Care for Your Neighbor

Well, when Mr. Schreiber called yesterday, I kind of had advanced warning. I mentioned to someone that when I woke up Thursday, I woke up Thursday in the middle of the night, that would have been early Friday morning. And I kind of knew at that time that this marriage seminar wasn't going to come off as scheduled. But I asked God, well, what do we do? What do I talk about? Because I've learned I had nothing prepared, and when the call came Friday morning, I thought, oh, okay, this is why you are prepared, even if you have something planned and has been planned for several months.

But you know, one place we always can go back, and what I want to talk about today are some of Christ's words. When Christ speaks, he's speaking to his disciples we have recorded in the Bible, and there are lessons that we learn because we are his disciples, too. And it's always good to go back to his words and to read them, to see the circumstances that he was involved in that time, at the time that he was making those comments and how they apply to us today, because everything he said applies to us today, and everything he said we need to know well, and we need to understand how we may be making some of the same mistakes that the people back in his time did.

And just think that this doesn't apply to us when we read some of those things. So today I want to go through a chapter here in Luke. And in Luke, we can be turning over to Luke 10, and in it we find some timeless principles that Jesus Christ had recorded in this Bible. Luke, of course, when being a physician by background, he was very detailed in the things that he recorded.

And I know that man put these chapter separations here in the Bible. But it's interesting as you look at the context and you see how things progress, the things that we can learn from it. So let's look at Luke 10 and begin in verse 4. We see in the first few verses that Jesus Christ was going to send 70, and my margin says that may be 72, he was sending out a group of people to work with other people.

These men had been with him, they had watched him, they had observed him. Now they were being sent out to emulate and to teach people and to serve them just as Jesus Christ had done. And he says in verse—well, let's pick it up in verse 1. He says, After these things the Lord appointed seven of the others also, he sent them two by two before a space into every city and place where he himself was about to go.

And he said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray, the Lord of the harvest has sent out laborers into his harvest. Go your way, behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. And indeed, as we go out and as we do God's work, it's a cruel world that we live in. Not everyone believes what we do. And while the message that we have certainly is true and we know it's true, it's not a message that the world wants. And even back in Jesus' time, even though they believed that they were the people of God and they kept the Sabbath day, the message that he was sending was not the message they wanted.

And we know how they reacted to that message. And so today we look at the message we have and it makes sense. If people would just live this way, then all things would be well. But it's not a popular message, not what people want to hear then and not what people want to hear now. So he says in verse 4, and he instructs them, carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road. So here he tells them, I'm sending you away to do a work. I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves.

Then he tells them, in essence, make no preparation. Just go. Don't go back into your house. Don't pack your suitcase. Don't gather. Don't go to ATM and gather extra cash. Don't pack a lunch. Don't bring the cooler along. Just go do.

What I tell you to do. Don't make any provisions. Now, that's kind of a curious thing for Christ to say, isn't it? Because as we go places, of course we plan to take extra clothes along. Of course we plan to make sure we have cash in the things that we need. But as he was telling these people to go out, he said, don't make any provisions. Just go out and do what I ask you to do.

Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road. Now, what he was asking them to do, have faith in him. He was sending them out on a mission. He was able to provide. He was able to give them everything they need and to direct them where they needed to be.

They did it. They did it. We don't read about them going back in and saying, well, I understand what he said, but I'm still going to go back and take a little bit, just in case things don't work out the way that he thought they might. And he says, verse 5, whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. Remain, he says, in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don't go from house to house.

He says, when I send you one place, just stay there. Don't have plans. In seven days, you'll be in seven different places. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. Heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. Go there and work. Go there and be my representatives. Go there in faith, absolute faith that these people had that he sent out. Don't worry about anything, Christ said.

It will be provided for you. Tremendous act of faith. And go there and heal their sick. They'd seen Christ heal the sick. They'd seen him lay his hands on them and be made well. They saw the faith that the people came to him, knowing that he would heal.

And he told them, you'll do the same thing. Had nothing to do with their hands, it would be God that healed them. But go there and believe that the same things that I've done, if you have the same faith, that it will be done for you and in their healing. And tell them the kingdom of God has come near to you.

Well, the kingdom of God is a time when all the world is healed. All the pains of the past will be healed. People will learn the right way of life. That will eliminate some of the pains, some of the anguish, some of the upset lives that we see replete around us. And people will be healed of their diseases. They will learn what faith is. They will learn to trust in God. They will know that he is the healer. And they will learn how to live lives that live or that yield themselves toward health.

The kingdom of God, it will touch them, just as Jesus Christ touched them. He was among the people. They felt the kingdom of God there because the king of that kingdom was there. And the people he sent out would have the same attitude, directed by the same and led by the same spirit, motivated by the same faith. And he goes on in verse 10, Whatever city you enter, and they don't receive you.

If they say, We don't want what you have to offer, we don't care about this stuff. He says, Go out into the streets and say, The very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, the kingdom of God has come near you. It was among you. You touched it. It was here. But you, city, you, person, you rejected it. Make no mistake that you came in contact with it.

You made a decision to leave it behind and reject it. And then he goes on to talk about how it will be more tolerable for some of the ancient cities of old than it will be at that time for those who reject God.

Let's wrap down to verse 17. It says, The seven dee returned. They returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Notice they returned with joy. They had gone out as Christ had directed them to go out. They had gone out in faith. They had done things exactly the way that he said to do it.

They didn't make provisions for themselves. They trusted in Him. They went out and they healed the sick. They went out that they were even, in Christ's name, able to cast out demons that were afflicting people. And when they came back, they came back excited. And they told Him, and He could see the joy in their faces. Everything you said would happen, happened.

We didn't have to worry about places to stay, food to eat, extra clothes to wear, our medicines, extra cash. They didn't have to worry about any of it. You provided it at all.

And what a tremendous experience for them to live in that way. And when we live in faith, when we see God working in our lives, it produces joy, doesn't it? These people experienced that joy because they acted in pure faith toward God. They made no provisions for themselves. They trusted God and did exactly what He said. And when they returned, there was a joy that they had never experienced before. They knew Jesus Christ was the Son of God. They knew God was in heaven. They knew He healed. They saw Him work wonderful miracles, the powers of healing. Not only healing the sick, but even casting out demons and the people who were mentally afflicted and had lives that had been so altered by these things that affected them. They did it. They did it in faith. And they came back joyous. Real faith. And I want you to stop for a moment and think about real faith. Real faith is another word we use, just like we use prayer and just like we use some other words. A few weeks ago, I asked the question, when we pray to God, do we really know who we are praying to? Do we really grasp the concept that the Creator of the universe is on the other side of our prayers, listening to us, that we are coming before Him and that He gives us the opportunity to have that contact with Him? What about faith? What is real faith?

These people, these 70, experienced it. Now, here in the same book, you can keep your finger there in Luke 10, but over in Luke 18, Christ asks some harrowing words. Words that should make us think. The last part of verse 8 of Luke 18, it says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Will He really find faith on the earth?

That's a question we can ask all ourselves. Every single one of us, I would hope, if we said, do we have faith in God, we would say, yes, we do. Yes, we do have faith in God. But Christ said, when He returns, will He really find faith on the earth?

Or will He find a lot of people who have their own idea about what faith is?

A lot of people who say they have faith. Will He really find faith?

The 70 came back and they really had faith. Let's turn back to Mark 13.

Mark's account of the Olivet prophecy. In verse 15, we'll pick it up in verse 14, He says, When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, and He says, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house.

And let him, verse 16, who is in the field, not go back to get his clothes.

When God somehow lets us know it's time to flee, flee!

Don't go back in and think, oh, this is my favorite outfit. I have to have that with me.

I've got to get the suitcase out for that. Where do they store that suitcase?

Or do I have time to run to the bank because I need cash to do these things?

I've got my favorite foods that I need to pack somehow.

He says, when the time comes, go! It would take a lot of faith to do that.

If God let us know today, go. Just leave, leave, because the time is near, and I'm taking you to wherever the place is, where people will be nurtured for time, time and a half of times, if there is the place that he has. How many of us would be doing that? How many of us would just leave and have faith in God? Or what would you think about, takes me 45 minutes to get back home. I can get back there and do that.

And I didn't stock up on my prescription yesterday, so how can I make that happen?

Christ said, when He returns to earth, will He really find faith on the earth?

He's talking to you and me. Will He really find faith on the earth?

It would be good for us to pray to God. It would be good for us to ask Him to develop the type of faith that He wants us to have, to develop the type of faith that those 70 that went out had, the type of faith that He wants us to have, and that we certainly know that we can have, because we know that God can provide everything. We know that He can give anything, nothing, would He withhold from us. But do we really believe? Or do we kind of hedge our bets and say, yes, we have faith, but I'll just do this just in case. The 70 didn't do that. They came back with joy. At the end of time, when He says, leave, He says, don't go back. Just leave. Just go let God take care of you. Have that type of faith in Him. Let's go back a few verses here in Mark.

Verse 10. He says there, the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

And then He says in verse 11, but when they arrest you and deliver you up, don't worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak. There will come a time for some of us that that's exactly what will happen.

And maybe we can induce ourselves, and it's not bad to think and ask God, give us the strength to stand before whoever He puts us before, to not deny Christ, to have the strength to stand up for Him no matter what threat they have or no matter what type of physical agony they may threaten or impose upon us. But He says, don't premeditate. Don't have it planned out what you're going to say. Don't worry beforehand. Don't premeditate what you'll speak, but whatever is given you in that hour, speak that. Of course, not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

God will provide the words. He'll provide what He once said to them, so we don't have to spend our time thinking about that and rehearsing our speech. And when we're standing behind for someone to give this litany, God will show us what to speak. But He's developing the faith now that you trust Him, that you know Him. He's developing the faith now so that when Christ returns to earth, He can say, well, to the people in Orlando and in Ocala and Jacksonville, I found faith. I really did find faith among you and among other people in the churches, the Church of God. Let that be said of us that we pay attention to it and that we ask God to develop that faith in us that we need. Because we've all been products of this world. We've all grown up in it, and we can't separate easily. The fact that we go to work, that we write checks, that we use credit cards, that we have a car to go to gas, or go to places we want.

But God says, you don't need all those things. He doesn't need the world. He doesn't need society in order to provide what we need. We need Him, and we need to rely on Him. And that's a process that's going to take the rest of our lives to do. But it's something we need to be thinking about, something we need to be praying about, something we need to be doing that we really have faith.

And not just say we have faith in the way that we think.

Remember back in Hebrews 11, 6, it says, without faith, without faith, it's impossible to please Him. And James makes it perfectly clear that just saying the thing doesn't make it so. It's what's really in our heart. It's what really we do. And we have the opportunities, if we look around in our lives, to demonstrate that faith in God and to build that faith. Let's just, as congregations here before God, purpose in our minds that we will focus a little bit on faith and growing in the real faith, just like these men, seven of the had. And when we see God in action, when we see the results of that unbridled and that pure faith we put in Him, we'll experience joy. We'll experience joy as well, just like they did. Let's go back to Luke.

Let's go back to Luke and continue in that chapter. Luke 10. We were in verse 17. Let's pick it up with verse 18. Remember that in verse 17. We'll come back to this in a little bit. That the seventy, who in Christ's name healed diseases, also were amazed that the demons were subject in His name. In verse 18, Christ said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Now, that's a verse that you may have seen bandied about in some emails over the last few years. I've certainly seen it. It's an interesting verse. I saw Satan fall like heaven. First, they fall like lightning from heaven.

What did Christ mean by that? What did He mean in response to that when the seventy came back with such joy? They were even amazed that even demons were subject when they asked God in Christ's name or in God's name to remove those demons. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

What's His response? Let me read what the Barnes commentary has on this. I looked at several commentaries, and this one is certainly a possibility of what He means by that.

Barnes talks about Christ responding to this and responding to their faith. Their faith toppled Satan. Their faith in God was able to bring him low. If we resist Satan, he will flee from us. And in the face of faith, absolute faith, Satan retreats. So when those seventy went out, and with absolute faith, they cast out demons in God's name.

Satan had no choice but to retreat. He's no match for God. He's no match for people of faith. He's no match for people who have God's Holy Spirit, who live, who walk, and who are developing that faith in Him. Barnes suggests that maybe this verse is more appropriately translated this way.

I saw at your command, devils, immediately depart, as quick as the flash of lightning.

I gave you this power. I saw it put forth, and I give also now, in addition to this, the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. When we have faith in God, Satan holds nothing over us. When we don't have faith in God, he can challenge us, and we succumb to him and the temptations every time. But when we have faith in God, when we pray that God will remove Satan, when we pray and we are doing things in God's name, when we are really living the way that he called us to live, really putting into practice the aspects of the Christian life that are here in the Bible, when we really are building faith, when we really do look to God, and little by little, over the course of our lives, we build that faith. We've become less reliant on self, less reliant on society, less reliant on the markers of society.

Satan can't overcome God's Holy Spirit. These disciples came back, and Christ said, I saw Satan fall. I saw him fall from heaven. And these disciples, these seventy, they went out and they healed in God's name. And in the prayer of Bible study that you'll be, that we're all looking at here over the next few weeks, there's a section in there on praying in Christ's name.

And we say that every prayer we offer, we say and end it. In Jesus Christ's name, we pray, amen.

And there's a section in that Bible study on what it means, or what it should mean to us, when we pray in Christ's name. It's another thing that we do. We just do it automatically. Every prayer, when we end it, we say it, because that's what Christ instructed us to do.

But there is meaning in those words. There is meaning in those words. And when we pray in Christ's name, if we really are praying in His name and understanding what that means, and that's reflected in our lives, then when Christ says, whatever you ask in my name, I will give it to you, it really does happen. But when it's just become a matter of rote, and it's just something we say, because that's the traditional way of ending a prayer, if it doesn't have meaning for us, then we really, or I guess I could ask, are we really praying in His authority?

These disciples went out, and they said, and said here a couple of times in Luke 10, in His name they heal diseases. In His name they cast out demons. In His name they were able to help people with emotional scars, mental problems, addictions, and illnesses that just wouldn't go away. In His name, relying on Him to do those things. James 5, 14, speaking of faith, it says, you know, when we're sick, let them, remember, it says, let them call on the elders of the church, and let the prayer of faith be prayed over them, where the prayer of faith will save them.

The prayer of faith will save them. Words to think about, words that we all know, words we've used a hundred times or more, but real deep meaning in them, and understanding what they mean is something that we must come to understand so that when Christ returns, He can say, yes, I really did find real faith on the earth. But we're here in Luke. Are we in Luke 10? Let's go on in Luke 10 here. Luke 10, let's drop down to verse 25. Christ is very happy with the disciples' experience. They've done things exactly the way that He asked them to do, and He thanks God that their eyes have been opened and that they're following Him, the same thing that He would say about us. But then in verse 25, we find someone that comes to test Him, and it's a lawyer. Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

The quintessential question, what shall I do? Give me the answer to that so that I may have it. Christ said to Him, well, what is written in the law? What's your reading of it? And the lawyer answered and said, You shall love the 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. And Christ said, You've answered rightly, do this and you will live.

And the key there is, do it. Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Love Him the way He says to love Him, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And then the lawyer asked, huh, well, who is my neighbor? Who do I have to love as myself?

And then Christ goes into the parable that probably everyone in the world, or at least everyone in America, has heard about the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan.

And Christ, in this parable, gives principles here that apply to us. This is a parable we all know. You could all recite it, but let's read through it and look at some of the pieces here that are in this parable and see what God would like us to know today and the things that we could be applying into our life. In verse 13, Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among things, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed him, leaving him half-dead. So you get the picture. He's been assaulted. He's laying there by the side of the road. He's not just someone who's faking an injury. He really is hurt. He really does need help. He can't help himself. He's not just someone by the wayside, but here's a man in distress. And it doesn't tell us whether the man is a Jew or a Gentile or Samaritan. It just says there's a man that's laying by the road. We might find ourselves walking along the way and finding someone in a similar situation. Or in other situations that we'll talk about in a little bit, because this happens to be a situation where there is someone who really had a genuine need. Had a genuine need. His need was very real. He was injured. He was bleeding. He was half-dead. Now, by chance, verse 31, a certain priest came down the road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. A priest came by.

Remember what Old Testament priests did? Priests in the temple?

The priest was of the line of Aaron. And you remember back in Leviticus, where Aaron was appointed high priest, and there was a ceremony they went through where he was anointed high priest. And God said, Your sons, Aaron, will be priests hereafter. And priests were the one who offered the sacrifices. In essence, they were kind of mediators between God and the people of Israel. The people brought their sin offerings. They brought their trespass offerings. They brought their offerings to the temple, and they were sacrificed. You remember on the Day of Atonement, we talk about it every year in Leviticus 16, it was the priest who stood between God and the people to atone for their sins. It was vested in him to do that. And we know in reading in Hebrews that the sacrifices of old didn't result in the forgiveness of those sins, but it did atone for the sins. The people recognized their sins, and they brought those offerings. And today we know that Jesus Christ is the High Priest. And we know that he is our Mediator. He knows all our points of weakness. He was tempted in all points, just like as we are, yet without sin. And he is our Mediator. He is our High Priest.

And you and I are in training to be priests and kings in the kingdom. And here's this man. Here's this man who had quite an office there in Jerusalem, a priest, someone to whom the people should look, someone who should know, well, the words of God, they were instructed to know the way of God. They would be the ones who would be working with people and admonishing them to live God's way. And so the lawyer here knew what the principles of God were, love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, love your neighbor as yourself. The priest should have known that as well. Put your finger there. Back in Leviticus 19 and verse 17 we find those very words right in the Torah, right in the Old Testament law that the priest describes, Levites, the people of God, the kings would have all been reading. In Leviticus 19 and verse 17, it says, "'You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.' I am the Eternal." A New Testament principle right there in the Old Testament, what God had always intended people, love your neighbor as yourself, let there be that emotion, let there be that connection, let there be that responsibility for each other. And here's a priest who probably had read those words hundreds of times. Maybe he recited them, maybe he even was one who wrote those words down, love your neighbor as yourself. And here he is walking along the street one day and he sees a man on the other side of the road laying there, obviously in distress, half dead, beaten, bloody.

And what does he do? He just walks on by. Did he understand the law that he was supposed to be living by? Did he understand what God, what responsibilities God had given him?

He just walked on by. What kind of an example was he? And yet he would have been in a position to be kind of a mediator between the people and God. If anyone was walking by and saw the priest walk on by that man, what might they have thought? And we're all in training to be priests and kings.

God leaves us a powerful example here. When we see someone in distress, what to do? Don't just walk on by. Take time to help. Verse 32 in Luke 11, 1. Likewise, the Levites, they were the ones who were set aside, consecrated by God to serve in the temple. They had no inheritance of the land. Their job was to serve the people and to serve God, to spend their time working in the venues that he set for them.

He should have known, too. It was his job to work for the people, to work for God.

Likewise, the Levite, when he arrived at that place, he came and looked, and he just passed by on the other side. He just didn't think it was his responsibility either. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he, the Samaritans, saw him, he had compassion.

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. A Samaritan.

And the commentaries say, probably when the people of that time heard Jesus Christ give this parable, and a Samaritan was the one who did what was right, there may have been a gasp.

Like, what? A Samaritan would do that? The priests didn't, and the Levite didn't, but a Samaritan of all people? Because the Samaritans were not highly looked on in society at that time.

They were second-class citizens. They were not considered part of the establishment, if you will. The Jews didn't want anything to do with them. They even considered it as thing to associate with them.

Let me give you a little bit of background on Samaritans here. This comes from a Bible dictionary. It says, Samaritans were a mixed group believed to have been the descendants of intermarriages between Jews and local Gentiles, notably the Philistines, Edomites, Syrians, and Moabites. The Samaritans had a relatively simple faith, almost that of the Jews, but they only used the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and they rejected the writings, the Psalms, the Proverbs, and other such books, and they rejected the prophets.

Their worship focused towards a mountain in Samaria, rather than the mountain in Jerusalem, and their version of the Torah differed from the Jewish Torah in naming this mountain as the center of their worship. So there were some differences here. They kept part of the law. They believed in the first five books of the Bible, but they rejected the Proverbs, the Psalms, and the major and minor prophets as being inspired books of God. And so there was a difference between them and the Jews. The Jews would consider them a little better than the Gentiles, but still not worthy of their attention. And so, to have this parable begin to put a Samaritan in the role of hero, if you will, the role of doing the right thing, had to be kind of a surprise to the people who were hearing this parable, because that isn't certainly what they would expect. But you know, as you go back and you look at how Jesus Christ talked about Samaritans, you don't really find him denigrating them. You don't find him condemning them. In fact, he speaks rather kindly of them.

Let's go forward in Luke 17. We see another occasion here where Samaritans are mentioned.

Luke 17, verse 12. He entered, verse 12, a certain village, and there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices to Christ and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go, show yourselves to the priests. When you were healed of leprosy, you would go to the priest, he would declare you clean. So he was healing them at this point. And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned. And with a loud voice, he glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, weren't there ten who were cleansed? But where are the other nine? Were there not any founds who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?

And he said to him, Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Of the ten that were healed, it was just the Samaritan that came back. They didn't have the whole truth of God, but in his heart was the right sentiment. Thank God for what he had done. Have faith in him, and he had faith in Jesus Christ. Back in Luke 9, one chapter before where we had been reading, we get an insight into how people of that day looked at Samaritans and maybe even a picture of the animosity that they had toward him, the Jews. Back in Luke 9 and verse 51, we find an incident of Christ passing through a city as the cycles are with him. It says in Luke 9, 51, it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received off, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him. But the Samaritans didn't receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

He was focused on Jerusalem. They would have been focused on that other mount, remember. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?

You know what? How dare them! How dare them receive you this way? Can we just call down fire from heaven and wipe out these Samaritans? Doesn't sound like something like Jesus Christ would say, does it? But they had no use for the Samaritans, James and John. And Christ turned and rebuked them, and he said, You don't know what matter of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man didn't come to destroy men's lives but to save them. And they went to another village.

Christ knew that the Samaritans didn't have the whole truth of God at that time. He knew that they weren't the people that He had come to. But He saw in them some points, and what He had, we all need to have, just like the Samaritan who stopped by to help the man. He had mercy. He didn't condemn them because of what they didn't know. He didn't judge them and say, Yeah, you're useless because you don't understand that the writings are as part of the Old Testament as well. The prophets, you've got to pay attention to them. You just picked a piece of the Bible here. He didn't condemn them. He had mercy on them. He had compassion on them. It wasn't their time yet for them to know everything. Just like we live in a world today where God has called us, but there's a lot of people out there. And I mean an awfully, awfully, awfully lot of people, as in most of the world, that doesn't know the truth. Just like the Samaritans didn't know the whole truth. God expects us to have mercy, love, and compassion with each other. He expects us to have mercy and compassion and the right attitude toward the world as well. He didn't say, it's us and them, hate them, look forward to them being destroyed for the things they did, love them, have mercy on them, understand the position they're in. And so, he spared that village. And he preached the gospel of love for all mankind.

Love in the right sense of the word. We love God by keeping the commandments. We love each other by keeping the commandments. Sometimes I listen to things that are said or written. Some will send me something on the internet and will say that, you know, love isn't everything.

No, love is everything. Love is defined by the Bible, love, okay? Not just the sentiment. We all need the sentiment that the first fruit of the Spirit is love. And we love each other by keeping the commandments. And oftentimes I find myself saying, love as defined by the Bible. And that should always go without staying in our lives. We love, we keep God's commands, we live His way of life, and nothing should ever, ever, ever be said that would ever illuminate that or change that or alter that. We are here to live God's way of life and to have His law applied into our hearts and minds, living it spiritually and physically. The first fruit of the Spirit is love.

The Samaritan here didn't know the whole truth of God, but he showed that compassion, he showed that mercy, and he showed that love. You know, people, commonly, if we look at this verse, and I would venture to say that almost everyone in here, if we were walking in our neighborhood and we saw someone laying off to the side of the road who had been beaten up and hurt, we would stop and help them. At least I would hope we would, and do the things that the good Samaritan did there. But, you know, it's not just being assaulted that results in injuries to people. It's not just being beaten up and bloodied that someone needs help and that they need our attention, love, and mercy.

There's a lot of cases where people need our love, mercy, and compassion. I'm going to talk about us in the family here in Ocala and Jacksonville and Orlando here, and of the Church of God worldwide, but we live and we are among each other here in this area.

We can come by people right here in the Church who are standing by the wayside, and we can just walk on by and act like they don't really exist or matter.

If we see someone standing by themselves, looking uncomfortable, do we take the time to go over and talk? Do we show them the attention, the love, the mercy, the compassion to include them and to encourage them?

What about people who, oh, maybe they demonstrate or we know that they have something in their background or currently they're dealing with that we don't want necessarily to talk about?

Maybe it's addictions, maybe it's some mental issues, maybe it's some emotional stress, maybe it's some financial issues, maybe it's ongoing health issues. When you see that person, you think, I know what the conversation is going to be about, and so what we can do is just walk on by, walk on by, and not reach out to help at all. You know the man that the Good Samaritan helped, he had no idea who he was. He didn't know if he was a Jew. The Bible doesn't tell us he was a Jew or Gentile or Samaritan. We don't know if he was foolish to be on that road from Jerusalem to Jericho, but you don't see the Good Samaritan trying to even say, what on earth are you doing on this road? Doesn't everyone know that you don't walk on this road by yourself? You better have a companion with you. He just helps. He just shows that love. He just shows that concern.

And all of us have something in our backgrounds. You know, I talk in one of the verses I keep coming back to, and it would have been in the marriage seminar today, is about understanding each other.

And Peter said, you know, the husbands dwell with them with understanding.

You know, we don't know. As I look at you and you look at me, I don't know. Well, some of your backgrounds I know, but we need to get to know each other. And when we get to know each other, we can understand more the hurt and the problems that each other have. But it's also easy to just judge and to say, that person never gets any better because and just kind of write them off.

You know, the priest wrote that man off. He just wrote them off on the side of the road. The Levite just walked on by and he wrote them off. We can't be people who write each other off or anyone off. Love means being there when someone needs us, reaching out to the injured, reaching out to the ones that are hurting, helping them by a word of encouragement, helping them by patting them on the back, showing them attention, making them feel, included in part of the family that God has put us all in here in this area.

People come in all shapes, they come in all sizes, they come in all colors, they come with all backgrounds and all different personalities. God wants us to love them all. You know, the society you act there at the time of Christ, isn't the society that we can really relate to today because it was a very segregated society. The Jews didn't like the Gentiles and they weren't going to associate it with them. They didn't like the Samaritans. They weren't going to sit down with them. We can't do that in this country today and nor should we. If we were people espousing, we're not going to have anything to do with this group, this group, this group. Rightfully, we would be ridiculed. Rightfully, we would be put on the spot that that's not the way of God.

Galatians 3, 28 clearly shows there is no Jew, there is no Gentile, there is no male, there is no female, there is no rich, there is no poor. Everyone is equal in God's fight. And when he calls us into his church, that includes the personalities, the stage we are in our conversion, being patient with one another, bearing with one another, loving with one another, or loving one another with the same love that Jesus Christ had. Not compromising, not telling people that it's okay if they disobey God, but encouraging them to stay on the walk and when we see someone injured or someone hurting, to be by them. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. The Good Samaritan here, a most unlikely person here in the Bible, showed that compassion to that man. And God would look at you and me and he would say, I want you to have mercy and love and faith and compassion on people. I want you to bear with one another. I want you—you can write down in Galatians 6, too—bear with one another, take each other's burdens, work with one another, become a family.

John 13, 35—it was going to be one of my closing verses—but, you know, it says, By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.

You know, Christ asks when he returns, will he really find faith on the earth?

When he returns and when he looks down on us here in Orlando, Ocala, and Jacksonville today, would he say, yes, people can look around you and I see the love, the fruit of my spirit, working in you. You are a group. You are concerned with each other. You do reach out to each other. You do bear with one another's burdens. You do know each other. You are growing as a group. You are growing as a family. You are marked by love. And when people come to your congregation, they see that love. Christ said, By this they'll know. Yes, we keep the commandments. Yes, we keep the Sabbath day. Nothing will ever change that, and no one should ever change your mind on that. But there's also an emotional connection that God wants us to have with each other. We are family. The Samaritan here had that tender heart as he looked at that man laying on the side of the road and didn't know who he was or why he was there. He didn't judge him. He didn't correct him. He didn't say, You're an idiot to be here in this part of town. He simply took care of the matter and he bound him up. That man laying by the side of the road saw love, genuine love and concern for someone. Let's go back to Luke 10. He bandages his wound. It says in verse 34, He poured on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, and he brought him to an inn and took care of him. And he just didn't take him to the inn and say, Okay, I've done my job.

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.

He didn't think about himself at this point. He saw the knees and he said, You know, innkeeper, I've got things to do, but here, I will give you what you need to take care of this man. Now, was he acting on faith? He didn't ask the man here to, I need your name, I need your address, I need some references.

Here's a need. I'm going to pill it. And he took care of him.

He knew. He knew at some level what God would do. It was part of him, and we need to be of the same way. Not thinking about himself, departing or allowing God to take us out of ourselves, and doing what people need to have done. You know, we all have spiritual needs. We take care of those, and the church takes care of those. We take care of physical needs as well. I heard it said decades ago, I guess, that sometimes we can't take care of the spiritual needs of people until the physical needs are taken care of. And it's always stuck with me. And over the years, I come to understand that people need to see what's in our hearts sometimes before they will actually allow the Word of God to come in. Because they look at what you do, they look at what I do, and they say, okay, I see some of God, some of what God is in that person. And if they're living their lives by just way of life, and that's the type of person they are, then I'll pay attention.

But if we have someone come in, and we just kind of ignore them and let them stand by themselves, what message do they get? Christ said, By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love, one for another. If you are concerned, if you are working with one another, if you are looking at one another, taking care of one another, if you don't have your biases and haven't separated yourselves into groups and say, I just don't want anything to deal with this, I don't want to deal with that, I'll stay with my own little group, and, hey, I like to talk to the people who just share the same interests and the same leader activities that I have. We all are here. We all are called by God, and He expects us to grow together and to take care of one another.

Regardless of whatever emotional issues, health issues, financial issues, mental issues, hardship issues, regardless of our backgrounds, to be part of a family marked by love, marked by living His way of life with the commandments and His way of law always before us and on our doorposts of our house and written in our minds and hearts. So the man did this. He didn't just leave Him at that point. He cared about Him down the road. So Christ says, so which of these three do you think was neighbor to Him who fell among the thieves? And the man, the lawyer said, He who showed mercy on Him. And Christ said to Him, Go. Go and do likewise. Learn that example.

Do the same thing. Let that compassion, let that mercy, let that love that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit be seen among you. Take care of one another. Love one another. Bear with one another.

Don't write anyone off. And don't be judgmental, because none of us know what has happened in our lives to get us to the point we are. One thing we do know is that God brought us all here. He wanted every single one of us sitting in this room, every single one of the people sitting in the hall in Jacksonville, every single one of the people sitting in Ocala and the other people listening on the web. He brought us here, and He expects us and wants us to develop the same attitudes that He had. Will Christ, when He returns, find faith on the earth? Will He?

The answer has to be yes. And the answer has to be you and me really paying attention to that and really understanding and asking God to show us what is faith and what is faith and reliance on Him, just like those 70 who went out, who relied totally on Him.

And would He say as He looks at us, these are my people, they have love for one another. I see how they care for one another. I see how they've grown together. I see how they are with one another. They have mercy. They have compassion. They have patience with one another. And they are not there to judge each other, but they are there to help each other, encourage each other in the way of God.

So as we depart from here, let me leave you with those two principles.

Two very key principles. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 13 as I'm thinking here.

Always good to review 1 Corinthians and to see what love is, as the Defiance is here in this chapter. Paul concludes, and he says, in verse 13, Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three. We need to have faith. We need to have love. We need to have hope. We haven't talked much about that today, but you can think about that. The greatest of these is love. Let God develop faith and let Him develop love, and may it be seen among all of us in all our congregations.