could send me the hymns for this
weekend and I got excited and so I was going to preach that
message I just preached at this hour and I thought I just go
so good with it we're gonna learn about God's holiness this is
as important as it gets and it's still sweet though isn't it but
I thought we got to get that first The Lord has to reveal that to
us before we can do something about it. Like I said, he doesn't
hire servants to sit in his basement and play video games all day.
And to take naps in his front yard all day. We're gonna serve.
He's gonna give us something to do. And it ain't complicated,
it's just impossible with natural man. It's impossible. We'll turn to Luke 10. Luke chapter
10. I hope just as we remember that
when the Lord first mentions holy in his scriptures is concerning
that burning bush. Hope we can also remember who
the good Samaritan is. If we were to walk up and down
the streets, be like, y'all ever heard of a good Samaritan? I think
there's hospitals named that. There's laws in our books, in
this, I don't know about this state, but at least in this nation,
there are good Samaritan laws. If you try to do something good,
you can't get sued, because everybody's sue-happy. And the average person
walking up and down the street can tell you something about
a good Samaritan that's doing good to somebody that didn't
have any good deserved to be done to them. And I know each
of us have heard this story, and if somebody's tuning in for
the first time and they hear this, you may have heard this
story a lot. And I pray God will make these
mercies new to us today. Like we've never heard it. Let's
put off that old. And like we read there in Job,
I've sinned. Everything I thought I did right
was wrong. And I need the Lord to teach
me. And if we've never believed on him, let's believe on him
today. He'll be with us. I've been really excited about
preaching this all week. I think it'll be a blessing to
you. He says in Luke 10, 25, and behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him. saying, Master, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life? This is a certain lawyer. A lawyer
was a scribe. Those kind of go hand in hand
in that day. And that's not a lawyer as we think as a lawyer, but
this is a person that studied the scriptures for a living.
They earned their income by studying the scriptures and by teaching
the scriptures. They studied the law and they
taught the law of God to people. That was their profession. And
he had heard the Lord preach here. He'd heard the Lord speak
to his disciples, and what's it say he did? He stood up, and
he had something to say. Buddy, as Paul said, who you
think you are? He didn't know God yet, though,
did he? He didn't know any better, but he stood up in front of everyone,
in front of that congregation, that people gathered there to
attempt and to test God Almighty. He didn't see him as such, but
that's what was happening. This wasn't a heartfelt cry to be
saved. I hope we can get a hold of that.
This wasn't a heartfelt cry to be saved. He was trying to catch
the Lord up in his words. He was saying, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life? This man, he's trying to get
the Lord to deny the law. Because he'd heard, he'd been
in the presence, he'd listened a little bit, he hadn't heard
yet, he hadn't had faith yet. But he'd listened to what he
said, he was trying to catch him up in his words. And he said, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? And this man wanted to be saved
by the law. Do you know why? That's all he'd ever known. He'd
never heard of grace. He'd never heard of substitution.
He'd never heard that he was grass. He all he ever heard was
he's a good little Christian. Well, Jew at the time, but you
know what our modern language is. You're a good little boy
and girl. You're precious. You're mommy and daddy's little
angel. You gotta do good. Good kids
go to heaven. What a lie. That's all I'd ever
known though. And all I'd ever heard was this
law. And that's all I'd ever, shoved down his throat. And finally
it kind of soaked in. And he said, well, this is the
only thing I know. How am I going to, what am I going to do to
inherit eternal life? I want to live forever. You want
to die forever? You want to be in a lake of fire and be tormented
and all that? Of course not. And he says, what must I do? And you know, the Lord met him
right where he was. That jailer said, what must I do to be saved? They said, well, let me tell
you about the law first. No, they said, believe Christ. Samaritan
said, can you give me this water? He said, you ask me, I'll give
it to you. He didn't say nothing about the law. He met her where
she was thirsty. He meets people where they are.
And this fellow wanted to deal with the law. That was his focus.
And the Lord said, OK, that's where you want me to meet you?
That's where I'll meet you. He says in verse 26, and he said
unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? What's your interpretation of
it? Did Christ know the interpretation of it? It's his law he wrote,
of course he did. It don't matter what we think
about it. It don't matter what our interpretation is. It matters
what God says. And there's so many things that
we say, well, this means this. That's true. But the Lord means
what he says and says what he means. That's what it says. We're
going to explain it away. And he said, now, you've read
this. You've been educated, scribe. This is black and white. You
own a copy of it. You made a copy of it. What do you say it says?
What do you say? And he answered. This sounds
so good. It's true. Verse 27, He answering said,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy
neighbor as thyself. There's a semicolon there. And
thy neighbor as thyself. That's a separate, same thought,
a continuation of another. This man knew his Bible. Did
you know that? Boy, that fella, he knows the
scriptures. He sure does know that Bible. Did he understand
it? I can play all kinds of music
on a guitar. I don't understand a lick of it. I just memorize
it. This man had memorized some verses. Where'd he get such a
thing? Deuteronomy 6.5 says, And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with
all thy might. That's good. Leviticus 19.18 says, Thou shalt
not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people,
but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He quoted it right,
didn't he? He compared scripture with scripture
even. He's a scribe. This is what he gets paid to
do. He says, how do you interpret it? That's the two tables of
the law. Do you know that? That's the
first five commandments. Our concerns are our dealings
with God. And the second five are our dealings with men. He
got the whole kit and caboodle, didn't he? Whole shooting match.
One came to our Lord before and he said, master, this is this
one, teacher, teacher. Gave him a title other than God.
Master, which is the great commandment of the law? And Jesus said unto
him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
That's what Christ declared, wasn't it? He summed it up the
same way. Well, it sounds just like him. Verse 28, and he said unto him,
thou hast answered right, colon, this do, and thou shalt live.
You answered, you know it. Now, do it. That's what the law
said. Now keep it. And if you keep
it, you'll live. If you keep the law of God, you'll
have eternal life. That's so. That's absolutely
the truth. If you can be born clean and
stay clean to the day you die, and love the Father blamelessly
with everything in you, 24-7, even while you're sleeping and
dreaming, and you love your neighbor and lay down your life for him,
truly honoring God while you do it, you can have eternal life. Kevin, I can't believe you'd
say such a thing. Is so? Christ earned eternal life for his people
by doing just that. My problem is I was born Adam. We'll see it in Samaritan here
in a second. I can't be both. I was born Adam. He's a son of
God and born of a woman. He's both. He's the God man,
isn't he? And the scriptures say what?
By his obedience, he was born of the law, born of a woman just
like us. And by his obedience, we were
made righteous. So he's telling him the truth.
Keep it. You know the law. Now do it. Quit talking about
it and do it. Did he crumble? He cried. God
said, I can't. Mercy. Save. He said, well, that's
an interesting fact you just stated. I'll have to go home
and consider that. God help us. Lord be with us and break our
hearts. He knew he couldn't do that though. Verse 29 says, he didn't know
which part he couldn't do yet. He didn't know that. Henry said
there's a fellow that was in Germany and had a heart attack
while he was in the service. It was back in the fifties and
a chaplain talked to him. He's in the army and he said
he made a profession of faith. Might as well went to a Volksfest
if you'd been better off. But he made a professional faith
in that chaplain called Henry. He said, hey, he's from your
hometown. I'm going to send you. You take care of him. And Henry just
laughed and said, yeah, I'll take care of him. So he came.
He was at service for a while. He's right up front. And he went
to the about halfway back. And then he moved a little further
back. Then he moved a little further back. And then he quit coming
on Wednesdays because it wasn't important to him. And then he quit coming
on Sunday evenings. And then finally, he quit coming on Sundays. But
he lived down the street from Henry. And he was veteran, just
like Henry was, so that got along good. He thought he's okay. He said, well, I'm a professional
in faith, and I read my Bible, I knew what the scriptures said,
I'm good. Don't need to go. Why would I need to go to that
place to hear that man talk? Well, Henry preached every morning
on the radio. He preached live, and he got a phone call one morning,
it was a couple years later, and he listened to him every
day because he has friends. He's just being a good friend. And that man was
weeping like a baby. And he said, what's wrong? He
said, I'm lost. And Henry said, I've known that the whole time.
I'm glad you figured it out. Glad Lord showed you. I saw this
the whole time. This fella here, he doesn't know
what he don't know. He thinks he's doing real good
on them first five, and he's like, I gotta justify myself
on these last five. He thinks he's got that one in
the back. It's completely the opposite. That's every one of
us, isn't it? It's the exact opposite of what we think's right.
Look here, verse 29, but he willing to justify himself said unto
Jesus, and who was my neighbor? What's he wanting to do? The
Lord says he's willing to justify himself. Our nature, born of
Adam, our instinct, that's what we use nowadays. Our nature is
to justify ourselves. But this was going on, but that
was going on. Well, now here's what, hold on now. What a sad
thing, isn't it? And we ain't no different than
our daddy, Adam. To blame everybody, including
God, to make ourselves just. He said, why'd you eat that,
Adam? What's wrong with you? He said, that woman you gave
me, he blamed his wife. We ain't no better, are we? We
ain't no better. This man asked, who's my neighbor?
Okay, I'm gonna justify myself. And he asked the Lord, who's
my neighbor? Do you know what he didn't mention? What was said
in Deuteronomy, what he just quoted. He didn't mention that
first table of the law, loving God with all his heart and his
soul and his strength and his mind. He didn't mention that,
did he? Why didn't he bring that up? Well, that's on the inside. You hate God? You remember that
time you hated God? Well, I've never hated God. I've always
loved God. I'm a good little boy. Mommy said so since I was born.
He didn't mention he thought he's fine. And nobody else can
see that. That's my secret. That's my secret. You know, you can fake that for
an extended period of time, and you can fool a lot of people,
but God looks on the heart. Well, I just love the Lord so
much. Lord knows, Lord knows, that's on the inside, isn't it?
I read my Bible, I listen to 17 different preachers every
week, twice on Sunday. I don't know, that's between
you and God. He looks on the heart, He looks on the heart.
What's He looking on? Is it your work or His creation?
Is that your diligence or His diligence? Is that your faith
or His faith? If he's put a new creation in
it, that's what he looks on. Ain't that good news to those that have
a new creation? I said, he ain't looking at this outside. He looks
at what he gave me. Amen. Let's praise him. That's
good news. Cause this outside is pitiful. Paul said, he's not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, but he's a Jew, which is one inwardly. Circumcision
of the heart and in the spirit, not in the letter, Whose praise
is going to get the praise for that? Whose praise is not of
men, but of God. Does that mean God gets praise?
Yes. And that means God's the only one that's going to acknowledge
it. Man won't because they don't know what's going on. We don't
know the heart. God does. And to what we looked at, that's
why it's so vital, these midweek services on Peter. You love me? Lord thou knowest all things.
There's love in me, you put it there, you know that. Don't look
at this outside, you gotta look on the heart. I just got off
that boat, I left you again. You know, you look on the heart. But this man was willing to justify
himself. This man, he wanted the praise of men. For mankind
to see what we'd say in our day, what a good Christian he was.
Well, I can't do that, people think less of me. Verse 29 says, but he willing
to justify himself said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
He's trying to find a loophole in God's law. The outside is
the hard part in this lawyer's eyes. In his eyes, I got the
insight, we're good on that one. I love God, yep, we're good.
I ain't got no idols. I don't have, you have any idols?
I look at him in the mirror every day when I shave him. You got
any idols? Oh, no, we got that in a bag.
No, I'm good now. I've been, many, many years I've walked
with the Lord. We think we got it so good, but the outside's
the hard part. That's what it was to this fella, in his eyes.
Our problem is not with people around us. Our problem is not
with the sin and the books we read and the movies we watch
and all these things. Our problem's with the God we
sinned against. That's what we looked at first there. That's
why, last second, we gotta know he's holy first. That's who we
sinned against. And we must see him high, and
ourselves gonna have to come down. He's gonna have to increase,
we're gonna have to decrease. And we'll thank him for it. I
promise, I've been at this a while. We'll thank him. Well, that's
gonna hurt. Yeah, it's gonna hurt, but you're gonna see Christ
at the end of it, we're gonna thank him for it. Brother Todd preached
that last Wednesday, the chastenings. How the Lord chastens his people.
It's a good thing, we're gonna thank him. Adam was better off
after the Lord saved him than he was, he was morally innocent
in that garden. and he just hadn't yet sinned. And after he fell
and God saved him, now there's a creation in him that can't
sin. He's better off. Would you think so? Look, cast
this world into 6,000 years of torment and given nations and
nations and millions. I mean, there's a remnant, buddy.
Milton Howard asked him, we got a pretty good-sized congregation
here. I know y'all don't know that. People always want to add
to how big every church is, but compared to most gospel, faithful
gospel churches, we got a pretty good-sized congregation. Milton
Howard asked him, how big's your church? He said, well, I preach
to about 30 people by pastor, about four of them. It's a remnant,
isn't it? I want that to be me. Problem's
not with the things around us, the problem's with the Lord on
his throne. And that's what the Jews were
going to kill him for, right? He said he's the king. He's saying
he's God. The Lord said, well, is it easier to say, thy sins
be forgiven, arise and walk? That's the inside, right? Or
to take up thy bed and walk. And that's what's harder to say,
take up your bed and walk. He said, okay, well, he said that
you may know that the son of God hath power on earth to forgive
sins. I'm going to do this just so
you know that what I said on the inside is what matters. He
said, look, that man with paws to take up your bed and walk.
He got up and walked. They praise him and fall down and say, what
a majestic Lord we have. They said, kill him. What can
we do to get him out of here? We don't only have an outward
problem. We have one of those, but that's because we have an
inward problem. We have an unbelief problem.
If I said, what's the worst thing you've ever done? Buddy, what's
the worst thing somebody else, that'd be a lot easier, wouldn't
it? What's the worst thing somebody else could do? Oh, or we start
thinking up things, Epstein's and everything else underneath
the sun, right? Don't believe God. Don't believe on the sun.
I had unbelief. God says that I just paid it
no mind or I was affable according to it or I didn't take him at
his word. Surely another. No, that's it.
That's a source of everything. I thought I was right. He was
wrong. Pride. That's a source of it all. This man wants to know who his
neighbor is. He already knew what he considered
his neighbor to be, their local law, what mommy and daddy had
said. The Jews only considered other Israelites of that physical
nation to be their neighbors. That was common knowledge. It
wasn't those Gentile dogs, okay? That wasn't their neighbors.
And it surely wasn't those half-breed Samaritans. Of course it ain't
them. Now, if you just say that it's
my Israelite brethren, we're good to go. I like them pretty
well and I don't mind them too bad. That's what that woman said
at that well, wasn't it? The Lord came to her and she
says, how is it that thou being a Jew asked me to drink? I'm
a woman of Samaria. The Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans. Remember us looking through that? Samaria was here
and it's a travel. They had to go around. There's
a road that went around the city. They wouldn't even walk through
their town. There's rules against it. And this man says, who's
my neighbor? If it's my Jewish brother, I'm
okay with that. If it's Gentile, like, I'm gonna have to take
a deep breath. I might be able to do, I'll start a soup kitchen. I'll hire smelts to do it. We'll
hire it done, right? Don't say it's in Samaritans.
That's terrible. You define who my neighbor is
and I'll see if I can love him. If it's easy, I'll do that. That's
what mankind wants, isn't it? A faithful man of old. I've heard
this my whole life. I hope you young people remember
this. He said, if you let me define the law, I can keep it.
How's that? How do we put that in shoe leather?
What's that mean? Boys, you know, I can jump over
a barn if you let me build the barn. I'll just build it that
tall. Why do the legalists only want
to keep the easy part of the law? Well, I'm going to honor
the Sabbath day. Oh, really? You're going to butcher some
sheep? We ain't done that in this culture
a long time. I'm going to tell you something. Blood smells strong
of iron, hits real slippery, and a little bit goes a long
way. It gets everywhere. You're gonna have to do a whole
lot. Put a railing on the roof of your house, never eat another
medium well steak, and we've already started in a deficit.
There ain't no catching up. You can't put in extra credit.
The legalist always picks that, which is easy. I have a good
Christian business and we close on Sundays. We close our business
on Sundays. And you have all your contractors
come in and do the work so you don't lose profits. That's what
it is. What good Christians you are.
Well, I never drank alcohol. Well, alcohol ain't your problem.
I observed the Sabbath. I'm so lazy, I don't come off
a couch all day on a day. Are you serious? Well, I ain't
breaking a sweat today. I already got all my meals, but
I don't have to do nothing. That's awful easy, isn't it? He said,
you tell me who my neighbor is. Let me see if I can keep it.
Let's see if we can build that barn real short. I think I'm
okay, because I got all that inside stuff squared away. I
think I can do this outside stuff. Have we ever been there? Ever. Has God ever got us alone on
the backside of that mountain and terrified us? He still thinks
he's okay. Well, the Lord gives a parable.
I thought about this all week. This took place. If he thought
it, it had to come to pass, right? Like that publican and Pharisee,
he just told about that. I guarantee you there's a publican
and a Pharisee standing in a temple praying. One was a far off. This
good Samaritan, everybody knows, I bet a year's salary this took
place. I guarantee it. It's precious
to me. Precious to me. Let's read it.
Luke 10, verse 30. 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. That's the person in the ditch.
And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way. Just so happened. Speaking in
languages we understand. A certain priest, not just any
old priest, a certain priest. What's a priest? Those are the
ones that made sacrifices. Those are the ones that made
offerings on behalf of the Lord's people, wasn't it? Well, this
came, this is the law, this came. And when he saw him, he passed
on the other side. And likewise, a Levite, that's
the ones that helped in a temple, that's the ones that stayed after
everybody. Now, you ain't supposed to be doing that. Hey, hey, you
stop that. Hey, hey, you wake up in service. Hey, you gotta
give your tithe, whatever. They stayed after everybody,
they're the helpers. 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 to him, take care of
him, and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come, I'll repay
thee. Now which of these three, What three? Well, there's the
priest, there's a Levite, and there's a Samaritan. That's good,
better, worse in this man's eyes. All them priests, boy, I'm a
scribe. I'd like to be a priest one day, and a Levite, that's
pretty good, kind of what I am. Samaritan, ugh. That's the lowest job in
this whole totem pole, isn't it? Now, which of these three
thinkest thou? You already told me what you
thought about that law. I got a parable for you. What do you
think about this? which was his neighbor unto him that fell among
thieves. Now you tell me who was acting
like a neighbor. And he said, he that showed mercy on him,
mercy. And Jesus said unto him, I'm
gonna give you something to do. Go and do thou likewise. You
wanna have eternal life? Isn't that terrifying? Father,
forgive us as we forgive others. Oh, forgive me as Christ forgave
me. Don't forgive me as, this is quid pro quo, buddy, I'm in
a mess. Lord said, this is mercy. You
put all your priesthood aside, and you put all your ordinations
aside, and you put all your Levites aside, and you put all that junk
aside, and your low thoughts of the Samaritan, now you go
show mercy. They know what it there's against
the fruits of spirit, there's no law. Do it all you want. The
most God-like thing someone could do on this earth is forgive somebody
else. And that's impossible with me in it. There's some people
I say I forgive and I ain't forgave them. If nobody's looking, I
poke them square in the eye. I bend them over my knee, I take
them out behind a woodshed. As long as they had a couple months for
them to heal up and then I say that he's lying, they ain't got
no witnesses. Lord said, you want to inherit
kingdom of heaven? You want to have eternal life?
Go show mercy. Go show mercy. Is that what's
common walking up down the street if you ask somebody what a good
Samaritan was? Eh, maybe a little bit. Well, that's kind of folks.
And they don't go to church enough to realize there's even a hierarchy
in that place, in the common places out there. Can we see Christ in this? If
we've never seen this, let's see it for the first time. Sit
on the edge of your seats and pay attention. This is just precious. This is precious. Who's in the
ditch? Well, that was the Jewish fellow,
right? This lawyer's brethren. What's that? That's a physical
nation. It represents the child of God.
The child of God was in a ditch. Do you get that? This priest,
this law, that's the one that offers the sacrifices and all
the offerings and atonements. The Levites, the tribe of Levites,
that's the one that took care of the temple. They were laborers
in the temple. Deacons, elders, picked up. The Samaritan, just
undesirable. In their eyes at this time, this
is a half-breed. They're half-Jew, half-Gentile, and nobody wants
them. Completely undesirable. Now let's look at this again.
Verse 30. And Jesus answered. He said, who's my neighbor? I'll
tell you who your neighbor is. 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. Adam come down, didn't he? Adam
fell. Jericho's a terrible place. And
Jerusalem's where the Lord's was, right? That's a house of
bread. And he come down from there to nothing, to nothing. And we did too. We did too, willingly. We go to Jericho, we go to that
wicked city. And what happened? We fell among thieves. These
are my friends. No, they ain't. What'd they do?
Robbed us. Robbed us of everything, of our
communion with God, our right standing, our understanding,
everything. and wounded us. They killed us,
didn't they? And they didn't stick around,
they left us. They left us all to ourselves, alone, waiting
to die. Leaving them half dead. This
is precious too. If you're wrong on the fall,
you're wrong on it all. Was Adam wounded in the garden?
He died. He's half dead. He was physically
alive and spiritually dead. You get that? Mankind born of Adam's dead spiritually
and you're dying physically and we're in a ditch We're in a ditch. That's us. That's us. Verse 31 and by chance there
came a certain priest that way Which when he saw him he passed
by on the other side. I ain't even gonna walk on that
side of the road I might smell him. Get that unclean
thing away from me That's the one that had all the offerings
of the burnt offerings to God on behalf of the people, isn't
it? That picture is the law for us. That law came back. Could that law save you? Okay. Hebrews 10 says, for the
law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very
image of the things can never with those sacrifices, which
they offered year by year, continually make the comers there unto perfect.
That fellow can't be made spiritually alive by that law that walked
by. They come by him. It says in Hebrews 10, 11, every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering sometimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. It can't take them
away. It just declares they're there.
Now, if there's a clean thing, it says, well, it's clean. I
ain't got no charge against it. If there's any speck, It can't save,
it just declares death, doesn't it? Verse 32, and likewise a
Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him and passed
by on the other side. This is the one that was in charge
of enforcing the law, staying on top of everybody. That's that
good fella down there at the church that knows all the rules.
And I'm going to have him pray for me. Well, that's good, but
Christ is going to have to pray there if faith fails. I have
no 1-800 hotline number. That's what they used to say
back in the 80s and 90s. Got a hotline to God. I don't have some kind
of funnel that I can get. My prayer is way more than somebody
else's. I'm a sinner saved by grace, just the same as anybody
else. I'll pray for you, but we need Him. Levi can't help
you. I knew the right preacher. I
sat underneath Ralph Barnard or whatever. John Gill, pick
one. So what? He's a man just like anybody
else, isn't he? And all those ceremonies they went to and the
routine and the physical exercise of practicing and playing church
all the time ain't gonna help nobody. It can't give life. Even if you're in the right place,
God has to give life. Verse 33, but a certain
Samaritan, this is our Lord. Who's the good Samaritan? First
off, it ain't me. Second off, it ain't nobody born
of Adam, and it ain't that lawyer, it ain't any of us, it's him.
He's the good one. As he journeyed, came where he
was, and when he saw him, what we look at last week, the Lord
sees us, hears us, knows us, delivers us. When he saw him,
he had compassion. Well, I felt sorry for Jesus,
and I thought I'd accept him. That ain't the way it works.
You don't know God if you think those things. He has to have
compassion on us. He's not the one on trial, we
are. He's not the one in the ditch, we are. He had compassion
on him and he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him
to an end and took care of him. Those Samaritans, I told you,
I said they're half Jew, half Gentile, wasn't it undesirable?
How could this be our Lord? Well, he's fully man and fully
God. That's why they wanted to kill him. You can't be both.
That's against the rules. Whose rules? He's both, wasn't
he? He's one of us. He's one of us. And nobody liked him. They all
despised him. He came to his own. His own received him not.
He journeyed. The certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, his going forths are from everlasting. And we dare
to talk about our walk of faith and our journeys. Who are we? His going force, his journey
has been from everlasting to everlasting. All the way down
to the ditch. On purpose. He came where this
dying man was. If you can just get out of that
ditch, I'd save you. No. If you just walk down an aisle,
a pew, and you'll dedicate and sign this pledge card, or put
a bumper sticker on your car that says he's greater than I,
or whatever nonsense is out there, no, he has to come to us. He
came to the one that was in the ditch, that was an enemy of him,
that hated him, and was spiritually dead and dying physically. who
the sacrifices couldn't help, the law couldn't help, the law
keepers couldn't help, and he looked upon him, and he heard
him, and he knew him, and he delivered him. Bound our wounds. Why were we wounded? We went
down to Jericho. Is it God's fault? Nah, it's
my fault. I did it. He meant it for good. I meant it for evil. I was looking
out for number one or I was trying to get a name for myself or whatever.
I was wounded. Bleeding out, buddy. He bound
our wounds and he poured the oil on that. What's that? That's
sanctification. Lord told Moses how to make the
oil and he said, wherever that oil touches, it's mine. is set
apart for my use. Well, we will now sanctify ourselves
through holy living. Hogwash, you don't know God if
those things, you can't do it. We're dead in a ditch. He's gonna
put oil on us. He has to sanctify us. That's
a holy ghost coming to us and that new creation in us that
can't sin. Well, how could that be? And wine. Why would he pour
wine on them? Well, the alcohol sanitizes.
No. Washing away our sin by the blood of Christ. Who applies
that? He does. He does. And he put us on his beast. I don't want you getting in my
car. I'll get you an Uber. Might dirty my seats up. Nah,
he put him on his beast. What's that picture? That shepherd
putting that sheep on his shoulder. Because you can't walk. You can't
do nothing. And I'm going to carry you. I'm
gonna carry you, I'm gonna walk in you, I'm gonna carry you.
And this man in the ditch did absolutely nothing to deserve
any of this. He didn't even know that fellow
was standing there to call out and ask him. He'll call out later, he'll thank
him later. They were enemies, but this certain Samaritan, but
God, who is good. He said, why you call me good?
Ain't nobody good but God. That's a good Samaritan. It says in
verse 34, And he went to him, and he 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. I just got a good feeling
that inn was up on a hill. What's this end? This is his
church. I'm telling you, somebody's gonna hear me one day. The Lord
doesn't cast us out and send us out to go live by ourselves
in the Tahiti. He brings us together. He puts
his people in his church and he preaches to them. He comforts
them. This end is his church. This is, we're gonna look at
Wednesday, the upper room. The upper room, the city on a hill,
the lot on a hill. He said, my house is a house
of prayer. Not your house is a house of prayer. He said, my
house is a house of prayer. He builds his church, and he adds
to it as he sees fit, as it pleases him. And if we ever come up with
any ideas, we'll get that in Acts 2. If we ever come up with
any ideas to get more bodies in them seats, other than what
God says, please don't do it. Just forget it. Just stop. He's gonna do us one way. You
reckon that Jew said, who's your God? Why'd you do us, Samaritan? I'm gonna tell you about this
man I met at a well one time, where water comes from. You dig
your own wells, you make your own cisterns." He said, I met
this one at the well of Lye. I'll tell you about him. And he took
care of him. It says verse 35, and on the
morrow when he had departed, he didn't leave him to himself.
He took out two pants and gave them to the host and said unto
him, he said to the host, I take great note from me on this, you
can listen in. Take care of him. Take care of him. And whether
so ever thou spendest more, when I come again, I'll repay thee. Why two pence? As an old writer,
I nailed this on the head, I think. That's an Old Testament and a
New Testament. Lord was preaching for us now, too, wasn't he? Not
just that lawyer that day, to us in 2024. Old Testament and
New Testament, and you take that. He gave it to the host of the
inn, that's the pastor, and he said, you use this to care for
the wounded. Heal the sick, that's your job. Feed my sheep, heal
the sick. How do we do that? We remember
those two pences. We remember that Old Testament
and New Testament, we compare scripture to scripture. The Lord sent those
70 out and he said, beginning of this chapter, he said, whatsoever
house ye enter, first say peace unto this house. And if the son
of peace be there, if Christ is there, I'll send you there.
And if Christ is there dwelling in those people, your peace is
gonna rest on it. And if not, I'll turn you someplace
else. I'll send you to another house. And the same house remain,
eating and drinking such things as they give you. for the laborer
is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house, that's
up in verse eight now, Luke 10, eight. Into whatsoever city ye
enter, and they receive you, eat such things as set before
you, and heal the sick that are therein. And saying it in the
kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. That's Jerusalem's
remembrances. These went in and they said,
you feed us? You take care of us? We're gonna stay in your
house? You provide everything needed and I'll do the studying?
Here's the word. How are they gonna be healed?
Give them two pants. Heal their sick. Point them to
him. Point them to the great physician. That's it. It ain't
complicated. It's just impossible for man.
This ain't hard to understand. We just don't want to hear it.
He said, the kingdom of God's come down to you. Lord found
you in a ditch and came to you. He said, if there's another city
that won't take care of you, won't keep you under the roof, they won't feed you.
He said, you say the kingdom of God's come down to you. He's
walked right past you. Does that make us mad? Or does
that make us pass me not, oh gentle savior? Hear my humble
cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Hey! Come, Lord, save." So this child of God of his own
decisions and good ideas, ended up in a ditch, wounded, half
dying, spiritually dead, physically dying, bad shape. Law can't help
him. Church folks can't help him.
The good Samaritan comes, it's undesirable, takes him, binds
him up, oil and wine on him, puts him in the inn, gives him
somebody to watch over him and provide for him and heal the
sick. And he said, if it costs more than this, I'll take care
of it whenever I come again. I'm coming again, is what he's
saying. Remember that last week? I'm coming again. And I got to thinking
this week, you know what's a good question? How long does he stay
in that inn? The inn's a church, right? Where
this oil and wine's poured out and his pences are provided.
How long does this wounded man stay in the church? As long as
he's wounded. You get that? If you ain't wounded
no more, you don't have to be here. Well, I'm fine, I'm all
healed up. I ain't, I'm broke. I'm a broken
sinner, is what I am. And I need him. I need him. Until
I'm made like him, this flesh ain't gonna get no better. Well,
I rised up and I can study these things on my own. I pray the
Lord saves you before you die. And I'll stay right here as long
as we need him. And I can't be mad at folks that
don't care. The Lord ain't put that in them yet. They're spiritually
dead. Now I'll take that dead fellow
and try to put a funnel down his throat if it's up to me,
but it ain't gonna do no good. The Lord has to give life and
make it necessary. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. Lord, make us faithful to the
end. Keep us in this end until the end. Keep us looking to Him
and His provision. Verse 27. I'm sorry, Job 33,
27. We read that for a scripture
reading. It said, He looked upon men, and if any say, the Lord looked
down on men, if anybody says, I've sinned, and perverted that
which was right, and it profited me nothing." Not just, well,
I've done some bad things. It's all that's things you did
your whole life by yourself. Did it profit you? Did it do
you any good being in false churches growing up and singing all over
the country and all that? Did it do you any good? If you say,
I've sinned, everything I thought was right was just perverting
your holiness, God. And I've done nothing to profit
myself. The Lord said, I'll deliver his
soul from going to the pit. That's the ones I'm saving. and
his life shall see light. In your lifetime, you're gonna
see Christ's light. It's gonna happen, period. His word says
so, he's commanded. I've watched it happen, it's
so. Verse 36, now which of these three thinkest thou was the neighbor
to him that fell among thieves? Who was a good neighbor? Ain't
state farm. The Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
the friend that's closer than a brother. Well, I've done good
and I've looked on my neighbor. No, we ain't, it's him and his
doing. This fella started learning something.
And he said, he that showed mercy on him. He that showed mercy. And we just hugged and had cake,
and everybody went home doing cartwheels. No. Lord gave him
something to do. And he said unto him, go and
do thou likewise. Now you go do it. I can't. I'm
going to have to have you do it. Yep. And I'll be with you.
Lord, I'm with you always. He said, go heal the sick. Go
do it. Put the ointment on them. Take
that balm with you. Here's two pence. If you need
anything else, I'll provide that too. You won't have to provide
nothing. I'll do everything. Wouldn't that be something? We
in need of that kind of Samaritan? That's a whole lot different
than a coloring book for little kids. That's precious to me this week. I hope
it's precious to you. All right. Brother Trevor and Brother Cass,
y'all come hand out the elements.