1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,220 Music 2 00:00:06,220 --> 00:00:10,920 Luke chapter 10 verse 25. 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,520 Some of you may have heard this story before. 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,320 This is a parable of Jesus. 5 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:23,900 We often refer to it as the parable of the Good Samaritan. 6 00:00:23,900 --> 00:00:26,540 Luke chapter 10, that's in the New Testament, 7 00:00:26,540 --> 00:00:30,440 close to the front of the New Testament. 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:39,280 Luke chapter 10 verse 25. 9 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,480 Let's pray and then we'll jump in. 10 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:46,020 Father God, we come to you and we thank you, dear Lord, 11 00:00:46,020 --> 00:00:48,080 for being good to us. 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,480 I thank you for the freedom and the privilege that we have 13 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,900 to come into this house this morning, to your house, 14 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:57,200 dear Lord, to hear your word. 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,640 I thank you for the songs that we're saying. 16 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:01,900 I thank you for each one that's here. 17 00:01:01,900 --> 00:01:05,140 God, I pray that you bless us from being here. 18 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:07,200 Dear Lord, you know where we are. 19 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,640 You know what's going on in our life. 20 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:11,040 You know where we need encouragement. 21 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:12,440 You know where we need correction. 22 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,580 You know what our struggles are. 23 00:01:14,580 --> 00:01:16,640 You know what our joys are, dear Lord. 24 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,480 Wherever we may be today, I pray, God, 25 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:21,520 that we would find joy in you. 26 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,880 I pray that your Holy Spirit would hide me behind the cross 27 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,760 that I'll be able to preach and teach your word in a way 28 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,560 that brings glory to Jesus Christ. 29 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,600 I pray that your word would impact our lives today, 30 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,600 dear Lord, that it would call us to service, dear Lord, 31 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,280 that we would examine our hearts to see if we are the 32 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,080 neighbors that you call us to be to the world around us. 33 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,720 So I pray that you bless us in these few minutes 34 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,180 and I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. 35 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:52,620 Amen. 36 00:01:52,620 --> 00:01:55,420 Luke chapter 10, verse 25. 37 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,860 Just then an expert in the law stood up to test him, 38 00:02:00,860 --> 00:02:05,860 saying, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 39 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,300 Now, as Jesus went around preaching and teaching 40 00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:12,180 and doing miracles, there were always people 41 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:14,580 who were coming to oppose him. 42 00:02:14,580 --> 00:02:16,420 Now, there were certainly many people who come 43 00:02:16,420 --> 00:02:18,240 that really wanted to hear what he had to say, 44 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,340 that were trying to learn from him. 45 00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:22,660 But there were some who were coming against him 46 00:02:22,660 --> 00:02:24,120 and they were trying to test him. 47 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,480 They were trying to find some fault with him. 48 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,900 They were trying to find a gotcha moment. 49 00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:30,860 Aha, gotcha, we gotcha here. 50 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:34,340 And so Jesus was always far too clever for that 51 00:02:34,340 --> 00:02:37,760 and always had great responses to the questions 52 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:38,780 that were being asked. 53 00:02:38,780 --> 00:02:43,340 And here, as happens on occasion, somebody comes to Jesus, 54 00:02:43,340 --> 00:02:45,820 here, an expert in the law, that is someone 55 00:02:45,820 --> 00:02:49,380 who would have known what we call the first five books 56 00:02:49,380 --> 00:02:51,340 of the Bible, of the Old Testament, the Torah, 57 00:02:51,340 --> 00:02:55,220 the books of the law, they would have been an expert in that. 58 00:02:55,220 --> 00:02:57,900 They would have been an expert in what God's commands were 59 00:02:57,900 --> 00:03:01,060 to do and not to do and all those laws that God gave, 60 00:03:01,060 --> 00:03:05,360 people who would have been well studied in the scripture. 61 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,460 And this person comes to Jesus and he asks him a question. 62 00:03:09,460 --> 00:03:13,140 Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 63 00:03:13,140 --> 00:03:14,860 Let's see what Jesus says. 64 00:03:14,860 --> 00:03:19,700 Verse 26, what is written in the law, he asked him. 65 00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:21,580 How do you read it? 66 00:03:21,580 --> 00:03:24,940 He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, 67 00:03:24,940 --> 00:03:27,540 with all your soul and with all your strength 68 00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:32,240 and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. 69 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,880 You have answered correctly, he told him. 70 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,220 Do this and you will live. 71 00:03:37,220 --> 00:03:39,020 Now this guy was pretty sharp. 72 00:03:39,020 --> 00:03:43,580 He had the right understanding of the law of God. 73 00:03:43,580 --> 00:03:45,860 Now there's a lot of laws in the Old Testament 74 00:03:45,860 --> 00:03:47,680 that God commanded his people, 75 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,420 but they can be summed up in two statements. 76 00:03:50,420 --> 00:03:52,660 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 77 00:03:52,660 --> 00:03:54,100 love your neighbor as yourself. 78 00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:56,900 We see that repeated in the Old Testament. 79 00:03:56,900 --> 00:04:00,540 That is the right answer and Jesus acknowledged that. 80 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:03,580 That all the laws that we see in the Old Testament 81 00:04:03,580 --> 00:04:07,220 ultimately had one purpose, that we would focus on God 82 00:04:07,220 --> 00:04:10,100 and love him and that we would love other people. 83 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:12,780 And if we would get those two things, 84 00:04:12,780 --> 00:04:15,300 our world would be a lot better place. 85 00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:18,260 If we would love God with all of our heart this morning, 86 00:04:18,260 --> 00:04:21,660 if we would love other people this morning, 87 00:04:21,660 --> 00:04:23,500 our world would be a better place. 88 00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:26,460 But these things are hard to do. 89 00:04:26,460 --> 00:04:27,740 It's hard to do sometimes. 90 00:04:27,740 --> 00:04:30,940 It's hard to live by even these two commands. 91 00:04:30,940 --> 00:04:33,500 Now this man understood these two commands. 92 00:04:33,500 --> 00:04:37,140 He got the right answer, but he didn't just stop there. 93 00:04:37,140 --> 00:04:39,500 What did Jesus tell him? 94 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:40,980 He says, do this and you will live. 95 00:04:40,980 --> 00:04:43,340 Okay, he wanted to inherit eternal life. 96 00:04:43,340 --> 00:04:45,460 He understood what the law meant 97 00:04:45,460 --> 00:04:47,660 and Jesus said, then just live by the law. 98 00:04:47,660 --> 00:04:49,980 Live by this understanding that you have 99 00:04:49,980 --> 00:04:51,740 that is the right understanding 100 00:04:51,740 --> 00:04:53,940 and you will have eternal life. 101 00:04:53,940 --> 00:04:57,260 If you love God and love other people, that's it. 102 00:04:57,260 --> 00:04:58,940 If you love God, it'll be evident 103 00:04:58,940 --> 00:05:01,140 and that you love other people. 104 00:05:01,140 --> 00:05:03,700 Do this and you will live. 105 00:05:03,700 --> 00:05:05,260 But the guy didn't stop there. 106 00:05:05,260 --> 00:05:07,500 He went a little further. 107 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:09,860 It says in the next verse, verse 29, 108 00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:12,820 but wanting to justify himself, 109 00:05:12,820 --> 00:05:17,820 he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? 110 00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:20,140 Wanting to justify himself, he said, 111 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:22,420 well, who is my neighbor? 112 00:05:22,420 --> 00:05:25,340 Now what it appears the guy's doing here 113 00:05:25,340 --> 00:05:28,380 is he's looking for some kind of definition, 114 00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:30,340 some kind of loophole, some kind of way 115 00:05:30,340 --> 00:05:33,380 to determine who his neighbor is. 116 00:05:33,380 --> 00:05:34,660 That is, maybe there are some people 117 00:05:34,660 --> 00:05:36,660 that he didn't really want to be his neighbor. 118 00:05:36,660 --> 00:05:39,020 Maybe there were some people, some of those Gentiles 119 00:05:39,020 --> 00:05:41,180 that he thought were lesser than, 120 00:05:41,180 --> 00:05:43,700 that he did not want to consider them as his neighbor. 121 00:05:43,700 --> 00:05:47,940 And maybe that's what he was expecting Jesus to say. 122 00:05:47,940 --> 00:05:50,060 Maybe he expected Jesus to say, 123 00:05:50,060 --> 00:05:52,140 well, you love all the Jewish people 124 00:05:52,140 --> 00:05:53,220 and all the godly people. 125 00:05:53,220 --> 00:05:54,500 Those are the ones that your neighbor, 126 00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:56,500 those are the ones that you need to take care of 127 00:05:56,500 --> 00:05:58,140 and have interaction with, 128 00:05:58,140 --> 00:06:00,300 but not the nasty scum of the earth. 129 00:06:00,300 --> 00:06:02,980 Maybe that's what he expected Jesus to say. 130 00:06:02,980 --> 00:06:05,620 And maybe that's what he was hoping for. 131 00:06:05,620 --> 00:06:08,100 But Jesus is pretty clever. 132 00:06:08,100 --> 00:06:09,900 And Jesus tells a parable here. 133 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:12,740 He tells a story here. 134 00:06:12,740 --> 00:06:14,260 That's probably not what the guy 135 00:06:14,260 --> 00:06:16,540 who asked the question was expecting. 136 00:06:16,540 --> 00:06:18,620 Let's see what the story is in the next verse. 137 00:06:18,620 --> 00:06:19,460 Verse 30. 138 00:06:20,780 --> 00:06:24,380 Jesus took up the question and said, 139 00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:28,220 a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho 140 00:06:28,220 --> 00:06:30,920 and fell into the hands of robbers. 141 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,180 They stripped him, beat him up, 142 00:06:33,180 --> 00:06:36,260 and fled, leaving him half dead. 143 00:06:36,260 --> 00:06:38,900 Okay, so the story is set for us. 144 00:06:38,900 --> 00:06:41,180 There's a man, we don't know anything about the man. 145 00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:44,140 We just know that he's traveling down the road 146 00:06:44,140 --> 00:06:46,740 and robbers come, they beat him, 147 00:06:46,740 --> 00:06:48,660 they steal everything he's got, 148 00:06:48,660 --> 00:06:50,740 and they leave him for dead. 149 00:06:50,740 --> 00:06:53,780 So this man is in bad shape. 150 00:06:53,780 --> 00:06:55,700 Let's continue on. 151 00:06:55,700 --> 00:06:57,100 Verse 31. 152 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:00,440 A priest happened to be going down that road. 153 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,060 When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 154 00:07:04,060 --> 00:07:08,180 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place 155 00:07:08,180 --> 00:07:11,900 and saw him, passed by on the other side. 156 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:14,940 But a Samaritan, let's pause there for a moment. 157 00:07:14,940 --> 00:07:16,620 Let's pause there for we continue. 158 00:07:16,620 --> 00:07:20,620 So here we have the three or four characters of our story. 159 00:07:20,620 --> 00:07:23,060 The man who was injured, we have a priest, 160 00:07:23,060 --> 00:07:24,580 we have a Levite, that would be somebody 161 00:07:24,580 --> 00:07:28,180 who worked at the temple, and then we have a Samaritan. 162 00:07:28,180 --> 00:07:32,460 Now, you would expect that of all the people in the world 163 00:07:32,460 --> 00:07:35,020 to stop and help someone who was in need, 164 00:07:35,020 --> 00:07:37,540 that it would be a priest or somebody 165 00:07:37,540 --> 00:07:39,260 that works at the temple. 166 00:07:39,260 --> 00:07:41,900 You would think that they would be the number one candidate, 167 00:07:41,900 --> 00:07:44,220 that they would be the most loving and the most caring, 168 00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:46,620 and that they would be the ones who would stop. 169 00:07:46,620 --> 00:07:49,100 And certainly with this guy who's asking Jesus 170 00:07:49,100 --> 00:07:52,500 this question, being a Jew, then certainly they would have 171 00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:56,860 held the priest and the Levite in high regard. 172 00:07:56,860 --> 00:07:58,580 And so Jesus introduces the story. 173 00:07:58,580 --> 00:08:01,060 There's a man who's half dead, and there's people 174 00:08:01,060 --> 00:08:03,620 walking up and down the road who are passing by him. 175 00:08:03,620 --> 00:08:05,420 And the first one that comes is a priest, 176 00:08:05,420 --> 00:08:07,420 and the next one that comes is a Levite. 177 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:10,300 And surely they would be the ones who would help this man. 178 00:08:11,540 --> 00:08:14,220 But he also introduces another character. 179 00:08:14,220 --> 00:08:17,180 And there was also a Samaritan. 180 00:08:17,180 --> 00:08:20,300 Now, what did the priest and the Levite do? 181 00:08:20,300 --> 00:08:22,700 They didn't pay the man any attention. 182 00:08:22,700 --> 00:08:25,900 Instead, they walked by on the other side of the road. 183 00:08:25,900 --> 00:08:29,300 They walked by this man, and you can imagine the scene. 184 00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:32,140 Here he is, probably half naked, or maybe all naked. 185 00:08:32,140 --> 00:08:33,980 They may have stripped all of his clothes off. 186 00:08:33,980 --> 00:08:36,300 He's beaten, he's probably bloody. 187 00:08:36,300 --> 00:08:38,060 He's moaning, and he's groaning. 188 00:08:38,060 --> 00:08:40,300 You might not even be sure if he's alive or not. 189 00:08:40,300 --> 00:08:41,900 He may not be making any sound. 190 00:08:41,900 --> 00:08:43,180 He don't look good. 191 00:08:43,180 --> 00:08:45,940 It's not the kind of situation that you necessarily 192 00:08:45,940 --> 00:08:48,500 want to get involved in. 193 00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:50,860 So the priest and the Levite, they see the man 194 00:08:50,860 --> 00:08:55,660 in this condition, and they pass him right on by. 195 00:08:55,660 --> 00:08:58,820 What about you and I in situations like that? 196 00:08:58,820 --> 00:09:02,460 What about you and I when we see people who are in need? 197 00:09:02,460 --> 00:09:06,340 What if we saw somebody who was on the side of the road 198 00:09:06,340 --> 00:09:08,460 who was naked and bleeding? 199 00:09:08,460 --> 00:09:10,860 Would we stop and help him? 200 00:09:10,860 --> 00:09:14,780 Now, the church answer, I'd stop and help him. 201 00:09:14,780 --> 00:09:16,780 Maybe we wouldn't. 202 00:09:16,780 --> 00:09:19,460 After all, it's a pretty scary thing. 203 00:09:19,460 --> 00:09:23,100 We see somebody that's laying on the side of the road. 204 00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:25,860 We come up with a lot of excuses why not to help him. 205 00:09:25,860 --> 00:09:27,420 I don't know what happened to that guy. 206 00:09:27,420 --> 00:09:30,220 I don't know why he didn't stay away from that situation. 207 00:09:30,220 --> 00:09:31,380 Maybe it's a trap. 208 00:09:31,380 --> 00:09:33,220 Maybe somebody wants me to stop and help him. 209 00:09:33,220 --> 00:09:34,820 Maybe they're going to beat me over the head 210 00:09:34,820 --> 00:09:36,180 and steal everything I've got. 211 00:09:36,180 --> 00:09:38,260 We can come up with a variety of excuses 212 00:09:38,260 --> 00:09:40,300 to pass by somebody and not help them. 213 00:09:40,300 --> 00:09:43,380 That's not hard to do, and we know that because we've 214 00:09:43,380 --> 00:09:45,540 made those excuses before. 215 00:09:45,540 --> 00:09:48,740 We've passed by people before that need help, 216 00:09:48,740 --> 00:09:51,020 and they might not even have been nearly in the shape 217 00:09:51,020 --> 00:09:52,820 that this guy was in, but we can come up 218 00:09:52,820 --> 00:09:55,580 with a lot of reasons why we won't stop and help nobody. 219 00:09:55,580 --> 00:09:56,740 Oh, we ain't got time. 220 00:09:56,740 --> 00:09:57,940 Stop and help that person. 221 00:09:57,940 --> 00:10:00,460 I'm on the way to church. 222 00:10:00,460 --> 00:10:02,420 Well, let me tell you, I think. 223 00:10:02,420 --> 00:10:03,180 I don't know. 224 00:10:03,180 --> 00:10:04,900 I shouldn't speak for God, but here's what I think. 225 00:10:04,900 --> 00:10:07,260 I could be wrong, but I think that God would rather 226 00:10:07,260 --> 00:10:09,180 I stop and help somebody and be late for church 227 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:12,660 than to be at church on time and pass by somebody that has a need. 228 00:10:12,660 --> 00:10:14,020 Oh, I can't stop and do that. 229 00:10:14,020 --> 00:10:15,020 I'm going to be late for this. 230 00:10:15,020 --> 00:10:15,660 I've got to do that. 231 00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:16,700 I've got to do the other. 232 00:10:16,700 --> 00:10:18,940 We can come up with a million excuses 233 00:10:18,940 --> 00:10:23,180 why not to help somebody, but maybe what we need to do 234 00:10:23,180 --> 00:10:26,100 is simply help the person. 235 00:10:26,100 --> 00:10:28,900 Maybe it is scary sometimes. 236 00:10:28,900 --> 00:10:31,380 Maybe we need to say, God, I'm kind of scared 237 00:10:31,380 --> 00:10:32,220 to help this person. 238 00:10:32,220 --> 00:10:33,300 I don't know their situation. 239 00:10:33,300 --> 00:10:34,300 I don't know what's going on. 240 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:35,260 It looks pretty bad. 241 00:10:35,260 --> 00:10:36,780 God, I don't even really want to stop, 242 00:10:36,780 --> 00:10:38,300 but God, I feel like I need to stop. 243 00:10:38,300 --> 00:10:41,300 So God, help me to be able to stop and help this person. 244 00:10:41,300 --> 00:10:44,660 And the people who should have been the ones to stop, 245 00:10:44,660 --> 00:10:49,460 the men of God, were the ones who passed this guy by. 246 00:10:49,460 --> 00:10:52,620 Isn't that something? 247 00:10:52,620 --> 00:10:55,540 But there's another character that Jesus mentioned, 248 00:10:55,540 --> 00:10:56,820 a Samaritan. 249 00:10:56,820 --> 00:10:57,980 Now, we have to understand. 250 00:10:57,980 --> 00:11:00,180 When we read this story and we hear about the Good Samaritan, 251 00:11:00,180 --> 00:11:02,580 we say, oh, the Good Samaritan, it brings up good feelings. 252 00:11:02,580 --> 00:11:03,820 We need to be good Samaritans. 253 00:11:03,820 --> 00:11:07,100 We need to understand what Jesus was saying here. 254 00:11:07,100 --> 00:11:11,100 What he did was he took the highest people, as far 255 00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:14,140 as those who were serving God, the priest and the Levites, 256 00:11:14,140 --> 00:11:17,660 and then he contrasted that with the lowest 257 00:11:17,660 --> 00:11:21,540 come of the earth, at least in the eyes of the Jewish people. 258 00:11:21,540 --> 00:11:23,860 You see, the Jewish people did not 259 00:11:23,860 --> 00:11:26,900 like these Samaritans at all. 260 00:11:26,900 --> 00:11:28,140 They were scum to them. 261 00:11:28,140 --> 00:11:30,780 They did not care about the Samaritans. 262 00:11:30,780 --> 00:11:33,660 The Samaritans were a mixed breed of people 263 00:11:33,660 --> 00:11:36,660 that they disgusted. 264 00:11:36,660 --> 00:11:39,620 And this has been going on for hundreds of years. 265 00:11:39,620 --> 00:11:42,900 Because when the 10 northern tribes of Israel 266 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:47,260 were overtaken by Assyria some 700 years before, 267 00:11:47,260 --> 00:11:49,540 what happened was is that those people began 268 00:11:49,540 --> 00:11:51,580 to intermarry with the Assyrians. 269 00:11:51,580 --> 00:11:54,900 And pretty much the Jewish people just kind of became 270 00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:56,620 part of the other people. 271 00:11:56,620 --> 00:11:59,460 They weren't really any different than the Assyrians. 272 00:11:59,460 --> 00:12:03,540 And Samaria, at that time when the northern kingdom was there, 273 00:12:03,540 --> 00:12:07,020 was the capital of the northern kingdoms. 274 00:12:07,020 --> 00:12:09,540 And so when we read about the Samaritans, 275 00:12:09,540 --> 00:12:12,340 we're reading about people who were once 276 00:12:12,340 --> 00:12:15,900 part of God's tribes of Israel and intermarried 277 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:19,460 with the Assyrians and were living in that area 278 00:12:19,460 --> 00:12:23,020 and were not liked by the southern tribes of Judah. 279 00:12:23,020 --> 00:12:25,340 They were not liked by the Jews at all. 280 00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:28,700 They considered them to be less than. 281 00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:32,060 So this guy that Jesus is focusing on here, 282 00:12:32,060 --> 00:12:36,180 this Samaritan, is to get their attention. 283 00:12:36,180 --> 00:12:37,780 He's doing this to make a point. 284 00:12:37,780 --> 00:12:41,900 OK, these men of God refuse to do 285 00:12:41,900 --> 00:12:44,100 what would have been the right thing to do. 286 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:47,900 But this Samaritan, this no-count Samaritan, 287 00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:50,420 is the one who's going to step up and be 288 00:12:50,420 --> 00:12:52,380 the hero in this story. 289 00:12:52,380 --> 00:12:54,140 Now, the Jews did not like Samaritans. 290 00:12:54,140 --> 00:12:56,900 They even called Jesus a Samaritan. 291 00:12:56,900 --> 00:12:59,820 In John chapter 8, Jesus had been getting on them, 292 00:12:59,820 --> 00:13:01,420 and he had just told them that they were 293 00:13:01,420 --> 00:13:02,820 of their father, the devil. 294 00:13:02,820 --> 00:13:05,260 And when he got through telling them all that, they said, 295 00:13:05,260 --> 00:13:06,980 well, aren't you a Samaritan? 296 00:13:06,980 --> 00:13:08,340 And don't you have a demon? 297 00:13:08,340 --> 00:13:10,260 They did not like Jesus. 298 00:13:10,260 --> 00:13:13,540 And as a result of that, they called him a dirty word, 299 00:13:13,540 --> 00:13:16,460 a bad name, a Samaritan. 300 00:13:16,460 --> 00:13:18,820 And so it's not by accident that Jesus 301 00:13:18,820 --> 00:13:21,980 chooses this Samaritan to be the hero of the story. 302 00:13:21,980 --> 00:13:23,900 So the man's laying there half dead. 303 00:13:23,900 --> 00:13:27,220 The priest had passed him by, the priest that came by. 304 00:13:27,220 --> 00:13:29,460 The Levite passed him by. 305 00:13:29,460 --> 00:13:34,700 But a Samaritan, it says, but a Samaritan, in verse 33, 306 00:13:34,700 --> 00:13:38,660 on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, 307 00:13:38,660 --> 00:13:41,820 he had compassion. 308 00:13:41,820 --> 00:13:44,140 What about you and I? 309 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:46,700 Which one of those do we do? 310 00:13:46,700 --> 00:13:51,300 Do we see people who are in need and pass them by, 311 00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:56,260 or do we see people who are in need and have compassion? 312 00:13:56,260 --> 00:13:59,500 We need to pray that God would help us to have compassion. 313 00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:01,620 It probably doesn't come natural to us. 314 00:14:01,620 --> 00:14:04,660 It's something that I think we really, as we grow in the Lord 315 00:14:04,660 --> 00:14:07,500 and we begin to seek him, I think 316 00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:10,500 we begin to have compassion like him, 317 00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:12,460 but we really have to grow in the Lord 318 00:14:12,460 --> 00:14:15,300 and seek him to be able to have that kind of compassion. 319 00:14:15,300 --> 00:14:18,300 Because it's a lot easier for us to judge other people 320 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:20,180 and see somebody laying on the side of the road 321 00:14:20,180 --> 00:14:21,860 and said, well, they should have made better choices 322 00:14:21,860 --> 00:14:23,900 in their life, and maybe they wouldn't be there. 323 00:14:23,900 --> 00:14:26,300 It's a lot easier for us to pass judgment 324 00:14:26,300 --> 00:14:28,860 and to decide why somebody is where they are 325 00:14:28,860 --> 00:14:31,980 and how it's their fault and how we shouldn't help them. 326 00:14:31,980 --> 00:14:34,580 It's a lot harder for us to have compassion, 327 00:14:34,580 --> 00:14:38,540 but we need to see again and again in the scripture 328 00:14:38,540 --> 00:14:41,700 that when Jesus sees people, it often 329 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:46,700 says that Jesus saw the people and he had compassion. 330 00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:49,100 The people that everybody else would have passed by, 331 00:14:49,100 --> 00:14:52,380 even Jesus' own disciples would have passed them by. 332 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:54,420 But Jesus didn't pass them by. 333 00:14:54,420 --> 00:14:56,500 All those thousands came to hear Jesus 334 00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:58,180 and when they got through hearing Jesus, 335 00:14:58,180 --> 00:15:00,580 Jesus tells the disciples, give them something to eat 336 00:15:00,580 --> 00:15:02,500 and the disciples says, just send them on their way, 337 00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:03,380 they can get something else. 338 00:15:03,380 --> 00:15:05,620 And Jesus says, no, you feed them. 339 00:15:05,620 --> 00:15:07,460 And they said, Jesus, what are we gonna feed them with? 340 00:15:07,460 --> 00:15:10,180 We don't have anything but two fish and five loaves. 341 00:15:10,180 --> 00:15:12,860 And Jesus said, look, I'll take care of this. 342 00:15:12,860 --> 00:15:15,660 Oftentimes the disciples, they didn't even have compassion, 343 00:15:15,660 --> 00:15:17,220 but Jesus did. 344 00:15:17,220 --> 00:15:19,780 When Jesus saw people were sick, he had compassion. 345 00:15:19,780 --> 00:15:22,620 When he saw people were hungry, he had compassion. 346 00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:25,060 And we need to pray that God would help us 347 00:15:25,060 --> 00:15:27,700 to be those men and women who would have compassion 348 00:15:27,700 --> 00:15:29,140 on those that we encounter. 349 00:15:30,140 --> 00:15:33,900 There's people we see all the time probably that have a need. 350 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:36,660 We need to ask God to help us see what those needs are 351 00:15:36,660 --> 00:15:38,820 and to be compassionate to those needs. 352 00:15:38,820 --> 00:15:41,140 So the Samaritan's passing by on his journey, 353 00:15:41,140 --> 00:15:45,060 he sees this man who is laying half dead in the road 354 00:15:45,060 --> 00:15:47,420 and he has compassion on him. 355 00:15:47,420 --> 00:15:48,460 Now, what is compassion? 356 00:15:48,460 --> 00:15:50,220 What does compassion look like? 357 00:15:50,220 --> 00:15:53,100 Well, the scripture is about to tell us that. 358 00:15:53,100 --> 00:15:58,100 Verse 34, he went over to him and bandaged his wounds, 359 00:15:58,420 --> 00:16:01,140 pouring on olive oil and wine. 360 00:16:01,140 --> 00:16:03,700 Then he put him on his own animal, 361 00:16:03,700 --> 00:16:07,700 brought him to an inn and took care of him. 362 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:10,140 The next day he took out two denarii, 363 00:16:10,140 --> 00:16:12,500 gave them to the innkeeper and said, 364 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:14,060 take care of him. 365 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:17,060 When I come back, I'll reimburse you 366 00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:20,300 for whatever extra you spend. 367 00:16:20,300 --> 00:16:22,860 All right, so if you say, okay, I wanna be compassionate. 368 00:16:22,860 --> 00:16:24,500 How do I be compassionate? 369 00:16:24,500 --> 00:16:26,380 What does compassion look like? 370 00:16:26,380 --> 00:16:30,140 Well, here's a good example of what compassion looks like. 371 00:16:30,140 --> 00:16:31,860 Now, there's seven things that I count here. 372 00:16:31,860 --> 00:16:32,940 You might count more or less, 373 00:16:32,940 --> 00:16:36,940 but there's seven things that I think we see this guy do. 374 00:16:36,940 --> 00:16:39,420 Number one, he went over to him. 375 00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:40,820 That's the first step. 376 00:16:40,820 --> 00:16:42,540 That's the first thing we need to do 377 00:16:42,540 --> 00:16:47,540 when we see somebody who has a need is to go over to them. 378 00:16:47,860 --> 00:16:49,860 Sometimes we don't wanna go over to them. 379 00:16:49,860 --> 00:16:51,420 Sometimes we say, oh, don't make eye contact. 380 00:16:51,420 --> 00:16:52,260 As long as I don't look, 381 00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:53,540 as long as I don't make eye contact, 382 00:16:53,540 --> 00:16:54,540 as long as I turn away, 383 00:16:54,540 --> 00:16:56,320 I'll just pretend like I don't see them. 384 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,380 Knowing good and well, we do see them. 385 00:16:58,380 --> 00:17:00,900 The first thing we need to do is when we see somebody 386 00:17:00,900 --> 00:17:04,100 that has a need, somebody that's in trouble, 387 00:17:04,100 --> 00:17:06,980 is we need to go to them. 388 00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:08,740 That's the first step. 389 00:17:08,740 --> 00:17:09,580 That's what he did. 390 00:17:09,580 --> 00:17:10,980 He went over to them. 391 00:17:10,980 --> 00:17:14,340 Next thing he did, he bandaged his wounds. 392 00:17:14,340 --> 00:17:17,060 Okay, that's the least he could do, give him a bandaid. 393 00:17:17,060 --> 00:17:19,100 That's the least we could possibly do 394 00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:22,580 is to go over to somebody and say, are you okay? 395 00:17:22,580 --> 00:17:24,740 That doesn't require too much effort. 396 00:17:24,740 --> 00:17:25,580 And he did that. 397 00:17:25,580 --> 00:17:27,260 He went over to him to check on him. 398 00:17:27,260 --> 00:17:28,340 He gave him a bandaid. 399 00:17:28,340 --> 00:17:32,700 He bandaged him up, but he didn't leave there. 400 00:17:32,700 --> 00:17:33,540 He didn't stop there. 401 00:17:33,540 --> 00:17:35,300 He didn't just go say, are you okay? 402 00:17:35,300 --> 00:17:36,220 And go on his way. 403 00:17:36,220 --> 00:17:38,260 He didn't just say, oh, I'm sorry this happened to you. 404 00:17:38,260 --> 00:17:39,980 Here's some bandages. 405 00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:41,220 I hope you're okay. 406 00:17:41,220 --> 00:17:42,740 Nope, he didn't stop there. 407 00:17:42,740 --> 00:17:46,040 He continues to have compassion on this man. 408 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:47,760 What else does he do? 409 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,980 It says that he poured on olive oil and wine. 410 00:17:50,980 --> 00:17:52,200 These would have been things 411 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,220 that would have been of some value 412 00:17:54,220 --> 00:17:57,780 and probably even of some need to the man who did it. 413 00:17:57,780 --> 00:18:02,420 The man sacrificed what he had to help someone else, 414 00:18:02,420 --> 00:18:04,860 something that was of value to him. 415 00:18:04,860 --> 00:18:06,620 What about you and I? 416 00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:10,460 Are we willing to sacrifice what God has blessed us with 417 00:18:10,460 --> 00:18:12,180 to help others? 418 00:18:12,180 --> 00:18:14,060 Well, we should be, 419 00:18:14,060 --> 00:18:17,580 but that's a good question for us to ask ourselves today. 420 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:21,380 Are we being a good steward with the monies 421 00:18:21,380 --> 00:18:23,700 that God has given us? 422 00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:24,840 Maybe you are. 423 00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:27,580 Maybe you're not. 424 00:18:27,580 --> 00:18:29,880 You see, what's pretty easy is for us 425 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,040 to take what God blesses us with 426 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,100 and use it for ourselves. 427 00:18:34,100 --> 00:18:35,620 After all, we deserve it. 428 00:18:35,620 --> 00:18:37,660 We do work pretty hard for it. 429 00:18:37,660 --> 00:18:39,540 It's okay for us to have nice things 430 00:18:39,540 --> 00:18:42,460 or whatever other excuses we use to justify 431 00:18:42,460 --> 00:18:45,440 us spending God's blessings on ourselves. 432 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:50,300 All the while, we miss the opportunities to bless others. 433 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:51,620 But this guy took what he had. 434 00:18:51,620 --> 00:18:52,460 He took what was his. 435 00:18:52,460 --> 00:18:53,900 He took what God had blessed him with. 436 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:55,860 And he didn't say, man, I need this oil. 437 00:18:55,860 --> 00:18:57,020 I need these things. 438 00:18:57,020 --> 00:18:59,460 Golly, I just bought these things 439 00:18:59,460 --> 00:19:01,780 with the last little bit of money I had. 440 00:19:01,780 --> 00:19:04,300 I can't give them to this guy. 441 00:19:04,300 --> 00:19:06,740 Instead, he walks up to the guy. 442 00:19:06,740 --> 00:19:08,580 He bandaged him up. 443 00:19:08,580 --> 00:19:09,980 He took what was his, 444 00:19:09,980 --> 00:19:13,380 and he began to take care of this guy. 445 00:19:13,380 --> 00:19:14,620 What about us? 446 00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:17,420 Are we willing to take what God has given us 447 00:19:17,420 --> 00:19:20,540 and use it to help those in need? 448 00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:22,780 That's what God wants us to do. 449 00:19:22,780 --> 00:19:24,500 That's certainly what God calls us to do 450 00:19:24,500 --> 00:19:26,580 time and time again in Scripture, 451 00:19:26,580 --> 00:19:28,380 to take care of the widows and the orphans 452 00:19:28,380 --> 00:19:30,700 and the poor and the needy. 453 00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:32,860 And that requires something from us. 454 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:35,580 It requires our money. 455 00:19:35,580 --> 00:19:37,800 It requires our time. 456 00:19:38,820 --> 00:19:41,100 The first two guys passed by the need. 457 00:19:41,100 --> 00:19:43,100 It didn't pay any attention to it. 458 00:19:43,100 --> 00:19:46,140 They didn't give it any of their time or their money. 459 00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:49,060 But the Samaritan, here's our example, by the way. 460 00:19:49,060 --> 00:19:50,700 If you're wondering which of these examples 461 00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:53,220 we're supposed to follow, it's the Samaritan. 462 00:19:53,220 --> 00:19:55,140 The Samaritan stopped, 463 00:19:55,140 --> 00:19:57,020 and he began to take care of the guy. 464 00:19:57,020 --> 00:19:58,420 Let's see what he did next. 465 00:19:58,420 --> 00:20:02,660 Then he put him on his own animal. 466 00:20:02,660 --> 00:20:05,060 Okay, that's pretty intense. 467 00:20:05,060 --> 00:20:07,540 So he's done pretty good right now. 468 00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:09,320 If the story would have stopped right there, 469 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:10,580 we still would probably say, 470 00:20:10,580 --> 00:20:12,140 that Samaritan's a pretty good guy. 471 00:20:12,140 --> 00:20:13,540 He stopped, he checked on the guy, 472 00:20:13,540 --> 00:20:15,660 he bandaged him up, he put medicine on him, 473 00:20:15,660 --> 00:20:16,780 and he went on his way. 474 00:20:16,780 --> 00:20:18,300 If the story would have stopped there, 475 00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:20,260 we'd say that's a pretty nice thing to do. 476 00:20:20,260 --> 00:20:21,340 But he didn't stop there. 477 00:20:21,340 --> 00:20:23,660 He put him on his donkey, or in modern terms, 478 00:20:23,660 --> 00:20:25,860 he put him up in his car. 479 00:20:25,860 --> 00:20:29,100 This nasty, naked, bloody man, 480 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:32,020 he got him and put him in his car. 481 00:20:33,020 --> 00:20:34,780 Would we do that? 482 00:20:34,780 --> 00:20:36,540 No, we ain't gonna do that, right? 483 00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:38,740 I just got a new truck a while back. 484 00:20:38,740 --> 00:20:41,940 You know, it's got, in the seats, 485 00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:43,660 they're ventilated, it blows air 486 00:20:43,660 --> 00:20:45,480 through these little holes in the seats. 487 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,220 You know, if you put somebody in there 488 00:20:47,220 --> 00:20:49,100 that was bloody and blood got in those little holes, 489 00:20:49,100 --> 00:20:49,940 you'd never get it out. 490 00:20:49,940 --> 00:20:51,340 I can't pick that guy up. 491 00:20:51,340 --> 00:20:52,620 What if he gets blood all over my, 492 00:20:52,620 --> 00:20:54,200 I'll never get the blood out of those holes. 493 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,260 We can find a lot of excuses while we don't need 494 00:20:56,260 --> 00:20:57,100 to help people. 495 00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:58,780 But I done stopped, I checked on him, 496 00:20:58,780 --> 00:21:01,060 I gave him some bandages and some medicines. 497 00:21:01,060 --> 00:21:03,780 Surely God don't want me to put this bloody mess 498 00:21:03,780 --> 00:21:05,820 in my truck, on my seat. 499 00:21:07,220 --> 00:21:08,460 But what did this guy do? 500 00:21:09,420 --> 00:21:11,900 He threw him right up on his donkey. 501 00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:12,900 Said, come on. 502 00:21:13,740 --> 00:21:17,140 Whoa, what an example of compassion. 503 00:21:17,140 --> 00:21:19,680 It was a compassion that didn't just stop with a little, 504 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,580 but see, sometimes what we do, or maybe just me, 505 00:21:22,580 --> 00:21:23,980 I'll just say this about me, 506 00:21:23,980 --> 00:21:27,420 sometimes what I do is I do that first little bit 507 00:21:27,420 --> 00:21:28,900 and then I pat myself on the back. 508 00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:30,260 I say, oh, that's pretty good. 509 00:21:30,260 --> 00:21:32,100 Nobody else stop and help this guy. 510 00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:35,100 Nobody else even stopped to see if he is alive. 511 00:21:35,100 --> 00:21:36,660 I did give him a band-aid. 512 00:21:36,660 --> 00:21:38,180 I gave him a little pouch of Neosporin 513 00:21:38,180 --> 00:21:40,340 and I had my first aid kit. 514 00:21:40,340 --> 00:21:41,880 And I pat myself on the back. 515 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,620 But maybe we stop short of doing the things 516 00:21:44,620 --> 00:21:47,540 that God really calls us to because it's scary. 517 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:50,740 Even if we say, I'm not worried about getting my car dirty. 518 00:21:50,740 --> 00:21:52,020 Well, it's still pretty scary. 519 00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:53,800 You're putting a guy in your truck. 520 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:55,620 You don't know much about this guy. 521 00:21:55,620 --> 00:21:56,980 What if he's got some kind of disease? 522 00:21:56,980 --> 00:21:57,820 He's bloody. 523 00:21:57,820 --> 00:21:58,640 What if he gets on my hands? 524 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:00,820 We can come up with all these excuses, 525 00:22:02,340 --> 00:22:04,880 but maybe we need to say, okay, God, 526 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,260 here's this opportunity that you've put before me. 527 00:22:09,260 --> 00:22:12,620 Here's a person that everybody else has passed over. 528 00:22:12,620 --> 00:22:14,940 Here's a person that if I don't help them, 529 00:22:14,940 --> 00:22:18,020 who's to say that anybody will help them? 530 00:22:18,020 --> 00:22:20,600 Think about that next time you pass somebody by. 531 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,100 Next time you see somebody that says they need some food. 532 00:22:26,260 --> 00:22:29,060 But a lot of people have passed them by before you did. 533 00:22:30,100 --> 00:22:31,940 What if you pass them by? 534 00:22:31,940 --> 00:22:34,680 Yeah, maybe the next person will give them a hamburger. 535 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:36,220 We ever do that? 536 00:22:36,220 --> 00:22:37,780 We pass by somebody that needs food 537 00:22:37,780 --> 00:22:40,520 and we say, God, I pray that you give that person some food. 538 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,120 Hello? 539 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:43,340 Maybe we just need to turn around 540 00:22:43,340 --> 00:22:45,660 and go get that person some food. 541 00:22:45,660 --> 00:22:48,300 Maybe that's what we need to do. 542 00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:50,320 Maybe God put us there. 543 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,100 Maybe God put that thought on our mind and in our heart 544 00:22:53,100 --> 00:22:55,940 because God says, hey, I'll put you on this street 545 00:22:55,940 --> 00:22:59,340 at this time to pass this person to meet this need 546 00:22:59,340 --> 00:23:02,720 and you've got the money, go get them some food. 547 00:23:04,540 --> 00:23:07,660 How many times are we missing opportunities? 548 00:23:07,660 --> 00:23:10,980 And we're stopping short of what God calls us to do. 549 00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:15,200 So this guy took this man, he put him on his donkey. 550 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:16,600 He didn't stop there though. 551 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:21,600 He brought him to an end and took care of him. 552 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:25,760 Now, it would have been one thing 553 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,040 if he'd have just took him into town and dropped him off. 554 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,760 Again, we said, pretty good guy. 555 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:30,820 He took him into town. 556 00:23:30,820 --> 00:23:32,640 He took him somewhere where he could get help. 557 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,200 Nope, he stayed with him. 558 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:36,560 We couldn't do that, could we? 559 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:37,640 We got too much to do. 560 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:39,640 We got places to be, we got things to do. 561 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,040 I can't stay here with this guy. 562 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:43,560 I can't spend the night with this guy 563 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,160 and take care of him all day. 564 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:46,600 I can't do that. 565 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,920 What did Samaritan do? 566 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:51,640 He didn't stop. 567 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,440 He saw there was a need and he was all in. 568 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:59,140 He said, this guy is in need and I am going to help him. 569 00:23:59,140 --> 00:24:01,280 So he took him into town, he put him in the end 570 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,440 and he took care of him. 571 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:04,920 Here's this guy nursing the guy. 572 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,460 He don't have a clue who he is, 573 00:24:06,460 --> 00:24:07,860 don't know nothing about him 574 00:24:07,860 --> 00:24:10,800 and now he's spending his time and his money 575 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:12,720 to take care of him. 576 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:13,800 But it didn't stop there. 577 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,600 Verse 35, the next day he took out two denarii, 578 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,400 gave them to the innkeeper and said, 579 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,000 take care of him. 580 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,480 When I come back, I'll reimburse you 581 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,300 for whatever extra you spend. 582 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:30,960 Holy smokes. 583 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,720 So this guy does all he could do 584 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,880 and even when he has to leave, 585 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:37,680 he doesn't just say to the guy, 586 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,680 man, I hope you get better. 587 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,020 I'm nice to meet you. 588 00:24:41,020 --> 00:24:42,400 I'm sorry you had to go through this. 589 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,040 I hope you get better, I'm gone. 590 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:45,320 He could have left and went on his way 591 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,040 and again when he said, man, I was a good guy. 592 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:49,760 But he didn't stop there. 593 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,840 He told the innkeeper, look, this guy's in bad shape. 594 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,160 He can't really travel. 595 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,840 He needs to stay here for a little while to recover. 596 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:58,800 So here's a couple of denarii, which isn't much, 597 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,260 wouldn't be maybe $6 in our day to day in modern times. 598 00:25:02,260 --> 00:25:05,040 It wasn't much, but it was enough to cover the bill 599 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,080 that the guy was gonna need for the short term at least. 600 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,760 And then the guy went the extra mile. 601 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,840 He didn't just say, look, here's a couple of dollars, 602 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,740 keep him for a few days and when the time runs out 603 00:25:15,740 --> 00:25:17,900 for the money I gave you, send him on his way. 604 00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:18,740 Maybe he'll be well. 605 00:25:18,740 --> 00:25:22,040 No, he says, look, here's money to cover his stay 606 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,860 and if that's not long enough, 607 00:25:23,860 --> 00:25:26,980 if he needs more care or needs to stay longer, 608 00:25:26,980 --> 00:25:29,460 I will come back and cover his bill 609 00:25:29,460 --> 00:25:31,000 next time I come through town. 610 00:25:32,220 --> 00:25:35,760 Now that is some kind of example 611 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:37,360 for us to follow right there. 612 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:39,760 How many times do we follow the example 613 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,760 of helping those in need to that extent? 614 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,280 You know, I'm ashamed to say that I don't, 615 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,080 I don't know that I can think of many times, 616 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,880 if any time, that I have ever helped somebody like that 617 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:51,720 and shame on me. 618 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,120 Maybe there are opportunities that God has given us 619 00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:59,120 that we need to see where there is need 620 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,080 and we need to help meet that need 621 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,960 and we don't need to turn a blind eye to it. 622 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,560 That we need to begin to love people. 623 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:09,000 Continuing on. 624 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,480 Verse 36, which of these three do you think proved 625 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,480 to be a neighbor to the man who fell 626 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,080 into the hands of the robbers? 627 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,440 So Jesus gives this parable and he asked a simple question. 628 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,080 The man who had asked the question said, 629 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,160 and who is my neighbor? 630 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,120 And Jesus gives this beautiful parable 631 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:36,120 about this lousy priest and this lousy Levite 632 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:39,120 that passed him by, but if this Samaritan 633 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:40,920 who was the hero of the story, 634 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,320 who took care of this guy in need, 635 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,520 and Jesus says of these three, 636 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,720 which one do you think was the neighbor to the man? 637 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,720 He answered correctly in the next verse. 638 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,720 The one who showed mercy to him, he said, who was that? 639 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,920 That was the Samaritan. 640 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:04,320 What is Jesus telling us in this parable? 641 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,120 Who is Jesus telling us our neighbor is? 642 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:09,920 Who are we supposed to help? 643 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,120 We are supposed to help those who are in need, period. 644 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,920 Now we wanna put some qualifiers on there sometimes. 645 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:19,920 We wanna help those who are in need who are good. 646 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:21,320 We wanna help those who are in need 647 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,720 who are of this or of that or whatever. 648 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:25,520 We come to help those who are in need 649 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,920 who are of this or of that or whatever. 650 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,320 We come up with all these things, 651 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:31,520 how we can separate who needs our help 652 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:32,720 and who doesn't need our help. 653 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,920 And in a sense, what we're trying to do 654 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,320 is justify ourselves like this man in the story, 655 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,520 and we wanna help some people. 656 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:42,520 We want some people to be our neighbor, 657 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:44,920 but we don't want other people to be our neighbor. 658 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:46,720 We want the good people to be our neighbor. 659 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,320 It's easy to help the good neighbors. 660 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:49,920 The good neighbor knock on your door and said, 661 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:51,520 hey man, I need to buy some sugar. 662 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,320 You say, come on in here, man. 663 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:54,520 How much you need? 664 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,920 Because here, I got a whole extra sack, take it. 665 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,520 It's easy to be good to the good neighbors. 666 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,120 What about our bad neighbor on the other side of the fence? 667 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:05,320 Them yards always a mess. 668 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,120 They making a bunch of noise, a bunch of racket, it's all. 669 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:09,720 It's just a whole bunch of junk. 670 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,120 They steal your packages off your porch when they come. 671 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:13,120 What about your bad neighbor? 672 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,120 When they come knock on your door, 673 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:18,520 you go hide and you looking, I don't let them see you. 674 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,520 It's some people we don't want to be our neighbors. 675 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,520 It's some people we say, I helped this guy 676 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,120 because they're pretty good, but I ain't helping this rag 677 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:26,520 tag bunch of losers. 678 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:27,520 They ain't worth anything. 679 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:31,720 Who are you passing by on the street? 680 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,720 Who are you passing that kind of judgment on? 681 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,320 It's easy for us to do it. 682 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:38,920 You see homeless people. 683 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,520 You see people who are struggling. 684 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,120 It's easy to say they should have done better. 685 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,520 I'm not helping them. 686 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:54,120 Let me ask you this question. 687 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,120 If you saw me on the street begging for food, 688 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:56,920 would you help me? 689 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,920 What if you saw your son on the street? 690 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,520 Maybe you hadn't seen him in a few years. 691 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:07,120 You go to town, you're walking down the street, 692 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,120 you see your son, there he is with a sign, begging for help. 693 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,120 Would you help your son, your daughter? 694 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:18,020 If you were walking down the street and you saw your parent 695 00:29:18,020 --> 00:29:21,520 begging for food, would you help them? 696 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:22,520 Would you pass them by? 697 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,220 Well, you know those people that we see on the street? 698 00:29:28,220 --> 00:29:32,320 That's somebody's son, and that's somebody's daughter, 699 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,720 and that's somebody's mother, and that's somebody's father. 700 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:42,020 And I just bet you that for most of us in here, 701 00:29:42,020 --> 00:29:45,320 if it was our family, regardless of the decisions 702 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,920 that they had made, if we saw that need, 703 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,620 we'd probably meet that need. 704 00:29:50,620 --> 00:29:53,120 What if it was Jesus on the street? 705 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:55,520 What if Jesus looked like everybody else on the street? 706 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,220 Would you help him? 707 00:29:58,220 --> 00:30:00,520 Maybe not. 708 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,720 Maybe not. 709 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,920 But we should, because whatever we do to the least of these, 710 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,120 we do it to Jesus Christ. 711 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,520 So what kind of opportunities do we have? 712 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:15,820 Who are we passing by? 713 00:30:15,820 --> 00:30:17,820 We don't know everybody's story. 714 00:30:17,820 --> 00:30:19,820 Is there some rough folks out there 715 00:30:19,820 --> 00:30:21,320 that's taking advantage of people? 716 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:22,820 Are there some folks out there that 717 00:30:22,820 --> 00:30:25,620 take what you give them to help them and use it for evil? 718 00:30:25,620 --> 00:30:27,220 There are. 719 00:30:27,220 --> 00:30:28,020 We don't judge that. 720 00:30:28,020 --> 00:30:28,920 We don't know that. 721 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,520 God will deal with that. 722 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,220 But what God calls us to do is help. 723 00:30:34,220 --> 00:30:36,520 We'll let God take care of the rest. 724 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,720 If we get taken advantage of by 99 people 725 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,820 we meet on the street, but we're able to help one, 726 00:30:40,820 --> 00:30:43,520 lead them to Christ, praise the Lord. 727 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:44,520 Praise the Lord. 728 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,720 Isn't all the money or effort that we gave to the others, 729 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,620 isn't it worth it to be able to weed out the one? 730 00:30:50,620 --> 00:30:53,720 So Jesus gives us this beautiful parable. 731 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,320 Jesus gives us a call to action here. 732 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,120 What does he say at the end of this parable? 733 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:06,120 Then Jesus told him, go and do the same. 734 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,320 He says, here's your example. 735 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,120 You've seen the Samaritan. 736 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,220 You see what compassion is. 737 00:31:12,220 --> 00:31:14,520 I've just shown you an example of compassion. 738 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:15,420 And you got it. 739 00:31:15,420 --> 00:31:16,420 You acknowledged it. 740 00:31:16,420 --> 00:31:17,020 You see it. 741 00:31:17,020 --> 00:31:18,520 You made the connection. 742 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,720 Now you go and do the same. 743 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,320 And that's the command for us today. 744 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,220 That when we see the Word of God, 745 00:31:26,220 --> 00:31:28,420 when we see the compassion of Jesus, 746 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:31,120 when we see that he calls us to be compassionate, 747 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,620 when we see what Jesus has done for us 748 00:31:33,620 --> 00:31:36,620 by giving his life on a cross so that we could be forgiven, 749 00:31:36,620 --> 00:31:38,920 when Jesus says, I've given all for you. 750 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,320 You've experienced my grace and love and my compassion. 751 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,620 Now take that compassion and show my grace and love 752 00:31:45,620 --> 00:31:48,020 and meet the needs of those that you encounter. 753 00:31:48,020 --> 00:31:54,320 When we see that in scripture, Jesus says, go and do the same. 754 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,120 Now what about you this morning? 755 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:01,420 Are you going to go and do the same? 756 00:32:01,420 --> 00:32:04,920 Are you going to be like the Samaritan when you leave? 757 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,720 Or are you going to be like the priest in the Levi? 758 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,420 And they didn't do much. 759 00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:14,420 But the Samaritan gave us the example. 760 00:32:14,420 --> 00:32:17,720 We have opportunities all around us to serve. 761 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,220 You know, we're going to New Orleans on October the 5th 762 00:32:20,220 --> 00:32:22,420 to hand out sleeping bags to the homeless. 763 00:32:22,420 --> 00:32:24,120 Just saying. 764 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,020 God's given us lots of opportunities to serve. 765 00:32:27,020 --> 00:32:28,620 Whether it's an opportunity like that 766 00:32:28,620 --> 00:32:30,320 or whether it's an opportunity nearby, 767 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:31,920 there are people that we pass by every day. 768 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:32,920 And maybe we miss them. 769 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,620 Sometimes we just don't see them. 770 00:32:35,620 --> 00:32:38,020 We need to pray that God would help us to see them. 771 00:32:38,020 --> 00:32:40,620 Wherever they may be, wherever we may run into them, 772 00:32:40,620 --> 00:32:43,220 that God would help us to see those people who are in need 773 00:32:43,220 --> 00:32:46,020 and that God would help us to have the compassion 774 00:32:46,020 --> 00:32:48,120 to meet that need. 775 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:49,720 And why do we do it? 776 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,020 We do it all for the glory of God. 777 00:32:52,020 --> 00:32:55,120 We don't do it so we can come back in here next Sunday and say, 778 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,020 let me tell you, I saw this person 779 00:32:57,020 --> 00:32:58,620 and I helped him in this way. 780 00:32:58,620 --> 00:32:59,520 We don't do it for that. 781 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:01,120 We don't do it for a pound on the back. 782 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,520 We don't do it so we can post it on our Facebook page. 783 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:04,820 We don't do it so people can say, 784 00:33:04,820 --> 00:33:07,020 oh, those people at Enterprise Baptist Church, 785 00:33:07,020 --> 00:33:08,720 they are so good at helping people. 786 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:10,420 We don't do it for those reasons. 787 00:33:10,420 --> 00:33:13,820 We do it for the glory of God so that when people say, 788 00:33:13,820 --> 00:33:15,620 why are you helping me like this? 789 00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:19,120 We can say, because Jesus loves you. 790 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,520 Because this is what Jesus called me to do. 791 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,120 And we can tell them who Jesus is. 792 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,220 That's why we do it. 793 00:33:26,220 --> 00:33:28,720 And if it's not why we do it, then we need to repent and say, 794 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,120 God, I need you to change my heart. 795 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,120 We do it for the glory of God. 796 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,720 So let us look at this story this morning. 797 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,620 And as we leave today, let us go and do the same. 798 00:33:40,620 --> 00:33:41,420 Let's pray. 799 00:33:41,420 --> 00:33:42,820 Father God, we come to you today. 800 00:33:42,820 --> 00:33:45,220 We thank you for these good words. 801 00:33:45,220 --> 00:33:47,720 I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us to be better 802 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,320 neighbors, that we don't look for a select group, 803 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,920 that we want to help and single them out and leave others 804 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,820 to fight for themselves, dear Lord. 805 00:33:58,820 --> 00:34:02,520 But I pray that we would love all, dear Lord, 806 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,720 the good and the bad God, those that are lovable 807 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,720 and those that are unlovable. 808 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:12,220 I pray that you help us to see the needs around us. 809 00:34:12,220 --> 00:34:14,220 God, sometimes we just miss them. 810 00:34:14,220 --> 00:34:17,020 We just don't even recognize that they're there. 811 00:34:17,020 --> 00:34:18,320 We're so busy in our lives. 812 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:19,220 We don't look for them. 813 00:34:19,220 --> 00:34:21,820 Maybe we need to look for them. 814 00:34:21,820 --> 00:34:25,020 God, sometimes it may be even worse. 815 00:34:25,020 --> 00:34:28,820 We see that opportunity and we turn the other way. 816 00:34:28,820 --> 00:34:31,220 We pass by on the other side of the road, dear Lord. 817 00:34:31,220 --> 00:34:33,520 We don't want to admit it today. 818 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,420 But the truth is, God, is that sometimes we are no better 819 00:34:36,420 --> 00:34:40,020 than that priest and that Levite. 820 00:34:40,020 --> 00:34:42,620 But, dear Lord, I pray that you would help us to have 821 00:34:42,620 --> 00:34:45,620 an abundance of compassion, God. 822 00:34:45,620 --> 00:34:49,620 Not just a little compassion to make our guilty conscious 823 00:34:49,620 --> 00:34:52,320 feel better, but, dear Lord, that we seek you when we help 824 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,420 people to see how can we help them, how much can we help them, 825 00:34:55,420 --> 00:34:59,220 where do we start and when do we stop, God. 826 00:34:59,220 --> 00:35:01,620 And maybe there are times that you call us to do way more 827 00:35:01,620 --> 00:35:04,120 than we are comfortable with. 828 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,720 But, God, the Samaritan here gives us a beautiful example 829 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:10,820 of what an abundance of compassion looks like. 830 00:35:10,820 --> 00:35:12,520 And so I pray, God, that you would help us. 831 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:16,720 Maybe our hearts are not quite where he is today, 832 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:18,420 but they need to be. 833 00:35:18,420 --> 00:35:21,320 So help transform our hearts and help us to be men and women 834 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:25,220 who have compassion like that, that we love selflessly, 835 00:35:25,220 --> 00:35:31,320 dear Lord, that we are faithful with what you bless us with, 836 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,420 that we don't just use it on ourselves, dear Lord, 837 00:35:33,420 --> 00:35:36,220 but that we use it to help others, that we use it to build 838 00:35:36,220 --> 00:35:38,220 your kingdom. 839 00:35:38,220 --> 00:35:41,420 And I pray, dear Lord, that when we leave here today, 840 00:35:41,420 --> 00:35:43,720 that you would help us to remember the words of this story 841 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:46,920 and to remember the actions of this Samaritan, 842 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,320 that we would go and do the same in our lives. 843 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,920 Give us the strength, dear Lord. 844 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,020 Give us the grace. 845 00:35:54,020 --> 00:35:58,420 Give us the ability to do the things that you put before our path. 846 00:35:58,420 --> 00:36:00,920 God, maybe there are some here today and they do not know 847 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,120 Jesus Christ. 848 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,120 Maybe they've never known his compassion. 849 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,420 I pray, dear Lord, that today that they would know that Jesus 850 00:36:06,420 --> 00:36:10,020 has died on the cross for them, that that's the ultimate example 851 00:36:10,020 --> 00:36:11,620 of compassion, dear Lord. 852 00:36:11,620 --> 00:36:14,720 That's the ultimate example of sacrifice and one taking care 853 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:15,920 of another, dear Lord. 854 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,020 There is no greater love than this, that one would lay down 855 00:36:18,020 --> 00:36:21,420 his life for someone else. 856 00:36:21,420 --> 00:36:24,820 And that's exactly what Jesus has done for us today. 857 00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:26,720 God, I pray that if there are some that don't know Jesus 858 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:30,020 today, that they would feel his compassion today, 859 00:36:30,020 --> 00:36:32,520 that they would repent of their sins. 860 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,520 And for those of us who are yours, dear Lord, I pray that 861 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,520 you would help us to seek you, to grow in you. 862 00:36:37,520 --> 00:37:00,520 And I ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.