But as we start this morning, I think we need to begin with looking at the greatest compassion story ever told, which is in Luke chapter 10. We're all familiar with the story, the good Samaritan. Wherever the light of Christ is, the good Samaritan story is known. We call people and they do good deeds, that's a good Samaritan.
But I'm afraid our familiarity with this, we've missed the real thrust of the passage. I pray this morning, we would just bypass it because we've heard it so many times. But the God would give us fresh eyes to see what I think is the real heart of this passage. You remember the context is important to Jesus and Luke 10.
He sent out the 70s. They've gone out. They've come back and they've had great results. So they've healed and cast out demons.
And Jesus rejoices in what they've been able to accomplish. In fact, he says, I saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning. He says in a fulfillment of Genesis chapter 3 in Isaiah 14, I'm seeing the beginning of the end of Satan. But then in verse 21, in fact, look at chapter 10 verse 21, he just cries out in rejoices.
He says, he rejoices. I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was pleasing in your sight. Imagine this is a cycle standing around.
They'd come back and he just starts praying. God, I praise you that you hid this from the wise, really smart people. And you revealed it to this group of knuckleheads. Well, thank you, Jesus.
Thanks for your going. But that's the truth. He's saying, remember your calling, brethren, that not many were wise, mind you, noble. God has chosen the base things of the world.
Isn't it wonderful that God didn't choose just the intelligent or the really smart or the really beautiful, but they reached into the poverty of our lives and he saved us and he opened our eyes to the beauty of the gospel. And really, I think that the story of the good Samaritan is a picture of what he's saying there in verse 21. That you've hidden this from the wise and the intelligent and you've revealed it to infants. Because what we're going to see is some really wise and intelligent people in their culture.
We're going to see a lawyer, a priest, a Levite. He's with the brightest, the brightest, the smartest, the smartest, smart. And their eyes are going to be hidden from it. And yet we're going to see the outcasts.
Their eyes will be open. So with that in mind, let's pray and then we'll work our way through this text. By the way, thank you for your word. God, I pray that you give us fresh eyes to see your scripture this morning.
God, I pray that you speak to us. You make it alive for the power of your Holy Spirit. So if there's somebody here today that'll know you, never place their faith in Christ. Lord, I pray that you open their eyes.
Scripture says, the Satan is blind to the mind. He's the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, that have veilized over their hearts today. But God, I pray today by the power of your spirit, you pull back blinders. So they see the poverty of their sin.
They see their Savior, Jesus. They trusted Him. God, for those of us that do know you, I pray that we'd be compelled to better understand what it means to live for you, to love you with all of our heart and to love our neighbors ourselves. Pinnertray our hearts and draw us closer yourself.
Changes today by means of your word. And we pray in Christ's name, Amen. We'll look with you in verse 25. So a lawyer, Jesus, you've hidden this from the wise and intelligent.
Well, one of the wise and intelligent immediately approaches Jesus, a lawyer. Now, we think, a lawyer, don't think of the lawyer, the sense of our lawyer today. A lawyer in their day was a professional expositor of the word. This was a person who was an expert in the law.
Not just the law of the Old Testament. What they did is they described the law, they brought it down to their level so that they could adhere to it and they could find themselves right inside of God in the base of keeping the law. So they had 26 volumes written on how to actually fulfill the law. And these lawyers were experts in that law.
They were kind of the final say for the nation on what it meant to fulfill the law. So this lawyer comes up to Jesus and he said to him, he always says he stood up and put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So he asked Jesus the most important question a person could ever ask in their life. This is the fundamental question of life.
How do I inherit eternal life? In other words, how do I make myself right with God? How do I know that I know that I know when the end of my life comes that I will be with God forever in heaven? Listen to me, that is the fundamental question of life.
It's the question that everybody must contemplate at some point. And so this lawyer brings this question. Now notice he doesn't come in sincerity. He's not asking the question seriously.
In fact, the text tells us that he came to test Jesus. In other words, he's trying to show off how much knowledge he has and he's going to try to make Jesus look down. We're going to show these people, this Jewish carpenter, he don't know nothing. So he comes to test Jesus.
But what's interesting is while he doesn't come sincerely or seriously, Jesus will answer him very seriously. In fact, look at what it says in verse 26 and he said to him, what is written? Jesus says, Jesus says, Jesus doesn't say this guy, he says, how do I hear this in her life? Jesus doesn't say to him, well, go, there's a lot of opinions on that.
There's a lot of preachers, a lot of teachings, a lot of religions. You got to call through them and figure out what fits for you. He doesn't say that. He says, if you want to know the answer to the ultimate question of life, there's one place to go and it's the word of God.
So if you're asking that question this morning, how do I get to heaven? How do I get to heaven? Don't ask the opinions of men. You need to know what God says.
And the only source of infallible truth is the word of God. So he says, you're supposed to know the law. You're supposed to know the word. What does it say to you?
Well, he gives a very good answer. In verse 27, he answered and said, you should love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind and your neighbors yourself. So he gives a great answer. This was a summation of the law.
It's Deuteronomy 6, it's Leviticus 19, every little Jewish boy and girl growing up would have known these passages. This was the essence of the law. In fact, it's the same answer Jesus gives when he was asked what's the greatest commandment. He said, love God with all your heart.
And the second is, love your neighbors yourself. It's a great answer. In fact, that's what Jesus says. Look at verse 28.
And he said to him, you answered correctly. Way to go. Good job. A plus.
Do this and you'll live. It's actually a quotation from Leviticus 18. He says, you got it. You got to figure it out.
This is great. In order to get to God, you got to love God perfectly. You got to love God with all of your heart. You got to walk in total fellowship and faithfulness and obeyed to him.
And then you got to turn around and you got to love your neighbor sacrificially even as you would love yourself. Now you got to do it and you're fine. Carry on. My lad, they'll be friendly and happy and you're good to go.
And what he's expected, what he should have done, the response he should have given is if that's the requirement to inherit eternal life, then I'm not getting in. If that's what it takes to enter into the presence of God, then I'm disqualified. That's what he should have said. In fact, he probably should have said, ain't nobody getting in.
If that's what it takes, Lord, if that's what you're saying, there's no way. Listen to me today. If you're wondering how do I get to heaven? In order to get to heaven, you don't have to be as good as Billy Graham.
You don't have to be as good as Mother Teresa. You got to be as good as God. You got to be perfect because the standard that God demands of all those who enter into his presence is the righteousness of God. And we all fall short.
If there's one thing that the Bible speaks to you over and over and over again is that none of us are getting to heaven on the basis of the works of the law or our good deeds. We all fall always, well, we'll be short. But he can't see that. He's blind to it.
And so what does he say? Look at his response in verse 29. He says, but wishing to justify himself. So he's still trying to justify himself before God.
And none of us are going to justify ourselves before God. But he's going to try. He said to Jesus, and who's my neighbor? Now, this is so interesting to me because he doesn't even deal with the first one I loved God with all your heart.
In other words, he said, I got that one. Which he doesn't, but I'm good there. And theoretically, God's not there to refute him. Although Jesus good.
But he goes to the second part. I'm going to get the second part because he probably knows there's some people out there that he hasn't been real kind to. So he's going to say, tell me a little bit more about the neighbor. Who is my neighbor?
Who do I have to love? Is it just the Jews? Is it just the really good Jews? Give me an age limit.
And this is so important because a lot of people, listen, a lot of people when they're confronted with the truth of the gospel and the depth of their own sin will automatically try to deflect or evade by going to the technicalities of what it means to live right before God. I don't want to talk about my sin. What do I need to do? Who is my neighbor?
And Jesus is going to answer him. In some ways, Jesus doesn't answer him. In some ways, he does. But Jesus is going to essentially say, you want to know who your neighbor is?
Let's get real here, brother. Let's talk about life. Let's talk about victims. Let's talk about hurt and pain and need in your enemies.
Let's get real in your life. Let me tell you a story. Now, whenever Jesus says, once upon a time, you're in trouble because he's going to pin you against the wall. And that's exactly what he tends to do in this story.
So look at the story of the Jews. To answer the question, who's my neighbor? Jesus replied in verse 30 and said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half day. So this probably wouldn't have been a very uncommon story.
The road from Jericho, Jerusalem is a dangerous past, a lot of places for thieves and robbers to hide out. And so he just tells the story which probably would have been very common. Guys traveling, he gets robbed. Not only robbed, he's beaten, he's stripped naked.
He's left in a place of shame, embarrassment, broken, half dead. He is in a helpless, hopeless situation. He's dead if there's not somebody who comes along to help him. So apart from outside intervention, he's hopeless.
And he's probably praying, if you're in a situation where you're laying on the roadside dead, you're probably praying, God send me a pastor. You know, a sudden Baptist preacher, give me Bill Shifflett. Please, Lord. You want a pastor?
Right? Look who shows up. And by chance, praise the Lord, first, a priest, a pastor was going down the road. And when he saw him, what'd he do?
Pass him on to the side. He not even get close. He probably thought if I touch this dead man, then I'm unclean, then I'm going to go after the pure, I think I've got time for that. I'm going on down the road.
Well, who else? In verse 32, another guy who's supposed to know the law, another guy who's supposed to love God, likewise a Levite, also when he came to the place and saw him, passed him on this thing. He does the exact same thing. And the picture here is, listen to me, the picture here is that again, these are the elite, these are the people supposed to know the word of God.
They're supposed to know what it means to love God, and they don't get it. They don't get it. See, listen to me, true Christianity is not just knowing the word. It's not just having a bunch of knowledge in your head.
True Christianity is knowing the word of God to such an extent that it gets inside your heart and it changes you from the inside out so that now you love God with all your heart. And yes, what a real demonstration that you love God is you love the people who are made in his image. And your heart breaks for people who are hurting. It's a real picture of whether or not you really know Christ is that Christ has got your heart and you love him so much that you love other people.
These guys don't get it. They just have a bunch of knowledge. They're pros professionals, but they don't have the real deal. They're blind.
And so we go on who else will come. The audience is probably thinking, now you're going to sit in a layman. These are the professional religious people. Now you're going to sit in a layman.
But in verse 33, a Samaritan, that was a curse word. These weren't just neighbors of the Jews. They were enemies. They despised the Samaritans.
They despised them. They loathed them. They hated them. But as Samaritan comes, we're going to see he gets it.
He was on a journey. He came upon him and when he saw him, he felt compassion. Compassion means his inner being. He's moved.
It just moves him internally. He hurts. He's not just a person in pain and his heart feels pain. He felt compassion.
But it's not just about feelings. Feelings alone isn't enough. We talk about a lot about loving people. What is love?
This guy shows us what real love is. Because it's not just a feeling. What does he do? He came up to him.
He bandaged up his wounds. In order to bandage his wounds. He didn't have a first aid kit. In order to make bandages, he had to rip his own clothing.
So he tears up his own clothing, meaning he's probably well-dressed. He humbles himself. Bandages this guy. Pores oil and wine on them.
He treats them. These were expensive commodities. He put him on his own beast. He removes himself from a place of comfort.
And elevates that man, brought him to it in and took care of him. He's inconvenient. First 35, on the next day, he took out two daira, gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him. And whatever you spend, when I return, I'll repay you.
And I said, S and T puts down a credit card. He says, here's the MX card. Whatever he needs. Just throw it on there.
I got it. Unbelievable. This, what Jesus presents here, it's absurd. In that culture, absurd.
There's no way a Samaritan, an enemy, is going to stop and love this guy in this kind of sacrificial servant-hearted way. Jesus in verse 30 says, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell in the rub? Well, let's see, who is the neighbor here? In verse 37, the lawyer said, the one who showed, notice here, he can't even bring himself to say the word Samaritan.
He says, the one who showed mercy to him. And then Jesus said to him, go and do the same. Meaning the Samaritan is your instructor. Go live like him.
Now, this is two occasions. In verse 28, Jesus said, do this and live. The law, go live it. You're fine.
Here, go and do likewise. On two occasions, he's giving this lawyer an opportunity to say, I can't do it. Listen, this kind of sacrificial love, the love that Jesus describes here, it's supernatural. We don't love people in this kind of way, especially not our enemies.
To give of ourselves, sacrificially, to people we hate in this kind of way, it's absurd. It's impossible. The man should have said, there's no way I can do this. If this is what it takes, if this is what it really means to love your neighbor as yourself, I'm a goner.
I'm done. He's intended to see what he's supposed to see in this is that he's the victim in the story. He's the one who fell upon the robbers and he's spiritually bankrupt. He's spiritually broken.
He's spiritually in the ditch and he can't save himself the law of God, the priest, the Levite. They can't help him. The law can't help him. He's a broken destitute.
He needs divine intervention. He needs a perfect neighbor to come into a situation, not just love him, but care for him, bind up his wounds, cover him, lift him up into the fullness of his grace and save him. He's intended to see himself in the story, doesn't he? Really, the real blindness here is he's not only blind to his own sin and that he is the victim.
He's blind to the fact that the perfect neighbor, the Savior that he needs is standing right in front of him. He's blind to Jesus. But listen, this is the main thrust of the passage. This is a picture of the gospel, amen.
This is a picture of all of us prior to faith in Christ. is a picture of all of us outside of Christ, that we are broke spiritually. We got beaten and broken by the world. Amen?
It beat us down. Sin and Satan beat us down and left us broken in the ditch and we were spiritually bankrupt and we couldn't save ourselves and the law of God couldn't help us. The law of God couldn't save us. It just condemned us and left us broken.
We needed outside intervention and the good news of the gospel is an outside intervener did come in and he was actually our enemy. His prior to faith in Christ we were in the sea with God. And the very son of God came for children of the devil, you and me. He didn't just love us but God demonstrated his love in this way in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and he reached in the depth of our poverty.
And we didn't do anything because we couldn't do anything. We were dead people. And he came and he snatched us up and he plucked us up and he clothed us. He took off his righteousness and he put his righteousness on us and he clothed us with his righteousness and he binded up our wounds and he healed us spiritually and lifted us up into the fullness of his grace and he paid for the penalty of our sins.
He redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and we are saved and redeemed through Christ who came for us. Amen? It's really cool because when you think about it. I love to put myself in the shoes of the victim.
Just imagine him. He's left dead. He thinks that's all gone. And the next day he wakes up in a hotel room, he went on the pillow, they're bringing him breakfast in bed.
He's kind of groggy bandages on his head. He sees the innkeeper. What happened? You're not going to believe this.
It's Samaritan. He said it again. Samaritan. You mean my enemy?
Yeah. He didn't even know who you were. He didn't have clothes on you. He didn't have a dialect but he just saw a person.
You're not going to believe this but he bandaged you. Are you kidding me? No, he came up half torn up close because he took off what he had and he gave it to you. And he put you on his piece.
He brought you. He didn't even know it but he lifted you up. He didn't do anything. He brought you here.
And he probably said, who's going to pay for all this? He already paid it. Are you kidding? It's covered.
What about tomorrow? I don't know. I don't have the money to pay for tomorrow. Everything's gone.
They took everything I had. Here's the goodness. He paid for tomorrow too. And the next day, and the next day after that he left his credit card.
Where is he? I want to thank this guy. Well, he's gone away. But he said he'd be back.
Isn't that a pretty good story? You and I were dead in the ditch. You got no hope? But Christ saw you.
He saw your sin past, present and future. And he was moved. We can passionately love you. And he gave his son.
And he came to you. When you couldn't get to him, he lifted you up. And he raised you up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. And we say, where is he?
And we know he's gone away to prepare a place for us. But good news. He's coming back. And we'll praise him for all eternity.
That's the main thrust of this passage. It's a picture of the gospel. But note this today. It doesn't detract from the fact that there's an obligation here.
Isn't there? We are to love our neighbor. That Christianity, let me say this again. We're not just a bunch of people who are not just we don't drink and don't lie and don't steal.
The Christian life is not just a bunch of negatives. The true mark of the Christian life is that we receive the compassion and grace of mercy and through the power of the spirit and the gospel in our lives. We turn around and love other people like ourselves. And the love is immersory.
We can't do it our own. You can't love your enemy like this apart from the gospel. The gospel becomes the power and the compelling factor that moves us to love people in this way. In fact, the story really defines who your neighbor is.
You say, who is my neighbor? Who do I have to love? You determine what this shows us. You don't determine your neighbor from a position of service.
You determine your neighbor from a position of need. In other words, if I gave you $1,000 today and said you could help anybody you want to help, you would probably be pretty picky about who you helped. You know, if you're a KU fan, you say I ain't helping no Mufan. No, I'm a Missouri fan.
They're going to have to be Jayonk all the way. They're going to have to be good people too and kind of like them to be bad-dished. They got to check the right boxes. You'd be really picky, wouldn't you?
That's not how we determine our neighbor. We determine our neighbor from a position of need. Now, just imagine yourself. I don't know why you'd be doing this, but you're on 69 highway south of Osawatomi at 2 AM in the morning.
I don't know why you'd be there. Just bear with me. But you're 2 AM in the morning south of Osawatomi and your car breaks down and you've got no self-coverage. 2 AM in the morning, car completely broke down, dead a night.
Who's your neighbor now? Your neighbor is anybody with a pulse. They got a cell phone in their breathing. They're my neighbor.
Just kind of keeps going. The car breaks. But then we want to do something. You want a good example of this?
There was a pastor in evangelist in Chicago and he had a chance to go speak to the troops during the Korean conflict. So he flew over there, got over there and he's going to preach to the troops and he's going to tour the city as he's going to turn the city. He's got his winner clout in his hand and a boy come up to snatch the coat, runs off of it. He's that's my coat.
He runs after, he's going to chase after the skid. He runs down straight through an alleyway and the kid goes in a little store and he sees his coat laying on the floor. He goes to pick up his coat and say thanks. The kid just dropped it.
He pulls the coat up and he sees the little boys on his coat. He's just shivering, he's obviously starving. He sees another clump of coats and he pulls back the coats and it reveals a whole bunch of little kids. And they're all shivering, freezing, and teeth chattering.
When he's moving, he goes, it goes in a store on the desk, he gets some soup and blankets, and he hands it out these children and he tries to help him as best he could. He goes on his way, he goes back to the hotel room, he goes to sleep that night, but he can't get the picture of these kids out of his head. And so he goes, he gets a very early in the morning while it's still dark, and he goes to the same area, and he finds army trucks. And these army trucks are going around to those clumps of coats.
And they're shaking the little kids, and the little kids that didn't make it through the night, they just chucked him in the back of the truck. Found out that they were orphans through the Korean conflict. They had nothing. He went on to preach the truth, saw many kind of faith in Christ.
As he's traveling back to Chicago, he's on a plane, and the roar of the plane said, started making noises. And soon the noises became symbols, and then words, and he heard this over and over again, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? He went back, he found his good friend who was a businessman, he went to see him, he said, I don't know why I'm coming to you, but I've got to tell somebody, there's just this burden in my heart for these orphans that I saw, and I don't even know what to do.
And the businessman pushes away from his desk, he pulls out his desk door, and he pulls out a check, it's a check for $1,000, it has no name on it, but check for $1,000, he says, you're not going to believe this. But a long time ago, I was in my time at the Word, and in prayer, and God told me to write a check for $1,000, but don't put a name on it. I want you to give it to the first person who comes and talks to you about caring for orphans. That man was Everett Swanson, and he took that $1,000, and he started Compassion International.
And he said, we're going to help rescue children from poverty in the name of Jesus. We're going to meet their physical needs so that we have an opportunity to meet their greatest need, which is their need for Jesus Christ.