[0:00] All right. So thankful to be preaching about a God that is more than enough. Luke chapter number 10. Today, a title is, Go and Do Thou Likewise.
[0:12] That's the last part of the passage that we look at, and that's what I would like for you to consider as we go through this. Major premise is that the gospel transforms our hearts and our actions towards those in need.
[0:27] The gospel transforms our heart and our actions towards those in need. Last week, when it was supposed to be Orange Sunday, it became White Sunday. Some of you got a lot of snow on the north side of the county.
[0:39] We kind of had a rainy Sunday more down where I live, the south of here. But I'm grateful that it allowed us to look at the verses leading up to this, because we were going to look at the story of the Good Samaritan last Sunday.
[0:52] But looking at some verses, we saw that this competition that is often given to say, how should our ministry and our family, should they be competing against each other?
[1:03] And Jesus said, they shouldn't be competing about each other. They should be kneeling down at my feet. That our families nor our ministries are the things that we rejoice in primarily, but we rejoice that our name was written down in the book of life.
[1:18] That is the greatest of things. And in discipleship, following Jesus has demands upon our lives. And here in this passage, we see the ultimate of the demands of discipleship.
[1:29] What is central demand of discipleship by telling one of the best loved parables that Jesus will tell them. It's recorded here and in other gospel records as well. When I look at a passage, I try to be honest and ask the Lord, in what directions would I want to take this passage that isn't the primary purpose of it?
[1:48] And I don't normally share those with you. My goal is to not share those with you, right? My goal is to keep them out of the sermon preparation. But I'd like to give three quickly here to you. First of all, I can make this passage entirely about racism and discrimination.
[2:02] It's needed and it's important, but that is only one element of the story that is being told. Secondly, this story could be completely about evangelism.
[2:13] When you see the person on the side of the road and you see the state that they're in, you would remember yourself as an unbelieving person and the state that you are in and your need of somebody coming to you. And that is certainly a great application.
[2:25] Anything that I'd ever say that would motivate you to tell people about Jesus is certainly a good understanding of what's being said. And then lastly, as a springboard to motivate you all towards some type of random acts of kindness.
[2:39] To give an inspirational challenge the day, to tell you to do small things for those that are around you. And that's wonderful. However, that disrespects the weight and seriousness of this story.
[2:51] If you like to pay for the person behind you in line at Starbucks, I'm grateful for that. If you would like to do that, let me know when you're going to do that because my wife is probably already headed there and I will just tell her to coordinate and what car to get behind.
[3:05] If you enjoy doing that, I would encourage you to keep doing that. But I'll tell you that this passage demands something so much more from us than doing that. It demands that we would give in a very practical and costly way for those that are in need because the gospel, not the need, but the gospel demands that a transformed life will see a need and do what it can to meet it.
[3:29] So it has, the gospel has implications upon our lives. An application, you know, is an action put into something. The action that you will have today will be between what the Holy Spirit would lead you to do.
[3:41] But I would like to talk to you about what is implied, an implication, though it's not explicitly stated in a law, but it's directly, it's implied in a legal argument. And why would I want to do that?
[3:53] One is because all of you in here that have put your faith and trust in Christ, you're a Christian, you've been born again, you have been created for good works, and this is how it's going to be lived out in a unique way.
[4:05] Ephesians 2.10 says, We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. The Bible tells us in John 16.13 that the role of the Holy Spirit in your life is to lead you into all truth and to guide you to make the proper application to God's Word.
[4:24] When we leave here, you're going to go to different places and different works and different ways to live out your Christian life, and it is the role of the Holy Spirit in your life to say, This is a time that I want you to act.
[4:37] This is a time that I want you to meet that need. And the gospel demands that from us. So we look at what is the gospel, what is a gospel truth, and then what is the behavior that would come from understanding the gospel and gospel truth.
[4:53] The gospel is laid out clearly for us in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 15.3 and 4, For I delivered unto you, first of all, which also I received, for how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
[5:08] That is the gospel. When I ask my kids, you know, what is the gospel, they could tell me many of the behaviors that come from the gospel. They could tell me many of the things that come from knowing the gospel, that we have peace with God, that we're loving to our neighbors.
[5:22] But the gospel is that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life, and He died a death in our place, and that He rose again the third day. That is the gospel. That is the good news.
[5:34] But from that gospel, we have gospel truths. Romans 5.1, Our having peace with God is not the gospel itself, but it's a powerful implication of the gospel.
[5:50] It is a powerful result of it. We have been reconciled unto God because of the death of Jesus Christ in our place. Romans 8.1, Paul is not here presenting the gospel, but something that is true now because of the gospel.
[6:04] Romans 8.1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. Then in Romans 8.32, you're going to see, notice the words, With Him and also.
[6:16] They speak of something that grows out of the gospel. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up also, us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
[6:29] And so there's the gospel, the death, burial, resurrection, but then there's gospel truth that comes from that. There's things that we know. We sung it, that He keeps our heart in perfect peace, that He is hope to the widow and to the orphan.
[6:44] Those are gospel truths. So in knowing the gospel, looking to God's Word, the learning gospel truths, then there becomes a behavior that is according to an understanding of the gospel.
[6:56] It is the gospel that only renews our mind, but it informs our conduct. Romans 12 would tell us that it renews our mind, but it also informs it. It tells us how we ought to live our lives out, how to live a life out that is honoring the Christ.
[7:10] The first song that the choir would sing today was that our life would be a witness, a testimony to the power of the gospel in our lives, that our lives would be different and distinct because of what He has done in transforming us.
[7:24] One of my favorite stories of the Bible, in Galatians chapter number two, Paul and Peter have a confrontation face to face, and he says, but when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel said unto Peter before him.
[7:38] So here Paul comes to Peter and he says, and he talks to him later on in the verse about being justified by the works of the law and by faith, but he's not saying, Paul is not saying to Peter, I don't think you understand the gospel, I don't think you know that Jesus died, but he's saying the way that you're living and behaving does not reflect that you have an understanding of the gospel.
[7:59] And so this is the behavior that would come from it. Philippians 127 says like this, only let your conversation, which would be your lifestyle, your manner of living, become, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.
[8:11] Let your manner of life be coming, reflect, and show the gospel of Christ. Paul appeals to Corinthians when he's talking to them about fleeing sexual immorality.
[8:23] 1 Corinthians 6, 19, why know you not that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not of your own, which is the way that you would live your life in regards to sexual immorality or morality ought to be based upon the gospel of Jesus.
[8:41] Even our generosity, the decision you made today or maybe you make over the weeks to come, the place that orange offering plate, orange card in the offering plate, 2 Corinthians 8, 9, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made, might be rich.
[9:04] So while they're offering devotional time, it's not just five minutes of presenting to you the need, because it isn't the need that demands that we would be generous people, but it is the gospel that is transforming our lives that demands that we would be generous people.
[9:19] So now back to our story. There's a lawyer, an expert of the law. He comes to Jesus. He's theologically correct, and he's very succinct. I mean, he really gets right to the point in asking and answering the questions here.
[9:31] And he said in the hymn, Thou answered right, this do and thou shalt live. So the expert in the law led to the most important question, how do I inherit eternal life?
[9:42] I mean, if you come to Jesus, the creator of the universe, and you get one question, why would it not be about eternal life? It seems like everything else would be secondary, right? You don't see anybody come to Jesus and ask for directions along the way, like, hey, I'm trying to get to this city.
[9:57] Could you tell me where to go? No. They recognize that this being the Messiah, those that were believers, but those that recognized him as a teacher or one that they said was the Messiah, they were either going to come to him to learn about eternal life or they were going to test him.
[10:11] And that's what we find him doing is testing him because when he walks away or in the question, he was trying to justify himself. Though his answer shows a knowledge of scripture, it also shows an unrepentant, unloving heart.
[10:26] It shows a heart that when Jesus said, this is what happens in the story of the Good Samaritan, even though he doesn't say it out loud, he says, I know that I can never do that. I know that's not who I am.
[10:37] I know that I would never be able to do that. Let's reclassify who my neighbor is. So Jesus tells the man that his answer is correct. The man gives two answers, loving God and loving your neighbor.
[10:51] We find in Matthew that these are the two things that all the law can hang upon. If you don't want to memorize the entire five books of the first five books of the Bible, you want two ways to memorize it. Remember, love God and love your neighbor and all those other things would hang upon those.
[11:05] If you can remember those and do those two things, then you would be fulfilling all those. Deuteronomy 6, Leviticus 19. But Jesus' answer to this man is just as shocking as it was to Nicodemus when he told Nicodemus that you have to be born again.
[11:20] So even though this man knew the answer, this expression, do and live, it may seem problematic to you. But Jesus isn't giving a plan of salvation here. What he's doing is he's addressing the man's need for a Savior.
[11:33] Luke 10.37, And he said that he showed mercy on him, then said, Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise. Also in Luke 9.59 and 6, we already saw it. They came to him, he said, Follow me.
[11:45] And Jesus said unto them, Go and bury, let the dead bury the dead. Come after me. Luke 9.57, A certain man came to me and he said, Follow me right now. He gave him something to do.
[11:58] We know that our relationship with Christ is not based upon what we do, but what he has done. We even give a book out. If you're visiting here today, we have a gift for you and the book is simply called Done.
[12:11] Because our salvation is not based upon our doing. We're not earning our position in heaven. We are not trying to do now to make up for our sins of the past.
[12:22] We have no ability to ever pay. That one sin against God could never be paid in a lifetime of doing good. And so we talk about that and you know this.
[12:33] You know the gospel. So these things, you can seem problematic when he says, Go and do this thing or go and do likewise. It's an identical question will be asked in Luke 18. A certain ruler asked, saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
[12:48] And Jesus' response is, Why do you call me good? None is good save the Father. He says, Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. These are what the commandments have said. And then the test will come in Luke 18.22 where he'll say, When Jesus heard these things, he said, Y'all lackest one thing.
[13:03] Thou lackest one thing. So all thou hast and distribute unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me. So how to get eternal life was not selling everything you have.
[13:17] It was not letting the dead bury the dead. But what it was was recognizing your need for a Savior and that everything that you had was of nothing in comparison to Him.
[13:28] And that's what Jesus is doing to that lawyer that day. As He is telling him, Hey, you got it right. You know the answers. But you're going to have to live it out. You're going to have, Let me tell you the story of a good Samaritan.
[13:39] So it will become apparent that the real question isn't who is my neighbor but it is what kind of person are you? What kind of person have you been transformed by the knowledge of Jesus Christ?
[13:53] And so this desire for this man to justify himself is common. In the story, we saw two other people do it well. He said, Willing to justify himself. The lawyer is trying to excuse himself.
[14:04] Seemed to think of himself. He didn't say, He's like, I love God pretty good. I'll just check that box. I don't have any questions. About loving God. I'm good at that. However, I have some questions about the qualifications about who your neighbor is.
[14:18] What are the people that I can take off of my list? When you say neighbor, exactly who is it that you're talking about? We've already seen in the story that the priest and the Levite, twice it said, back to back, right?
[14:30] It said, They saw him and then they went to the other side of the road and they passed by. They didn't just see him and walk over him but they saw him and then they cross over to the other side of the road.
[14:43] What are they doing? They are justifying their inaction. They're seeing the need and saying, I don't have to do anything about it and then they justify themselves because this man was not the kind of person.
[14:55] They didn't have the time. They didn't have the resource. Whatever the justifying was, they were able to do it and move. It would have been a humorous story if it was a story of a priest that went by and saw the man and didn't do anything and then the Levite came by and he helped and then we would all laugh the day and say, well, the preacher and the priest and the pastor and religion, it doesn't help you but the good moral man, he would be there to help you or the Levite, just the salt of the earth would be able to do it but in the story, the priest walks by, the good old boy, the Levite's going to walk by, but then who is it that shows up?
[15:33] The Samaritan, the enemy of the story, the one that you would have never would have imagined would have helped this man and so that's where it becomes shocking to them. So, here's some steps.
[15:44] If you're here today and you say, all this orange and all these things they're talking about, they're a real problem for me because I'm just trying to cross to the other side of the road and get on with my life and I'm not wanting to see any needs, I'll just give you a couple clues on how to do that.
[15:57] First of all, reposition yourself not to see the problem. The first step to ignoring a problem, it's always confusing when you preach in satire, I don't know which way I'm going here, alright? One of the ways to ignore a problem is you need to remove yourself from it.
[16:11] If you're a Christian and you see a need often, you're very likely going to slip up and meet the need if you keep looking at it, you need to remove yourself and not hear the problem.
[16:21] Second of all, you need to find excuses that this is not the right circumstances or you're not the right person to address it. Cross the road, I'm not somebody that can help, I'm not somebody that has the time, I'm not somebody that has the resources for it.
[16:35] But no truly compassionate or merciful heart can stand by and watch a person die while trying to see if the person fits the definition of a neighbor. No life changed by the gospel could be so self-centered without the Holy Spirit bringing great conviction on their life.
[16:53] Let's just kind of color the picture here for you. This, should you help or not, it wasn't an undecided kind of scenario. This man is on the road about to die. It's not the kind of thing where you pulled up and after the service you say, hey, on my way here I saw this man and he was about to die but I didn't want to be late for church, didn't want to be late preacher, I'm here on time and I would not be like, I'm not going to be like, oh, that's so good, I'm so grateful that you're here on time.
[17:16] It'd be like, no, let's get into our car, take us to where you were at because this was definitely a need that needed to be met by the people that saw it and only people that would justify themselves in a wrong sense would have been able to walk away from it.
[17:33] The Samaritan as the hero is so shocking. The recent hostile reception of Jesus and his disciples in the Samaritan village where James and John said, let me call fire down from heaven that was in a Samaritan village.
[17:45] You know the animosity that when Jesus said, I must need to go through Samarium, why it was surprising to everybody because people would walk sometimes, they said, up to adding six days to their journey so that they would walk around Samarium because they thought they might get mugged or they might get robbed or that they would be unclean if they went through that area.
[18:03] That's the Samaritans that are there, that hatred towards them. So the lawyer represents the self-centered nature of a fallen man.
[18:15] This hatred that they would have from one group to another. I've shared with you that it's been some time. I was in Turkey about to leave, head back, flying from South Africa, talking to my wife and Lisa Littlefield over FaceTime.
[18:29] We thought we were buying a home. I get up from a coffee shop. I walk to the other side of the airport. I board the plane and find out shortly afterwards that right where I was sitting that a man had walked in.
[18:42] A terrorist attack had happened. My coffee shop had been blown up. Some of the people that were in the picture with me before had died and now we're leaving and I'm coming back to the States and I was there filled with anger.
[18:56] The actions of that one man had spread out to anybody that was anything like him and the 12-year-old boy that I was sitting beside I had a distrust and I had an anger for him because I knew that my life had been at risk that my family could have been affected but over time and by being confronted by the gospel of Jesus as I sit there I realize that this 12-year-old boy was just as heartbroken as I was and that it was not anybody it wasn't his family that was doing the damage or the killing but it was his family that was being attacked and helped the kid make a phone call back home so he could find out what was going on but what I found was a hatred a self-centered this I am being personally attacked so now I will hate anything that is attacking me it creates that and so this lawyer represents a self-centered nature of a fallen man so unlike when he reads it it said the Bible tells us as you would Luke 6 31 and as you would that men should do to you do you also to them likewise so this man here would not have read it some people would read this and he would say you have to love your neighbor as yourself and it would be a lot of fun and I would probably end earlier if my message today was the reason that you're not very loving to your neighbor is that you just don't love yourself today let me tell you five ways that you can demonstrate love for yourself this week okay you need to go and you need to buy yourself something nice you need to buy yourself something to feel special right and so I can say that today and everybody would be very much on board with that but that is never a message
[20:33] I need to preach because every one of you already love yourself alright you already want to take care of yourself and you would protect yourself and so it's just the care about other people in the same way that you care and look after yourself is what's being told here in the story Zach and I and some others went to a Georgia Tech game not too long ago and Zach knew that I was going to be trolling him giving him a hard time and he was prepared for it and I had three layers of Kentucky shirts on in case he asked me to take any of them off I would be ready to go and I got everybody to yell buzz buzz over and over again because that's not what Georgia Tech says but I sure love watching Coach shake his head every time we yelled buzz buzz during the game but I had such a joke for you Coach how many Georgia Tech alumni does it take to put in a light bulb and the answer is one they put the light bulb in place and they expect that the whole world is going to revolve around them alright and so that joke would work for Georgia Tech it would work for anybody but the self centeredness of this man believed that the whole world would revolve around him that's what he was showing he was saying now who is it that I can take off of my list who is it that I not need to care for do you know why racism is so convenient because it helps me in the fight to keep the world revolving around me and people just like me you see I need an
[21:55] American that caters to 40 year old white men because I'm almost 40 years old not 40 years old I'm almost 40 years old and I am a white male and so in wanting the world to revolve around me I want everything that's like me to revolve around me and so racism just comes down to the self centeredness that I am protecting a life that revolves around me and so I am going to cater to those that are most like me I saw this clearly one time when I first moved here a man was talking about the good old days and how things were and how people were coming into our community but very quickly you saw that the reason he didn't like the difference is because it was attacking life as he knew it and life as he liked it and so here is this man who knew the bible and he taught the bible and all that but he said but what groups exactly are you talking about when you say neighbor you can't be talking about and then Jesus tells a story where the
[22:56] Samaritan is the hero that man was talking about the Samaritans that was the kind of person he was thinking about when he wanted Jesus to define who the neighbor was he wanted Jesus to say well you know those people that you grew up with but I'm not really talking about the Samaritans I'm talking about the people that are just most like you I'm not talking about the Samaritans Jesus doesn't just come and tell a story where the Samaritan is the one in need but he tells a story where the Samaritan is the hero because he's turning this world upside down he is completely changing people's way of thinking and then he will confront that and he'll tell him to go and do likewise so who is your neighbor the question is who are you the lawyer wanted to know who is required to love and who he wasn't required to love surely not the Romans surely not the Samaritans and I ask you in here today are we required to love the unborn or can we just justify crossing the street the Bible tells us to look after the fatherless and the widows and James surely that doesn't include the unborn are they our neighbor
[24:00] Proverbs 24 11 and 12 if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain if thou sayest beheld we knew it not doth not he pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and he shall not render to every man according to his works and so we cannot justify that a person is not our neighbor because they're unborn if we really believe that life begins at conception but then we find a difficulty don't we what are we to do about it what are we to do about our neighbor how are we supposed to stop this what can there be done well I would like to tell you one way that I believe as individuals and as a church we can really confront this you see we live in a culture that says that it's okay to make whatever decision is best for you and your future it's your body and it's your life and do not think about the consequences of others this may show itself most evidently in the rise of the abortion rate but it's also seen in the church's lack of willingness to pay the cost to meet the needs of those around us
[25:09] I've never spent any time speaking about abortion inside of the church I believe as Bible believing people you would understand what God would say about life also if you're listening today and you'd hear and that is part of your story you need to know that God has love and forgiveness and he has a plan and we would love to show you the love of Christ that is evident from his word I love to show that to you but I am like you who wants to love my neighbor but I really feel like at a loss of what to do when it comes to our unborn neighbor what are we to do about it in a culture that is so readily accepted and so fashionable this is what I think we do this is how we fight the culture is that we aren't the people who will do what's convenient we will make costly decisions and we will care for people and we will make a decision we won't just say what's best for me but we'll say what's best for everybody else we will do what we can for other people because why has it become so easy to make a decision that is so self centered is because we live in a culture that is so self centered we live in a culture that is all about us and as a church we need to fight completely against this and when we see the opportunity to meet the need we do it even if it's costly could you imagine if Paul and
[26:21] Peter would walk and take a tour of our community today see the abortion rate see kids staying in a hotel with a government worker because there was no available homes see widespread drug addiction see the neglect and lack of discipleship happening for our young people the sinful and self centered living with so many people and then they would learn that in this community that there's a high percentage of people that profess to know Christ it would make absolutely no sense to them because if you know the gospel you know the gospel truth and if you know the gospel truth then it changes your behavior and so like the Samaritan we're not also to be are we not also to be about the work of showing mercy Titus 2 14 who gave himself to us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself a peculiar people that is zealous of good works but what if it will cost us time and money and it will take away from our family I would get involved in helping the kids in our community but I don't have the time believer we are supposed to be zealous of good works and so we go about justifying our inaction this is not the right circumstances and I am not the right person but if that's every time that we come upon a need and we decide that and we say this is not the right person and this is not the right circumstances maybe we need to say that my heart is not the right heart some of us need to recognize that it's not been the wrong circumstances and you don't have the right resources but your heart has been wrong it has not been transformed by the gospel it is only capable of making excuses and not demonstrating compassion and then there's this not having enough time and we're always limited on time at Princeton
[27:59] Theological Seminary they did a study years ago they told a group of seminary students that knew the Samaritan story good Samaritan story they said I'm going to need you to go to the other side of the campus and I'm going to need you to tell this story but they told half the students that they had plenty of time and to take their time going across campus they told the other students that they're behind time and they needed to get over there very quickly in the middle of the campus they put a man that had been beaten and robbed and that needed help and what they found was that the students all the students were well versed in the Good Samaritan many of them were preparing to give a talk on the subject yet of the ones that were told they were running late only 10% stopped to help the man in need on campus and of the group that who knew they had a few minutes to spare 63% of stopped to provide him aid that not having enough time is one of the greatest ways that we justify not caring for the needs of other people and as adults and here today we are the ones that are responsible for our time we must all say that if we're crossing campus and we see a man that needs medical attention that's been robbed and mugged and we don't have time to stop and help him then we're just simply too busy and busyness that came from a lack of priorities so look at the example of doing likewise here look at the cost he said take care of him he takes the man to the hotel there wouldn't have been the hospital scene there but there would have been an inn where he would have stayed and been cared for and he gave him the oil and the wine that was given to him poured it there was helping the man with the time he took him to the place not only did he pay for a couple days he said if he needs more time let me know when I come back and
[29:36] I will pay for that he gave of his time everything he gave was time when he gave the two pennies that was time when he gave his time well that's obviously time right when he took the man there he stopped what he was doing and he gave of his time but he also risked himself there's an uncertainty when a Samaritan man would have been carrying him in the town and him being there upon the donkey what's the backstory are you responsible for this did you do this the man risked something he gave him his money he gave a day's wages the help of that one of the lives that we leave in America that is so fashionable is that you can make a real difference in other people's lives without it costing you anything you're already buying this product but buy this product which also saves dolphins you're buying this scarf but also buy this scarf because it does something that all the giving that we want to do needs to be done by the click of a button or through a purchase that we're already going to make but the kind of sacrifice that the gospel should demand of this is going to be costly and it's going to be practical and so the lawyer heard the parable and he knew it was not in him to act the same way and that is exactly the same point the point it is not who is my neighbor but what has transformed us what how would I need to be transformed to respond in the same way that's what he needed to recognize his life had not been transformed because he did not recognize Jesus as the
[31:02] Messiah and maybe you will feel the same way that one of my fellow foster dads when he wrote it like this realizing where he was at in life he said our world was too small before our faith was too shallow our theology too narrow our dreams too temporary our family too isolated our Christianity too comfortable our worries too finite our our relationships too homogenous and our prayers too selfish that recognizing it with the story of the good Samaritan bring you to that realization as well that when Jesus says love God and love your neighbor that you try to justify yourself and say but who is my neighbor and what difference could I make that's not what the gospel would demand of our lives Dawson Troutman started navigators as a group on college campuses a lot of people came to know Christ and be discipled through it he died fairly young in life he died on a boating accident a young girl was drowning and he jumped over and he held her up and he held her up till she survived but he died and that was the last of that that he was seen and then in the newspaper it said that
[32:17] Dawson Troutman died doing what he did living which was holding other people up even though it cost him something the gospel demands that when we see a need that we would respond even if it's costly and a practical fashion because we are people that are already filled we're not people in need we already have all that we could ever want so whatever resources that you think you don't have the need to need you need to look to the gospel and say I have more than enough I'm overflowing when you look and say I don't think I'm the right person you were transformed by the gospel now be zealous and good works you are certainly the right person and then you look at the person you say they're not the right person and the question is are you going to be a neighbor of them are they outside of your circle do you think they're not enough like you that's exactly who Jesus would call you to love and to care for so the lawyer's question is who is my neighbor Jesus reshapes the question and says which one of these men were the neighbor neighbor so I could easily parade up here problems in our community in this world in front of you but today you don't need a window but you need a mirror to decide if you will be a neighbor if you see a need this week would you ask God to allow you to meet it you see the good
[33:30] Samaritan he didn't fight crime in that area of town he just simply helped the one guy out that he saw he didn't start a campaign he didn't set up a roadblock he didn't change everything that day he just did for one person what he wishes he could have done for everybody which is he helped the guy out and so before you say I can't help it won't make much difference it's going to make a difference to that person it's going to make a difference in your life when you say yes to him and so here in a moment I'll take a moment and pray and then we'll stand and say one song and I know it's a little bit longer today but I promise I won't charge for overtime we'll just keep the normal right okay and I always wonder why preachers give bad jokes when they're out of time they just feel something like feel like some reason we need to reconcile our relationship here with me and your crock pot at home that has your your your food there but the good Samaritan didn't solve every problem that day but he solved one because the gospel demonstrating for us that the gospel would cause us to want to make a difference in people's lives and so what I was saying there was that here in a moment I'm going to take a moment I'm going to pray and ask God to work in my heart to take this deep in there to transform me to be a person that would be generous and caring and meet the needs but I would tell you that I can't give this invitation today I don't know when this invitation is coming to you it's not coming at 11 45 today it's going to come on Tuesday it's going to come on Wednesday it's going to come next month it's going to come at a time where you're going to see the need and you're going to have an opportunity to cross the road and justify yourself or you're going to say nope because of what the gospel has done in my life I can make a difference there even if it's costly and I don't feel adequate I'm going to make a difference in this story because what the gospel has done for me let's pray Heavenly Father I pray that you would help us today Lord I most certainly need transforming by your word I need a renewing of my mind in regards to how I look and care for other people Lord my lines may not be drawn as other people's lines are drawn but I know there's people Lord that I would ask are they really my neighbor do I really have to do something Father I pray that you would help us fight the self-centered culture of this world that we would be a group of people that they would know that would care if they were to come here they would we would care if they would call and ask for help Lord I pray that they would see something different in us that the world didn't than it is in this world father I don't know when the invitation is coming for us but when the time comes and we see a need that can be met would you tell us Lord if this is what you would have for us you you you you you you you you you you you you you