[0:00] 10. We've been talking about the Good Samaritan, and we're going to finish that up today.
[0:23] And down to Jericho, and I pointed out the fact that altitude-wise, from Jerusalem to Jericho, you go down about a half a mile in altitude.
[0:40] We talked about the fact that Jerusalem's a holy city. Jericho had been destroyed. Remember the walls came tumbling down? It had been destroyed. It was not supposed to be rebuilt.
[0:51] But somebody rebuilt it, and using it as a city, and so it was going down from the holy city to a place that God had destroyed. And then we talked about the fact that you've got these two men.
[1:03] This is verse 31. By chance, there came down a certain man who was a priest, and he passed by on the other side.
[1:15] A man who should have had compassion, should have been able to help, should have been able to show compassion to it, but he went by on the other side. Then a Levite, same idea. He had things to do in the church, in the temple, and he passed by on the other side.
[1:38] I thought some more about our conversation last week, about the fact that, well, sometimes we have other things to do, and other things going on and stuff. But then I got thinking about it, and I said, okay, this man was left half dead, it said.
[1:55] What's more important than saving a person's life? So take that for whatever. So we've talked about these different things, these different aspects of this story.
[2:07] Today, we've kind of started it, but today I want to talk about the good Samaritan himself. So that's the third thing that we had to talk about was him.
[2:19] And look at verse 33. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him.
[2:31] And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
[2:55] Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him.
[3:06] Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. So we're talking about this third man, this Samaritan. And we said last week, first of all, he was a doubtful candidate.
[3:18] A doubtful candidate. Why? Because he was Samaritan. He was a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews did not get along. Samaritans and Jews did not agree basically on too much of anything.
[3:33] Didn't really like each other. Remember, I was telling you about the region of Samaria. It was basically an area that had been occupied by Jews who had intermarried with other peoples.
[3:49] And because of that, the Jewish people didn't want anything to do with him because, to put it in terms, we recognize they were half-breeds. And they didn't want anything to do with him.
[4:00] So this guy, the fact that he would stop and help was actually amazing. There was a lady in John chapter 4, a Samaritan woman.
[4:11] Jesus went to a well, remember, and there was a Samaritan lady there. And Jesus asked her for water. And in chapter 4 of John, verse 9, it says this, When saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
[4:33] For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The fact that he would even ask her for water, that's how much they disliked each other. And Jesus comes along and he's like, Could you give me a drink?
[4:48] And she's like, You're a Jew, why are you asking me? Is the Indian man a Samaritan? And was the innkeeper a Samaritan? I don't think so.
[4:58] It doesn't say. It doesn't say. It's because if he was Jewish, he wouldn't have had anything to do with him. Except the innkeeper, he would have, here's a chance to make money.
[5:12] So, yeah. If he's paying for this guy to have a room and he's paying for him to be, you know, to give him money to help, he would have taken it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
[5:24] The Bible doesn't tell us. So I'm assuming they're Jewish, actually. But I'm not positive. But, I don't know. Good question. So the Samaritan comes along and he's willing to help this man with the things that he's, you know, he's hurt, he's wounded, he needs help.
[5:46] You know, most would have expected the Samaritan to pass by, not the priest and not the Levite. The Samaritan would have looked over and said, Yeah, so he's like, Okay. I'm pretty sure this guy might have been Jewish because everybody's like, Why are you helping him?
[5:59] What are you doing with him? I mentioned last week how sometimes we get to think too much of ourselves. I mean, we as Americans, we have a reputation when you go overseas.
[6:15] You know, all those Americans, you know. Same thing here. I pointed out, I had been reading in 1 Samuel. And in 1 Samuel, Saul is chosen to be king.
[6:32] And he's kind of shy about it, kind of, you know, it's kind of, okay. But after Saul's been king for a while, Saul's kind of like, I'm the king.
[6:46] He gets that attitude. And he gets the attitude so much so that, remember, they're about to go into battle one time. And Samuel was late showing up.
[6:59] And Saul's like, Well, you know what? I'll just go ahead and do the offerings myself. I'll do the burnt offerings. I'll do the sacrificial offerings and take care of that.
[7:10] And we'll be ready and good to go to battle. Samuel shows up afterwards. What have you done? And this verse, 1 Samuel 15, 17.
[7:23] And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
[7:35] When you were little in your own sight. When you said, I need God's help. I need God's. You're still saying you need God's help, but you're doing it in the wrong way. The priests were the only ones who were supposed to give sacrifices.
[7:48] They were the ones ordained to do it. They were the ones who went through the sacrificial ceremonies and things in order to make sure they were clean so they could offer the sacrifices and things.
[8:00] And Saul just disregarded all that and went ahead and did it. And now he says, When you were little, and what was the result? Saul's going to lose the kingdom. He's going to be taken out of being king.
[8:12] And so I gave you a quote last week from David Gibbs, who was the founder of the Christian Law Association. And he said, You can be too big for God to use, but you can never be too small.
[8:28] You can be too big for God to use, but you can never be too small for God to use. Sometimes we think we're, we get the answers we can do, and we kind of disregard God, kind of just put him off to the side.
[8:45] And he says, No, no, no, you can't do that. Second thing was, a determined compassion. A determined compassion. Second thing was, David Gibbs, Christian Law Association, CLA.
[9:04] They are a group, I think I mentioned this, but their group was founded back in the 70s, 80s, that will go and defend churches, defend Christian schools and court cases and things that they're, and help them at no charge.
[9:22] Everything they do is based on people's giving to them. They don't charge the church or the school for anything. So it's a really cool organization.
[9:40] There it is. It's because the sun's starting to come in. You haven't seen the sun for a while, okay. I was like, what, okay.
[9:52] I'm back there. Kathy's losing it this morning. All right. A determined compassion. He had a humility about him. He had a sense about him, that compassion, that when he saw what the man was like, when he saw that he was wounded and he was hurting, that he was left half dead and everything.
[10:12] Verse 33 says, He had compassion on him.
[10:23] He had compassion on him. I didn't pray before we started, so let's have a word of prayer now. Heavenly Father, pray that you would help us this morning, Lord, as we look at this good Samaritan, as we look at the things that he has done, Lord, and we look at how he treated this man, the compassion that he did have on him.
[10:42] Lord, may we learn. May we have compassion on those around us. Lord, whether they're hurt or whether they need salvation, whatever they need, Lord, may we have compassion on people and be ready to help.
[10:55] Lord, teach us as we look at this passage of scripture. In Jesus' name, amen. He had compassion on him. There's a book I'm using for this.
[11:07] It's a Sunday school thing. And he had these two sentences. Listen to what they say. Ministry starts in your heart rather than with your hands.
[11:20] Your hands will do what is in your heart. Ministry starts in your heart rather than with your hands. We think of when we're going to ministry to people, we're going to go out, and we're going to give money to this, and we're going to help them with this, and we're going to bring in food for this, and we're going to do it.
[11:38] But where does it all start? In your heart. Do you have compassion for people? Do you care about people? Do you care about the things that they're going through?
[11:49] And then he says your hands will do what is in your heart. You'll do whatever your heart tells you you need to do.
[12:02] And another sentence that goes along with that. If you figure out why you should serve, you'll figure out how. If you figure out why you should serve, you will figure out how to serve.
[12:17] So it all begins with what's going on in my heart. What's going on in my mind? What's going on in my view of what God wants me to do? He says when you do that, when you stop and figure all that out, you will learn how to take care of things, how to do things, how to serve God.
[12:37] I'll give you an illustration. Several years ago, a woman was saved during a revival in Germany. And her life from that day on began to change a whole lot.
[12:50] She went to the services every night and changed and changed and changed. Some weeks later, she sent an email to the pastor of the church. And she said that he had been talking about soul winning.
[13:05] And she says, I'm not sure what all that entails because she had to work during those times that they would do this. And so she said, I'm not sure what it's all about.
[13:16] But from what I understand, she said, it's about telling other people the gospel. And basically, that's it. Okay? So she said, I can't do the things that you guys do at the times you guys are doing because of working things.
[13:32] So here's what I did. She said, I took a phone book. Of course, you'd have trouble doing that today. But she took a phone book. And she would write letters to the people in the phone book.
[13:44] Because, you know, your name and address and everything is there. She would write letters to them explaining the gospel to them and mail them out. She said, is that okay? Okay? See, she knew what was right.
[13:55] She knew what she was supposed to do. She knew that this is what God wants us to tell others. And she said, here's a way I found to do it. See? When we understand the why, we'll get the how.
[14:10] And that's what the saying is. See, compassion on people is a decision. Am I going to help or am I not? Am I going to be there for them or am I not?
[14:22] It's a decision that people make. And when you have compassion, it's a driver. It'll motivate you to do things when you have compassion for people. Compassion makes a difference.
[14:33] Remember in Jude, Jude only has one chapter. So Jude chapter, Jude verse 22 says, And of some have compassion making a difference.
[14:44] You know, sometimes having compassion on people makes a difference. Having compassion for people. When you show them the love of Christ, it makes a difference in their life.
[14:57] Psalm 126 verses 5 and 6. Psalm 126 verses 5 and 6. He says, You have compassion on people.
[15:19] You'd be willing to shed tears over people and what's going on. You look at people who are unsaved and you say, God, you need to save them. God, you need to put people in their path. God, they need to hear the gospel.
[15:30] And you had shed tears over them. And he says, it's going to make a difference. And what is the rejoicing? When they come to know Christ as Savior. When they come to understand that Jesus Christ is the greatest thing in the world.
[15:46] Jesus Christ is the greatest gift that's ever been given to us. When they understand that. Third thing, he had a devoted courage. A devoted courage. Think about this.
[15:58] Part of what might have been going through the priest's mind and the Levite's mind. And they went over. They saw this man. They looked down. They see the condition he's in. And they might have gone on the other side. Because are those thieves still down there?
[16:11] Are those guys that beat him up still around? Are they still? So they take a wide berth. Go around. This man, you know, he had the compassion.
[16:23] But he also had the courage to go down and help the man. He also had the courage to go down and see him. And see what was going on. Notice verse 34. And went to him.
[16:35] And went to him. And bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Setting on him on his own beast. And brought him to the inn and took care of him. You know, God has given us a commission.
[16:48] We call it the Great Commission. Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. How does that start? Go. First word. Go.
[16:59] This man went. He said, he went down to help him. Matthew 28, 19 says, go ye therefore and teach all nations. Baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
[17:11] Go. And teach all nations. It takes courage to do that. My hat's off to those people on the back wall there. Leave home. Leave the United States.
[17:22] Leave the comforts that they know here. To go. The places that. I think, you know, the Kurdish's in Malawi.
[17:34] You read some of the stuff. You know, the dry conditions. The heat. The snakes. All those different things. They go. To do the work that God has called them to do.
[17:47] Proverbs 28, 1. Says this. The wicked flee when no man pursue it. But the righteous are bold as a lion.
[17:58] The righteous are bold as a lion. Remember I was talking, was it last week or the week before? About uprightness. I keep my eyes on him and follow his will and do whatever the Bible says.
[18:11] That's uprightness. I do what is right according to the Bible. By keeping my eyes on him. And he says the righteous are as bold as a lion. We'll go out.
[18:24] We'll tell people. Think of all through history. People who have given their lives. Because they said, you know what? I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going to do whatever he asks.
[18:37] Don't let fear keep you from doing what you know to do. Isaiah 41, 10. Isaiah 41, 10 says this. Fear thou not. For I am with thee.
[18:49] Be not dismayed. For I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. I will uphold thee. With the right hand of my righteousness. God says, have courage.
[19:03] Go out. Trust me. He says, don't be afraid. I'm with you. Every step of the way, God says, I am with you. Wherever you go.
[19:13] Don't be dismayed. Don't be afraid. Don't be. For I am thy God. Think about what that means. Who's God? Think of what you picture as God.
[19:25] What you know from God's word. What the word tells you about him and what he does. He says, I'm thy God. I'm with you.
[19:36] I'm there to help you. I will go with you. And then he says, I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. I will uphold thee. With the right hand of my righteousness.
[19:46] I think of Peter sinking in the water. Jesus reaches down. Pulls him up. You know, there are times we go through things.
[19:57] There's times we face things and we kind of get a little shaky. He says, I'm right there. I'm ready to reach down. Pull you up. Take care of you. Fourth thing.
[20:09] The love that he had for this man. A deliberate charity. Deliberate charity. He loved this man. He didn't know this man from Adam. But he had a love for him.
[20:21] He saw the condition he was in and he said, this man needs help. He had that compassion. He had that courage. He had that charity. How do you demonstrate that?
[20:32] Again, verse 34. He went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Set him on his own bees. Brought him to an inn. Took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, gave them to the host and said, take care of him.
[20:48] And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Now, we're talking about this man and the innkeeper and stuff.
[20:59] I'm thinking that this man has done this journey before and stayed at this inn before. Because he's talking to the innkeeper and he trusts the innkeeper that he said, I'm going to give you some money.
[21:09] You take care of him. And anything else you spend, you keep track of it. And I will pay you when I come back. How does he know that guy's going to be honest? Oh, yeah. It wound up being a whole lot more and we had to take him to the hospital.
[21:20] And you should have seen that doctor's bill. And, ooh, this is what you owe me. No, he didn't. He wasn't afraid of that. Yes. He basically handed him a blank check.
[21:33] Said, you take care of him and I will pay you again. That's the kind of charity, kind of love for somebody that most people don't have. You know. It cost this Samaritan to show love.
[21:48] It cost this Samaritan to have compassion and have courage. It cost him. And we as Christians, sometimes it's going to cost us. You know.
[21:59] Are we willing to invest our time, invest our treasure to help others? Philippians 2.4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
[22:12] So often we look at ourselves. So often we look at, well, this is going to affect me this way. And this is going to happen to me if I do this. And it's going to cost me if I do this.
[22:23] He said, stop worrying about yourself. How can you help the others? He says, look every man also on the things of others. How can I help them?
[22:33] Matthew 16.25. Matthew 16.25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.
[22:44] But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. He says, if you're always trying to take and take and take and take and take and make sure I've got, I'm covered.
[22:55] I've got, he said, you have a very small life. You're all wrapped up in yourself. But he says, whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. When you're giving to others, what a difference.
[23:08] When you're helping people, what a difference in your life. You ever notice that one of the things I tell people who have lost someone, there's a death in the family and you lose someone and stuff.
[23:22] I always try to tell the people, find somebody else to pour yourself into. Don't just sit there and go, oh, I've lost, I've lost, I've lost. No. Okay.
[23:33] I've lost so and so. I have more time. Now, how can I help somebody else? How can I be a blessing to them? And it will change the attitude that you have and the outlook you have on life.
[23:48] Fifth thing, or letter E. For those of you keeping an outline, letter E. A divine commendation. A divine commendation. As you read this story, did the good Samaritan receive anything as a reward for what he did?
[24:09] Nope. Satisfaction. What did you say, Kathy? Doesn't say anything about it. Hopefully the man was grateful.
[24:22] Yep. So here he is. He finds this man. He takes him. He takes care of him. He does all these things. Make sure his wounds are taken care of. Make sure the innkeeper is going to take care of him and show benevolence to him.
[24:33] Nowhere does it say that a man ever expressed any gratitude. Nowhere does it say that anybody ever showed any gratitude to him.
[24:46] Nowhere does it say anybody ever repaid this man for what he had done. That's a good point. The fact that it's in the word of God.
[24:58] So is it God approved? Fred? You know, you know, if you look at this parable and you diagnose it and you add to it and you add to it, maybe it's not supposed to be something to do.
[25:13] Maybe we're supposed to accept it for faith, God, and rather than analyze it. But that's kind of... I don't know what they love it, but then you get thinking about it. Yep. Man's input is needed.
[25:24] Yep. And that's kind of what I'm getting to as we go through this. And I've always looked at it just that if you're going to do something for somebody and you don't respect, you don't respect him at any time that I'm sorry, and you're still doing it with a simple heart and compassion to that person, I think that's part of the law.
[25:47] Yep. The fact that we were willing to go get extra, keep you smile and all that in my heart to help this person or any person that's definitely telling me.
[25:57] And if you're looking for some kind of reward for it, you're not really doing something that's not making it happen. You're doing something that you want to do. You want the glory for it.
[26:08] And if you want the glory for it, you start to do it. You want the glory for it because you make it on your heart to do it. And when you do it, you're doing it. I mean, that's all it. Okay. I'm glad you changed that there.
[26:21] It's not that we get the glory, but God gets the glory for it. Yep. He gets the glory for it. Yep. There's lots of times when any one of us here has done something really nice for somebody and the person who says thank you and I thought, but they're not looking for that, basically, reward.
[26:39] They're looking to give somebody to help the thing. Yep. And if they're going to do that without accepting the benefit of the reward, it's been a lot of the way. Yep.
[26:51] Jared, you want to say something? Well, I mean, 37, I believe it really wrapped it right up. And he said, he that she would mercy on him, then send Jesus with him, go and do thou likewise.
[27:04] Yep. You know, so it just reminds us, okay, just do it. You do it in the name of God. Yeah. Well, it was really until Kathy started finishing. I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. That was basically covered at that point.
[27:16] Okay. Yep. Yep. See, ministry isn't always public. Ministry, a lot of times, is behind the scenes. What are you doing behind the scenes?
[27:29] Like I said, this guy, he did all this and didn't get a thank you. Didn't, as far as we know, other than the innkeeper, nobody knew what he had done.
[27:40] Nobody knew that he had taken care of things except for God. Margaret? It reminds me of the stories you sometimes hear of a group of people getting together and rescuing someone out of a burning car.
[27:56] The ones who stood back and cried, you know, you could call 911, and then the people who took, and after they pulled them out, went to the newspaper.
[28:07] I was there. I was there. And then the others, that just kind of disappeared and went on their way. Yeah. I often notice that in the TV news stories when they do them.
[28:20] You've got the people saying, oh, I saw this, and I saw this, and I saw this. Well, what about the picture of the guy over here who's actually doing and pulling him out and stuff and helping him out? Where's that guy? You never see them.
[28:31] They don't want to be, they're just doing it. But God does see. Hebrews 6.10. Hebrews 6.10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister.
[28:53] He says, God's not going to forget. God's not going to pass it by. He's going to know. So we don't minister in front of the eyes of men. We don't do it for men. But God sees everything.
[29:06] Luke chapter 10 here, verses 36 to 37. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy unto him, then said, Jesus, go and do thou likewise.
[29:22] We are often aware that God is aware of sin. When we think of God, we say, well, God's looking down from heaven. And God sees everything bad that you do.
[29:34] And God's ready to throw those lightning bolts at you. And God's ready. Do we forget that God also sees the good? God sees everything. God sees the good that we do.
[29:47] He sees what we're doing. And God is not going to let it pass by. He's going to make sure that we have what we need. There's so often, as Kathy was mentioning, when you give.
[30:04] When I give to people, I don't expect anything back. I don't expect to ever see that money again. If it's money or whatever I'm doing. But I don't ever expect to see it again. You just do it.
[30:16] Because it's the right thing to do. To help them out. Throughout this coming week, be conscious of the things that you do for other people.
[30:29] Not so that you can point it out. Not so that you can be proud of yourself. But just notice. And then thank God that you had the opportunity to do that.
[30:40] You had the opportunity to give. You had the opportunity to help. And when you do that. Remember the verses that say.
[30:53] We're to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. How many times do we help the neighbor?
[31:04] How many times do we help those? And then the question. Who's your neighbor? How many times do we help those?
[31:39] That's one of those questions you deal with.
[32:08] Yeah. How do we help those running? Who is our neighbor? Well, my neighbor is Joe here. He lives on this side. And Sally lives on this side. No. Our neighbor can be the person at the post office.
[32:22] Our neighbor can be the person at the store. Our neighbor can be anybody we come in contact with. There's somebody around us who needs help. Help them. Help isn't necessarily aid.
[32:35] No. Help is allowing somebody to be free from a... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
[32:45] Mm-hmm. But there's a way to help them even in that.
[32:57] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. To give them guidance. Mm-hmm. Direction. Yeah. Give them the gospel. Give them the gospel. Yeah. So there's ways to do that.
[33:09] So the good Samaritan. Are we willing to help? Are we willing to give? Are we willing to show them the compassion that they need?
[33:23] What Fred said, God helps us. But there are times when God says, okay, you need to just stop and think on your own for a little while. You know?
[33:35] You need to learn from this. You need to learn what's happening and why your life is going the direction it is. You need to learn by watching what God is doing, what others are doing.
[33:49] So, all right, let's have a word for it. Father, thank you for this time, Lord. I pray that you would just bless as we continue into the morning service. Lord, help us to have the heart of compassion.