Before we get started, I've got a little exercise
I want y 'all to participate in for a moment
before I tell you our scripture. I want you to
think for a moment, and I want you to think about
somebody that you really respect and love. Somebody
that's a good Christian man or a good Christian
woman. Somebody you really... Look up to somebody
you hold in high esteem. I want you to think
of a name, and some of you, most of you, probably
only takes you a second to think of a man or
a woman that would fit those qualifications,
somebody that you really, really look up to and
respect. And once you get that name, I want you
to hold on to it, and then I want you to think
for a second, and I want you to think of somebody
that you absolutely hate. Now, some of you are
going to say, oh, I don't hate anybody, which
is the right church answer. We shouldn't. But
some of us are more honest, and maybe if we are
honest, maybe there is somebody that we hate.
And that name may have come to you soon, and
you may say, oh, I don't hate anybody. Okay,
well, think of somebody that you really, really,
really dislike, like you're one step away from
hating them. Think of that person. Maybe it's
a person. Maybe it's a people. Maybe it's a certain
group of people, a certain type of people. that
you really, really hate, that you don't hold
in very high esteem at all, that you really dislike
them, you don't approve of them, you don't like
them, you think less of them. And none of these
things are good if we have these feelings, but
if we're honest, maybe those feelings are there,
maybe we know it, maybe we don't know it. I want
you to think of that name or that group of people,
possibly, and I want you to hold on to those
two names. As we prepare to go through our text.
So let's pray and we'll get started. God, we
come to you. We thank you for a good day. I thank
you for loving us. I thank you for letting us
be able to come into this room and just love
each other. And I pray that your Holy Spirit
would be among us today. That everything that's
said and done would be for your glory, dear Lord.
That you work on our hearts. Help us to maybe
see areas that we need a little work. Maybe we're
in pretty good shape. Or maybe we're not. Maybe
we think we are in good shape, dear Lord, but
maybe in our text today we'll find that maybe
we're not where we need to be. And so I pray
that you'll be glorified in this place. Let your
Holy Spirit be among us. In Jesus' name I pray
it. Amen. We're going to be in Luke chapter 10
this morning. That's in the New Testament. Luke
chapter 10, kind of toward the front part of
the New Testament. Luke chapter 10, verse 25.
This may be a story you've heard before. I've
been reading through the parables of Jesus off
and on over the last probably three months or
so, just kind of looking at them and pondering
them. And I'd encourage you to do that if you've
never done it. There's a lot of good parables
there. A lot of them you've heard preached before.
And maybe you hadn't. Maybe you've never heard
any of Jesus' parables, the little stories that
he uses. If you're new to the Bible, maybe you're
here and you're new, or maybe you're listening
online and you say, boy, I've never read the
Bible before. Well, maybe the parables of Jesus
is a good place to start. You can look online
and find a list of those parables and kind of
see where they are. Most of them are very short,
and most of them are very easy for us to understand.
A lot of things in Scripture, they're easy to
understand, but they're a lot harder to carry
out. And maybe we'll see that's the case with
this parable we're going to look at today. Luke
chapter 10, verse 25, starts like this. Just
then an expert in the law stood up to test him,
saying, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? Okay, so the scene is set for us here.
An expert in the law. This is somebody that really
would have known what we would call the early
parts of the Old Testament, the law of Moses.
They would have really known that well. They
were an expert. They would have been probably
regarded as somebody who was really, really religious
in their day. And so this expert asked Jesus
the question, what must he do to inherit eternal
life? And that's a good question. That's probably
a question that some of us have pondered before.
Maybe you've pondered, well, is there something
more to this life? Is this life all there is?
Well, I can tell you if you've pondered that
question, the answer to that question is there
is more to this life. And through Jesus Christ,
the Scripture says we can receive eternal life.
And so when we die in this world, it's not just
the end. We don't just lay in the ground and
rot, but one day we will be raised and we will
stand before God in judgment. And if we put our
faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we'll receive
eternal life. The Bible also talks about hell.
If we reject God, hell is a place reserved for
those who have rejected God, who have rejected
Jesus Christ. And so there is something more
to this life. There is an eternity that awaits
us. And this expert in the law, he wanted to
know, well, how can I inherit eternal life? He
didn't really ask with a good heart. It doesn't
appear as though his motives are very good. It
says that he asked this question to test Jesus.
Now, my guess would be that he wasn't just curious
as to whether or not Jesus knew the right answer.
He probably wanted to try to trip Jesus up. We
see this often. With these types of people, these
experts in the law and these real religious people,
they really want to trip Jesus up. They want
to ask him questions that they think he's going
to give some answer that they can say, aha, we
got you. Jesus was far too clever for that. His
responses were so beautiful and they were so
clever and they were so brilliant. And so this
guy asked a question and instead of answering
the question, Jesus... Ask a question back. Here's
what he asked the guy in the next verse. What
is written in the law, he asked him. How do you
read it? Okay. Simple question. The guy asked
Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit eternal
life? Jesus said, what do you think you need
to do? You know the law pretty good. You're an
expert in the law. What do you think you need
to do? And the guy gives his answer in the next
verse. Verse 27. He answered, love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength. and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself. Pretty good answer.
Now this guy, he concludes that this is the right
answer based on the law. Now we see when we look
at Deuteronomy and Leviticus and some of those
older books. we really see what's important to
God. Now, we may kind of miss it if you're just
reading through the Old Testament for the first
time and you've never really read through it
before. You start reading through. God gives
a whole bunch of laws, over 600 laws about, you
know, clothes, fabric, and how you plant your
garden and all kind of like stuff that's kind
of weird in one sense. And there's a whole lot
of laws that God gives. But when we begin to
kind of look through that and kind of look at
the core of what most of these laws really talk
about, and then we flip to the New Testament,
we see that this man's answer is really what
the law is. He got it right. He said, well, I
think the law means that we're supposed to love
God and serve him, and I believe that we're supposed
to love our neighbor. And so he was an expert
in the law, and he probably could have... Could
have quoted a lot of the laws, maybe all of them,
all 600 plus he might could have quoted, but
he understood what the law really was about,
what God gave the law, and it was to instruct
people to follow God and to love other people.
And Jesus responded in verse 28, you've answered
correctly, he told him, do this and you will
live. He got the right answer. This guy, he got
it. He understood what the Word of God was all
about. Now, we want to understand what the Word
of God is all about today. And maybe sometimes
we miss it. I think we have a tendency to do
that. We miss the forest for the trees. You know,
we read a Bible story and we see a certain part
of it that we get hung up on. And we can get
hung up on one part of the story so much that
we kind of miss the big picture. We looked at
a good example of one of those stories in Sunday
school. this morning. We do that on Sunday mornings
at 945. You can come and you can also see some
of those good questions. And we talk about things
in those stories and it's easy for our minds
to get caught up on one thing and miss the big
picture. But this guy, even though he had a good
knowledge of the law, he didn't miss the big
picture. He understood that it's important to
love God and to love people. And that's important
for us today. We need to remember that today.
We need to ask ourselves the question, do we
love God with all of our heart? Do we trust him?
Do we fear him? Do we follow his instructions?
Do you love other people? Do you love your neighbor
as yourself? Do you do this? And Jesus said,
okay, you understand what to do. You've answered
correctly. Do this and you will live. Now that
could have been the end of the story. The guy
understood what God's word said. He knew what
was required of him. Jesus said, you asked the
question. You gave the right answer. You're correct.
Go and do what you just said. But the story does
not end there. Let's read the next verse. Verse
29. But wanting to justify himself, he asked
Jesus, and who is my neighbor? wanting to justify
himself. So perhaps he was a little self -righteous.
Maybe he thought, I got the right answer. I'm
doing this. I'm loving God. I'm loving my neighbor.
But wanting to justify himself, perhaps wanting
Jesus to... kind of applaud him again or acknowledge
that he knew what he was talking about or knew
what he was doing again. He pressed a little
further. He knew what was required. He understood
that he should love God and love his neighbor.
But wanting to justify himself, he continues
this question a little further. And so as Jesus
so brilliantly does, he takes the man's question
and he presents a story to answer that question
in a way that Probably caught the guy off guard.
And it's a story that we need to listen to that
might catch us off guard today too. Verse 30.
Jesus took up the question and said, A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell
into the hands of robbers. They stripped him,
beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.
Alright, simple story. Jesus talking about a
man, he's going from Jerusalem to Jericho, gets
attacked by robbers in bad shape. Now you can
imagine that that's probably not a good situation
to be in. You could maybe imagine if that happened
to you, that if you were on your way home today
and somebody... pulled out in front of you and
cut you off and wrecked you and pulled you out
of the car and beat you down and took everything
you had and left you on the side of the road
for dead. Imagine if you were in that situation.
That's the situation that Jesus presents here.
So a man gets attacked. He's in bad shape. He
is helpless. He needs somebody to help him. Let's
continue on. Verse 31. A priest happened to be
going down the road. When he saw him, he passed
by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite,
when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed
by on the other side. Okay, so the guy's laying
on the side of the road. He's helpless. He's
in bad shape. He's probably going to die unless
he gets some help. And lo and behold, who does
Jesus say comes by first? The person that Jesus
says comes by first, is a person that's well
-respected, is a person that's well -loved. Now
imagine if you were laying on the road dying.
Remember that name I told you to think of, that
person that you really respected, that you looked
up to, that was as godly a man or woman as you
know, that would surely do the will of God. Imagine
you being there saying, help, I need some help.
And imagine that person walking by. That's what
Jesus is saying here. He's saying a priest, somebody
that's well -respected, a man of God, of all
the people that you would think would stop and
serve and help and love on somebody in need,
you would think it would be a man of God. A well
-respected, good, righteous man. But the well
-respected, good, righteous man wasn't so righteous,
was he? He wasn't so godly, was he? have a heart
of compassion, he'd walk right on by. And it
says a Levite, somebody else who worked in the
temple. You'd think, well, golly, the priest
should stop. Surely somebody that works in the
temple or maybe in our... Surely somebody that
works at the church. Surely a deacon of the church.
They're supposed to be a servant. That's what
a deacon does. Surely the deacon would stop and
help. Surely the Sunday school teacher would
stop and help. Jesus says this man's wounded.
He's on the side of the road, left for dead.
And the two people that you would think would
have stopped to help him passed him right on
by. But Jesus knows what he's doing when he gives
these examples. He gives examples of people that
you think would stop and help. But these people
are not the hero of the story. Listen as we continue
on. Verse 33. But a Samaritan on his journey
came up to him. Now, it's important that we recognize
what Jesus is saying here. Now, we hear a story
and we hear the good Samaritan. And some of us
have heard it and we think, good Samaritan. Or
we do a good deed and we say, I'm a good Samaritan.
Or we see somebody do a good deed and they say,
they're a good Samaritan. But we need to understand
what Jesus is saying here. A Samaritan was...
not to be a likely hero in this story. This expert
in the law was likely a Jewish person, and there
was a big tension there between the Jewish people
and the Samaritans. The Jewish people did not
like the Samaritans. The Samaritans would have
been the descendants of the Israelites from the
ten tribes of Israel back when they were overtaken,
and the southern tribes... Judah became the Jewish
people that we see in Jesus' day. But they really
looked down on the Samaritans. They considered
them to be a lower quality of people. They just
did not like the Samaritans at all. And so here's
this Jewish expert in the law who probably would
have really looked up to the priest and the Levites
and really thought these are the godly men. And
Jesus makes the priest and the Levite in this
story. Be the one who passes the man in need
up. And of all people for Jesus to choose, he
said, but a Samaritan. Somebody that the Jews
hated, that they loathed, that they looked down
upon. But the Samaritan came up and stopped to
help the man. Now I want you to think of that
person I told you to really hate. that you really
hate, that you really dislike, that you really
don't want nothing to do with them. Maybe it's
a person, maybe it's a group of people. And imagine,
imagine if you were in your deepest, darkest
time of need and the people that you think are
the most godly are the ones that pass you up.
And think of all the people, when you are at
your lowest point, the one who stops is the one
that you just cannot stand. That you don't even
want to, the person you wouldn't spit on if they
were on fire. I'm talking about, and that's the
person that stopped to help you. Well, that's
what Jesus is trying to get across here. He's
trying to make a point. This guy said, who's
my neighbor? Wanting to justify himself, probably
thinking he's a pretty godly man and probably
pretty good to other people. And Jesus probably
struck a nerve by saying, the hero of this story.
is somebody that you despise. The hero, the neighbor,
the person who did the right thing is the one
who you despise. And so the Samaritan came up
and listened to what he did. But a Samaritan
on his journey came up to him, and when he saw
the man, he had compassion. He went over to him
and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil
and wine. Then he put him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
The next day he took two denarii, gave them to
the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him. When
I come back, I'll reimburse you for whatever
extra you spend. Okay, so not only did the Samaritan
stop. It's good that he stopped, praise the Lord.
The other ones didn't even do that. But he didn't
just stop and say, Hey, I see you got problems.
Let me go call 911. He didn't say, let me go
find some help. He didn't say that. It said that
the Samaritan, he saw the person in need and
he had compassion. That's a beautiful word. It's
a beautiful word and it's a more beautiful thing.
Compassion is a beautiful thing. Maybe you've
experienced it before. When you were at a time
when you were helpless and you were hopeless
and you were really struggling and somebody came
up and they loved on you and they helped you,
that's a beautiful thing. We need to have compassion
to other people. And you say, well, how do I
have compassion? Well, look at the story of the
Good Samaritan. He stops. He takes care of the
guy. He says, let me see what I got. He takes
what he has. He kind of bandages the guy up as
best he can. And then he takes him and puts him
on his own animal. So he didn't say, I got this
animal. I'll ride this animal into town. I'll
send back for you. Nope. He puts the guy on his
own animal, which means he probably had to walk.
He puts the guy on his own animal, and he takes
the guy into town, and he doesn't just take him
to the hospital and drop him off. He doesn't
say, all right, man, be on your way. He continues
on. He just continues on with his generosity
and his compassion. He doesn't do just enough
to pat himself on the back and feel better about
himself. Sometimes we may be guilty of that.
We may see somebody in need, and we may stop
and roll down the window and say, hey, man, how
you doing? You need some help? And then we roll
the window up and drive off, and we pat ourselves
on the back. We say, well, I tried. I did my
part. But this guy didn't just half -heartedly
try. He really cared, and he really made an effort.
So he takes the guy into town. He puts him up
in a lodging place for the night, and then he
takes care of him all night. And when he leaves,
he gives the guy two denarii, the guy that runs
the lodging place. He gives him two denarii.
That's two days' worth of wages. Two days' worth
of wages. Think about how much money you make
in two days. I mean, that's not an insignificant
amount of money. And this guy gave two days'
wages. He left him there, and he said, look,
this guy's been hurt. I bandaged him up. I took
care of him the best I can. He needs to stay
here for a little longer. I want to go ahead
and pay in advance. And he says, not only will
I do that, but just keep a record. If you need
more money, just let me know. I'll pay you when
I come back through. Now that's compassion right
there. Like that's going all the way. Jesus takes
this low life, no good, look down upon Samaritan
and he becomes the hero of the story and does
what all of those who claim to be God's children
should do. Everyone who follows God who does
that. First and foremost, the priest should have
done that. But it's not just the duty of the
priest or the preacher or those in higher positions
of power, if you call them that, if we put that
label on it. It's not just for people with a
title that are called to do God's will and God's
work. It's all of God's children who are called
to do God's will and God's work. We're all called
to follow God. We're all called to love our neighbor
as ourself. Now, if there's somebody... in our
life that's had compassion on us, that shouldn't
we be those who have compassion on others? So
how can we, how can we, experiencing the forgiveness
and the grace of God through Jesus Christ, knowing
how rotten and wretched we are, how can we look
at some others with such hatred in our heart?
And with such bitterness in our heart and with
such pride in our heart and think that we are
better than somebody else, that they are undeserving,
that they are worthless, that they should have
done something for themselves. How many times
would we pass the man or the woman on the street
up and say, well, if they'd have done better,
they wouldn't be in that shape. And say, well,
God wants us to help those people. And then people,
people, this is what we do. Y 'all don't do this.
Praise the Lord. Y 'all don't do this. Other
people do. they'll say something like this. It's
one of my favorite scriptures. It's one of the
most quoted scriptures. They say, well, I'll
tell you what, God helps those who help themselves.
It's one of my favorite scriptures that's not
in the Bible. Did you know that scripture is
not in the Bible? It is not in the Bible. So
if you've been using it, you need to stop using
it because the Bible does not say that. And if
you find it in there, would you please show me
and I will... announce an apology and a correction
next week. The Bible does not say God helps those
who help themselves. Now, we can look at people
who are just in bad shape, laying around, and
we can come up with all kinds of excuses why
we don't want to help them. But the fact of the
matter is, God's Word says just the opposite
of that. Let me tell you what God's Word says.
It doesn't say God helps those who help themselves.
In Romans chapter 5, it says in verse 6, helpless
at the appointed moment Christ died for the ungodly.
While you were still helpless. While you were
still helpless. God didn't save your soul. God
doesn't bless you today with the blessings you
have because you are so awesome. He did not look
down and say, golly, he is so good and she is
so good. And I know they're going to sit on those
pews at Enterprise on June the 14th, 2026 and
years before and years after. And they are so
good. I cannot wait to bless them because they
have done everything that I wanted them to do.
And I know they'll do more. That is not what
the Scripture says. God doesn't say, they have
done something, they have helped themselves,
so let me pour out my blessings upon them. God's
Word says that while you were still helpless,
you have nothing to offer God. There's nothing
that you can do to earn God's grace and God's
forgiveness and God's salvation. And Jesus looked
down on you in the midst of all your sinfulness
and all your hatred, knowing that you were going
to hate the neighbor that you should be loving.
And while you were still helpless, Jesus Christ
died so you could be forgiven. That's the Word
of God. It doesn't say God helps those who help
himself. It says that while we're helpless, God
helps us. That's good news for us today. Some
of us feel helpless today. Some of you... You
just feel so helpless. And that's good news for
you, that God loves you, that Jesus died for
you in your current state, knowing you're helpless.
But I want to tell you, there's help in Jesus
Christ. He skipped down a couple of verses. Verse
8, Romans 5, 8. But God proves his own love for
us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. That's the gospel. That's the grace.
That's the good news today. God doesn't just...
Love us because we're so awesome. That He loves
us even though we are just horrible and wretched
people. Now, if God has helped us when we were
helpless, then how can we pass up other people
who are in need? Now, there are people in our
life, or some of us, who are honest, and we just
don't like them. Maybe if we're really honest,
we would say we just hate them. But just... We
don't want anything to do with them. But if Christ
is our example, and if He helps us while we are
helpless and undeserving, then that's what God
calls us to do. We don't want to fall into the
trap of this expert in the law. Boy, he knew
the right answer. He knew what God required of
him. To love God and to love his neighbor. He
knew the right answer. But was he living it out?
He wanted to justify himself. Sometimes perhaps
we become self -righteous and we think, man,
I'm a godly man and a godly woman. Well, let
me ask you this. Would you help that person you
hate? And you said, not in a million years. Then
you need to go back and look at your life. If
we're not at a point in our life where we're
willing to try to start helping those that have
done us wrong, and we're willing to start helping
those that we have looked down upon and we have
thought less of, if we're not willing to do that,
then maybe, just maybe, we have not experienced
the love of God for ourselves. Now, it's not
easy. There are people who have wronged us in
some horrible ways. They have broken us and they
have done... horrible wrongs to us. There is
no question about that. And I'm not telling you
that it's always going to be easy. It's not.
We cannot do it in our own power. We cannot have
that kind of love for people on our own. But
we can learn that kind of love through Jesus
Christ. We can learn when we look at his example
on those days where we want to be so quick to
judge. others for what they do and how they live
and how they need to change their life and then
they would be deserving of some help, when we
look at our own life and say, but wait a minute,
God didn't do that to me. If you've experienced
the grace of God, then it's up to you to give
the grace of God. It's up to you not to just
help those people that you really look up to
and respect, but think about that person that
you really loathe and think, would I help that
person? If the answer to that question is no
today, then praise the Lord that you're here,
that you get to hear this story, that you can
pray to God and say, okay, God, I want to change.
But the sad part about this, the sad part about
this story is that there are people who hear
this parable, they know God's word. They know
that it says to love God with all your heart
and love your neighbor. They know what it says.
They know what God calls them to. They see and
they understand what Jesus is saying. They hear
this story. They know what the love of Jesus
Christ is. They know that they're supposed to
love other people. And they hear the story and
they say, but I'll never love that person. I'll
never forgive that person. I'll never help that
person. If that's you today, that's a bad place
to be. That is a bad place to be. So we hear
the story, so what are we going to do with it?
What are we going to do with it? It's an easy
story. It's an easy story to understand. That
we're to be a neighbor to those in need. That's
who our neighbor is. It's not the person who
lives next door. It's not the one you knock on
the door and say, hey, can I get a cup of sugar?
That's not your neighbor. I mean, it is your
neighbor, but Jesus is going far beyond that.
Jesus says your neighbor is the one who's in
need that you can help. That's your neighbor.
Maybe somebody you see on your way home today.
Maybe somebody you see in New York. Wherever
you see them. Wherever you see a person in need
that's struggling, that's your neighbor. And
we're not called to help them because of what
they've done or what they can do for us. When
we see helpless people, we shouldn't say, God
helps those who help themselves. When we see
helpless people, we should say, God, help me
to help them. Help me to help them. After Jesus
read the... Or told the story to this man, this
parable. In verse 36 he says, Which of these
three do you think proved to be a neighbor to
the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?
The one who showed mercy to him, he said. Then
Jesus told him, Go and do the same. You've heard
the story. You know what God calls us to. To
love God, to love our neighbor. You know what
it means to be a neighbor. You know who a neighbor
is. It's one who shows mercy. The guy, he got
the right answer every time. And then Jesus tells
him, you got it. Now go do it. I don't know if
he did it or not. Maybe he did. Maybe this expert
in the law, maybe this parable changed his life.
Maybe he went and he had a whole new perspective.
And he went to be a neighbor to all those that
he would encounter from the rest of his life.
Maybe he did. I don't know. I don't know what
he did. I don't know what you're going to do.
But you have to make the choice. Here's the word
of Jesus to us today. Go and do the same. You
said, man, there's some parts of that story I
didn't get or I wasn't paying attention or I
was thinking about what I was going to do next
week. Go back and read it again this week. Read
it ten times if you need to. Read the story.
Try to understand the story. Pray that God would
help you to understand the story. Pray that God
would change your heart. And once you've read
the story and you understand the story, listen
to the words of Jesus and the command to each
of us today where Jesus says, go and do the same.
That's it. That's the command. Will you follow
that command? Only you can answer that question.
Will you help those who are helpless? Jesus helped
those who were helpless. He gave his life so
that you could be forgiven, so that you could
experience grace and peace. I hope that you've
experienced that today. Maybe you've never put
your trust in Jesus. I encourage you to just
pray even now. Just bow your head and pray. Repent
of your sins. Ask God to forgive you. Acknowledge
that you are helpless and you've got nothing
to offer, but you know that Jesus offered his
life and you just want to... Accept that sacrifice
today. If you've never followed Jesus, I hope
that you will. And if you are a follower of Jesus
Christ today, then you've experienced grace.
You've been helped. Now take that grace and go
and share it with other people. Let's pray. God,
we come to you. We thank you for your good word.
I pray, dear Lord, that you'd help us to look
at our own hearts with a story like this. Sometimes
we might fall into the trap of, Self -righteousness,
God. That we begin to think that we are doing
so good and we are such good followers of you.
God, so many times maybe there's some things
in our heart that shouldn't be there. Maybe there
is some hatred and some real disdain for certain
people, dear Lord. Maybe there are people or
people groups that we just loathe, dear Lord.
And that's not good. It's not right. So I pray
that we wouldn't... Pass people up, dear Lord,
and be judgmental. And pass them up as though
we are awesome and they are worthless, dear Lord.
That is totally not the case, God. You helped
us when we were helpless through Jesus Christ.
And I pray, God, that we would experience that
compassion and grace and share it with others.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.