickest thou against the prick? Isn't
that what man's doing? Isn't he just kicking against
God, hurting his own self? No. May God show you your sin
and cause you to bow down and plead for mercy. Plead for mercy. Lord, I know you'll show this
gospel to whomsoever you will. Be gracious and show it to me.
Be gracious and show it to me." And seeing now his motive, let's
look at the matter of his question. Seeing his motive was pride.
What's the content then of his question? Why is this good question
by his motive turned evil? Look what he said. He said this,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? This man was asking Jesus,
what must he do to earn eternal life? This is always the question
and matter of the self-righteous, of the self-righteous. What must
I do? This man's motive was to justify
himself and defame Christ because he was teaching that eternal
life comes by divine revelation and not by law. That's why his
motive was to talk about earning. because he did not believe salvation
to be by grace. This man believed that the law
of God was the way to eternal life. He thought that he was
in good standing and with God and based on his own obedience. So he was not longing to be saved,
but rather just to prove his salvation was by law. That's
what he was trying to do. It was a bad motive. It's a bad
matter in his statement. This man was desires to show
salvation comes by law, but Jesus will show this man he's misjudged
the law. He's misjudged the law in his
own heart. Is there anyone under the sound
of my voice today that desires to have eternal life based on
what you do? Listen, I'm talking to you, if
you want to earn your salvation, if you think there's something
you can do, this one's for you. That's exactly what this lawyer
thought in his question. He thought salvation could be
earned by his own obedience and his own goodness, his own merit. And I'm telling you this, if
that is your standing, if you are holding on to anything you
have done, you have defiled the cross of Christ, you have made
it of none effect. Paul said, if you be circumcised,
if you have that one part of the law you're hanging on to,
Christ shall profit you nothing. You're under a refuge of lies,
friends. If you are holding on to anything
you could do. Matter of fact, you're holding
on to hell. All the while thinking he's going to heaven, he's holding
hell and won't let it go. This man knew the law of God,
but he didn't know the purpose and nature of the law. He knew
it in his head, but he didn't know anything really about the
law of God. And so Jesus now is going to
ask him a question. He's going to ask him a question.
Look back at your text. And this is a very searching
question. Look at verse 26. And Jesus said to him, is written
in the law. How readest thou? He's asking
a searching question about the word of God, especially the law
of Moses, which this man thought he knew. This was to this man
a softball question, wasn't it? He thought he was gonna knock
this one out of the park. What an easy question for him.
And so this scribe, and he begins to well up with all his pride
and knowledge, he thought this was so easy to answer. But by
this searching question, God was going to expose his sin. This man thought he knew something.
Now listen, a person may know all the mysteries of scripture,
and he may know all the, he may be able to quote the Bible from
cover to cover. He may explain complex doctrines,
but listen, he still may die in his sin. You know why? Because
if you don't have Christ, you missed it all. You can know everything
about this book, but if you don't know the Christ of this book,
you're lost. If you've not experienced the
new birth, no amount of knowledge will help you in the day of judgment. If a man does not have Christ,
all the knowledge in the world will do him no good. Salvation
comes only by faith in Christ alone and not by mere earthly
understanding. When Jesus asked him what's written
in the law, how readest thou, what did this man do? He pulled
from his databanks in his mind and he was gonna answer directly
from his head because that's all he had, head knowledge. He
had no heart knowledge. And I want you to get this because
Jesus was referring to this, to the word of God. Now, listen,
when we are talking with men and women concerning their souls,
where do we go? Where did Jesus go? Did Jesus
deal with this man's life experiences? Did he say, oh, well, did you
experience this? Did you go through this in life?
Did you experience? No, because we all have different
experiences. The one constant is the word of God. He went to
the word of God because this is the authority right here. The authority. Matter of fact,
the word of God is the only source of truth in the universe. Any
truth that is in the universe is gleaned from this book. Any
truth. Any truth. This is the truth. Why do you think men attack this
word so much? Because if they find one error
in it, the whole thing's worthless. But you know the only error is
not in this book, it's in men. This book is infallible. It's
the word of God. Listen, God has placed his name,
his word above his name. You know what that means? If
God's word is wrong, then God is not God. He's swearing. He said, I swear by my own deity,
this is my word. So in Isaiah 40, it says, the
grass with the flower faded, but what stands forever? The
word of God. So this is where Christ was taking
him in his searching question. If we're gonna ask searching
question, surely we must search in the word. It must be by the
word of God. Why? Because the word of God
liveth and abideth forever. Liveth. This is a living, breathing
word. It's alive. sharper than any
two-edged sword, dividing asunder of joints and marrow, the thoughts
and intents of the heart." Isn't that what Christ is doing with
this Word? He's dividing the thoughts and intents of this
man. He is piercing through the soul of this man by the Word
of God. And what is the sum of the Word
of God? It's Christ. When Jesus rose
again from the dead, he said to his disciples, he said, and
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them
and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. This book
is about Christ. You know why that lawyer didn't
understand anything? Because he didn't know this book was
about Christ. You'll never understand anything written in that book
unless you know the sum and substance of that book is Jesus Christ. So now this searching question
he asked regards the motive of this Pharisee. I want you to
kind of go to Acts, go to Acts real quick. Acts chapter 16.
Look at this. I thought this interesting considering
comparing the question that this man asked. Compare it with the
Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16 in verse 30. Look at this. After the jail
had shook and he brought them out, he said, the Philippian
jailer said this, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Is that not similar to the question
this lawyer was asking? What's the difference? Their
heart. This man and the lawyer was seeking
to be justified by the law. This man was desirous as to how
to be saved. And what did Paul say? They said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Why
didn't Jesus say this? Why didn't Jesus say the same
thing? Believe on me and you shall be saved. Because that's
not what the lawyer was asking. The lawyer was asking a question.
Let me put it like this. He said, what more do I need
to do to inherit eternal life? He's like that rich young ruler
that said, all of these things I have kept from my youth up.
What more do I need to do to be saved? If you're saying I'm
not saved, what more do I need to do? I've already obeyed the
law. That's what he's saying. That
was his motive. He was justifying himself, trying
to prove his salvation by the law. You know, Paul was like this
scribe, wasn't he? He was like this lawyer. Paul thought he was safe once.
In Romans chapter seven, he says, for I was alive without the law
once. But what? The commandment came and sin
revived and I, what? Died. Paul said the law had a
purpose. And the purpose of the law is
one, to slay you. The purpose of the law is to
expose the exceeding sinfulness of your sin. The law of God cannot
save. That's what Christ is doing by
this searching question. He said, how read us the law?
Now, listen, he answers this. He answers this question. Go
back to your text. And answering, he said, thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
strength, with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. And
he said unto him, thou hast answered right. Do this and thou shalt
live. You see the law, the law says,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the law. And so this man, he's saying, look, Here's the law. How do you read the law? And
he just spits it out without thinking. How many times have
we done that? Somebody asks you a question,
we spit it out without thinking. That's what he did. He didn't
think, he just, he said it right. The two commandments on which
the whole law hinges, loving God and loving your neighbor.
And Jesus said, hey, you got the right answer. Now, if you
want to inherit eternal life, listen, do that. Do that and you shall live. If a man loves God with all of
his heart and soul and mind and body and strength and his neighbor
as himself, he has fulfilled the whole law and is worthy of
eternal life. Now here's a searching question.
Who's done it? Notice what the lawyer then begins
to do. But he, verse 29, willing to justify himself. Now, why
would he justify himself? Guilt. Isn't that the only reason
you would justify yourself? If you were not guilty, why would
you justify yourself? But he willing, rather than submitting,
rather than acknowledging his sin before Christ, He would rather
justify Himself. But the Scriptures are clear,
He that continueth not in all things written in the book of
the law, to do them is cursed. Cursed. You desire to have eternal
life? Then do the law. If you want
marriage, you gotta do the law, not just the one you handpick,
the whole thing. That means you need to go down
there in Jerusalem, you knock down that mosque, and you need
to build another temple, and you need to make sure that there's
an ark in there, you need to make sure there's sacrifices
taking place every day. That is part of the law just
as much as the moral law and the ceremony law, men divide
this, it's all the law. Dietary law, it's all the law
of God. But he willing to justify himself
said, well, who is my neighbor? This is guilt of conscience.
This is not Holy Spirit conviction. You know, there's a difference.
You ever had guilt of conscience? You know what the difference
between Holy Spirit conviction and guilt of conscience is? You
can sear the guilt of conscience. You can sear it. You know what
searing is? If you got an open wound and
you take a knife and you heat it up really hot and you just
burn the flesh. When that flesh heals, you know
what? You can't feel it. All the nerve endings are dead.
That's what searing your conscience is. You do that either by taking
on religion or you do it by constantly disobedience. And pretty soon
the guilt just goes away. But if God the Holy Spirit ever
gets a hold to your heart, you'll realize that when you're convicted
of the Holy Spirit, nothing will satisfy except the blood of Christ.
Nothing, nothing. Matter of fact, it's once said
the Holy Spirit is the hound of heaven, the hound of heaven. And all he convinces of sin will
have no pride, but rather bow in submission as guilty sinners
seeking mercy. instead of justifying themselves.
This morning, if you're guilty, are you justifying yourself?
Well, I did this because my parents are bad. I did this because my
wife did this. I did this because my husband
did. I did this because somebody else. No. Are you a guilty sinner
before God? Dear friend, then take your place.
I like that woman who the Lord, she came for healing and the
Lord cast her away. He said, is it me to give the
children bread to dogs? What'd she do? She took her place. She said, truth, Lord, truth,
Lord. But this man, rather than that,
justified himself in pride. The law of God, when used by
the Holy Spirit, will not produce a proud look, but an humble heart.
And this man justified himself because of his pride. But did
that really justify him? No. And notice what he said. He said he justified himself
by saying what? Who is my neighbor? Now, he didn't
say anything at all about the love of God. Why? Because you
can't prove that. Anybody can say they love God
and you can't disprove it. But what about your neighbor? You can see if this man loved
his neighbor as himself. And that's why he said, who is
my neighbor? The Jews, they didn't mind loving other Jews, but they
couldn't stand the Gentiles. They were, the Gentiles were
horrible. They were dogs. And yet Jesus
said earlier, love your enemies as you love yourself. Love your
enemies. Do good to them that persecute you and hate you. That's
what the law is saying. And so why did Jesus then pick
this story here? Look at this story. This is the
story of the good Samaritan. And this begins his clear answer. This is the last point, the clear
answer. We see the good question, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? We see that it was a bad motive that this man had. A good
motive would produce humility, but a bad motive produces pride
and reliance upon the law. But Christ immediately pierces
his heart and tells him his guilt. But instead of bowing, he in
pride justifies himself and says, who is my neighbor? So Jesus
said this, look, he begins this story. There's a certain man
went down to Jerusalem, to Jericho and fell among thieves and was
stripped of 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. Likewise, a Levite, when he was
at that place, came and looked on him and passed him by him
on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, he journeyed, came
to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on
him. Now, if there's anything a Jew
hates more than a Gentile, it's a half-breed. A Samaritan was
nothing more than a Gentile and a Jew combined. That's all he
was. He was a half-breed. They were
held in the highest contempt and hatred. And yet Jesus sets
this Samaritan up as a hero. Can you not see him boiling?
You not see his hatred now spewing out of his soul? And Jesus, in
the end of this, he asked that question. He said he binds his
wounds, puts him on his donkey, takes care of him. And he said,
which of them was his neighbor? And notice the answer down there
in verse 37. He didn't even say the Samaritan,
did he? He said that guy that showed
mercy. He didn't even say it. It was hatred in his heart. So
by this story, Jesus was doing one thing. He was exposing the
guilt of this man's hatred of his neighbor. But I'll tell you
another thing he was doing in this, he was exposing the way
of salvation. You see, Christ is the good Samaritan
in this story. I want you to know this, this
story was not just a made-up story. You know, some parables
are parables that are abstract, you know. They're about trees
and things that, you know, planting a tree and it producing fruit. Those are parables. Those are
good spiritual things, but this was a real story. He sent a certain
man. When you hear that, that means
there was a certain man. There was a school in Jericho. that the scribes and the Pharisees
and the priests would all go down and back and forth to Jericho
and Jerusalem. And most likely this was a true
story that this guy knew. This was something known to these
people. This was a true story. But you know what really is more
important than that is this, that the Lord is using this for
a spiritual purpose, as He does all of His parables. It's a spiritual
message and it's a clear message. It's a clear answer to what must
I do to inherit eternal life, which is a good question. Here's
how. There's nothing you can do. Let's look at this parable real
quickly. A certain man. Like I said, there's a school
in Jericho where these priests had traveled from Jerusalem and
no doubt this scribe knew But this man fell among thieves. He was wounded and left half
dead. What a picture of us by nature. This is a picture of us by nature. This man fell, and I like this,
he went from Jerusalem down to Jericho. Isn't that what happened
at the fall? Adam was in the very presence
of God. And when he fell, he went down and fell among thieves. Who was the thief? Adam was the
thief. Adam, our father, robbed God
of his glory and by doing so, wounded his entire race and left
us half dead. What does that mean, half dead?
It means this, look at me, I'm living, aren't I? I'm still living. But when I was born into this
world, I was dead. I was dead. The part that's living is the
flesh, the part that's dead is the spirit. Therefore, we were all conceived
in sin and came forth from the womb speaking lies. I remember
hearing this phrase, vipers and diapers. That's what we are. That's what we are by nature.
No one taught us to be evil. We knew how to be evil from conception,
from the moment we came forth, we came speaking lies. And so
we are physically alive, but spiritually dead. You that do not love the Lord
Jesus Christ, I want you to know you're dead. Dead. in your sins. And listen, could
this man save himself? No, he had no ability to save
himself. And that's a picture of what
this scribe was, this lawyer. He was dead and had no ability
to save himself. That's why we are by nature,
this sentence of death is passed upon us all. Now then secondly,
we see a priest and a Levite come by. What is this picture?
It says, by chance there came down a certain priest that way.
When he saw him, he passed by on the other side, and likewise
a Levite. When he was at the place, he came and looked and
passed by on the other side. This is a picture of the law.
These two men picture the law. All the law can do is look at
you and condemn you. Now, these men, they came by
and they actually looked at this fellow. But you know why they
didn't help? because they couldn't. If they
were to touch him, they themselves would be contaminated. If the
law bent in mercy to save you, itself would be contaminated. It would be unjust for the law
to do that. So we know that all the law can
do is pass by. It can't touch you, it can't
save you, it can't lower its standard to justify you. But look at this next verse,
and this is the crowning verse. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, had compassion
on him. Who is this but Christ? This
is Christ journeying and walking in his humanity. The Lord Jesus
is speaking of himself in his humiliation. He who is God, very
God, condescended to take upon himself human flesh and journey
in this world. He robed Himself in human flesh
and took upon Him the form of a servant. And being made in
the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, what
did He do? He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Friends, listen, it was by a
representative man that sin entered into the world. How else could
sin be dealt with but by a representative man? Jesus Christ is that representative
man. He is the second Adam that came
to establish the law, to honor the law that we failed to honor. He took on him the seed of Abraham
that he might glorify God as a man. Now when I asked you a
minute ago that searching question, who among us has obeyed the law
of God? There's only one. Jesus Christ was the only one
who loved God with all of His heart, soul, mind, body, and
strength, and loved His neighbor as Himself. He alone is the Good
Samaritan. Therefore, He must have taken.
In order to save us, He must have taken our nature. You see,
God can't bleed. Therefore, if He was to die for
our sins, He must become a man. And so our Lord used this picture
because the Jews also referred to Him as a Samaritan. He took
on this nature as a Samaritan because that's what they called
Him, isn't it? In John chapter 8, He said, Thou art a Samaritan. I'm telling you, if you think
of the worst curse word, that was it. That was the worst thing
they could call it. Thou art a Samaritan and hast
the devil. So what'd Jesus do? He took on
what they said. He's a Samaritan. I like this.
I told you Samaritan was half Jew and half Gentile. What a
picture of our representative who represented both Jew and
Gentile. He took on that as a Samaritan
because he is representative of all men of all his people, of all races. And next we see what he did.
He came to where he was and had compassion, bound up his wounds,
pouring oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought
him to the end. Notice he came to where he was. Listen, if Christ
is going to save anyone, he must come to you. Jesus said, no man,
can come unto me, except the Father which has sent me." What?
Draw him. Unless God come to you, you will
never come to God. And the moment he comes to you,
you will come to him. You will. Think about Adam. When Adam sinned,
they went and hid themselves in the wood and made fig leaves.
If God had not come to them and preached the gospel, they would
have died in their sins. What about you? Who came to who? Who first loved? You or God? This is what I mean by sovereign
mercy. that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. So
then who will he have mercy on? You listen, his elect. Only those
he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Only
those that were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Who are
they? They are dead in trespasses and
sins. They are sinners that cannot
help themselves. They are wounded by sin and they
cannot heal themselves. They have no merit before God.
These are the ones he comes to. Is that you? I know this is the confession
of everyone Christ came to. I know this, I need mercy. I
don't know about you. Maybe you don't, I do. I need
mercy. I know this, I need his compassion. I know this, I need the grace
of God. I need life and only Jesus can
give me life. I need pardon and only Christ
can pardon me. And I know this, he revealed
himself to me. I did not know him until he came
to me. He first loved me, therefore
I love him. He gave me faith, therefore I
believe in him. I continue to believe in Him
because He continually gives me faith to believe in Him. I love the truth because He instills
this love for the truth in me. And I know this, if I'm ever
to step foot into eternal life and acceptance with God, it will
be by Him alone and not by anything I've ever done. That's a confession
of God's people. Notice this, he had compassion
pouring wine and oil. Now, the wine we know speaks
of the blood of Christ. That's what he's saying saves.
It is his blood that pours into the wound and heals the wound. I'm so thankful that his blood
was shed so many thousands of years ago. And it was shed for
me. And I had no knowledge of it.
I was born dead in sin, wounded. And it wasn't until it was applied
to me that I knew his blood was sufficient. What did his blood
do? What did it do? Why did he die?
He died to satisfy God's justice. Scripture says, God shall see
the travail of his soul and be satisfied. That's what heals
the wounds of his people. That's what makes peace with
God is the blood of the cross, not our obedience. How often do you suppose your
peace with God is interrupted by your disobedience? Now, your
peace of conscience is disrupted by your disobedience, but your
peace with God is never disrupted because it was not procured by
your obedience. It was procured by the obedience
and blood of Christ. Therefore, we have peace with
God by the blood of his cross, Paul says. Notice this, he set
him on his own beast. This is great. He bear our sins
in His own body. You see, God put you in Christ
before the foundation of the world. He was representing you
long before there was ever sin. You were in union with Him before
there was ever a first sin. And then, you know, sin came
into the world. We all died by sin. But we were
in Christ. And when he died, he was bearing
our sin. How much? All of it. All of it. He put Him on His
own beast. Look what He's calling Himself.
A beast. Why? Because He was made sin
for us. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He bare our sins
under the wrath of God. And not only so, but this pictures
Him carrying us. Carrying us. Before you ever
were saved, Don't you realize he was carrying you? Nothing was happening to you
without his divine hand and providence leading you to the point to bring
you to himself. What separates God from all false
gods? What separates? One word, sovereignty. In other words, sovereignty means
that God does what God wants to do and is not impeded by anybody. He is not dependent upon anybody.
False gods depend on you carrying them. But God says this in Isaiah
46 and verse 3, hearken to me, old Jacob, all the remnant of
the house of Israel, which are, listen, born by me, carried by
me. When did he carry me? From the
belly. Which are carried from the womb. How long does he carry? Even to old age I am he. Even to whore hairs will I carry
you. I have made I will bear, even
I will carry and will deliver, listen, you. I carry you. You don't carry me. Can you imagine? All the way
to glory, I'm being carried. That's what it is. We're being
carried Barry bore our sins and now he carries us all the way
to glory. Now look at this, he gives us
to the end. Go back to your text here and look at verse 35. He
says, and on the morrow when he departed, I'm sorry, verse 34. And he went
and bound 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 morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave
them to the host and said to him, take care of him. And whatsoever
thou spendest more, when I come to thee, I will repay thee. What
is this? These are the pastors that God gives for his people. We are to care for your souls. To care for you. He said, I will give you pastors
after my own heart. What's the heart of a pastor? Is it not to care for you? Is
it not to feed you? This morning I was so discouraged.
I had some discouragements this morning. I woke up and there
was an email. I sent out the bulletin last
night and there was one lady. She responded and just two words,
thank you. And I thought, you know, if no
one else in the world ever received anything, that woman received
something. She was fed. And God was gracious
to give me the ability to feed. That's what God gives pastors
and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the maturing
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, the edifying of
the body of Christ, until we all come together in unity of
faith. That's what we're here to do, is to draw men, to call
men to Christ, believe on Christ, behold the good Samaritan, behold
him who is the representative of God's elect has come into
the world, and by his blood and righteousness saves sinners.
I compel men to come, and when you come, what is our business
but to comfort you? Comfort you. Now listen, as a
preacher of this gospel, I compel you, you should ask that good
question. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? I compel
you not to have a bad motive. Not to come with pride or works
in your hand, but come as a sinner before God. Recognizing this,
what must you do? Nothing. In fact, the moment
you do something, you've ruined the whole thing. Christ, the
good Samaritan, does it all. He meets the dead sinner where
he is. He binds up his wounds with his
blood and pours in his Holy Spirit to give them life and faith.
He carries their sins on the cross, and then he carries them
all the way from the womb to the tomb. He carries them. Why? That's His sovereign purpose
for them. To save them, that they might glorify His name.
And then He gives these pastors charge. To do what? Preach the
Word. Preach the Word. When? All times. In season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. I'll tell you this, this is,
he does reward his pastors, I know that. We have many trials and
many difficulties, but I know this, he said, when I return
again, I'll repay. What a wonderful thing heaven's
going to be, isn't it? A constant place of bliss, joy,
peace. Of love never ending. There'll be no need for forgiveness.
There'll be no sin there. What a place it must be. God
keep our eyes fixed on that. Eternal life only in Christ.