Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
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live from the
3ABN Worship Center.
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We're so happy to have
you here with us tonight.
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And it is a beautiful
day in southern Illinois.
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Our temperature; a
little warm yesterday,
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but today really nice.
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You know, we've had
some wonderful cool days,
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and almost chilly evenings.
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Been a couple of mornings
when I'd get up and go out,
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and I'd think, "Wow, a
little jacket would even
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feel good this morning."
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But it's again a very
beautiful time of the year.
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We're so happy
that you could join us.
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And I know that you are
enjoying this Anchors series
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with Pastor Ron Halvorsen.
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God has blessed him with
the ability to preach the gospel
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of Jesus Christ.
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And you know, he has the right
focus in focusing upon Jesus.
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Today I had the opportunity to
visit with him for a little bit
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and to fellowship, and we were
just sitting together talking.
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And he was sharing
with me his feelings about
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what we really
need to be preaching.
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And it was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
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Because you see, Jesus is
the only way to life eternal.
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And it is through Jesus
that we understand the law.
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He is the great law giver.
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It is through Jesus
that we understand salvation.
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And we're looking at
this entire series, which is,
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Jesus the Radical Teacher.
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Tonight, it's going to
be, The Good Samaritan.
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And this is a radical
story that Jesus told.
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It was exactly the opposite
of what anyone would have
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expected anybody to
be telling that day.
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Well I don't want to get
into Pastor Halvorsen's sermon
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tonight, because he
has a whole lot more
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to say about it than that.
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But Ron Halvorsen has
been preaching the gospel
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now for 60 years.
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Ever since he was a very
young teenager, actually,
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when he gave his heart to Jesus.
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He was a gang leader on
the streets of New York City.
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And a friend of his, Jim
Landis, through his grandmother,
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found Jesus.
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By the way, it was an exciting
series of evangelistic meetings
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that R. Allan Anderson held.
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But it seemed
like it was a failure.
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And people said
it was a failure.
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But there were two
ladies that were baptized.
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And that was all
they could really point to
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out of that whole
evangelistic series
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that was over and above
what they would have baptized
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right in their own church.
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Those two ladies went home.
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One of them found
her grandson, Jim Landis.
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Jim Landis, who later became
a Bible teacher and pastor.
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He, as a young man, began
to witness to his good friend,
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Ron Halvorsen.
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Ron, who was rough and
tough and cared nothing
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about things spiritual.
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He was touched by
the Spirit of God.
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Gave his heart to Jesus.
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Became a preacher.
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And literally,
hundreds of thousands of people
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have been baptized
directly and indirectly
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through Ron's ministry.
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You see, the failure
that R. Allan Anderson
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thought that he
had in New York City
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was not a failure.
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God never has a failure.
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I was with Ron
once, we were together,
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and I asked him, "Have
you shared that story ever
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with R. Allan Anderson?"
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We were in Fort Worth, Texas.
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And we were in a
large auditorium there
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in a seminar on prophecy.
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And a lot of different
speakers that were speaking,
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including H.M.S. Richard,
Sr., and R. Allan Anderson,
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and many
others, George Vandeman.
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And so Ron went to him
and he said, "Elder Anderson,
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as a result of your
meeting in New York City,
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I'm a baptized
member, pastor, evangelist."
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And God at that time had already
given Ron over 5000 baptisms.
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He was just getting started.
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And tears flowed down
Elder Anderson's cheeks.
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He was so happy to know
that what so many people
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had said was a failure
was not a failure at all.
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My friend, Jesus works that way.
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This is the great
radical Teacher that
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Ron's talking to us about.
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And tonight, we are going to
really open up the Word of God
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and study and be blessed.
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But before we do, I'm
going to invite Lisa Yeager
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to come to the piano
and to sing and to play,
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What Love Is This.
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You never change, You
are the God You say You are;
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When I'm afraid, You calm
and still my beating heart.
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You stay the same, when
hope is just a distant thought;
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You take my pain and
You lead me to the cross.
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What love is this,
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that You gave Your life for me
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and made a way
for me to know You.
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And I confess,
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You're always enough for me;
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You're all I need.
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I look to You, I see
the scars upon Your hands;
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And hold the truth that
when I can't, You always can.
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And standing here
beneath the shadow of the cross,
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I'm overwhelmed that I
keep finding open arms.
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What love is this,
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that You gave Your life for me
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and made a way
for me to know You.
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And I confess,
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You're always enough for me;
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You're all I need.
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Jesus, in Your suffering,
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You were
reaching; You thought of me.
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Jesus, in Your suffering,
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You were
reaching; You thought of me.
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What love is this,
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that You gave Your life for me
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and made a way
for me to know You.
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And I confess,
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You're always enough for me;
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You're all I need.
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What love is this,
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that You gave Your life for me
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and made a way
for me to know You.
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And I confess,
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You're always enough for me.
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Always enough for me.
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Always enough for me.
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Good evening, welcome.
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I'm just happy to be here.
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You know, I love
this Book; the Bible.
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I love it because of
its authentic realness.
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It's real.
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It paints the prophets and the
apostles with their warts on.
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I like that.
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It tells us about their
sin and about their salvation
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and their Savior.
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So I'm always
fascinated by this Book.
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Sixty years I've read it.
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And it gets more
interesting every day.
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I want to take you to
some of the radical teachings
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this week of Jesus Christ.
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And by the way, this is
not about Ron Halvorsen.
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This is about Jesus Christ.
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And I want to tell you
some of the radical teachings
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that Jesus made,
statements that He made,
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that changes the world.
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Tonight, The Good Samaritan.
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Let's bow our heads
in a word of prayer.
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Gracious God, I pray for
the Holy Spirit to be with us
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that we might get new
understanding about that
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great story that Jesus
told, that radical truth
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that can change our lives.
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Father, everything said might
give honor and glory to Christ.
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For He is our salvation.
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In the name of Jesus, amen.
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It was a dark, damp,
cold night in Coney Island,
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Brooklyn, New York.
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A heavy fog lay over the
city, wrapping the tenements
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in a halo of gloom.
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Our tenements stood
out like a beaten old man
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bent over from
years of hardship.
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No paint on the outside.
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I mean, dirty windows looking
out over the neighborhood.
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Vacant eyes. It
was a grim scene.
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The night was a
night for robbers,
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and rapists, and murderers.
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The neighborhood
was unsafe that night,
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and dangerous.
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How much we Halvorsen
boys hated Friday night.
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Because my father,
before he knew Christ,
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before he ever came to
salvation and the grace of God
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and rebirth, he
was an alcoholic.
00:11:59.79\00:12:03.39
And before he came to Christ and
before grace, he was a disgrace.
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He always came home
drunk on Friday night.
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And he abused the family.
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I mean, his drunken tirades,
the fighting, the yelling.
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Budweiser commercials, by
the way, don't show you that;
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the Halvorsen
family on Friday night.
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I remember that night,
it was close to midnight,
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and Dad wasn't home yet.
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The Halvorsen
boys were in their bed.
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I was in my bed,
which was Billy's bed,
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which was Warren's bed.
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And we couldn't get to sleep.
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We couldn't sleep.
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And it was just past
midnight when we heard
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a car drive up in the old dirty
vacant lot behind our tenement.
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By the way, our tenement was
so ugly, it was so frightening,
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that they didn't even
have it on the main street.
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They put it
behind other tenements.
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The whole neighborhood
thought it was a disgrace.
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And anyway, we heard a
car pulling up after midnight
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in the old vacant dirty
lot behind our tenement.
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Cars never came
through that vacant lot.
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But there it was.
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And so we ran to the
window and looked out,
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and there was a big
black limo half a block long.
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Couldn't believe my eyes.
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This car stopped, and a huge man
climbed out of the front seat.
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He had a trench
coat on and a Fedora.
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And it was a cold night.
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And he looked like Mafioso.
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He then went to the back
of the car, opened the door,
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and helped my
father out of the car.
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My dad was hurting big time.
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He was bandaged
up, a sling on his arm.
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I mean, as we looked closer we
noticed sitting in the back seat
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was the Godfather;
Brooklyn, New York.
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Couldn't believe our eyes.
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He helped my dad out of the car.
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His soldiers took my dad
up, helped him up the stairs,
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into our tenement.
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"Good night, Bill."
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Walked out of the house,
got in the car, and drove away.
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I'll never forget it.
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The next morning my
father told us the story.
00:14:16.45\00:14:19.04
He stopped off at a
bar and grill in Brooklyn.
00:14:19.94\00:14:22.76
And that wasn't
unusual, it was Friday night.
00:14:22.79\00:14:24.82
And he had a few drinks,
and they led to a few more,
00:14:26.17\00:14:29.21
and then he
staggered towards the subway.
00:14:29.24\00:14:31.62
And a group of kids
ran out and mugged him,
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beat him to the ground,
took what he had in his pocket.
00:14:36.05\00:14:38.41
And my dad always carried
a few dollars in the pocket,
00:14:38.52\00:14:40.60
but he put his money
in his sock to protect it.
00:14:40.63\00:14:45.58
I mean, that's the
neighborhood we grew up in.
00:14:45.86\00:14:48.25
But anyway, my father
said that he was mugged
00:14:49.13\00:14:51.35
and he lay in
the gutter bleeding.
00:14:51.38\00:14:54.01
He lay in the gutter bleeding.
00:14:54.67\00:14:57.71
It was late and it
was cold and it was dark,
00:14:58.10\00:15:00.46
and not many
people on the street.
00:15:00.49\00:15:02.44
Silhouetted behind him
was the super structure
00:15:02.96\00:15:06.05
of the Manhattan Bridge.
00:15:06.08\00:15:07.33
He was moaning and he cried out.
00:15:07.59\00:15:09.84
But no one came to help the
old drunk lying in the gutter.
00:15:09.87\00:15:13.05
And then out of the
darkness comes a limo.
00:15:13.81\00:15:17.52
It pulls up, stops, the
electric windows comes down.
00:15:18.19\00:15:23.34
The door opens, and out
of the car steps Mafioso.
00:15:24.21\00:15:29.05
Helps my dad,
puts him in the car,
00:15:30.17\00:15:32.59
takes him to the
hospital's emergency room.
00:15:32.62\00:15:35.16
And did they get service!
00:15:35.19\00:15:37.33
Bandaged him up, fixed him up.
00:15:39.22\00:15:40.81
Took out his
wallet and paid the bill.
00:15:41.84\00:15:43.78
Put him in his limo,
drove him across Brooklyn
00:15:44.96\00:15:48.63
to Coney Island.
00:15:49.34\00:15:50.60
Let him out with these
words, "Bill, I'm sorry this
00:15:51.40\00:15:54.30
happened in our neighborhood.
00:15:54.33\00:15:55.91
It will not happen again."
00:15:55.94\00:15:57.65
That night the bad
guys became the good guys.
00:15:59.43\00:16:05.38
Now I thought about it a
lot in my childhood and my youth
00:16:06.43\00:16:09.42
and my teenage years.
00:16:09.45\00:16:10.76
But it wasn't until I'd been
converted, until years later,
00:16:11.83\00:16:14.73
until I encountered Jesus Christ
and began to read the Bible,
00:16:14.76\00:16:18.10
and began to find significance
in God and how He works
00:16:18.13\00:16:21.88
and the love of God
that He shows to humanity.
00:16:21.91\00:16:24.60
And one act of
kindness after another
00:16:24.76\00:16:27.68
that our Lord spoke of.
00:16:27.71\00:16:29.48
It was when I was reading
my Bible that I came across
00:16:30.19\00:16:32.31
a story of an unselfish act.
00:16:32.34\00:16:34.56
When a bad guy
became the good guy.
00:16:34.70\00:16:38.58
And let me read it for you, it's
found here in the Word of God
00:16:38.79\00:16:41.68
in Luke the 10th chapter.
00:16:41.71\00:16:43.94
And I want you, if you have
your Bibles, to turn with me
00:16:43.97\00:16:46.71
to the 10th chapter
of the book of Luke.
00:16:46.74\00:16:49.79
And this is verse 25
of chapter 10 of Luke.
00:16:53.47\00:16:59.43
Notice...
00:16:59.46\00:17:00.49
And the Bible says that
He said, "You shall live."
00:17:31.44\00:17:38.58
This is the second most
amazing story, I believe,
00:17:38.99\00:17:42.38
in the whole New Testament.
00:17:42.41\00:17:44.07
I think the first
is the prodigal son.
00:17:44.55\00:17:46.64
And perhaps I'm going to
speak more about that in,
00:17:46.67\00:17:48.60
Horns and Halos in Human Nature.
00:17:48.63\00:17:50.69
But right here, it's the
second most amazing story
00:17:50.72\00:17:54.45
in the New Testament, the
story of this good Samaritan.
00:17:54.69\00:17:59.05
Now, this is the
compassion of a stranger.
00:17:59.51\00:18:05.00
The compassion of a bad guy that
is not suppose to act that way.
00:18:05.33\00:18:09.53
But something
within him, I mean.
00:18:09.56\00:18:11.85
It's good theology, in a sense.
00:18:13.24\00:18:15.53
And it's much more than that.
00:18:15.93\00:18:17.41
I could have called
the message, I mean,
00:18:17.91\00:18:19.61
The Lawyer and the Law Breaker.
00:18:19.64\00:18:21.63
Because it's about a
lawyer and about a Samaritan.
00:18:22.57\00:18:25.51
I mean, the story
comes out of a question
00:18:25.54\00:18:27.50
that a lawyer asks Jesus.
00:18:27.53\00:18:29.19
Not because he wants an answer,
00:18:29.22\00:18:30.67
but rather he
wants to trick Jesus.
00:18:30.70\00:18:32.78
He wants to corner Him.
00:18:32.81\00:18:34.08
He wants to embarrass Him.
00:18:34.11\00:18:37.05
As if he can.
00:18:37.08\00:18:38.56
It came about
because of misunderstanding,
00:18:39.43\00:18:42.60
also on the part of the lawyer.
00:18:42.63\00:18:44.49
And notice as we exegete the
passage in chapter 10 verse 25.
00:18:44.81\00:18:49.92
He says this in verse
25, and notice here...
00:18:49.95\00:18:54.84
Now it says, "lawyer," here.
00:19:02.41\00:19:04.58
A lawyer stood up
and put Him to test.
00:19:05.09\00:19:07.59
A lawyer.
00:19:07.62\00:19:08.65
But don't think it
is, I mean, don't think
00:19:08.68\00:19:11.31
it's Perry Mason lawyer.
00:19:11.34\00:19:12.83
Or Morgan and Morgan.
00:19:13.70\00:19:15.22
It's not that kind
of lawyer. Not at all.
00:19:15.46\00:19:18.32
You see, it's a
different kind of lawyer.
00:19:18.35\00:19:20.60
In the time this parable
was told, lawyer would be an
00:19:20.63\00:19:23.78
expert in the law
of Moses, in the Torah;
00:19:23.81\00:19:27.67
in the five books
of the Old Testament.
00:19:27.90\00:19:30.52
It would be someone
who was knowledgeable
00:19:30.55\00:19:32.55
in all the laws given
to Israel through Moses
00:19:32.58\00:19:36.31
recorded in the
books of Exodus, Leviticus,
00:19:36.34\00:19:39.23
Numbers, Deuteronomy.
00:19:39.26\00:19:41.18
I mean, he was understanding
the civil laws of Israel.
00:19:41.21\00:19:46.17
He understood
the religious laws.
00:19:46.20\00:19:48.08
I mean,
intricate religious laws.
00:19:48.11\00:19:50.32
The ceremonial
laws, which were so many.
00:19:50.35\00:19:52.67
He understood them,
he could interpret them.
00:19:52.70\00:19:54.77
He understood the moral
law, the Ten Commandments law.
00:19:54.80\00:19:57.75
And yes, he was an
expert in religion,
00:19:58.24\00:20:01.16
he was an expert in law,
he was an expert in ethics.
00:20:01.19\00:20:04.75
Moral issues.
00:20:05.09\00:20:06.69
A lawyer asked
Him that question.
00:20:07.18\00:20:09.20
He's trying to test
Jesus, trick Him, embarrass Him.
00:20:09.77\00:20:13.85
And so he asked the
very difficult question
00:20:13.88\00:20:16.23
there in verse 25 Luke 10,
00:20:16.26\00:20:18.99
"Teacher, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life?"
00:20:19.02\00:20:22.91
Now the lawyer knows
everything about the law.
00:20:23.10\00:20:25.69
He knows
everything about ethics.
00:20:25.72\00:20:28.04
He knows everything about
the five books of the Torah.
00:20:28.07\00:20:31.44
He knows all of this.
00:20:31.47\00:20:32.82
But the simplest
thing, he doesn't understand.
00:20:33.39\00:20:36.80
He doesn't
understand grace and salvation.
00:20:36.90\00:20:41.79
Now this question
asked by the lawyer to Jesus
00:20:42.09\00:20:45.33
is so relevant in that day, but
it's also relevant to our day.
00:20:45.36\00:20:49.08
"What shall I do to
inherit eternal life?"
00:20:49.11\00:20:52.00
It never gets
old with the asking.
00:20:52.03\00:20:54.47
I've had people ask
it, hundreds and thousands
00:20:55.27\00:20:57.43
of people, through my
lifetime in my ministry.
00:20:57.47\00:21:00.00
I've had them ask it big cities,
and rich people and poor people,
00:21:00.03\00:21:03.58
and educated people
and uneducated people.
00:21:03.61\00:21:06.54
I've had them ask me
in third world countries.
00:21:06.57\00:21:09.21
People reaching out
and wanting to know,
00:21:09.24\00:21:11.59
"How can I have eternal life?"
00:21:11.62\00:21:13.54
"How can I
inherit eternal life?"
00:21:13.57\00:21:15.82
It's a great question.
00:21:15.85\00:21:17.20
It's educated
people and uneducated.
00:21:17.23\00:21:19.50
I mean, it's a law
answer to a grace question.
00:21:19.71\00:21:24.81
You cannot inherit
something and then pay for it.
00:21:26.45\00:21:31.00
Simple.
00:21:33.25\00:21:34.39
You can't inherit...
00:21:34.66\00:21:36.04
"I inherited an
estate from my mother.
00:21:36.07\00:21:38.29
How much will it cost me?"
00:21:38.32\00:21:39.91
Get real.
00:21:40.86\00:21:42.06
Wake up, smell the roses.
00:21:42.09\00:21:44.44
I mean, if you inherit
it, you don't pay for it.
00:21:44.47\00:21:47.65
The lawyer understood all
about law and ceremonial law.
00:21:47.68\00:21:50.82
He understood how
the religion worked,
00:21:50.85\00:21:52.90
but he didn't understand how
it worked in the human heart.
00:21:52.93\00:21:56.07
The lawyer seems to
think that he can do something,
00:21:58.12\00:22:01.11
he can earn eternal life.
00:22:01.14\00:22:03.06
And that brilliant
lawyer, Sabbath keeper,
00:22:03.09\00:22:05.58
didn't have the foggiest idea of
how one receives eternal life.
00:22:05.61\00:22:11.38
Amazing, isn't it.
00:22:11.41\00:22:12.52
It's amazing to me.
00:22:13.25\00:22:14.71
And so he says, human
effort, human works, obedience.
00:22:15.51\00:22:21.10
But it will not cut it.
00:22:21.83\00:22:23.18
He expects a law
answer to a law question,
00:22:23.73\00:22:26.51
and he gets a grace answer.
00:22:26.54\00:22:28.55
That you don't inherit it,
you receive it as a free gift.
00:22:28.58\00:22:32.67
A gift of God. Amen.
00:22:32.70\00:22:34.68
Now Jesus needs to
straighten him out.
00:22:36.53\00:22:37.93
And He does here in verse 26.
00:22:37.96\00:22:39.79
Notice in verse 26 what He says.
00:22:39.82\00:22:42.29
Jesus needs to straighten
him out, theologically.
00:22:50.83\00:22:54.58
The idea that you can work
your way up a ladder to heaven.
00:22:54.61\00:22:57.76
When I first came to
Christ, I gave my heart to God.
00:22:57.96\00:23:01.33
I was taught that.
00:23:01.36\00:23:02.87
That you climb this ladder,
I call the Jacob's ladder.
00:23:03.38\00:23:06.22
And if you climb it
and you reach the top,
00:23:06.25\00:23:08.40
when Jesus comes
you go home to heaven.
00:23:08.43\00:23:10.73
Wow.
00:23:11.38\00:23:12.57
I mean, that's a
tough thing to learn.
00:23:12.60\00:23:15.10
Because the higher you
climb on a ladder and fall,
00:23:15.13\00:23:17.73
the more it hurts.
00:23:17.76\00:23:19.54
And I thought to myself,
00:23:19.74\00:23:20.91
"What if I
don't get to the top?"
00:23:20.94\00:23:22.67
What if I don't get to the...
00:23:23.15\00:23:24.41
I mean, falling off a ladder.
00:23:24.61\00:23:25.98
It was a few months
after I was a Christian and...
00:23:26.01\00:23:27.88
You know, I was a fighting kid.
00:23:27.91\00:23:30.44
I loved to fight and I
was fighting all the time.
00:23:30.47\00:23:32.91
Punching people
out just for fun of it.
00:23:32.94\00:23:34.88
My brother Billy and
I many times would say,
00:23:34.98\00:23:36.76
"Hey, let's go look
for a fight," and go fight.
00:23:36.79\00:23:39.28
And I knew as a
Christian I couldn't fight,
00:23:39.64\00:23:41.66
so the first few
months as a Christian I had to
00:23:41.69\00:23:43.98
put my hands in my pocket and
walk around the neighborhood.
00:23:44.43\00:23:47.00
And I use to deliver flowers.
00:23:47.75\00:23:49.87
And I had to deliver
flowers up in the Bronx
00:23:49.90\00:23:52.12
from Brooklyn on the
IRT subway at rush hour.
00:23:52.15\00:23:55.53
Don't ever try to
deliver flowers when you're a
00:23:55.56\00:23:58.45
new Christian on the
IRT subway at rush hour.
00:23:58.48\00:24:03.37
And we were stuck in there like
sardines in a can, you know.
00:24:03.95\00:24:07.18
And I'm holding my
flowers above the crowd,
00:24:07.28\00:24:09.41
pushing people off and,
"Watch out for my flowers."
00:24:09.99\00:24:13.22
And this man, he elbows me.
00:24:13.61\00:24:15.76
And I look at him and I
say, "Hey man, that's my ribs."
00:24:17.29\00:24:19.85
You know, and now I'm reasoning.
00:24:19.88\00:24:21.77
Don't do that.
00:24:21.80\00:24:22.88
And so I'm singing hymns
to myself and I'm praying.
00:24:25.05\00:24:28.69
And he does it again, and I
go, boom, and I hit the guy.
00:24:28.87\00:24:32.12
And it was so crowded
he kind of hung there.
00:24:33.50\00:24:36.18
And when we came
to the next station,
00:24:37.31\00:24:38.62
when they walked off
he fell to the ground.
00:24:38.65\00:24:40.78
I fell off the ladder.
00:24:40.81\00:24:42.29
It's a terrible way to think.
00:24:42.32\00:24:44.03
That I can work
my way to heaven.
00:24:44.06\00:24:45.83
That I can work my way
to a place in spiritual life
00:24:45.86\00:24:48.73
that I'm going to go to heaven.
00:24:48.76\00:24:50.23
I tell you, when I found
the gospel, when Jesus showed me
00:24:50.45\00:24:53.63
years later the
true gospel of Christ,
00:24:53.66\00:24:56.09
that I don't receive it by
works but I inherit it by the
00:24:56.12\00:25:01.07
grace of God, amen,
it set me free forever.
00:25:01.10\00:25:04.39
And that's why He
tells us in verse 27,
00:25:05.35\00:25:08.93
"You shall love the Lord
your God," the lawyers says.
00:25:08.96\00:25:12.27
He gives a good answer.
00:25:12.30\00:25:13.68
That is a good answer.
00:25:21.58\00:25:23.53
It's a brilliant
answer, as far as it goes.
00:25:24.90\00:25:28.53
And that's an
absolutely accurate summary
00:25:28.96\00:25:31.60
of God's Ten Commandments.
00:25:31.85\00:25:33.68
Jesus used the same answer
when He talked about the law.
00:25:34.00\00:25:37.37
"Who is thy neighbor?"
00:25:37.73\00:25:39.04
Now the atmosphere is changed.
00:25:39.62\00:25:41.60
The lawyer is uncomfortable.
00:25:42.61\00:25:44.29
"Who is your neighbor?"
00:25:45.34\00:25:48.34
And Jesus answers
the question that he asks
00:25:48.93\00:25:52.32
with a radical story.
00:25:52.74\00:25:54.32
I mean, an amazing story.
00:25:55.00\00:25:56.92
Amazing story.
00:25:57.95\00:25:59.87
Do we earn?
00:26:01.19\00:26:03.60
Do we love God
and love our neighbor
00:26:04.17\00:26:07.30
well enough to
merit eternal life?
00:26:07.55\00:26:09.79
No.
00:26:10.50\00:26:11.55
I don't.
00:26:11.58\00:26:12.80
Sorry, I admit it.
00:26:12.83\00:26:14.32
I don't love God
as much as I ought to.
00:26:15.07\00:26:17.32
And you don't.
00:26:18.10\00:26:19.40
I'm pretty confident by
saying, knowing human nature
00:26:20.43\00:26:23.44
and what God's Word says
about our sinful nature as I do,
00:26:23.47\00:26:26.35
likewise with loving
my neighbor as myself,
00:26:26.38\00:26:29.34
I've got the "loving
myself" part down pat.
00:26:29.37\00:26:32.72
But loving my
neighbor, that's another story.
00:26:33.94\00:26:36.60
I mean, especially
if you know my neighbor.
00:26:38.20\00:26:40.67
And you have that problem too.
00:26:42.29\00:26:44.30
And so Jesus has
to tell this story.
00:26:45.33\00:26:47.34
He has to get to
real Christianity.
00:26:48.06\00:26:49.99
The lawyer, desiring to justify
himself, according to our text,
00:26:50.60\00:26:54.00
asked the follow-up,
"Who then is my neighbor?"
00:26:54.03\00:26:57.95
In other words, "Who
qualifies to get my love?
00:26:58.49\00:27:01.12
Who qualifies for me
to show love to them?
00:27:01.22\00:27:04.13
Which person?
00:27:04.16\00:27:05.19
If I can eliminate the
bad people from my life,
00:27:05.22\00:27:07.77
and the
disgusting people around me,
00:27:07.80\00:27:09.71
and the people
who inconvenience me,
00:27:09.74\00:27:11.99
then I just might
be able to do it."
00:27:12.02\00:27:15.07
So radical, Jesus is.
00:27:16.66\00:27:18.50
He says, "Who's your neighbor?"
00:27:19.55\00:27:23.94
Mr. Lawyer,
you're missing the point
00:27:25.62\00:27:27.79
of the commandment.
00:27:29.72\00:27:30.81
"Love your neighbor
as yourself," does not
00:27:31.77\00:27:33.89
put a limit on
who your neighbor is.
00:27:33.92\00:27:36.76
He doesn't limit
it to color of skin.
00:27:37.30\00:27:39.73
He doesn't limit it
to religious affiliation.
00:27:40.80\00:27:43.49
He doesn't to
political position.
00:27:44.73\00:27:47.21
You see, the way they dress.
00:27:48.50\00:27:50.58
Or the number of
tattoos they wear.
00:27:50.99\00:27:53.16
To get the lawyer to
understand who his neighbor is,
00:27:53.93\00:27:56.61
Jesus tells the story.
00:27:56.64\00:27:58.31
I mean, let's come to
grips with that story.
00:27:58.34\00:28:00.54
Let's listen again.
00:28:00.57\00:28:01.75
Perhaps we'll see ourselves
as one of the characters
00:28:01.78\00:28:04.68
portrayed in the story.
00:28:04.71\00:28:06.63
It begins at verse 30.
00:28:09.03\00:28:10.52
Well those bad
guys, I mean, the robbers;
00:28:25.27\00:28:29.88
obviously they
are not very loving.
00:28:30.15\00:28:33.31
They beat the guy, leave
him on the road, and they run.
00:28:34.12\00:28:37.73
I know what you're thinking.
00:28:38.34\00:28:39.74
"Glad I'm better
than the robbers."
00:28:40.39\00:28:42.42
Come on.
00:28:42.45\00:28:43.66
"I don't steal."
00:28:44.85\00:28:46.54
Come on.
00:28:47.38\00:28:48.53
I mean, I'm a
pretty nice fellow.
00:28:48.81\00:28:51.20
I don't hurt people.
00:28:51.23\00:28:52.70
I don't punch them out anymore.
00:28:52.73\00:28:54.66
I mean, I don't kick the dog.
00:28:54.69\00:28:56.80
I'm a pretty nice...
00:28:57.45\00:28:58.70
I pay taxes.
00:29:01.13\00:29:02.64
I obey the laws of the land.
00:29:03.36\00:29:05.05
They're better
than the legalists.
00:29:07.12\00:29:09.58
Knowing that Jesus continues
His story, picture the scene.
00:29:10.71\00:29:13.74
It's a time the road
from Jerusalem to Jericho...
00:29:13.77\00:29:16.31
By the way, that place
was called, the way of blood.
00:29:16.34\00:29:19.28
From Jericho to Jerusalem
was called, the way of blood.
00:29:20.96\00:29:23.33
There were so many
attacks there on that road,
00:29:23.36\00:29:25.91
blood everywhere.
00:29:25.94\00:29:27.01
I mean, they
usually went with caravan
00:29:27.04\00:29:29.52
from Jericho to Jerusalem
because it was so frightening,
00:29:29.55\00:29:32.83
because it was dangerous.
00:29:32.86\00:29:34.48
But this man must
have been in a hurry.
00:29:34.51\00:29:36.32
He had to make an appointment.
00:29:36.35\00:29:37.77
He had to get to Jerusalem.
00:29:37.80\00:29:39.32
He was on his
way up to Jerusalem.
00:29:39.35\00:29:41.51
And he's there,
and they fall upon him.
00:29:41.54\00:29:44.02
They beat him into a
pulp and leave him bleeding,
00:29:44.05\00:29:47.33
almost dead.
00:29:47.78\00:29:49.31
But now comes the rub.
00:29:50.50\00:29:52.64
I mean, here's where
Jesus gets to the point.
00:29:52.92\00:29:57.38
Verse 31, notice...
00:29:57.73\00:30:00.18
It could have been a
priest, a Baptist preacher,
00:30:11.70\00:30:15.31
an Adventist
preacher, a Methodist preacher.
00:30:15.34\00:30:17.52
I mean, it was a
man of the cloth.
00:30:17.55\00:30:20.01
He's a good guy in our story.
00:30:22.77\00:30:26.63
I mean, who could be more pious
and religious than a priest?
00:30:27.01\00:30:30.40
I mean, I'm sure
he'll do the right thing,
00:30:31.81\00:30:33.83
according to the law.
00:30:33.86\00:30:35.37
And what does he
do? He passes by.
00:30:35.40\00:30:37.69
But not only that, the
Bible says he crosses the street
00:30:37.72\00:30:40.88
to pass him by.
00:30:40.91\00:30:42.27
But you're not suppose
to act that way, priest,
00:30:45.05\00:30:48.12
minister, elder, deacon.
00:30:48.61\00:30:53.51
You're not
suppose to act that way.
00:30:53.59\00:30:56.15
He doesn't do anything.
00:30:58.60\00:31:00.15
He doesn't hurt the guy.
00:31:01.09\00:31:02.48
But then he doesn't help him.
00:31:04.15\00:31:05.65
Well at least he's keeping
himself ceremonially clean.
00:31:07.25\00:31:09.98
Because, you see, a priest
couldn't go by a dead body.
00:31:10.01\00:31:12.18
And if the man is dead in
the road, on the road of blood,
00:31:12.21\00:31:15.53
if he's dead then if he
gets close to him, he's going to
00:31:15.56\00:31:18.29
become ceremonially unclean.
00:31:18.32\00:31:20.05
And then he could not
do the work in the temple,
00:31:20.08\00:31:22.74
and he could not
minister to the people,
00:31:22.77\00:31:25.64
I mean, and
perform the sacrifice.
00:31:26.05\00:31:29.17
So he reasons, and his logic.
00:31:31.62\00:31:35.31
And he walks to the other side.
00:31:36.33\00:31:41.21
Let someone else help him.
00:31:43.28\00:31:44.93
This isn't an ancient story
written so many centuries ago.
00:31:46.50\00:31:49.47
It's real even today.
00:31:50.76\00:31:52.25
But then verse 32
picks up the story.
00:31:53.25\00:31:55.74
And listen to what the
Bible says here in verse 32.
00:31:56.36\00:32:01.44
Well, that's 33. We missed one.
00:32:04.78\00:32:07.92
Well I'm going to
read it from the Bible.
00:32:07.95\00:32:09.83
Verse 32, alright.
00:32:10.07\00:32:11.63
Luke 10 and verse 32,
notice, "And likewise a Levite,
00:32:11.66\00:32:16.70
when he was at the
place, came and looked on him,
00:32:16.73\00:32:19.46
and passed by
on the other side."
00:32:19.56\00:32:21.97
A Levite.
00:32:22.00\00:32:23.32
By the way, the Hebrew word
of, "Levite," is, "Leuites."
00:32:24.81\00:32:27.74
It indicates the
descendents of Levi.
00:32:27.77\00:32:30.36
He is the son of Jacob
and Lea, Genesis 29 verse 34.
00:32:30.39\00:32:34.91
There were three family
clans within the tribe of Levi.
00:32:34.94\00:32:40.57
The Gershon, the
Kohath, and the Merari.
00:32:40.98\00:32:43.87
It was only Kohath who
supplied the Aaronic priesthood,
00:32:44.58\00:32:50.01
the priests that
ministered in the Sanctuary,
00:32:50.12\00:32:54.27
in the temple itself.
00:32:54.30\00:32:55.71
I mean, they were blessed.
00:32:57.26\00:32:59.98
They were a holy
people for generations.
00:33:01.16\00:33:04.19
They were the ones who
ministered to the priests.
00:33:05.13\00:33:08.46
They were the ones who
ministered to the Sanctuary.
00:33:08.49\00:33:10.79
They were the ones who
carried on to keep the Sanctuary
00:33:10.89\00:33:13.95
ritual going on and
on through the centuries,
00:33:14.15\00:33:16.75
through time
since back to Aaron.
00:33:16.78\00:33:19.41
They were there with
Aaron even at the foot of Sinai.
00:33:21.03\00:33:25.97
I think they perhaps
were even in the crowd,
00:33:26.17\00:33:28.41
at least the tribe
Levi, they were there
00:33:28.71\00:33:31.62
when Moses came
down from the mountain
00:33:31.65\00:33:33.80
and Moses found them doing
aerobics before a golden calf.
00:33:33.83\00:33:37.57
That was the Levites.
00:33:37.60\00:33:39.25
Compromise, the Levites.
00:33:40.35\00:33:42.35
But yet, they
were some holy men.
00:33:42.55\00:33:44.39
I mean, they took
care of the service.
00:33:44.78\00:33:47.72
They're set apart to be
caretakers of the tabernacle.
00:33:48.18\00:33:51.07
Numbers 1:47-53.
00:33:51.10\00:33:54.11
He passed by on the other side.
00:33:54.91\00:33:58.95
Well he's on his
way to the temple.
00:34:01.40\00:34:02.81
He's got to get to the service.
00:34:02.84\00:34:03.97
I mean, you can understand that
if he stops, he might be late.
00:34:04.00\00:34:07.48
And if he's late, he
can't do the work he has to do
00:34:07.59\00:34:10.41
in preparation for the priests
to go through their ceremony
00:34:10.44\00:34:12.91
to slay their lamb
and to do sacrifices,
00:34:12.94\00:34:17.97
and make people holy.
00:34:20.41\00:34:22.01
So he walks around.
00:34:24.19\00:34:25.64
And he isn't really very holy.
00:34:26.78\00:34:30.52
Very holy.
00:34:31.94\00:34:33.16
Jesus catches with a punch line.
00:34:39.51\00:34:41.52
Martin Luther King, the
day before he died in Memphis,
00:34:43.78\00:34:47.16
speaking to a large
crowd recounts the story
00:34:48.29\00:34:50.76
of the good Samaritan.
00:34:50.98\00:34:52.38
His punch line
captures the truth.
00:34:54.02\00:34:55.87
Listen to this quote.
00:34:56.13\00:34:57.54
"And so the first
question the Levite asked was,
00:34:58.62\00:35:03.01
'If I stop to help the
man, what will happen to me?'
00:35:03.04\00:35:06.84
But when the Good Samaritan came
by, he reversed the question,
00:35:09.83\00:35:13.87
'If I do not
stop to help the man,
00:35:14.35\00:35:17.72
what will happen to the man?'"
00:35:17.95\00:35:21.61
Wow!
00:35:23.58\00:35:24.69
Back to the story.
00:35:26.50\00:35:28.01
Symbolically, Jesus
Christ is the good Samaritan.
00:35:29.46\00:35:32.90
You and I have been
beaten on the road of life.
00:35:33.89\00:35:36.57
We've been mugged and we've
been robbed of our dignity.
00:35:36.60\00:35:40.01
We've been
robbed of our holiness.
00:35:40.04\00:35:41.85
We've been robbed
of our experience.
00:35:41.88\00:35:44.22
And like Paul with
things want to do, we don't;
00:35:44.25\00:35:46.62
and the things we
don't want to do, we do.
00:35:46.65\00:35:48.08
Sin is ever constant
with us knocking us around.
00:35:48.11\00:35:51.08
And there's the good Samaritan.
00:35:51.11\00:35:53.10
And we go on in verse 33.
00:35:55.31\00:35:57.12
And He says in verse 33...
00:35:58.80\00:36:00.78
His heart went out to him.
00:36:10.58\00:36:12.01
Compassion.
00:36:13.66\00:36:15.01
What we need today in the
church, what we need today
00:36:16.59\00:36:18.96
among our believers, what
we need today is compassion.
00:36:18.99\00:36:22.29
If I do not stop to help this
man, what will happen to him?
00:36:25.93\00:36:29.79
If I do not go to my
neighbor and share the good news
00:36:30.80\00:36:33.79
of eternal life,
what will happen to them?
00:36:33.82\00:36:36.40
If I don't stand up and speak
and love and do good to evil,
00:36:37.15\00:36:42.29
what will happen to them?
00:36:42.60\00:36:44.34
Doomed, damned,
crushed, bound for hell;
00:36:44.72\00:36:47.48
what will happen to them?
00:36:47.51\00:36:49.35
The cry of the believer, the
compassion of the believer is,
00:36:49.68\00:36:53.23
"What will happen to them?"
00:36:53.26\00:36:55.38
Like my dad that night
in the Brooklyn street.
00:36:56.11\00:36:58.36
The most unlikely hero.
00:36:59.73\00:37:01.72
A Samaritan?
00:37:06.49\00:37:07.89
A Samaritan?
00:37:09.54\00:37:10.99
You make the hero
in this story a...
00:37:12.46\00:37:16.54
Radical, the teachings of Jesus.
00:37:16.74\00:37:19.14
You make the hero a Samaritan?
00:37:19.53\00:37:22.57
Samaritans were hated...
00:37:29.67\00:37:31.12
...by the
Jewish target audience.
00:37:33.36\00:37:35.49
The Jews so much hated
them to a degree, the lawyer
00:37:37.14\00:37:39.81
used the phrase, he didn't
even use the term, "Samaritan."
00:37:40.12\00:37:44.64
Listen to what he says.
00:37:44.67\00:37:46.13
He says, "The one
who had mercy on him."
00:37:46.16\00:37:49.54
He wouldn't even use the name.
00:37:49.57\00:37:51.62
"The one who had mercy on him.
00:37:53.03\00:37:54.61
I'm not going to say Samaritan."
00:37:54.64\00:37:56.47
That's how much they hated them.
00:37:56.77\00:37:58.50
In fact, not only would
the injured man not expect
00:38:05.10\00:38:07.39
any help out of one of
those despicable Samaritans...
00:38:07.42\00:38:10.65
Because most likely the
man who was mugged and robbed
00:38:10.75\00:38:13.05
was a Jew on the
road to Jerusalem.
00:38:13.08\00:38:16.94
A Samaritan viewed in that day
like Al Qaeda is viewed today.
00:38:18.47\00:38:22.65
Better to die in a pool of
blood on the road than to be
00:38:22.68\00:38:25.89
touched by a Samaritan.
00:38:25.92\00:38:27.80
Let him die and be at peace
than be touched by a Samaritan.
00:38:29.07\00:38:34.09
But it's this
Samaritan, this bad guy,
00:38:36.00\00:38:40.22
despised and
rejected, who is never the less
00:38:41.39\00:38:44.28
moved to compassion.
00:38:44.31\00:38:45.42
Three surprises in
heaven; one, I'm there.
00:38:45.45\00:38:50.06
Two, "Why isn't
sister so-and-so here?"
00:38:51.54\00:38:56.02
And finally, "He's here?
00:38:56.61\00:38:59.57
The Samaritan?
00:39:00.77\00:39:02.24
The Samaritan?
00:39:03.59\00:39:04.87
My enemy?"
00:39:06.07\00:39:07.33
And so the Bible says
the Samaritan coming down
00:39:10.79\00:39:12.64
the road sees the wounded man.
00:39:12.67\00:39:16.54
He sees him.
00:39:17.22\00:39:18.91
There's a difference
between seeing and seeing.
00:39:19.11\00:39:22.30
That's why Jesus says
they looked and they saw,
00:39:24.01\00:39:25.88
and the people were like trees.
00:39:25.91\00:39:27.43
We sometimes look at the
multitudes who are hurting,
00:39:27.46\00:39:29.78
suffering, being
robbed of dignity,
00:39:29.81\00:39:32.23
and we see them as trees.
00:39:32.26\00:39:34.06
But then our eyes are
opened with the eyes of Jesus,
00:39:34.09\00:39:36.89
and we see them as
people who are hurting
00:39:36.92\00:39:38.99
and in need to be
touched with love.
00:39:39.02\00:39:42.19
Just as the Son of
Man came down from heaven
00:39:48.31\00:39:52.35
to this earth when
we were lying half dead
00:39:53.42\00:39:57.25
on the road
unable to save ourselves.
00:39:58.21\00:40:01.39
When I discovered in a
Brooklyn street that God loved
00:40:02.71\00:40:05.99
a bum in a Brooklyn
street, being half dead,
00:40:08.01\00:40:14.23
resurrected to a
new life, because
00:40:15.74\00:40:17.67
I discovered His compassion.
00:40:17.70\00:40:19.67
People say,
"Well, why did you...
00:40:20.38\00:40:21.62
Well all those
wonderful truths."
00:40:21.65\00:40:23.13
No.
00:40:23.16\00:40:24.66
Those wonderful 28
fundamental truths,
00:40:24.86\00:40:27.24
as wonderful as they are, no.
00:40:27.27\00:40:29.21
But it was for the
first time that I loved
00:40:29.68\00:40:31.85
that this God loved me.
00:40:31.88\00:40:34.90
And wounded as I
was, He came down to me
00:40:35.75\00:40:40.41
with the touch of grace.
00:40:40.82\00:40:42.54
Friend, that's the story.
00:40:43.86\00:40:46.88
Seeing and loving.
00:40:48.18\00:40:50.13
I was out in San
Bernardino, California.
00:40:50.16\00:40:52.31
It's one of the
worst areas in the world.
00:40:52.34\00:40:55.00
There are 625 or more gangs
in the county of San Bernardino.
00:40:55.03\00:40:59.34
And I taught the
people to prayer walk.
00:41:00.70\00:41:02.64
We were going to hold a
crusade and so we walked
00:41:02.67\00:41:04.44
the streets of San
Bernardino praying.
00:41:04.47\00:41:06.43
We had wonderful
people from all over.
00:41:06.46\00:41:08.14
Some from Loma
Linda, from the hospital.
00:41:08.17\00:41:10.01
There was this lovely nurse.
00:41:10.04\00:41:11.20
She came up to me one
night, she said, "Brother Ron,
00:41:11.23\00:41:13.39
I want to cover
the Orange Show."
00:41:13.42\00:41:16.63
To go around the
Orange Show is about a mile
00:41:16.66\00:41:20.03
in a very bad neighborhood.
00:41:20.28\00:41:21.83
And she said, "I'm
going to make that my mission.
00:41:22.15\00:41:23.73
I'm going to prayer walk it
and ask God to touch someone."
00:41:23.76\00:41:28.60
She was walking along one night
before the meetings started.
00:41:28.84\00:41:31.62
It was the night
before the meetings started.
00:41:32.68\00:41:34.39
And she saw a homeless man
digging in the garbage can.
00:41:34.76\00:41:37.95
And she was moved by the
Spirit to see this poor man.
00:41:39.18\00:41:42.04
Nothing, he had nothing,
but what was in the garbage.
00:41:42.97\00:41:45.94
And she walked up to
him and she says, "Hi."
00:41:46.38\00:41:48.53
And he looked up and
she introduced herself.
00:41:48.56\00:41:51.18
And she said, "I'm a prayer
walker and a prayer warrior."
00:41:51.21\00:41:54.68
And he said, "Well that's nice."
00:41:55.56\00:41:59.42
And she says,
what am I going to say?
00:41:59.97\00:42:01.20
And so she said, "Well
Ron Halvorsen is starting
00:42:01.23\00:42:03.18
a meeting tomorrow
night here in the Orange.
00:42:03.21\00:42:05.34
Would you go as my guest?"
00:42:05.37\00:42:07.22
She didn't see a homeless man.
00:42:08.83\00:42:10.75
She didn't see
someone smelling as...
00:42:10.78\00:42:13.46
She saw a candidate
for the kingdom of God.
00:42:14.40\00:42:18.18
So she invited him.
00:42:18.86\00:42:19.89
She walked into this
hall, 3000 people, 3500 people.
00:42:19.92\00:42:24.15
She walks in and sits in the
last row with the homeless man.
00:42:24.18\00:42:27.03
And she has a
beautiful smile on her face,
00:42:27.06\00:42:29.33
this sophisticated nurse.
00:42:29.36\00:42:31.10
One of the heads of the
department at Loma Linda.
00:42:31.13\00:42:33.76
And she is so proud
to introduce him to me.
00:42:36.18\00:42:38.62
And the next night, where
do you meet a homeless man
00:42:38.65\00:42:41.12
but at the garbage.
00:42:41.15\00:42:42.59
And she took him every night.
00:42:43.93\00:42:45.48
She was so proud.
00:42:46.57\00:42:48.11
And at the end of that
meeting, God touched his heart.
00:42:49.04\00:42:52.47
The homeless man
came forward with
00:42:53.02\00:42:54.91
four or five
hundred other people
00:42:55.11\00:42:56.98
and were baptized in
the kingdom of Christ.
00:42:57.55\00:42:59.79
And, oh, what
friends they made of him.
00:42:59.99\00:43:02.94
Oh, they cleaned him
up, they got him a job.
00:43:03.13\00:43:05.42
They got him an apartment.
00:43:05.45\00:43:07.35
And that love, that
compassion; he was half dead.
00:43:07.38\00:43:10.90
But they had learned...
00:43:13.58\00:43:15.17
...to love.
00:43:18.32\00:43:19.88
That's what the story
of the Samaritan is about.
00:43:21.48\00:43:23.38
I mean, that's what it's about.
00:43:24.60\00:43:25.85
He went and bound up his
wounds, pouring oil in it,
00:43:27.30\00:43:29.44
puts him on his donkey.
00:43:29.47\00:43:31.48
I saw Brother Jim's
donkey today, donkeys.
00:43:32.08\00:43:36.76
Very nice, real
country. That's good.
00:43:37.06\00:43:40.48
I'd rather ride a
subway. But anyway.
00:43:40.51\00:43:42.44
The donkey.
00:43:42.47\00:43:43.54
And put him on his donkey
and brought him to the inn.
00:43:44.28\00:43:49.53
And puts him up in the inn.
00:43:50.58\00:43:52.17
Binds his wounds and
puts him up in the inn,
00:43:52.54\00:43:54.46
and pays two denari.
00:43:54.49\00:43:56.87
Which is, by the way,
equivalent to two days wage.
00:43:56.90\00:44:01.69
And he says,
"Now if it costs more,
00:44:02.52\00:44:04.13
I'll be coming back again."
00:44:04.16\00:44:06.00
In those days, you
could trust a handshake.
00:44:06.03\00:44:08.73
"And I'll be back
and I'll pay the rest."
00:44:10.00\00:44:12.26
Wow, what a story.
00:44:12.69\00:44:14.24
I mean, this is amazing.
00:44:14.60\00:44:15.98
You can't read this Book
without being touched by it,
00:44:16.01\00:44:19.26
without being moved by it.
00:44:19.29\00:44:21.09
And this is the work of
the church of Jesus Christ,
00:44:21.19\00:44:24.16
to show that kind of
mercy and that kind of love.
00:44:24.19\00:44:27.35
Now we see what loving
our neighbor looks like.
00:44:29.55\00:44:33.91
Both in story and in deed.
00:44:34.49\00:44:37.30
I mean, Jesus tells.
00:44:37.33\00:44:39.06
And in the story, Jesus lived.
00:44:39.09\00:44:40.95
In the life, and
death, and resurrection
00:44:40.98\00:44:43.60
with which Jesus loves us.
00:44:43.63\00:44:45.79
Do you remember when He
came to you wounded on the road?
00:44:47.63\00:44:50.54
Do you recall the first touch?
00:44:52.74\00:44:55.25
The first time I felt loved.
00:44:56.48\00:44:58.77
Did you remember that?
00:44:59.20\00:45:00.81
When I stood in that
church in Brooklyn alone,
00:45:01.76\00:45:04.07
none of my
family were Christian.
00:45:04.10\00:45:05.94
I had the privilege of
leading them to Christ.
00:45:05.97\00:45:08.09
Listen to me,
wonderful Christians.
00:45:08.12\00:45:09.75
I love them with all my heart.
00:45:09.78\00:45:11.55
My daddy, he was
transformed by the grace of God.
00:45:11.75\00:45:14.92
Became a deacon in his
church. He was faithful.
00:45:14.95\00:45:17.46
You know, the kind of
deacon that opens the door,
00:45:17.49\00:45:19.37
and shuts it last.
00:45:19.40\00:45:21.13
And faithful till the day
he died, and resting in Jesus.
00:45:21.90\00:45:25.29
And I tell people, I
hope I'm in Brooklyn when
00:45:25.44\00:45:27.46
Christ comes to see the
resurrection of my mama,
00:45:27.49\00:45:30.65
who was the first I
led to Jesus and His truth.
00:45:30.68\00:45:33.39
And my daddy, my
brothers, my sister.
00:45:33.59\00:45:36.62
The Halvorsen family; wounded.
00:45:37.81\00:45:39.93
And then Jesus.
00:45:41.33\00:45:42.71
And then Jesus.
00:45:43.98\00:45:45.48
Who qualifies to
be your neighbor?
00:45:47.49\00:45:49.59
Does that bring about your love?
00:45:52.80\00:45:55.91
You know, it's about
being a neighbor to others.
00:45:56.97\00:45:59.56
Whoever happens to
come across your path.
00:46:00.62\00:46:02.74
Anyone who comes
across your path.
00:46:02.77\00:46:06.26
"The one who showed
him mercy," verse 37.
00:46:06.98\00:46:09.90
The one who showed him mercy,
that is the good Samaritan.
00:46:10.20\00:46:16.58
Wow, that's the
command of Jesus.
00:46:26.33\00:46:28.56
Go ye into all the
world with compassion.
00:46:28.82\00:46:31.31
Go ye into all
the world, into the
00:46:32.85\00:46:34.24
neighborhood with compassion.
00:46:34.27\00:46:35.84
Look for the wounded,
the hurting, the suffering.
00:46:36.68\00:46:41.25
"Go and do likewise."
00:46:42.22\00:46:43.90
The lawyer rightly
responded, and Jesus says,
00:46:44.47\00:46:46.56
"You go and do likewise."
00:46:46.59\00:46:47.72
Yes, you go out and
try that, Mr. Lawyer.
00:46:47.75\00:46:50.40
See how well you do it.
00:46:50.43\00:46:52.11
And I bet you'll fall short.
00:46:53.60\00:46:55.23
The lawyer understood
the legal part of the law,
00:46:56.96\00:46:58.96
but not the spiritual.
00:46:59.14\00:47:00.48
And we can
understand the Ten Commandments
00:47:00.51\00:47:02.40
and the legal part of
that law, and we can keep it.
00:47:02.43\00:47:04.72
Easy keeping.
00:47:04.75\00:47:06.24
But the
spiritual part of that law,
00:47:06.50\00:47:08.67
as we talked about last night.
00:47:08.70\00:47:10.59
Come on now.
00:47:11.48\00:47:12.75
The spiritual part
of that law that says,
00:47:13.19\00:47:16.79
"Who is your neighbor?"
00:47:17.30\00:47:18.87
He that is in
need, he that's hurting,
00:47:19.29\00:47:21.51
that needs help.
00:47:21.92\00:47:23.12
That is our neighbor.
00:47:23.15\00:47:24.92
"But I don't like him."
00:47:25.24\00:47:26.48
That's irrelevant.
00:47:26.51\00:47:27.76
"You don't understand.
00:47:28.36\00:47:30.00
You don't understand."
00:47:30.57\00:47:32.09
That's irrelevant.
00:47:32.12\00:47:33.67
That's irrelevant.
00:47:34.87\00:47:36.14
You must, in a turn, give
up in justifying yourself,
00:47:39.61\00:47:44.50
admit your sins.
00:47:44.53\00:47:45.92
And listen, to you who are
watching this program, listen.
00:47:47.50\00:47:50.23
Seek that love
and that compassion.
00:47:51.52\00:47:53.80
Let Jesus Christ
change your heart.
00:47:54.97\00:47:57.25
I mean, let Jesus
Christ become heir of your life
00:47:58.12\00:48:01.80
and you might
inherit eternal life.
00:48:01.83\00:48:04.98
It's the only way.
00:48:05.01\00:48:06.61
Say "yes" to
Him and to His love.
00:48:07.37\00:48:11.09
Good Samaritan love.
00:48:11.37\00:48:12.85
This Christ-like love to
others, to your neighbor.
00:48:13.07\00:48:16.18
And that is why,
any person who happens
00:48:16.21\00:48:18.19
to come across your path.
00:48:18.22\00:48:19.55
The good news today is,
Jesus is the good Samaritan.
00:48:19.58\00:48:22.94
The reason He told that story,
He wanted to tell men and women
00:48:24.05\00:48:26.96
who are wounded, men and
women and teenagers and children
00:48:26.99\00:48:30.07
who are
hurting, who are wounded,
00:48:30.10\00:48:31.94
maybe in the heart,
maybe wounded in the head,
00:48:31.97\00:48:34.35
maybe wounded wherever,
wounded by sin, He says,
00:48:34.38\00:48:38.76
"There is a good Samaritan."
00:48:38.86\00:48:40.57
And there on the
road He will come to you
00:48:40.60\00:48:42.71
and He will
minister to you with the oil;
00:48:42.74\00:48:45.47
symbol of the Holy Spirit.
00:48:45.50\00:48:47.11
He will minister with you
the wine; which is the symbol
00:48:47.14\00:48:49.91
of the blood of Christ.
00:48:49.94\00:48:51.19
He will raise you up, He
will put you on and carry you
00:48:51.22\00:48:54.85
into the place of
safety, and pay the penalty
00:48:54.88\00:48:58.05
and pay the price.
00:48:58.08\00:48:59.59
Jesus pays the price.
00:49:00.53\00:49:02.43
The price.
00:49:03.06\00:49:04.25
One man I admire
greatly was Maximilian Kolbe.
00:49:06.01\00:49:08.99
I don't know if you
ever heard about him.
00:49:09.48\00:49:11.06
He lived 1894 to 1941.
00:49:11.85\00:49:14.36
Maximilian Kolbe
was a Catholic priest
00:49:15.92\00:49:18.81
who was put in a
Nazi concentration camp
00:49:19.65\00:49:22.26
for his faith.
00:49:22.46\00:49:23.98
And it was at Auschwitz.
00:49:25.26\00:49:27.39
And during that time
there, he was to share his
00:49:28.43\00:49:30.48
meager rations
of food with others.
00:49:30.51\00:49:32.57
He was very
compassionate and loving.
00:49:32.60\00:49:34.85
He was showing
what he knew of Jesus
00:49:34.88\00:49:37.46
in his compassion for others.
00:49:37.49\00:49:39.84
And all the people in that
place knew this faithful priest.
00:49:39.87\00:49:47.63
Despite the evil in the camp
perpetrated against inmates,
00:49:48.21\00:49:52.65
Kolbe pleaded with the prisoners
to forgive their persecutors
00:49:52.68\00:49:56.46
and overcome evil with good.
00:49:56.49\00:49:58.25
I mean, a Protestant
doctor who treated the patients
00:49:59.11\00:50:02.00
in Kolbe's block said,
"Kolbe would not let himself be
00:50:02.03\00:50:04.85
treated before
any other prisoner.
00:50:04.88\00:50:07.10
He sacrificed
himself for the prisoners,"
00:50:07.84\00:50:10.24
the doctor said of Kolbe.
00:50:10.27\00:50:11.89
"From my observation," quote,
"the virtues in this servant
00:50:12.39\00:50:15.40
of God were no monetary impulse
such as are often found in men.
00:50:15.43\00:50:20.33
They sprang from a
habitual practice deeply woven
00:50:20.36\00:50:23.47
into his personality."
00:50:23.50\00:50:24.66
In other words, he
was practicing Christ.
00:50:24.69\00:50:27.65
One day he was
standing out in the hot sun.
00:50:32.32\00:50:35.80
And at the end of
the day a man escaped
00:50:37.65\00:50:39.21
from that concentration camp.
00:50:39.24\00:50:40.94
And one of the soldiers,
Fritzsch, the Nazi commandant,
00:50:42.42\00:50:47.16
told the prisoners ten
men, ten men, would be selected
00:50:47.46\00:50:51.13
to die in a starvation bunker.
00:50:51.16\00:50:53.72
And one of the men was a
Polish sergeant; Franciszek.
00:50:55.96\00:50:59.67
I cannot pronounce his
second name; but Franciszek.
00:50:59.70\00:51:04.64
And he begged to be
spared, he says, "I have a wife
00:51:05.82\00:51:08.52
and I have a
family of children."
00:51:08.55\00:51:10.60
He's pleading
with the commandant.
00:51:11.94\00:51:13.76
And Maximilian Kolbe
silently stepped forward and
00:51:14.59\00:51:17.39
stood before the commandant.
00:51:17.42\00:51:19.06
The commandant
turned to him and asked,
00:51:19.63\00:51:21.38
"What does the Polish pig want?"
00:51:21.41\00:51:23.41
And Kolbe pointed to the
Polish sergeant and said,
00:51:24.52\00:51:26.87
"I'm a Catholic
priest from Poland.
00:51:27.44\00:51:29.41
I would like to take his place.
00:51:29.82\00:51:31.56
Because he has a wife and
children and I have none."
00:51:32.15\00:51:36.02
The commandant
stood silent for a moment.
00:51:37.43\00:51:39.36
Disbelief.
00:51:39.86\00:51:41.28
He then allowed the
sergeant to go back to his place
00:51:41.77\00:51:44.64
in the ranks, and Kolbe took the
place in the starvation bunker.
00:51:44.67\00:51:49.86
Each day the guards
removed the bodies of those
00:51:51.07\00:51:53.48
who starved to death.
00:51:53.51\00:51:55.31
One four were left, it was
just two days before liberation.
00:51:56.55\00:51:59.88
The guards came in and
injected each of those men
00:52:01.12\00:52:04.12
with lethal injection.
00:52:04.85\00:52:06.35
And on August 14, 1941,
Kolbe paid the ultimate price;
00:52:07.05\00:52:14.19
his life, following the Master.
00:52:15.03\00:52:18.45
"For if a man
says, 'I love God,'
00:52:19.53\00:52:21.37
and hateth his
brother, he is a liar.
00:52:22.72\00:52:26.12
For he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen,
00:52:27.25\00:52:29.89
how can he ever love
God whom he has not seen?"
00:52:31.01\00:52:37.69
That's what Jesus Christ is
trying to say to us here today.
00:52:38.96\00:52:43.93
That's the hard words of Jesus.
00:52:44.64\00:52:47.63
The radical word of Jesus.
00:52:48.03\00:52:50.20
Do you love him
because he or she is loveable?
00:52:50.50\00:52:54.75
Or do you love him or
her because they are wounded,
00:52:55.77\00:53:01.68
and they are hurting, and dying?
00:53:02.09\00:53:06.48
Jesus, the good
Samaritan, heals our wounds,
00:53:07.83\00:53:13.92
sets us free, and we live.
00:53:15.72\00:53:19.33
Pays the price
for us; eternal life.
00:53:19.60\00:53:25.20
One of my favorite stories is
about a little boy; ghetto boy.
00:53:25.87\00:53:30.57
I'm always attracted to
ghetto boys, I don't know why.
00:53:30.60\00:53:33.89
But anyway, it's a
story about Wall Street.
00:53:35.23\00:53:37.12
And if you're ever in
New York at three o'clock,
00:53:37.15\00:53:39.04
go down to Wall Street.
00:53:39.07\00:53:40.23
See the scene.
00:53:40.99\00:53:42.90
The limousines pull up
waiting for their people.
00:53:43.47\00:53:47.45
They come out.
00:53:48.08\00:53:49.11
Some of them made a million
that day, some lost a million.
00:53:49.74\00:53:52.52
But three o'clock they
come out, get in the limo,
00:53:53.41\00:53:55.60
drive out to the suburbs,
have a cocktail, go to sleep,
00:53:55.86\00:53:58.55
then come back in the morning
and start all over again.
00:53:58.58\00:54:00.90
One man was coming
out, he had a cashmere coat.
00:54:02.93\00:54:05.45
May have earned a million
that day or lost a million.
00:54:06.55\00:54:11.19
Didn't matter,
he was on his way.
00:54:11.22\00:54:12.86
Get in the limo,
get home, forget it.
00:54:12.89\00:54:16.20
But he noticed from
the corner of his eye,
00:54:17.01\00:54:19.33
he noticed a little
boy huddled in the hallway,
00:54:19.91\00:54:23.19
shivering and crying.
00:54:23.58\00:54:25.90
And right away the man thought
about when he was a little boy.
00:54:26.28\00:54:29.51
You see, the thing
you've got to understand
00:54:29.61\00:54:31.68
is where you came from.
00:54:31.71\00:54:33.70
You need to
remember what you were
00:54:35.58\00:54:37.64
before you knew Christ.
00:54:38.38\00:54:40.13
When my children
where growing up, I use to
00:54:40.73\00:54:42.45
take them to Coney Island.
00:54:42.48\00:54:43.89
And back in the alley
ways and under the Board Walk.
00:54:44.24\00:54:46.50
And there were the
drunks and the addicts,
00:54:46.53\00:54:48.77
and I'd point to them and
say, "Save for the grace of God
00:54:48.80\00:54:51.19
that's where
your daddy would be."
00:54:51.22\00:54:52.78
Now both of them are serving
Christ, and my four grandkids.
00:54:54.13\00:54:57.85
But anyway, as I
think about this boy.
00:54:59.46\00:55:03.96
And the man thought
about when he was a child.
00:55:04.21\00:55:05.81
So he went over and he said,
"Young man, can I help you?"
00:55:05.84\00:55:08.76
And the boy was crying
and rubbing away the tears,
00:55:08.79\00:55:11.91
and he says,
"No, Mister. Bug off."
00:55:11.94\00:55:14.72
Trying to be cool and tough.
00:55:15.82\00:55:17.46
And the man said,
"Well, I can help you.
00:55:18.37\00:55:20.18
Let me help you."
00:55:20.75\00:55:21.78
He says, "No, Mister. Bug off."
00:55:21.81\00:55:23.31
And so the man turned around.
00:55:23.34\00:55:24.53
But the draw of that
child, and he turned back.
00:55:24.63\00:55:27.92
This is his neighbor...
00:55:27.95\00:55:29.40
...in that sense.
00:55:31.79\00:55:33.16
And he says, "Let me help you."
He says, "Well, what happened?"
00:55:34.05\00:55:36.51
And he says, "Well, I
was on the way to the store,
00:55:36.54\00:55:38.43
and daddy gave me a dollar.
00:55:38.46\00:55:39.86
And I was running,
trying to keep warm,
00:55:39.89\00:55:41.36
and the wind blew the
dollar down the drain,
00:55:41.39\00:55:45.82
the sewer drain."
00:55:45.85\00:55:46.95
Wow.
00:55:47.92\00:55:49.27
"I've lost the dollar."
00:55:49.30\00:55:50.55
The man said, "A dollar?
Go home and tell your father."
00:55:50.93\00:55:53.93
He says, "You
don't know my father."
00:55:53.96\00:55:55.55
"Go home and tell your father."
00:55:56.35\00:55:57.86
"Oh, you don't know my father."
00:55:58.06\00:55:59.57
And so the man says, "Well,
what store were you going to?"
00:56:00.83\00:56:02.45
He said, "Around the corner."
00:56:02.48\00:56:03.51
He took the boy around
the corner to the store.
00:56:03.54\00:56:06.02
And the boy went and got what
he had to get for the father.
00:56:06.05\00:56:08.91
Came to the counter, put
it on the counter; 95 cents.
00:56:08.94\00:56:12.60
The man took out his billfold
trying to find a dollar.
00:56:13.12\00:56:16.01
He found a dollar, put it on.
00:56:17.88\00:56:19.38
The man took the package
and the five cents change,
00:56:19.48\00:56:23.13
put it in the
boys hands, and said,
00:56:23.16\00:56:25.18
"Now you go
home to your father."
00:56:25.21\00:56:27.08
The boy started out.
00:56:27.97\00:56:29.44
He stopped at the
door, turned around,
00:56:30.02\00:56:31.79
came back, put his arms as
far around the man as he could.
00:56:31.99\00:56:34.23
He said, "I wish
you were my father."
00:56:34.26\00:56:36.21
As we show
compassion, as we show love,
00:56:37.84\00:56:40.15
as we show the love
of Christ to others,
00:56:40.77\00:56:43.78
they'll reach out and
say, "I wish He was my Father."
00:56:43.98\00:56:48.05
"For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son,
00:56:49.20\00:56:54.19
that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish,
00:56:54.94\00:56:57.67
but have everlasting life."
00:56:57.70\00:56:59.98
I'm glad Jesus told that story.
00:57:00.01\00:57:02.40
Aren't you?
00:57:02.60\00:57:03.80
Write yourself into that story.
00:57:04.25\00:57:06.39
When you see
someone in need, stop.
00:57:06.95\00:57:09.06
Help.
00:57:09.47\00:57:10.50
And you'll fulfill
forever the word of God.
00:57:10.75\00:57:14.62
Let us pray.
00:57:15.30\00:57:16.56
Father God, I thank You
for the grace of Christ.
00:57:16.59\00:57:20.73
I thank You that You
are our good Samaritan.
00:57:20.93\00:57:23.42
And that we can
put our trust in You
00:57:23.82\00:57:26.10
even now wherever we are.
00:57:26.13\00:57:28.13
In Jesus' name, amen.
00:57:28.16\00:57:30.50