I hope you'll pray for me as
I travel back tonight to the Lord, but be merciful, merciful unto us. You know, it never ceases to amaze me, the
preaching of the gospel, and just how little we really know. But what we do know is essential.
What we do know is the truth. God help us. God help us to tell
other men the truth of the gospel. I hope you're interested. I hope
you're interested in this gospel that we preach and that we love. I want you to turn tonight to Luke
chapter 10. Luke, chapter 10. I pray the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word to our hearts. I know this, we're all needy
creatures, and we all need mercy. Look at Luke, chapter 10, and let's start reading at verse
25. And he said, Behold, a certain
lawyer stood up. Now, this lawyer was a scribe
of the law of God who was responsible to record the Scripture and who
knew, at least up here, He knew the Word of God. This lawyer
scribe stood up, and notice what is said here. He tempted him
that his intent was to try the Master, saying to our Lord, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And our
Lord's reply was this in verse twenty-six. And he said unto
him, Well, what's written in the law? You see, this man knew
the law. He knew the law, but what's written in the law? How
do you read? How do you read the law? Now, notice verse twenty-seven,
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 your mind, and your
neighbor as thyself." Now, he said unto him, well, you've answered
right. This do, this do, and thou shalt
live. So he, willing to justify himself, said unto
Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Now, in making application of
the scriptures, we need to use wisdom and spiritual discernment,
and we need to keep at least three things in mind. We need
to find out who is speaking. We need to find out who is speaking
here. We need to find out who is he speaking to. And we need
to find out what the subject matter is about. A lot of times
we get ourselves in trouble by taking a verse. Pastor Henry
Mahan calls it—we have sometimes what we call versitis. There's
been whole denominations. and sex built upon a verse. But
it's dangerous to take a verse out of context and try to twist
it to suit your need. So we need to keep in mind, considering
Scripture in the light of context. Now, some have said here, and
I'll go over and answer this man's question in verse twenty-six,
and we're going to talk about that. That's what I want to talk
to you about. He gives this parable in verse twenty-six. Now, some
have said The purpose or general design of this parable given
here is to answer this lawyer's question as to who is my neighbor. That's what he said in verse
29, wasn't it? Who is my neighbor? To show who may be called my
neighbor and to show the nature and true charity of brotherly
love. Now, someone made this startling
statement. And it's a man who most circles
would regard, and it's an old writer, as a grace preacher. An old writer, lived a couple
hundred years ago. He said this about this. Shocking. He said, about the design of this parable,
to lose sight of this object and discover deeper allegories
in this parable is to trifle with the Scripture and to deprive
our soul of a most valuable lesson." Yeah, that's the end of that
quote. Yeah, I think here we can find
something very low and poor as to find out who my neighbor is. and how I'm to treat him, and
here's what we need to learn. Here's what we need to learn.
That is an excellent love of God our Savior toward miserable,
wretched sinners such as we are. And I think we can see that here.
I think we can make a good gospel application here in this parable.
And if we can learn this, if we can learn that God Almighty
commended His love toward us while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for the young God, if we can learn that, we won't have
a problem with who my neighbor is and how to treat him. If you
can ever, by the revelation of God in your heart, know something
of the mercy and grace of God shown to you, you won't have
a problem with who your neighbor is, I tell you. But here we see,
this is what we see in this parable here in verse 30 down through
verse 37, and we'll look at this here in a minute. Here we see
the sad condition of fallen men and the blessed recovery by Christ
whereby he shows himself to be the best neighbor and the truest
He is the friend, the Scripture said, that sticketh closer than
a brother. Now, let's look at our Lord's
answer. Our Lord's answer to this. Are
you interested? Look what he says right here. I'm interested
when God Almighty is going to answer this man, this self-righteous,
up-and-up lawyer, who is going about to tell me something to
do, Lord, that I might teach you a favor. And our Lord shuts
him up to this. Look at verse 30. And our Lord,
answering, said that a certain man went down from Jerusalem
to Jericho, and he fell among thieves, which stripped him of
his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half
dead." Now, I'm going to read the rest of these verses in a
minute. But what do we see in verse 30 of the Gospel here?
He says here, a certain man went down. Anything come to mind?
Ruin, isn't it? Ruin. Ruin in the garden. You
see, a certain man went down from—see, when you leave Jerusalem,
that city that's set on a hill, you went down to Jericho. You went down to Jericho. Here,
you see, that which represents mankind's falling in Adam, our
ruler from a state of uprightness? Happiness, joy, peace, fellowship,
communion with God, spiritual life we had with God Almighty
in the garden before Adam sinned and fell. You see, Adam, Adam
wasn't created a sinner, was he? God made him upright. God
made him upright. Jerusalem. You see, that's where
we were in the garden, Jerusalem, a place where God was worshipped,
a place where God dwelt. And Adam had fellowship and communion
with God in the garden. And notice what happened. He
said he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jericho. into a state of sin and misery
and rebellion and death. Jericho, that city, that cursed
place, wicked place. And that's what's happened to
us in Adam. From fellowship and union with
God, Jerusalem down to Jericho in that one certain man. You see, Adam wasn't created
a sinner, but he became a sinner, didn't he? He became a sinner
by rebelling against God. God set a commandment there.
God set that tree, and it said, Adam, don't touch it. Don't eat
it. What happened? He rebelled against
God. He sinned against God Almighty,
and he plunged us all into total ruin. Adam was the only man. Listen to me now. Adam was the
only man that became a sinner by sinning. We're born sinners. We're born that way. I was that
way when I got here. Before I got here, I conceived
in sin, David said. But this happened, notice what
it said here, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
and it happened in a certain manner. Representative man, Adam. But as in Adam, the Scripture
says, all about, for as about one man, disobedience, the many
in him were made sinners. That's what we see here. And
notice what it says here, this man went down from Jerusalem
to Jericho, and he fell among thieves. What a miserable state
we're in. He fell among thieves, sin, Satan,
and self. restrict him of his raiment,
restrict him of his covering. And here we see the loss of our
original righteousness by sin, which was our covering in Adam.
Boy, listen to me. Though only a creature's righteousness
which was natural, which was losable, we become a naked creature
exposed to the holy law of God and to his justice and right. I'm totally destitute now, working
out a righteousness of my own that's acceptable to God. You
see, I had a creature's righteousness in Adam. I lost that in him.
And I cannot, by human effort, deeds of doing, Satisfy God. That's what he said in Isaiah
55. He said, why do you spend your time and your money and
your labor for that which does not satisfy? You cannot, by working,
satisfy God Almighty now. He's holy and we're wretched.
That's just so. Now notice what happened here. This man's in bad shape. He fell
among thieves, and he was stripped, and not only that, he was wounded.
Wounded. Wounded. And that's what happened
to us in Adam. Here's our disease condition as a result of SIN
against God. In Isaiah chapter 1, he said,
The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. From the sole
of our feet to the top of our head, there's nothing in it but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Now, you say that he don't
look that bad. That's right, but you know why?
You're looking through sinful eyes, just the way I'm looking
at you, through sinful eyes. But God Almighty, Scripture said,
He is a purer eye than to behold iniquity, and he cannot look
upon sin. We're sinners in God's sight.
We've been mortally wounded. That's what it said here. He
wounded him. We're wounded in Adam, mortally
wounded. Faith of deadly blows, incurable
by any man. You see the state of our soul
before God without Christ? Ruined! Ruined! Yet—listen—yet men are insensible
and unconcerned about it. Isn't that so? You talk to someone
sometime, and you tell them about what happened in the garden,
about ruin. Hold your platter, kid, ruin.
I said, yes, it's bad, but they're not concerned about it. They're
just really not concerned about it. The Scripture says the rich
is increased with good and have need of nothing, and He said,
you know nothing, if you're wretched, miserable, blind, poor, and naked. And we don't even know it. And
more than that, we're unconcerned about it, left to ourselves.
Now, notice what it says here in our story. He was stripped
of his raiment, he was wounded, and he departed, departed, leaving
him half-dead, half-dead. Now, there is no indication here
that the Scriptures are saying that men are not dead in sin. That's not what he's saying here.
Men are spiritually, before God, dead. When Adam sinned, that
spiritual life he had went out. And we're born without spiritual
life. But what he's saying here, half
dead. Men are alive physically. Is
that not so? Men are alive mentally. Is that
not true? Men are alive emotionally. Is that not so? But men, by nature,
do not possess this spiritual life. You have He quickened. Who did it? He did it. Who were
what? Half dead or just a little bit
spiritually dead? No. Dead. You have He quickened
who were dead. And this quickening business
is God's work. It's God's business. He does
this. spiritual quipping. Men do not,
by nature, possess spiritual life. Look at Psalm 10, and they
have no concern for God. The Scripture said, The fool
has set in his heart there is no God. Look at Psalm 10, verse
4. Psalm 10, verse 4. He said, "...the wicked, through
the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." Are
you with me? Psalm 10, verse 4, "...the wicked,
through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God
is not in all of his thoughts." And I have a reference in my
Cambridge Bible that says, "...all of his thoughts are, there is
no God." Men by nature don't love God. Now, notice what happens
here in our story. Look back at Luke 10, verse 31. And by chance—that's an interesting
word, isn't it? By chance. And the sense of it
here is it's got to be, because we know there is no chance with
God. All things work together according
to his purpose. The sense of it has to be here.
It came to pass. it came to pass that there came
down a certain priest that way. And when he saw this man, now
you've got the picture here of the story. This man's been wounded
over here, and he's been stripped, and he's laying over here in
bad shape. And here comes a priest down
that way, and he saw him. Now notice what happened. He
passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite here. Priest and the Levite. What does
that represent? You got any idea? When he was
at that place, he came and looked on him, and what happened? He
passed by on the other side, too. You see, the priest and
the Levite couldn't help him. I think we see here that which
represents the law of God given through Moses, which says that
no mercy is to be expected. No mercy, no compassion is to
be expected. The law makes no reduction in
its demands to suit our sinfulness. It's either perfection now or
death. If you're going to go by the law now, it's either perfection
or it's death. One or the other. No mercy to
be expected from the law of God. There's no allowances for our
fall or for our weakness since the holy law of God is death
to our cries and repentance for mercy. There's no relief to be
found for a naked, wounded, dead sinner. Now, I'm telling you
right. The Scripture says, Paul said
to those people in Galatians, he said, Tell me, you that desire
to be under the law, do you hear what the law says? And he goes
and says it. He says, Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. That's why our Lord here says,
Do them. Do them now. Do them. And you
can't. You can't. You might deceive
your heart to think that you can. But before God Almighty,
you cannot keep His holy law. You cannot. There's no pity from
it. There's no justification by it. There's no pardon through the
law. There's no atonement of sin by
obedience to it. The blood of bulls and goats,
the scripture said, cannot take away sin. There's no word of
comfort spoken from the law of God. My soul, those people there
in Mount Sinai when Moses was on the mountain, my soul, what
fear, what trembling, the mountain quaked and smirked, and they
were afraid. No word of comfort spoken from
them, no spiritual life communicated by the law of God now, no healing
to our wounded conscience. by the law of God. The scripture
said, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, but not a justified righteousness
by the deeds of it. Never. The scripture said, for
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. And Paul says in Galatians 2,
21, for if righteousness come by the law, Now, if you have
a righteousness that can be worked out by the law of God, the Scripture
said, Christ is died and laid. What's the purpose in His death
if you can work out your own righteousness? Huh? My soul,
you know what that's saying to God Almighty when you go back
to establish your own righteousness? How does that mark the personal
walk of Christ? When you go about this, they're
resting in His blood and His righteousness. You go about this,
that is wrong. What a mock to His wisdom, to
His atonement. Now, so, good news in verse 33. Good news. You see this man's
condition? Oh, I tell you, he was in bad
shape. Law couldn't help him. Good news in verse 33. But a
certain Samaritan, Who do you reckon that is? That's it, it's
Christ. Oh, I tell you, that's good news,
good news. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw Him, oh, he loved
Him, had compassion on Him. My soul. And you know, it's interesting
here that our Lord would use a Samaritan in this parable to
represent Himself. Because these Samaritans were
hated among the Jews. You remember what the woman at
the well said? How do you, being a Jew, ask me a drink of water? Who's a Samaritan woman? Oh,
I tell you, but I think here these Samaritans were people
that were despised and hated of the Jews, and they accused
our Lord in one place. He said, you aren't a Samaritan,
you have a devil. But I think what he's intended
here, isn't our Lord despised and hated of men? He is now. Oh, I tell you, people can have
their idea. I've seen a big bumper sticker. It's a third ornament. Some guy's
truck running around in action. He says, I love my Jesus. Who
is it? He probably does love his idea
of Jesus. But does he love the Christ of
God? Does he love the Christ, the sovereign Christ, who affectionately
made atonement for sin, who affectionately put away my sin? Does he love
the Christ of God? Oh, I tell you, this gospel of
our Lord and our Lord in the Scripture says he is despised
and rejected of meaning. The carnal mind or carnal thinking
is enmity. against God, deep-seated, deep-rooted
hatred against God. And men by nature do not love
the living God. Now, they love their idea of
the God they've conjured up in their mind, but unless God Almighty
does something for us in Christ and reveals to our soul our need
of an atonement, my soul—men by nature do not love God. But
thank God, by His grace we do. By His grace we do. Look at this
verse again. In a Samaritan, our Lord Jesus
Christ, as He journeyed, there we see His incarnation. Our Lord
Jesus Christ left the royalties of heaven. He veiled Himself
in—He veiled His deity with flesh, and He came in this dark, miserable,
sin-cursed earth. The Scripture says, For in the
fullness of time God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. He journeyed
from glory to this sin-cursed earth. As he journeyed, now notice
what it says, he came where he was. He became our surety. from eternity through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. And Christ in time, he clothed
himself with our nature. He stood in our room and in our
stead, and he became identified not only with my nature, For
as much as the children, the covenant children, were protectors
of flesh and blood, he also likewise, he took part of the saints. He
not only became identified with my nature, but he became identified
with my soul. He bare my sin, his own body
on the tree." Christ fulfilled all the righteousness that God
Almighty demanded of me. Christ met every jot and tittle
of it. In all the precepts and in the
penalty of the law, He exalted it and magnified it. And you
know what? What God provided, God will accept. Now, God provided this righteousness
in Christ, and what God provided, God will accept in Him. That's
just so. Notice what it says here. As
he journeyed, he came where he was, and when he saw him, he
had compassion on him. Christ saw his elect before they
ever fell. They were chosen in him and given
to him before they fell. Christ sees us now, just as we
are without him, lost and strengthless, wicked, defiled, and ungodly,
children in wrath by nature, stripped and wounded, and dead
in sin. That's our condition, but now watch this. He said he
had compassion on him. Oh, the compassion and love of
God. I'd like to know something about
the love of God. I'd like to know more about it.
Oh, how God loves his people in Christ. Bound with inward
affection, tender mercy, and love. Now, we know from the Scripture,
there are several things we know about God. The nature of God,
the Scripture said, God is spirit, John 4.24. The Scriptures also
say that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, 1
John 1.5. We also know this, that God is
love. God is love now, 1 John 4.8. It's not simply that God's a
God of love. It's not simply that God loves,
but He is love Himself. He is love himself. Well, what
does the Bible teach us about the love of God? I want to camp right here for
just a minute, then we'll move on. The love of God. What do
we know about the love of God? Well, if we're to know anything,
it must be found in the lids of this book. I know that about
the love of God. But we know this, the love of
God is uninfluenced. That is, there's nothing found
in the creature to attract it, promote it, or merit it. There's
no reason found in me, Terry, why God Almighty from eternity
will send his affection upon me. There's no reason found in
the creature to merit God's love. The only reason why God loves
any is found in his own sovereign will and purpose to do so. That's
it now. Here is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and that He sent His Son to be a
propitiation for our sin. The hymn writer said this, "'What
was there in me that could merit, esteem, or give the Creator delight? T'was Him, and so, Father, I
must forever sing, because it seemed good in His sight to do
so.'" Now, you've got to leave it just right there. "'It seemed
good in His sight to do so.'" Secondly, we know this about
the love of God. It's eternal. It's eternal. God Himself is eternal, and God
is love. Therefore, as God has no beginning,
His love has no beginning and no end. In Jeremiah 31, He said
He loved us with an everlasting love, and that goes both ways,
from eternity past to eternity future. It goes both ways. Thirdly,
we know the love of God is sovereign. Sovereign love, sovereign love,
because God is God, because He does as He pleases, because God
is love. He loves whom He pleases. He
loves whom He pleases. The Scripture says, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Do you have a problem with that?
Jacob, you snake! Jacob, how do I love? Most people
wonder, so our problem with that, they want to know why God hated
Esau. And my soul, the mystery, the
beauty of the gospel is how God Almighty could love Jacob. I
can understand why God could hate Esau, don't you? The mystery
of the gospel, the beauty of it, is how God Almighty could
set His love on Jacob. But He says He does. Oh, I tell
you, they had the same parents, they were born at the same time,
yet God says He loves one and hated the other. Why? Because
it pleased Him to do so. That's it now. It pleased the
Lord, the Scripture says, to make you His people. We know
this, fourthly, that the love of God is infinite. It's infinite,
infinite love. Everything about Him is infinite.
His essence filled heaven and earth. What is a house that you
can build God with? Oh, I tell you, he inhabits eternity. God Almighty does. His answer
instills heaven. His wisdom is infinite. He knows
everything. No one but God are all his works
from the beginning. His power is endless. There's
nothing too hard for him. He's the sovereign, omnipotent
one. He works all things out to counsel
of his own will. And the Scripture says, who can
say unto him, Lord, what did you do? But I know this, his love is
without measure. Oh, the love of God. It defies
measurements by human standards. Now, you can't measure the love
of God. Paul said this, the apostle, for God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he hath loved us. Oh, I tell
you, the love of God. We know this, fifthly, the love
of God is immutable. It never changes. The Scripture
says, I am the Lord, I change not. His love knows no change,
no decrease. And Jacob's a good example of
this. In all of his trickery, in all of his canines, God Almighty
never removed his love from that man. It's immutable. It's immutable
love. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end, the Scripture says. There's nothing that can
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ. The hymn
writer said, His love no end, no measure knows, no change can
turn its course, eternally the same it flows from one eternal
source. It's unchangeable. Oh, I tell
you, I'm glad His love's unchangeable. What a sad state it would be
if it would just change, in and out. Oh, I'm thankful it's immutable.
Sixthly, we know the love of God is holy. Holy. Holy love. God's love is not
regulated by passion and sloppy sentiment, as our love is. His
love is governed by righteous principles. Love of God is holy. Do you understand? His grace
reigns not at the expense of His holiness. The grace reigns
through righteousness, so His love never conflicts with His
holiness. He's love. His love is pure,
undefiled, untainted, and never contrary to His holiness. How
can God love me, wretched that I am, in Christ? Which brings
me to my next point, the love of God. Where is that love of
God found? In Christ. That's what the scriptures
say. The love of God is found in Christ. And this love of God, it reaches
right down where I am. It meets my every need, this
love of God. This Samaritan, in our story
here, this Samaritan, did it say to him, now if you walk to
Jericho, I'll take care of you, did he? He came where he was,
and when he saw him where he was, he had compassion on him.
He did it say, now if you'll get up and walk to Yah, I love
you. I'll bind up your wounds." No,
he came where he was, finding he could do nothing or whatever
to help himself. When he saw him as he was, where
he was, he began with him there and then in his miserable condition,
putting no miserable state, putting no condition upon him once he
could not perform, but doing everything for him as he was,
where he was. So when Christ comes to deal
with sinners, he does not say, now take the first step and I'll
meet you halfway. But Christ comes where we are.
Right in His blood, reaches right down to where we are, it seems,
in our condition by nature, stripped and ruined and lost. And He meets
us where we are. As we are, He gives us life and
peace without expecting us to prepare ourselves for that grace. made all provisions ready. He
provided all things, and He comes to us as we are and has compassion
toward us. That's what it says here in our
story, and that's what our Lord is teaching here. He had compassion
on Him as He was, and the Scripture says, Christ did not come to
save men as men, but men as sinners. You know that. Not awakened sinners,
not sensible sinners, not repenting sinners, but just plain old sinners. Plain old sinners. Paul said,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He said, He
came to seek and to save those who were dead. You have to equip
them who were dead. Christ does not ask the sinner
to make himself alive. There's no spark of life. As
some men say, within us it may be fanned with flames of religion,
but spiritual life was doused by seeing the garden of God must
give us life. Christ came to seek and to save
those who were not only dead, but lost. Lost. Those whom Christ came to save
have no good whatever in them to cooperate towards their salvation. Christ does not look upon them
in order to find any good in them. There is none. My soul,
there is none. The only fitness for cleansing
is filthiness. Now, come on. The only fitness
for saving is being long lost. Just come lost. Now listen to
me carefully. If salvation be offered to men
upon a condition, then they who fulfill the condition have the
claim to the blessing. Do you know what that is? That's
the old covenant of works. This do, and I'll reward you. This is works. It's not grace. It's death. That's not free faith.
I'm sure that God asks nothing on our part. A scripture says,
"...salvations of the Lord, if not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to," what? His mercy. Oh, His
mercy in Christ to sinners. And I could give you dozens of
scriptures to prove that, but I don't need to. One sufficient,
"...salvations of the Lord." God, I found this for old John
Owen. God freely gives unto us all
grace and glory based solely on Christ's Word. The gospel
Thomasin must be salvation conditioned upon, not the sinner, but upon
Christ. You see that? He doesn't condition
salvation upon what you do, but what Christ has done. That's
the difference between the gospel of works and the gospel of grace. Gospel of grace, it says, done.
Gospel of works says, do. Christ has done all things for
his people. Now, notice what happens here,
verse 34, and I'll wind it up here. He said he went to him. Oh, I tell you, he went to him.
He went to him, and he bound up his wounds, pouring in the
oil and the wine, and he set him up like a little beast, and
he brought him to an end, and he took care of him. Who took,
let me ask you, who took the initiative here? Come on now,
who took the initiative here? Was it the man in the ditch?
Uh-uh. God takes the initiative in the
salvation of His people. It's by his free, sovereign will
that he saves his people. God took the initiative. That
which God had purposed, that which Christ purchased in due
time, he applied affectionately to our soul and to our heart. Christ, our wise and skilled
physician, has a correct diagnosis, and he has the proper treatment.
for our condition. You see, they that are whole
need not a physician, but they who are sick. And he's our great
physician, who healeth thee. Look at Luke chapter 4, back
over a few pages. And our Lord quotes this from
Isaiah 61, Luke 4, verse 18, says, "...the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal them."
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty to them that
are bruised." You see, he's a wise and skilled physician, and I
can say with David, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Forgive not all of his benefits,
who forgive of all thy iniquities, who healeth. All thy diseases."
Oh, I tell you, all thy diseases. He said, with his stripes in
Isaiah 53, were what? Healed. Healed. And you're in
the sevenfold name of God where he talks about Jehovah-Jireh,
Jehovah-Sidkenu, Jehovah-Shema, Jehovah-Neesa. Also it says Jehovah-Rapha. You know what that means? the
Lord that healeth thee." That's his name. He's the Lord that
healeth thee. And now notice what he heals
him with. He went to him, bound up his wounds, and he has the
fit and proper medicine here. Pouring in the oil and the wine.
Pouring in the CC. He had no court home remedy. That's our problem. We get sick,
and we try to whip up granny's old home tonic to make ourselves
better. And that's what folks today are
trying to do. They're in a serious soul condition. They try to go
about to establish to be there. They want to make their own diagnosis.
They want to give themselves their own treatment and do their
own follow-up. You can't do it. You can't do it. You see, He's
the physician of our soul. He has the remedy. He has God's
remedy for sin. The oil and wine, that wine is
the blood of Christ. It cleanses us from all sin.
That oil is the Holy Spirit. We're sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise until the day of redemption. And now notice what happens here.
He went to him. You see the picture here? He
went to him. He had compassion on him. He went to him. He bound
up his wounds. He had the faith and proper medicine.
And then he lifted him up and set him on his own beast. He
lifted me out of the pit. The Scripture said he raises
the poor out of dust and he lifts the beggars now, beggars from
the dunghill. He sets them among princes in
glory. He does it now. I like what David
said in Psalm 40, he brought me up out of the horrible pit
of sin, corruption, depravity, self-righteousness. He brought
me up out of the horrible pit. Out of the muddy clay he set
my feet on the rock. He established my goings. And
He gave me a new song, Psalm 40, verse 2, go home and look
at it. He did these things. He brought me up out of the horrible
pit. He set my feet upon that rock, Christ Jesus. He established
my goings. I am the way. And He gave me
a new song. Oh, He tuned my heart to sing
His grace. Now notice what happens here.
He lifted him. He brought him to an end. Christ
brings his sheep, whom he redeemed and called and healed and saved,
to a suitable, proper lodging place. You know what it is? The
church of the living God. Telling the ground of the truth,
the church of the firstborn, the saints of God here are travelers
and strangers and pilgrims on this earth. We need refreshment
along the way, encouragement and fellowship with one another.
Scripture says we have no continuing city, but we look for one to
come. And I'm thankful. that God has given me a place
to go and worship, a place that's been dedicated to the glory of
God, that's been dedicated and set aside for the preaching of
this gospel. That's what you have here in
Rocky Mountain. I hope you realize what you have
here. I tell you, there's not many places that's preaching
the gospel. A lot of places, buildings, they call them churches,
but there's no gospel being preached there. No gospel being preached
there, but you have a gospel pastor here, and I'm thankful.
I hope you are. I hope you're thankful for him.
Now, notice what happens here. He brought him to an end, and
he took care of him. Oh, he took care of him. Christ
Jesus takes care of them whom he heals. He pardons and brings
them to his church. The Scripture said, cast all
your care upon him. for he careth for you." And I
know there's several reasons why Christ takes care of his
sheep, why Christ takes care of his people. First one's this,
because they're his. They're his sheep. They're his
people. They're his by election, by redemption, by adoption, regeneration. They're his people. Secondly,
because he knows our weakness. He knows our frailty. The Scripture
says he remembers our framers but dust. We can't stand—see,
you won't persevere in faith without him. His care and protection
for the sheep. Oh, he said, without me you can
do nothing. He must keep us. And third, we
know this. He cares for the sheep because
they're totally and wholly resigned and totally dependent upon their
shepherds to take care of them. to be led by him, to be taught
and justified by him, and the early sheep are committed unto
him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep all that which I've
committed unto him. Like he said, we've committed
everything to Christ, the keeping of our soul. Now notice verse
thirty-five, And on the morrow, he departed. He said he's going
to go away, but he's going to come back again. Now, on the
morrow, he departed. Now, this is interesting. And
he took out two pens. He took out two pens. You know,
I think that's the Word of God, representing the Word of God.
And he gave them to the host. You know who the host is here?
He's the pastor. He gave the pastor the Word of
God and said, Now, notice this. He said, Now, you take care of
him. You take care of it. And what an awesome charge and
responsibility He has given to men to take care of His sheep. Paul says there in Acts chapter
20, let's look over there a minute, Acts chapter 20. Verse 28, when
Paul was getting ready to depart to Jerusalem and eventually wind
up in Rome, this is what he charged the elders at Ephesus there,
verse 20, Acts 20, 28. He said, "'Take ye therefore
unto yourselves, and all the flock over which the Holy Spirit
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood.'" What an awesome responsibility
to pastor God's people. God help us. See the church of
God that God had purchased with His blood. Damn! Oh, thank God. Make us able ministers for His
gospel. Now, notice this, what it says
here in verse 35. And whatsoever, he said, now
you take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest
more, when I come again, I'll repay you. He said, whatsoever
you spend. You know, the ministers of the
gospel spend much. Doctor, there's a great care,
great...