Do This And Live - [Luke 10:25-42]

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What are the two great commandments? The first great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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Do you do it? That's the greatest commandment. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
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And do you do it to God's standards? That is, do you do it perfectly? Do you love the
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Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? What's the second great commandment?
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Love your neighbor as yourself. Do you do it? Do you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself?
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Do you love your neighbor perfectly? After all, it's the second greatest commandment.
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The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. God requires that perfectly to get into heaven.
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And God also requires, if you'd like to go to heaven, that you perfectly love your neighbor as yourself.
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And if you can't do it, you need someone who can.
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You need someone who has loved the Lord as God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and who loved his neighbor as himself perfectly.
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If you can't do it, you need someone who did. Let's turn our
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Bibles to Luke chapter 10 this morning and find out from Jesus Christ, the greatest preacher who ever lived.
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Some people call Spurgeon the Prince of Preachers, I beg to differ. Jesus Christ, the greatest expositor.
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In a passage that you know so well, you probably don't know it like you think you should know it.
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Here's a passage, Luke chapter 10 with the Good Samaritan, that everyone knows about. They name hospitals after this parable, but if you don't understand the context, if you don't understand the situation, if you don't understand
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Jesus' words, you miss the meaning of the parable. Now, some of you are saying, where's
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Romans chapter 2 today? This is, lots of you looked up when I said that. Yeah, where is it today?
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Well, when there's a snow day, I usually have kind of a snow sermon, usually something from the
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Gospels, and we'll get into Romans 2, Lord willing, next week. I really want the entire congregation to hear our series in Romans, and so that's why we're deviating.
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The parable of the Good Samaritan. Actually, is it about the Samaritan at all?
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What is the meaning of this almost most famous text of scriptures?
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So, when we come to the passage in Luke chapter 10, verse 21 and following, just to give you a quick background on a parable, what do we say a parable is?
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How do we teach a kid, if you're going to teach a Sunday school class, what's a parable? What would you say to a kid?
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Louder. Earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's a good way to teach kids.
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It literally means something that's placed next to something else. So, you've got a real story, a real situation, as it were, something that could really have happened, but there's a story or a truth that's set next to it.
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And that's exactly what Jesus does as he teaches these parables. Sometimes, parables are meant to conceal truth from people.
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Other times, they're meant to reveal truth to folks. The best way that you can hermeneutically interpret a parable is to just notice the natural situation, see why it was delivered, and then find out what's the main point.
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In other words, you don't want to make these parables walk on all fours. I found a four -walking parable interpretation this week by Origin of the
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Good Samaritan. I don't know if you ever knew this here. The man who fell among the thieves is
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Adam. The robbers are the devil and his minions. The priest stands for the law.
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The Levite stands for the prophets. The Good Samaritan is Jesus. The inn is the church.
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The two pence is the father and the son. And when the Samaritan said, when I come again, that's the second return of Christ.
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I just learn new things all the time. That's not the interpretation of the parable.
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Let's find out what the interpretation is. Context is everything.
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Situation is everything. So let's go back to Luke 10 .25 and find out that context.
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Jesus has just sent out the 72 in chapter 10. Chorazin and Bethsaida have been unrepentant.
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72, return. And now we move into chapter 10.
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Let's go to verse 25. And behold. NES doesn't say that, but ESV does, and the original does.
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And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test saying, Teacher, what shall
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I do to inherit eternal life? If you'd like to know the key to this entire passage of Scripture, it's the word do.
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That's why I said, do you do the two great commandments? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
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The key is do. Now, when you want to talk to a rabbi, the courtesy was, socially, that you would stand up.
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It was a sign of respect and an oriental, eastern greeting. But he might be standing up showing respect on the outside, but on the inside, the text lets us know what his heart is, and that is he wants to test
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Jesus. And he is a lawyer. Now, when you think of lawyers today, you think of lawyer jokes, and you do something bad and you need a lawyer to represent you.
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That's not the kind of lawyer here. What's the first, what's the root word of lawyer? Law. Lar.
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That's what it is. I always found it funny when
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I moved here and I'd meet someone, and, what's your profession? I'm in law enforcement. You need to be in our enforcement is what you need to be.
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This person was an expert in the law. That is the law of Moses. That is the
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Old Testament. He's like a scribe. His business was the Bible. This isn't a lawyer for traffic court.
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This is a man steeped in the Bible, the law of God, the Torah. He's an expert in Old Testament law, specifically
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Mosaic law. And he stands up and he's going to try to put Jesus to the test.
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Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? I mean, after all, only legal heirs inherit.
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You don't inherit things from your parents unless you're a legal heir. And by the way, I'm a Jew, and I can legally inherit the land.
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And by the way, since I'm a Jew, I probably legally inherit eternal life as well. It's bad, though, when you've got a deceitful heart and you begin to ask
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Jesus questions. You're always going to lose. People say things to Jesus all the time like this, but he's the one who has questions for the person.
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It reminds me of John chapter 3. Nicodemus said, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
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Jesus doesn't even deal with that. What's he say? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God.
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What does Jesus say to the lawyer? Verse 26.
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He said to him, I've got a question for you. What is written in the law?
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How do you read it? Nicodemus, you're the teacher in Israel.
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Lawyer, how do you as a law expert read it? You should know you're the expert.
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You're the scribe. The guy gives the right answer. Verse 27.
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Taken right from Deuteronomy 6 .5, the first part. And from Leviticus 19 .18,
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the second part. He gets the answers correct. And he answered, you shall love the
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Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
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Friends, everything else in the passage revolves around those two great commandments. Loving the
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Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Everything else from these two commandments we're going to deal with.
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But he starts with not the first great commandment. He starts with the second great commandment.
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Love your neighbor as yourself. Now, what is a neighbor? Who is your neighbor? The Greek word for neighbor means somebody that's near you.
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Just someone who's near. For the Jew, the neighbor was an Israelite. Limited to the religious community.
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What are the two great commandments? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. And then what does Jesus say?
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This is classic. This is the best. Remember, what's the key word? And he said to him,
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You have answered orthos, orthodoxly. You have answered correctly.
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You're going to want to underline these two words here. This is the key. Do this.
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Do this and you will live. It's an imperative.
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It's a present imperative. Keep on doing this. You want to inherit eternal life? Then do this.
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Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do this. I think would Jesus maybe have failed some of the
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IBS classes here on evangelism? Maybe some of the college classes? Some of the seminary classes?
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If someone comes up to you and says, What must I do to inherit eternal life? You're a
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Christian. You go to church. What must I do? What would you say? I know what you wouldn't say.
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You wouldn't say what Jesus said. Who says this? Do these things and you'll live.
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Jesus said you've answered correctly. That's where we get the word orthodox.
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You've answered in a straight fashion. You've cut it straight. That's the right answer.
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But this guy thought it was all about orthodoxy and not a faith that lived itself out in orthopraxy.
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He was all about the creed but not the deed. He was all about the doctrine and not the duty. He had it all memorized up here in his head.
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It didn't flesh itself out. It's not right to have good theology and it stops there.
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Jesus said do this. You continually love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and you continually love your neighbor as yourself, you'll inherit eternal life.
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That's exactly what Jesus said. I probably would have given him the three easy steps to follow
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Jesus or the four W's or the four spiritual flaws or something. I would have done all kinds of things.
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Jesus is pushing him to see his sin because you don't need a Savior until you realize that you're sin.
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So the holy law of God is getting pushed towards this man's conscience.
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1 Timothy 1 says we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and the sinners, the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.
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We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully and Jesus is using it lawfully. Keep the law perfectly.
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Study. With all your heart, love God. With all your soul, love
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God. With all your strength, love God. With all your mind, love God. And if you do this, you will have eternal life.
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How can I be saved? You tell me according to your law that you study. Now, when the laser beam eyes of Jesus in Revelation 1 start permeating the soul, there's a response that is a godly response.
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I could never do that. I'm sinful. I need help.
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I need mercy. The head drops. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
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Luke 18. And there's another kind of response to gospel preaching and preaching from Jesus. And it's, you know what?
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We're going to duck and jive. I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to ask you questions. We're going to figure out a way to securitously get this laser beam off of me and put it onto something else.
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And you know this when you have friends and family and people that you preach to. When they start feeling the weight of the law, it doesn't feel good so if the
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Spirit's not working in you, you've got to get out of that. And that's exactly what happens here. What does he do? Verse 29.
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Desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
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The focus should be on loving your neighbor actively, and now he switched it to, well,
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I want to know who my neighbor is. He can feel the weight because in his own
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Bible, it says, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and to perform them.
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To do them. You don't do all the law. We just read in James 2, verse 10. You say,
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I do all the law except for one thing. Guilty of all. Desiring to justify himself.
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Deflecting things. He's trying to soften the demands of God by focusing on something else.
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I don't know if you've ever done that. I think sometimes my kids do that. I think
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Kim's kids do that really. They're the ones. Who is my neighbor?
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The right question should be, who am I neighboring in an active sense? One commentator said,
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The lawyer does not know that only by mercy can he live and inherit eternal life. He does not want to live by mercy.
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He doesn't even know what this is. He actually lives by something quite different from mercy, by his own intention and ability to present himself as a righteous man before God.
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Lord, I'm not able. Give me mercy. That should have been the right response. But instead, as sin tries to save face, who is my neighbor?
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Now, for a Jew, the neighbor would be a fellow Israelite. Leviticus 19, Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.
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That's right. When God gave that command initially to Israel, it was right that my neighbor is my fellow
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Israelite. But what's one of the most important things you do when it comes to Bible teaching and Bible reading?
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Keep reading. It goes on to say in the same chapter in Leviticus, The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourselves.
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For you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Is your neighbor the
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Jew? Yes. But your neighbor is not only the Jew. It's people who are around you, who's in front of you.
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That's your neighbor. Remember? He knew that, but he didn't want to talk about it.
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Because sin market looks for loopholes. And now we come to the parable.
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If you don't understand that do this and live is the key, then you'll never get it.
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I read one guy this week. I never read this before in my life. The Good Samaritan is this.
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It's an illustration story, a response parable, with a subculture hero using colorful detail, marked by a muddled conclusion, terminating with a guillotine question, exhibiting philo -Samaritan sympathies, and dealing in positive emotions.
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I figured I could just mail that in this morning. I wouldn't even have to study. I only like the guillotine part.
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Verse 30. Jesus replied. If you're trying to put Jesus in the corner, and he starts off with a man, you're smoked.
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A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 16, 17 miles.
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He fell among robbers. By the way, you can feel the cadence pick up. You can feel what's going on.
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It's getting faster. Things are happening. No time to ramp up.
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We start right away. Fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
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Now, this place from Jerusalem to Jericho was perfectly ripe for all kinds of criminals to live there.
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It was a haunt for bad people. They could hide. Jerusalem to Jericho, it's known for its robbers.
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Even Pompeii had to wipe out strongholds. Crusaders had to build a small fort at the halfway mark to protect people.
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Every century, people like to go there because it's a perfect spot to raid folks.
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Scary, uninhabited, except for the criminals. And look at the text. It says, he fell among robbers.
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Literally, he got surrounded by these robbers. Romans called this place the Red and Bloody Way.
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Called Bloody Boulevard, maybe you want to call it. Why are there so many people there?
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These aren't pickpockets. These aren't petty thieves. These are really bad people. Well, when
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Herod the Great got done with one of his huge building projects, there's no more work, so he had to cut all the guys loose.
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40 ,000 huge, union kind of masculine, big bicep, burly guys who are working.
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They have no work now. Where do they go? Well, a lot of them go right to this perfect little spot to rob people between Jerusalem and Jericho.
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And this guy fell among robbers, and what did they do? Hey, clothes cost a lot of money. They took his clothes.
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It was valuable. It's almost like he resisted these robbers, but they got him anyway, and then they stripped him.
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And the text says they beat him, and literally it means placed strokes or blows or plagues upon him.
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Because after you got done seeing this man who was beaten, you'd look at him and you'd go, he's either beaten to death or he's got a plague.
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He looks like he's got a plague with all these different kinds of spots, ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies kind of thing.
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Why did we ever sing that song? I don't know. You can look it up and find out the real meaning. And the text says he's literally half dead.
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He's next to dead. He's not talking. He's unconscious. If you looked at him, you might even say the guy looks dead.
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And do you know the whole time, the Jewish listener is going to be thinking, this guy's a
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Jewish guy laying there. Jerusalem, Jericho, the man's laying there.
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He's Jewish. I don't know how we're going to identify the guy because we can't hear his
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Jewish accent. We can't see his Jewish clothes in the livery of a
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Jew because it's gone. What kind of background is he from? More importantly, who will help him?
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Who is this fellow? He's an image bearer in need. Do you know what?
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Even though the robbers treated him poorly, I bet you the Jewish clergy will treat him right.
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They're in the people business, aren't they? The clergy, the rabbis, the priests, the Levites, they'll do the right thing.
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After all, pastors always do the right thing. You should see
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Steve's face. Now we're in the story. Now by chance, it just means as it happened.
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It doesn't mean there's chance in the world, systematic theology. This is a story. Jesus uses the word chance because this is a random thing.
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As it happens, as a way of coincidence, it's a way to tell a story so you hyper -Calvinists don't freak out on me.
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There's no chance with God. There's no fortune with God. There's no free will with God. There's none of that.
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But for storytelling, he says, somebody's beaten up and here comes a guy.
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A guy who just kind of came along. And he was going down that road.
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Which road was that? That bloody road. That awful road. That road that you could get whacked on.
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And it was a priest. Priests don't walk. They've got a whole entourage. And when he saw him, he loved his neighbor as himself.
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Helps around the corner. He passed by on the other side. Now what do priests do back in those days?
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Priests offered sacrifices and they did the worship services. And the priests were like elders.
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They taught and they did the sacrifices. And what you would do is if you were a priest back in those days, you would serve in the temple for about two weeks.
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That would be your slot. And then after your two weeks were up, you'd go back home and a lot of priests lived in Jericho.
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So you'd go to the temple. You'd do all your things for sacrificial offerings and for presenting incense and to conduct services in the morning and the evening in the temple.
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And then you'd go back. Done with your service and then now back to Jericho.
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And this guy saw him. The text is he observed or noticed or perceived. He didn't want to come near the guy.
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He went on the opposite side. The Greek text says on the anti -side. No motives given.
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The key is he didn't do. Well, of course, priests weren't allowed to defile themselves by touching a dead person unless there was a situation like this.
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He might have been thinking, oh, Leviticus 21, I shouldn't be defiled. And can you imagine the humiliation? You're a priest.
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You've been in Jerusalem now for two weeks serving in the temple. And you serve faithfully and now you're on your way home.
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You're almost home. Can't wait to tell your wife and kids and the community around you,
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I got to serve the Lord God Yahweh in the temple.
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I got to serve in there for two weeks. And now you help the dead guy. You become ceremonially defiled.
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And when you get home, they're all waiting for the stories about how you served in the temple. And you say, sorry, don't come close to me.
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Don't touch me. I'm physically, ceremonially defiled. So he gives him a wide berth.
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And there's a cadence. Came, saw, opposite side. Well, maybe a deacon will help.
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After all, deacons do. If an elder won't help, maybe a deacon will help. And Levites were to priests as a deaconess to an elder.
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Called for gospel ministry. So likewise, a Levite. Oh, he's got to help. He came to the place, saw and passed by on the anti -side, the other side.
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Come on, deacons serve. Deacons help. Deacons do. It was the office of a
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Levite to render assistance to the priest. Shouldn't he want to render assistance to other people?
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And by the way, the repercussions aren't as bad for a Levite to touch a corpse or somebody sick as it would be for a priest.
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Priest goes down the road. Levite goes down the road. Levite goes down the road. Pharisees, by the way, thought that if the shadow of a corpse touched you, you could be impure spiritually.
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I don't know if they heard the guy groan or moan. They just assume he's dead and they don't want to help. Although their law says, you shall not see your countryman's donkey or his ox fallen down on the way and pay no attention to them.
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You shall certainly help them to raise them up. If the donkey or the ox is in the ditch, you help.
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But, you know, there's a guy laying there. I don't want to go over there. Maybe I might get ambushed.
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Maybe God's judging that guy and God judged him and I don't want to, you know, step into the judgment of God.
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He probably got what he deserved. And then you think, okay, this is a perfect setup.
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Probably God's going to show up. Probably the angel of the Lord, the second person of the
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Trinity, he's going to show up and help. No, no, maybe Michael, the archangel, will help.
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How about Gabriel? Gabriel's sure to help. Some angel's going to do a good job now. Verse 33.
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But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came, saw, had compassion.
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Came, saw, passed by. Came, saw, passed by. But the Samaritan came to where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion.
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Everything changes now for the good. The Samaritan does.
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Samaritans were hated. They were half -breed people to hate with a passion.
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If you think the Nazis hated Jews, then you can understand a little bit how the Jews hated the
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Samaritans. These half -breeds desecrate the temple, won't celebrate
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Passover, throw human bones all around. The rabbinic prayer of the day, let no man eat the bread of the
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Samaritans for he who eats their bread is as he who eats swine's flesh.
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These Jews who intermarry into the Assyrian people, forget that. Remember?
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They said to Jesus, the Jews answered and said to him,
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John 8, did we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?
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This is not a nice name. Look back in chapter 9, verse 51 through 56.
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Luke 9, 51 to 56, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to Jerusalem, to go to Jerusalem.
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And he sent his messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.
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But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples
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James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume the
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Samaritans? But he turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village.
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Jesus saved a Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. Jesus was good to Samaritans.
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This Samaritan comes and takes pity, has compassion. That word for compassion, go back to Luke chapter 10.
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Luke chapter 10, verse 33, the last word of the ESV is, had compassion. This is a word from where you get splatna from your bowels, from your gut.
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You have pity resonating from your gut back in those days. Deep feeling of sympathy.
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The priest comes and goes, the Levite comes and goes, the Samaritan comes and does. Do. Love your neighbors yourself.
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Do. And so, verse 10, chapter 10, verse 34, and he went to him and he asked him if he was a
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Roman. Are you a Jew? Are you a barbarian? No, he went to him and he did.
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Pouring oil. That was to soothe the wounds. It was medicinal. And wine, disinfectant.
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By the way, this was his own oil, which is expensive. His own wine, which is expensive. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
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Do, do, do. I like the word that says he bandaged up his wounds.
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Don't you like that little medicinal detail from Dr. Luke, the physician? Bound up his wounds.
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And the next day, see, mercy does. Loving your neighbors yourself does till the job's done.
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He took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. The guy can't pay any money. Take care of him and whatever more you spend,
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I will repay you when I come back. I will repay, emphatic in the
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Greek text. I'm doing. Love does. Mercy does. Love your neighbors yourself by doing.
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Now here comes the Lord Jesus's point. Which one of these three do you think proved by doing, you could say, to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
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You want to know who the neighbor is? I've got a question for you, young man. Who are you neighboring?
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Wishing to justify himself. Who is my neighbor? Now Jesus asks the questions. Which one of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor?
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This reminds me exactly of Luke chapter 11. Go to verse 43 if you would, please.
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Luke 11, 43. It's one thing not to know something. It's another thing to know it and not teach it.
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Luke chapter 11 is that very thing. We've got the religious leadership in the
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New Testament and they won't teach the Bible. What does God think of people who should be teaching the
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Bible but don't? Is that a good thing? You only have to read Malachi chapter 2 quickly to understand that the priests who don't teach the
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Bible and do what God calls them to do should have the dung of their offerings smeared on their faces.
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And so Luke 11, verse 43 says, Woe to you
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Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
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Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it. And one of the lawyers answered him saying,
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Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also. Oh yeah, sorry about that.
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No. Verse 46, classic Jesus. And He said, Woe to you lawyers also, for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
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Back to Luke 10. Do. That is the key.
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To do. Verse 25 says, What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
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Verse 28, Do this and you shall live.
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Verse 37, Jesus said, The one who showed him mercy and Jesus said to him,
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You go and what? Do likewise. Samaritan came up to the man, he bound him, anointed him with a smooth oil on him, loads him on a mule, takes him to an inn, spends the night.
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Do. The second great commandment.
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength as the first and the second. Like it, love your neighbor as yourself.
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Do. You go and act like a Samaritan in other words. Do. James 1 says,
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If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
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Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father exists to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep one unstained by the world.
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Do. Now, the passage goes further.
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Normally we reserve verses 38 through 42 for other sermons. And they're good for other sermons.
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But there's a context. And here's the context. There are two great commandments. Love the Lord your
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God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus first deals with through the parable of the good Samaritan. Love your neighbor as yourself.
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And now he deals with the first commandment. Loving God. The story of Martha and Mary.
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Don't forget verse 27. It's all there in context. Two great commandments.
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Now the first part of this double commandment is taken up. Verse 38. Now as they went on their way,
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Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
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Focuses on Jesus. Just learned about the good Samaritan. They're related.
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Why? Because both deal with hospitality and extending care. No, not primarily. Because it deals with loving your neighbor.
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Now loving God. They're there for a reason by physician
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Luke. Verse 39. You know this story too.
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Did you know the stories are related? And she had a sister called Mary who was doing the first great commandment.
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Who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. The worship of God incarnate who's sitting right in front of her.
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And she's listening. I think she's loving God with all her heart, soul, mind and strength.
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I think she's doing that very thing. If you take
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Martha and Mary and turn it into only a story about hospitality and people who are double -minded and anxious for things and running around.
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There's people always at church who are so busy working and they forget the main things. Well, you can say all that if you want.
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But the point here is Mary is worshiping the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind and strength.
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Sitting at Jesus' feet. Worshiping. If I wanted to try to teach this to kids or something overseas
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I'd probably say I think Mary sat there like this. It was worship.
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This is exactly what it is to love God with everything you've got. And she sits there listening. Hands up, as it were.
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Without distraction. But Martha... By the way, listening is an ongoing.
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Kept listening to His Word. But Martha was distracted with much serving. She went up to Him and said,
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Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.
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It's bad to say it this way but it's for the point. Lord, will you stop...
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Would you tell Mary to stop letting her worship you with all her heart, soul, mind and strength because I have dishes to do.
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I'm serving alone. She should have been doing the very thing that Mary was.
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It's not a bad thing to serve. But it's a bad thing to put the second commandment in front of the first.
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Mary's worshiping the Lord Jesus. Martha's busy and He says to her in verse 41,
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Martha, Martha... You're anxious and troubled about many things.
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But this one thing is necessary. Commandment one. Mary has chosen the good portion.
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She's got her commandments in the right order which will not be taken away from her. Kind response, tender response but still truthful.
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There are two great commandments. Love God with your entire being and you must do that.
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To love God without ever slipping up, you must do that. To have a perfect track record of loving
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God, you must do that. To have one transgression in the past but committed to serve
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God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength in the future and do that isn't good enough. And then to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, you must do that.
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To get into heaven, you must have always loved your neighbor as yourself. You must do that.
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And our only response is, we're undone. I can't do that.
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Someone have mercy on me. But now you know the reason why
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Jesus came and cloaked Himself with humanity because the entire ministry of Jesus could be described by one word.
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Do. You want to know what Jesus did? No wonder He said,
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I always do the things that are pleasing to the Father. If Jesus would have been martyred by Herod when
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He was a baby, it wouldn't have been enough because Jesus needs to fulfill the law by doing.
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He had to live as an adult by doing. He had to worship God His Father with all
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His heart, soul, mind and strength and His neighbor as Himself by doing. Perfect obedience must be rendered.
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No wonder Jesus said, I don't do anything of my own authority.
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No wonder to John the Baptist, Jesus said, I have come to fulfill what?
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All righteousness. Does it make more sense when you read John 4 when
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Jesus says, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish
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His work. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.
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Turn with me, if you would, to Galatians chapter 4. We're going to look up a couple passages because as much as we love the doctrine that Jesus died as a substitutionary offering on our behalf, thus securing our salvation by intercepting the wrath of God which we deserved,
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Jesus being raised from the dead, as much as we love that, that's not the only truth presented in the
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Scripture. We also believe that Jesus lived a perfect life and that perfect life is credited to our account.
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Our sin is credited to Jesus, but His perfect life is credited to our account. Why is the incarnation such a big deal?
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It's because we needed a representative. Adam in the garden, do this and live. Adam in the garden fell.
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We need a last Adam. We need somebody who can do it. Galatians chapter 4 verse 3.
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The same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, but when the fullness of time had come,
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God sent forth His Son, born of woman, yes, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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Do this and live was the command and God sent His Son to do this and live because we failed.
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The text is true. Cursed is anyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law.
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The doers of the law shall be justified, Romans chapter 2. That's why we need
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Jesus who came and did. Let's go to Romans chapter 8 for a minute. Romans chapter 8, it's the same thing.
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We believe in the double imputation. Christ's righteousness that He earned through keeping the law credited to our account.
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And our sins, of course, credited to Christ's account confirmed by the resurrection.
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Do this and live. Romans chapter 8, verse 3. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending
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His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law due might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the
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Spirit. That's why in evangelicalism when people today are attacking the perfect righteousness of Jesus and what
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He did, it's a grave error. It's a grave error.
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The articles of religion in Ireland, 1615 said we are accounted righteous for the merit of our
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ applied by faith. Christ is now the righteousness of all them that truly believe in Him.
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He for them paid their ransom by His death. He for them fulfilled the law in His life.
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Adam, do this and live. Christ, He did it and we can live.
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Think about it. If we were only forgiven for our sins and we didn't have the active obedience of Christ imputed to us,
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Machen argues it this way, without the imputation of the active obedience we would be worse off than Adam.
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But because of the imputation of active obedience we are better off than Adam before the fall since now for Christ's sake we are beyond the possibility of becoming unrighteous.
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It's one thing not to have to go to hell for your sins because they are paid for by Jesus and it's another thing trying to go to heaven and you need to go to heaven by someone earning heaven for you.
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Christ's death doesn't just make us go back to zero He paid for our sins. It goes positively because He lived the perfect life in our place.
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Do this and live. Romans 2, each man is given according to his works.
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And so for us as Christians we say either it's our works condemned or we look by faith to another and we rest in Christ's works.
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Friends, there are so many practical things that come out of this. One is you begin to read the
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New Testament and you say I like to watch Jesus as He's living. I don't have to just automatically go to the cross.
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Yes, the cross culminates His obedience, Philippians 2. But I like to see His life because He's living the life
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I couldn't live. But He's living the life I had to live. People say this all the time. The gospel isn't do, do, do.
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It's always done, done, done. Right? I used to say that. But now I have to qualify it.
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Why? Of course the gospel is done by God, done by God, done by God.
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But the gospel command to you is do, do, do. But we realize that's not such a gospel because we can't do it.
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We fall short. The common book of prayer in 1662 when it was good said we have erred straight from Thy ways like lost sheep.
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We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws.
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We have left those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.
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There is no health in us. Because the command do, do, do crushes us because we're sinful.
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We have to look outside of ourselves. That's why we need a Savior. Every human being lives under the same law.
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Do. Adam was not told by God in the garden.
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Adam, I want you to become. Adam was told do. This is not an intramural debate.
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Horatius Bonar said it was the only perfect thing which had ever been presented to God in man's behalf.
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Christ's perfect life. That's why imputed righteousness, reckoned righteousness, declared righteousness is at the heart of the gospel.
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He paid the penalty for us but he also lived perfectly obeying the commandments, earning our entrance to heaven by doing.
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You don't get heaven unless there is active obedience of Christ. You don't get hell because Jesus pays for your sins but you don't get heaven because heaven is earned by doing.
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Heaven is earned by doing. A life of perfect obedience. That's why we need a
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Savior. Shed said when a criminal has suffered the penalty affixed to his crime, he has done a part but not all that the law requires of him.
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He still owes a perfect obedience to the law in addition to the endurance of penalty. The law does not say to the transgressor if you will suffer the penalty, you will not need to render obedience but it says you must both suffer the penalty and render obedience.
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A guilty man owes both penalty and obedience. A holy angel owes only obedience.
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The first man Adam was our federal head and he was to do but he didn't.
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That's why we are happy as Christians to have the last Adam who is also our federal head and he did and he was born of a woman and he was placed under the law to render perfect obedience to the law to provide a perfect righteousness for people who don't.
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Scholars call this the active obedience of Christ. They call the death calvary the passive obedience.
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I'm not sure I like the words but when you read those you'll get it. The next time somebody asks you
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I'd like to go to heaven. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Why don't you preach like Jesus?
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Just say the only thing you have to do is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love the neighbor as yourself perfectly from when you were conceived and you'll get heaven.
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And for Christians what does this mean? You really mean to tell me you can lose your salvation?
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Friends, what kind of nonsense do people think? Here's what they think. I've earned my salvation.
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I've offered faith. I've done something. I'm the one that let the sluice gate of God's blessings come out of heaven by my faith.
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And if I earned it then I can lose it. Friends, if Jesus lived a perfect life in your place and God credits that to your account when
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He sees your future sin He doesn't see it because it's covered by Christ. You can't lose what you didn't gain.
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And you can't undo the work of God. Does that mean some people say they believe and fall away?
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Of course. But a real Christian can never lose his or her salvation because Jesus did it in their place.
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Do. And He did it. So I'm fired up about not just Christ's death although I'm super thankful for it because that's the pinnacle of His obedience.
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But that's not all. That's not all. Father in heaven what could we do except to earn your displeasure?
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What have we done to earn your displeasure? We're so thankful today that you're just not a creator and a judge but you're a
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Savior too. A Savior who loves sinners. A Savior who demonstrated the ultimate love by sending your only
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Son to die on behalf of sinners like us. What a demonstration of love Calvary was.
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But Father help us today not to forget it was also a demonstration of love that Jesus would cloak
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Himself with humanity in the likeness of sinful flesh and then live the life for us.
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The eternal God cloaking Himself with humanity what a mystery. How condescending is
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Your love. I pray for these dear Christians today Father I pray that You would help them to be thankful to help them to rest in Your Son's work help them not to strive to do things because it's all been done by Your Son.
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Father if there's someone here today who's not born again I pray that You would rid them of the foolishness that they could somehow fulfill
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Your holy law for their entire lives. Pray that You'd give them great conviction about their sin so they run to the one who could do the law and who did do it and who died in the place of a sinner like them.
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Father we're thankful today that Jesus is ruling and reigning Jesus is at the right hand of You Yourself and all the angels are giving
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Him praise the living creatures giving praise and one day when we get to heaven
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Father we'll join that anthem and we'll never say we removed our own iniquity we cleansed ourselves we gave ourselves new garments we have righteousness.
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Father we'll be like Joshua who was clothed with a filthy garment standing before the angel saying we're glad You took away our filthy garments and we're glad You gave us rich robes of righteousness.