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Blessed are the Ears that Hear: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37)
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Sunday Message recorded 12 October 2025
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
The Power of Belief in Jesus
00:00:07
Speaker
Man, I don't if that gets you fired up. i don't know what does, man. That's ah that's a powerful song, right? Because all of us here in Jesus, when we choose to believe and confess in him, we are choosing the Jesus way.
00:00:20
Speaker
It's not an option. If you truly believe that Jesus is Savior and Lord your life, he commands you to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow after him. And the reason why this song just got me so pumped up, I saw that it was on the lineup, but i it just fired me up because that's exactly what we'll be looking at today in today's passage that
Studying the Gospel of Luke
00:00:38
Speaker
going to be looking at. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Luke chapter 10. We're to be continuing our study through the gospel of Luke.
00:00:46
Speaker
And over last couple of of, or last week and the last time we looked at Luke, we've been looking at this idea or this theme that Jesus has been revealing to his disciples of of the things that are hidden to the kingdom of God, right?
Miracles and Teachings
00:01:01
Speaker
If you truly follow Christ, right? And we see this as he sends out the 72 disciples. If you truly follow him and you're walking by faith, you're going to see and witness and partake in things that are absolutely miraculous.
00:01:12
Speaker
Right? right the 72 disciples mere men and women i mean well just mere men like us right and who who went out did not expect to to to witness and see things that they got to see as far as miracles and casting out demons and seeing uh the blind receiving sight the sick being healed and they come back and they give a report to jesus and they're on fire Right?
Shifting Mindsets: Power and the Book of Life
00:01:34
Speaker
they're they're They're overjoyed by what what God has allowed them to partake in. And Jesus, he's like, hey, this is great that you're seeing this, but remember what he said. He's like, yes, don't but don't celebrate over the fact that Satan submits to you now.
00:01:50
Speaker
But celebrate the fact that your name is written where? in the book of life. And not just that your names are in the book of life, but all those who you interacted with that you witnessed to, their names are also in the book of life, right?
00:02:05
Speaker
So this is a mind shift that Jesus is trying to create here within his disciples and ultimately among the Jewish
Inclusivity of the Gospel
00:02:12
Speaker
people. Because you gotta remember, the Jews, what were they all excited about?
00:02:16
Speaker
Oh, we're the inheritance. We're the ones who have the the promise of God as the Jews. The Jews are the ones who are going to enter into the kingdom. And yes, they have a promise.
00:02:27
Speaker
But Jesus, when he came onto to the scene, he said, hey, yes, I came for the Jew first, but I'm also coming for the Gentile. I've come to bring the gospel to everyone who has ears to hear and eyes to see.
00:02:41
Speaker
It's an incredible hope and an incredible gift that Jesus is putting on display here. And this is what Jesus is trying to to reveal to them. And that's what we looked
Revelation of the Kingdom of God
00:02:49
Speaker
at last week. when he After the 72 returned, Jesus stopped and he turned to the Father. And and Luke writes it down for us, on how he stopped and he rejoiced and praised the Father for what he was doing among his followers.
00:03:04
Speaker
Not just his 12, but those who are actively following him. And how that by them choosing to submit themselves to the will of God rather than to the law, things are starting to be revealed to them.
00:03:20
Speaker
And what are those things? The hidden kingdom. the kingdom of God. you know And that's the other thing, Jesus came so that way he can reveal this kingdom. you know that With the promise of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant law was so was
Privilege of Seeing the Truth
00:03:34
Speaker
pointing to, you know the Jews have been missing it up to that point because they were clinging to this law rather than to the promise of the law.
00:03:44
Speaker
And Jesus is rejoicing in God because now people are finally starting to open their eyes to the reality of the gospel. And that's why he he talks later in there, verse 23, chapter 10, he says, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
00:04:03
Speaker
For many who were before you long to see what you see and to hear what you hear, and yet they didn't receive it, but yet you are seeing it and you're experiencing it and you are now walking in it.
00:04:15
Speaker
Blessed are the eyes who see what you see.
00:04:20
Speaker
So you can only imagine how the 72 and the disciples included in that received that,
Joy and Hardships in Faith
00:04:26
Speaker
right? Like if you were part of that and Jesus said that to you, you're like, oh yeah, like let's do this, you know?
00:04:34
Speaker
and And it's songs like that that that kind of help fire you up in the moment of it because of us as followers of Jesus, that's the promise. You know, I get it. We have a lot of, there's a lot of hardship, a lot of pain, a lot of brokenness, a lot of loss in this life, in the flesh, because it's it's of our sin.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's the result. We see the wickedness in our nature as a result of the of of the fall back in the garden. but it's in the midst of all this hardship and all this pain, suffering, loss, that we who believe in the gospel, the good news, the the the promise redemption plan of God, we can actually have joy in light of these things.
00:05:25
Speaker
You wanna know why Christians are considered weird and why we're considered outcasts or why we're counter-cultures? Because that's not a normal concept for our minds to comprehend. The only way you can truly experience joy in light all these hardships and evil, wicked things in the world is because of the transformational power of the gospel of Jesus.
00:05:47
Speaker
So I'm just gonna pause there for second. If you're in the room and you're a believer in Jesus, like I get it. there's there's There's times where life is hard. Life gets busy, things happen, you lose loved ones, all the above. But don't let those things extinguish the flame of the gospel which you so proclaim to believe in.
Freedom from Rituals and the Law
00:06:09
Speaker
don't let the culture of Christianity, or whether it's the the secular culture or the Christian culture, don't let them deceive you to falling back into these ritualistic traditions that we've created for ourselves all the way back, even before Christ was here on earth with the Old Testament law but rather allow the the gospel message to bring you into the freedom of Christ, which Paul talks about in Galatians, right? of how we are
00:06:39
Speaker
for For freedom, Christ has set us free, right? Free from the law. So that way we can now walk in the newness of life in Christ. May we walk in these things.
Introducing Luke Chapter 10
00:06:50
Speaker
Because what we're going to see this morning in this in this chapter, in this section of chapter 10, is that there's going to be a man after Jesus privately discusses and and praises God with his disciples, this this lawyer comes into the scene and he completely missed the mark of what Jesus was just talking about, right? Because his eyes are still blind.
00:07:13
Speaker
But he comes in with this this self-righteous mentality about the law rather than the freedom that he can ultimately have in Christ. He's completely missing what's before him. So if you guys are ready if you will stand with me, we will read this passage together in Luke chapter 10, and we'll dive into this together.
Parable of the Good Samaritan
00:07:35
Speaker
So picking up in verse 25, it says this, And behold, a lawyer stood up to him to a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
00:07:50
Speaker
He said to him, what is written or he said him jesus what is written in the law? how do you read it And he, the lawyer, answered, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.'" And he, being Jesus, said to him, "'You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.'" But he goes on, verse 29, "'But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "'And who is my neighbor?'
00:08:27
Speaker
Jesus replied, a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed leaving him half dead and by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him pass by on the other side so likewise a levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side but a samaritan As he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
00:08:54
Speaker
He went to him and bound ah bound him up or sorry bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
00:09:06
Speaker
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "'Take care of him, and whatever you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'" Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
00:09:23
Speaker
The lawyer, he said, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Will you guys pray with me? Father God, I pray that your presence is here and I know it's here. And I pray that you prepare our hearts for what we're about to study and what it means to be a good neighbor.
00:09:41
Speaker
And not only just that, but to have eyes that see and ears to hear on what Jesus commands of us as his followers and how we are to truly love our neighbor as ourself.
00:09:52
Speaker
So Lord, prepare our hearts, be with us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you you, guys. May be seated.
00:10:02
Speaker
So what we're going to seeing through this passage this morning is the same thing that Jesus has been saying to his disciples this whole time about keeping the main thing, the main thing, the gospel.
Hidden Truths of the Kingdom
00:10:13
Speaker
Why did Jesus come? He came to bring the good news. to proclaim the kingdom of God here and now. And then we see that, like said, back in verses 23 to 24 of Luke chapter 10, where it says, that turning to his disciples ah blessed are the eyes that see what you see for i tell you that many prophets And ah see what you see it did not see it and hear what you hear it do not hear it We also see a very similar dialogue between Jesus and his disciples in context to of when the disciples come to Jesus and Matthew, they're they're talking about why do you speak in parables?
00:10:50
Speaker
We don't get this. Why do you keep doing this? And Jesus responds in Matthew 13, verses 16 and 17. He says, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it and hear what you hear and did not hear it.
00:11:14
Speaker
You see, this is key for what we're going looking at today because Jesus, what he's saying here is that in order for us to truly understand the hidden things of the kingdom, our eyes have to be open, but we also have to hear.
00:11:26
Speaker
You see, in the lawyer, when he comes up to him, obviously he's missing both of these factors about him in his life. He falls just under the same category as all the other religious leaders when it comes to how they experience the law and how the law is what brings them salvation rather than the Messiah who is the promised one to come from the very beginning.
00:11:47
Speaker
And so we go
The Lawyer's Test
00:11:49
Speaker
on. So the first thing we see here with the lawyer, though, is this calculated question to try to trip up Jesus and how and how the the eternal life comes about, right?
00:12:02
Speaker
So again, a lawyer is an expert in Jewish tradition. And so he's he's just like the rest of the religious leaders, and he seeks to ask a misguided question to try to trip up Jesus.
00:12:13
Speaker
And the way he does this, by the way, I want i don't want us to miss this. When we see this question, he says, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He does this by combining two different aspects of entering the kingdom, which is works and inheritance.
00:12:27
Speaker
You see, what can we do to enter eternal life? Right? Is there anything that we can do?
00:12:38
Speaker
No. Outside of believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior your life, no good thing on this and this earth can allow you to get into the kingdom. That's not how it is. see See, we are under this covenant of grace. We'll hit on this in just a little bit a little more. But we are in this covenant of grace that for whoever believes and confesses that Jesus is Lord, those are the ones who enter the kingdom of heaven.
00:13:03
Speaker
And then he, so he talks about this idea of works and I was like, man, what do I need to do to enter eternal life? And then that eternal life aspect is this idea of the inheritance, this inheritance that was promised to the Jews back in the Old Testament covenant.
00:13:20
Speaker
So he's trying to trap Jesus with these two things that are pivotal when it comes to the Jewish tradition and to their overall promise moving forward.
00:13:32
Speaker
But Jesus, being Jesus, he sees what this guy's trying to do and he doesn't fall for it. But rather, what does he do? Jesus does what he does best and he asks questions.
00:13:45
Speaker
You know, we should learn from Jesus in this, right? We live in a society where it's all about who has the right answer and who thinks who they have the best comeback. But really, it's if you really want to understand things, you have to ask the right question.
00:13:58
Speaker
right And Jesus is saying, man, I can only imagine Jesus' mind talking thinking about this lawyer. like, man, you're almost asking the right question.
00:14:09
Speaker
Almost. So what does he do to try to steer him in the right direction? He asks a rebuttal question. And what does Jesus say? What is written in the law?
00:14:20
Speaker
How do you read it? See, That's where Jesus is good, right? This is where we need to do better. Because where this guy was missing the mark, Jesus is really honing in on the heart condition behind this question.
00:14:33
Speaker
He says, okay, what is written in the law? And then how do you read it? You see, the the up to this point in Jesus's ministry, he's been revealing the kingdom of God and how he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law, right? But yet the religious leaders and the scribes and the Pharisees and this lawyer, they're completely missing that factor.
00:14:57
Speaker
And because of the fact that they are choosing to keep their eyes veiled and their eyes blind and their ears closed, they're missing the whole hidden gift of the kingdom.
00:15:10
Speaker
So Jesus asked him this question, what is the law and how do you read it? So in other words, Jesus then tests him and his knowledge and his understanding of the law.
00:15:22
Speaker
He goes on then gives us what I would call the right answer with the wrong understanding. You know, many of us can actually fall into this category for being honest.
00:15:34
Speaker
You know, if we were all leave this place and we'd go out, someone walk up to you on the street and say, hey, what what's Christianity all about? What's the gospel? Why do you go to church? What's the church for? I'm sure we can give them pretty basic answers, right? I mean, if if you go through Awanas, we pretty much give you the answers.
00:15:55
Speaker
But the thing is, is just because you have an answer doesn't mean that it comes from a true, genuine heart of faith. There's a difference. And that's exactly what we see with this lawyer.
00:16:09
Speaker
You see, he he he's almost like he's like, when he asked the question, he's like, oh man, I got Jesus. I got him. I'm going to trip him up right here. He asked him the question. Jesus then asked him the rebuttal question of, okay, what's in the law? How do you read it?
00:16:22
Speaker
He's like, oh yeah. He walked right in where I wanted him to be, right? And he says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.
00:16:35
Speaker
And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And I bet that lawyer is like, oh yeah, take that Jesus. Let's see how you respond back to that. And how does Jesus respond?
00:16:49
Speaker
He's like, cool, you got it. Well done. Now you go and do what you just said.
00:16:59
Speaker
Now, I know for some of us in the room, this may not be necessarily like a, ooh, gotcha moment for Jesus, right? But you've got to understand as a lawyer, the one who helps uphold the law, for Jesus to say that, it was a real sly stab in the side for him.
00:17:19
Speaker
Because you've remember, there's been some tension between the religious leaders, so the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the lawyers, and the rest of the Jews because of how they act and how they treat each other and things like that.
00:17:32
Speaker
And so for for Jesus, he's saying, hey, well done. You know the right answer, but your heart is in the wrong place.
00:17:42
Speaker
There's a lot of underlying things here that Jesus is saying here by looking at the Lord saying, yes, you got it right, but go and do what you just said. Because the reality is is that this lawyer is probably not doing exactly what the law says, right?
00:17:56
Speaker
He's probably loving God, but is he truly doing with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is he truly loving his neighbor as himself? Because you gotta remember with all these laws and all these regulations and stipulations that the religious leaders are putting on the Jews at this time, it's almost being too much of a burden on their own people rather than being a blessing and loving them the way that Christ, the way that God has designed for us to love one another. Does this make sense?
00:18:28
Speaker
And I hate to say, you don't have to go very far in our own Christian culture today to see the very same things happening within our own church walls.
00:18:36
Speaker
where we're so tied to tradition and legal side of the aspects of how the church operates in a traditional sense that we miss the mercy side of God and how we choose to love and how we choose to bless and how we choose to honor, how we choose to serve, how we choose to come around and be compassionate towards those who are hurting and those who are lost, those who are broken.
00:18:57
Speaker
I'm not saying that's our church, but i'm saying but I'm saying in general. I mean, am I the only one and when I see that in our Christian culture?
00:19:05
Speaker
and don't know if you guys noticed this though, but this is just a side note. We're actually seeing a pretty great revival going on in our nation, especially among the next generation that we must be excited about.
00:19:18
Speaker
Sure, it may not necessarily fall under the same black and white, like cut out thing that we have come to know about the church, but there is God is moving in the next generation and he is working a way that we've never seen him work in a generation like he is right now.
00:19:34
Speaker
And we have to be excited about that because of what God is doing. Because in my opinion, that's exactly what Jesus is trying to get across here to the lawyer. He's like, hey, you have an understanding, a framework that which you've been operating by that I'm that i've trying to break so that way the kingdom can actually come about and be revealed it through guys that you never expected it to be working through.
00:19:58
Speaker
You know, two ah through these fishermen, through the zealots, through the tax collectors, those who betrayed you on your taxes, right? god is Jesus is using these kind of guys to bring about the kingdom rather than the religious leaders of their day who are qualified to bring it about.
00:20:21
Speaker
ah so Jesus... He says, you have answered correctly, do this and you will
Lessons from the Parable
00:20:28
Speaker
live. then he goes on and this is the next part is where he tells a story that's close to home. Okay, and we're going see why it's close to home. And he goes on and gives this really powerful story about this man who was going along this way, this path that was between Jerusalem and Jericho. And along the way, he gets robbed, he gets beaten, he gets stripped of his clothes. He's left pretty much naked and left for dead, half dead on the side of the road. And
00:20:53
Speaker
While he's there and half dead, this guy, this priest comes down the path as well. And you would think that by the time Jesus gets to this, the priest coming down the road, they're like, oh yeah, okay. Jesus is gonna like, he's gonna give us a good one. He's gonna say that we did the right thing as religious leaders.
00:21:10
Speaker
And the priest comes down and what does he do? Walks by, walks by. Doesn't even look at him. Now, Great, you want to give the priest a little bit of a benefit of the doubt here, because as priests, they're in charge of doing the sacrificial systems within the temple, right?
00:21:28
Speaker
They have a religious duty that they must abide by the law according to Leviticus, right? So in Leviticus chapter, let me find my place here. Leviticus chapter 21 verses one through so three, it says this, and the Lord said to Moses, speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, no one shall make for himself shall make for himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband, for her he may make himself unclean, right? So in other words,
00:22:07
Speaker
They cannot touch anything that is dead outside of their immediate family or makes them ritually unclean to be able to perform their duties in the temple. So when he Jesus says this, you can only imagine, okay, that makes sense. Like the priest is coming down and he can't touch anybody who's half dead because it may very make them ritually unclean, right?
00:22:29
Speaker
But here's the caveat. What are the two greatest commandments? Right. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And what? Love your neighbor as yourself.
00:22:43
Speaker
So what this priest is doing by walking on the other side is placing the ritualistic law over the second greatest commandment. He is not fulfilling the law, which he is required to fulfill, as loving your neighbor.
00:23:00
Speaker
And just another side note here, if when you look at the context of this, so... Jerusalem, ah geographically, it says that Jerusalem is above Jericho. So in order for most of the priests at the time, they lived in the city of Jericho and they would travel upward to Jerusalem.
00:23:20
Speaker
It's about an 18-mile road. And it's a windy, pathy road, full of rocky terrain. It was actually known to be a very dangerous path, which is called, it it may typically called it the bloodway because of how dangerous this road would be for robberies and and bandits to come and to knock people out, right?
00:23:41
Speaker
And so, but in this context, did y'all read about how the priest actually is traveling? Right? So the priest was going down the road, which would then insinuate that the priest is actually returning from his priestly duties in Jerusalem.
00:23:58
Speaker
So he's actually finished with his duties in the temple, which would he would not have to worry about the religion the ritualistic laws, the purity laws at this time, if he's going back to Jerusalem.
00:24:13
Speaker
So again, he's missing the mark on several different levels. so But Jesus goes on. He says, not only does a priest do this, but rather a Levite comes. right Now, who are Levites? The Levites are the tribe of Levi, and they serve the priest in the temple court.
00:24:31
Speaker
They do all the secondary stuff that the priests don't do. So when it comes to the ritualistic law, is it's not as harsh on them as it is for the priest, right?
00:24:42
Speaker
So the Levite comes down and Jesus says that when he comes down, what happens? He actually gives another bit of detail here. says when the Levite, when he came to the place and what?
00:24:54
Speaker
Saw him.
00:24:57
Speaker
Meaning that the Levite must have at least walked over and be like, man You're in bad shape, dude. ah
00:25:11
Speaker
Sorry. And just kind of walks on.
00:25:16
Speaker
Again, you can kind of try to play the card of, man, he's trying to you know keep himself pure, things like that. But at the same time, the law is not as it's not as intended for the Levites as it was for the priests.
00:25:31
Speaker
So he misses the mark as well, especially the fact that he walks up, he sees him, he sees the need, he knows what the need is, and he refuses. And he goes upon his way.
00:25:44
Speaker
So here we are, this lawyer asked this question about jesus to Jesus of, you know how do I enter the eternal life? And then ultimately, who is my neighbor? And Jesus gives this really, up to this point incredible story of these two religious leaders who were supposed to be the the heroes of the story.
00:26:06
Speaker
And they were the ones who actually neglected the one who is in pain. So can you only imagine how the lawyer was feeling at this time? You know, i'm cause youre I can only imagine that he's probably just like, all right, Jesus, what's what's the point here?
00:26:22
Speaker
You know, and you know, it typically i also read here that when they, when Jesus or when teachers give stories like this, they give them a sequences of three, right? So you had the the priest, the Levi, there's bound to be a third character at play.
00:26:36
Speaker
And so the lawyer, he's probably thinking, all right, Jesus, what's the point here? But yet he's also probably clinging to hope that Jesus is about to introduce another character that will be the hero and most likely a good humanitarian Jew that would come.
00:26:52
Speaker
But boy, does the lawyer have something and come up that he's not expecting, right? So let me, just a historical question or just a pop quiz, if you will.
00:27:03
Speaker
ah Who did the Jews despise the most outside of them? Who? Samaritans. Samaritans, right? And so...
00:27:15
Speaker
Jesus, after explaining that the Levite came and he passed by on the other side, Jesus then brings in the third character, and that is the Samaritan.
00:27:27
Speaker
So, you know, again, the lawyer, just put yourself in your shoes. He's probably just like, all right, Jesus, where are you trying to go with this? Are you trying to say we're bad guys? Or what are you going to do here? And Jesus then says this, he says, but a Samaritan.
00:27:44
Speaker
Okay, so hold on. So if the lawyer said it like that, I can only imagine as soon as Jesus said the word Samaritan, he was like, oh no, I'm out. I'm out. No, I'm done. That's like almost us saying like two Christians walk by and then a Muslim.
00:28:02
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Someone that we look at me like, yeah, there's no way that they're entering the kingdom, right? Because of what they believe. But he says a Samaritan comes. And listen to how he described him. As he journeyed, he came to where he was.
00:28:17
Speaker
When he saw him, he had compassion. Whoa.
00:28:26
Speaker
Okay, so the Samaritans were this this group of of half, ah essentially the way that the Jews viewed him were like half Jews, right? So when the nation of Israel split, there was the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, the... the Southern kingdom remained pure. The northern kingdom became defiled because during the exile, they chose to marry they chose to intermarry with the Assyrians, which then made their bloodline impure. So the Jews, when they looked at the Samaritans, they were like, yeah, you're just half-bloods.
00:28:58
Speaker
You're a disgrace. You're impure. And so for for Jesus to describe this Samaritan as someone who saw this guy, came up to him and then had compassion The Jews who were listening, especially the Lord, they were like, that's impossible.
00:29:16
Speaker
Jesus, you can say whatever snare you want, but it's impossible for the Samaritan to be able to have compassion on this dude. There's no way. But it goes on. It says that he has compassion. He went and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
00:29:31
Speaker
Then he sat him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. That's not where the story stops. The next day he took out two denarii, which is two days wages, two days wages, and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him and whatever you spend, I will repay you when I come back.
00:29:50
Speaker
So not only does he give him two days wages, he says, hey, if you spend more than this, when I come back, I'll give you even more money to make sure that this guy, this person I don't know, who was left on the side of the road dead, make sure he's okay.
00:30:05
Speaker
The Samaritan did all that. He's the hero of the story.
00:30:13
Speaker
But yet, the lawyer's probably like, there's there's no way. There's no way. So, I just wanna, just for a moment, just wanna stop and say, okay, where are we at personally?
00:30:27
Speaker
Where are we personally at in this story?
00:30:33
Speaker
I would like to think that all of us in this room would be like the Good Samaritan.
00:30:38
Speaker
who when we see somebody who's in need, that we will fulfill what Christ has called us to do as believers, to die to ourselves, pick our cross and follow after him, to to walk in the image and likeness of Christ and meeting the needs of those who were broken, downcast, all the above.
00:31:01
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But often, myself included, we We fall under the categories of the priest and the Levite.
00:31:11
Speaker
It's either we think that we're too busy to stop and help, or, man, I'm late for church, I can't stop and help. We're late for Awanas, we're late for Sunday night Bible study, we're late for this, late for that.
00:31:24
Speaker
We can't, we can't do that. Or, we oftentimes think like the Levite, I'm like, man, I see their need, but... I bet somebody else behind me will come. Like, I gotta go. Like, somebody else behind me will help them.
00:31:38
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I trust that.
00:31:42
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And this is this is where the rubber meets a road for us as Christians.
00:31:50
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There's been times where I have heard personally that people don't choose Christianity because they say that the church is full of hypocrites.
00:32:01
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that the people that actually do good are the ones who are broken, those who actually don't believe in the gospel. Those the ones that they say, like, I see more good coming from them than I see out of your own church.
00:32:14
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I've heard that before. And that absolutely breaks my heart because of of the high calling that we have as believers to follow in the image and the likeness of God to the very end of the age.
00:32:30
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to be like the disciples who literally gave up everything to follow the gospel, including their life.
00:32:39
Speaker
But yet we can't seem to get out of our own way, just like this lawyer, to allow the blinders to be taken off of our eyes and these earmuffs off our ears so where we can actually see and hear what God has actually called us to do right here, right now, in the moment.
00:33:00
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So again, this situation that Jesus describes is the unthinkable situation. There's no way possible in the and eyes of the Jew that this scenario would ever come about because of who is involved.
00:33:16
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The Samaritan is unworthy. There's no way that this broken, impure, wretched man can actually be able to extend the kind of compassion that Jesus describes.
00:33:26
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But yet, The Samaritan does that. He bandaged up the man. He used his own oil to tend, you know, like as far as like tended to his injuries. He gave him his own wine. He gave him his own animal to provide transportation.
00:33:42
Speaker
This man was probably on his donkey. He said, man, I need to get this guy to the end. gonna put him on my donkey. I'm gonna walk the rest of the way. Talk about going the second mile. Right? So he gives him his own transportation and then he goes and he he searches for the closest in to take care of him.
00:33:59
Speaker
And not only does he just go into the end, he doesn't just go and say, hey, this guy was on the side of the road. Can you take care of him? All right, peace out, right? No, he he intentionally stopped, used his own resources, took care of him.
00:34:15
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And when he had to leave, he left more money behind to make sure that this man was taken care of
00:34:24
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So at the end of this, Jesus, he asked this really pointed question, right? He asked this really pointed question.
00:34:39
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Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
00:34:50
Speaker
Okay, so go back to the beginning here. This lawyer comes, tries to trap Jesus in this question. Jesus you know says, all right, so you know the law. what How do you read it? you know He says, all right, go do likewise. And he's like, okay, well, and the lawyer's like, okay, well, who's my neighbor?
00:35:05
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Jesus gives him this really unthinkable scenario to the lawyer's eyes. Then he says, which of these three do you think is a good neighbor? Man, talk about reversal of the situation here.
00:35:20
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Can you imagine how the lawyer felt? He probably just like,
00:35:28
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you got me, Jesus. You know got me. And then he had to give an answer, right? He had to give an answer. And what did he say? The one who what?
00:35:40
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Showed mercy.
00:35:45
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The one who is considered incapable of showing mercy was the one who best loved his neighbor. And we are called as believers to live in the same manner.
00:35:59
Speaker
It doesn't matter how righteous you are. It doesn't matter how much you attend church. It doesn't matter how long you've been a believer. doesn't matter how many scripture verses you've memorized. It doesn't matter any of those things. As long as you remain faithful remain faithful to the one calling of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then loving your neighbor as yourself.
00:36:22
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These two things and of themselves is what puts us on display as followers of Christ.
00:36:30
Speaker
Having mercy and compassion on those who are downhearted and broken and lost. You know, so going back to the last section here, when it talks about the hidden things of the kingdom, you wanna know how you know your eyes have been opened and your ears have been opened to the reality of the hidden things of the kingdom?
Faith Through Works
00:36:50
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The work by which you produce as a result of the gospel. Not for the gospel. Let me could clarify that. It's not the work that you do to earn the gospel, it's the work that you do as a result of the gospel.
00:37:05
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those That's the mark of true believers.
00:37:10
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if we're not living that out right here, right now, then we are completely missing the mark on what it means to have Jesus in your heart and to understand the gospel truth. tradition Tradition is great.
00:37:28
Speaker
The covenant and the Old Testament law, great God. But when it comes to how we live right now, here in our culture, for the gospel, we must learn to put on Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to come in and to lead us and guide us into all truth and to be the hands and feet of Jesus for our nation, for our state, for our community right now.
00:37:55
Speaker
So going back to what we're talking about with the the freedom of the law or what the purpose of the law is, Galatians chapter three, verse 19, Paul says this, he says, why then the law? Okay, so if if if the law is, if if we are not to hold to the law to the T, then why the law, right?
00:38:14
Speaker
So he says, Paul says, why then the law? It was added because of transgressions. So why the law? It's because you and I are broken. The nation of Israel was broken.
00:38:25
Speaker
Humanity, broken. Because of our brokenness, we needed a a set of rules and regulations to strive to live by. Not to fulfill to the T, but to strive for.
00:38:39
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Until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. And who's up who's that offspring? Jesus.
00:38:49
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In this moment, Jesus is revealing to this lawyer who he is as the promised offspring. That's what he's been trying to do with his disciples this whole time. The promised offspring.
00:39:00
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It goes on in verses 24, 29, that same section. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by what? Faith. Faith.
00:39:12
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Faith is what brings about eternal life in our life. That's what brings about salvation in our our soul is faith in the promised one, the promised offspring, Jesus.
00:39:23
Speaker
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the guardian, the law, for in Christ, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither, get this, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, no female male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.
00:39:48
Speaker
And if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
00:39:57
Speaker
Bah! Guys, I don't, okay. I know some of y'all, I mean, that might be a little bit elevated, but I hope you guys get this. The whole thing that what Paul is just saying there is that from the very beginning, God put in motion a plan of redemption for through his promised offspring, Jesus, that we on this side of the cross would have eternal life.
The New Covenant of Grace
00:40:17
Speaker
And the whole process from the moment God instituted it all into the Old Testament into the New Testament, has been fulfilled in Christ. You see, this should be, this is what when when Paul talks about, for freedom, Christ has set us free.
00:40:33
Speaker
Therefore, don't submit again to a yoke of slavery, talking about the law. That's why Paul was able to say it. And that's why I feel like when Paul said it, he was saying with great excitement and great joy, knowing that the law is no longer a burden to us, but it is now a blessing because there is one who was able to fulfill it.
00:40:51
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Not you or I, but Christ Jesus.
00:40:57
Speaker
So, i as we conclude... I wanted to label this this message this morning, and blessed are the the ears that hear. Because last week was blessed are the eyes that see.
00:41:10
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But blessed are the ears that hear.
00:41:15
Speaker
Because unless you truly allow your eyes to be open, allow your ears to to listen, to hear the word of Jesus and to penetrate your heart so that but you can truly understand,
00:41:32
Speaker
you completely missed the point of the kingdom. You have to allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life to truly transform you from the inside out so that way you can be the hands and feet Jesus desires you to be.
00:41:48
Speaker
My favorite verse, one of my favorite verses. I feel like I say every verse is my favorite, but my favorite verse, Galatians 2.20, for I have been crucified with Christ.
00:42:00
Speaker
It's no longer I that live, but Christ who lives within me. For the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
00:42:17
Speaker
And then Paul even goes on after to that in verse 21, he says, for if if if salvation could be gained through the law, then Christ died for no reason. You see, in order to truly live by faith and or or sorry didn truly to live for Christ in his life, for the gospel, you have to allow him to come in and transform you.
00:42:41
Speaker
May we truly have eyes to see. May we truly have ears to hear what Jesus is trying to do in us and through us as his people here today. Let me pray for us.
00:42:53
Speaker
Father God, we come before you, Lord, and we just thank you for how you reveal your word to us here today, right now. Lord, the the message is no different from when it was 2,000 years ago when you first spoke these words into existence. The message is still the same.
00:43:10
Speaker
We have a sin problem. We have a veil that's over our heart. And the only way that that veil can be removed is if we allow the Holy Spirit to come and to reveal the gospel message to us and see that our we have sin and we can only get rid of that sin by you, our promised offspring, our Messiah.
00:43:30
Speaker
And Lord, I pray there's anyone here this morning, Father, who... either doesn't have a relationship with you, or maybe they've been pushing it off, or maybe they've had a hard heart to it, Father, I pray this morning that you will soften their heart to the reality of how good the gospel message is and the life that it brings into our hearts.
00:43:48
Speaker
Lord, Christianity, the gospel, is not a burden. It's a pathway to freedom and freedom into eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
00:44:04
Speaker
And it's only by him and through him that we can come to know you. So Lord, I pray that there's anyone here in this room today who's never done that, that they will do that this morning. They'll surrender their life to you. God, but please continue to work in us as your church, as believers. May we truly humble ourselves daily.
00:44:22
Speaker
opening our opening our eyes to the reality of the gospel and opening our ears to the truth to understand it to where we can truly be the most effective witness of the gospel here on earth while we still have today. Lord, we love you, we praise you, we thank you for this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
00:44:37
Speaker
Amen.
00:44:44
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.