Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Legal Tender and Loving Care │ Msg 3344

Transcript

Legal Tender and Loving Care │ Msg 3344 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: Never underestimate the value of music. Never. In our evangelical circles,
0:10
Speaker 1: we have made preeminent the spoken word, but tragically, we
0:15
Speaker 1: have diminished the value of the sung truth. It's being
0:22
Speaker 1: devalued in our schools. The arts are being passed away
0:26
Speaker 1: for some other budgetary reasons. And the church is one
0:32
Speaker 1: of the places where great music must continue to be.
0:37
Speaker 1: You must continue to be good students of great theology
0:42
Speaker 1: sung from the hymnal. So rather than taking a hymnal
0:47
Speaker 1: from the church today, buy one and let the music
0:57
Speaker 1: of your life comfort you When nights are long and
1:04
Speaker 1: days are dark. When the message from the physician is heartbreaking.
1:12
Speaker 1: When information regarding life is tough to hear. Let your
1:17
Speaker 1: soul sing. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.
1:28
Speaker 1: My sin, not in part. But the whole is what?
1:34
Speaker 1: Nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise
1:40
Speaker 1: the Lord, O my soul. Martin Luther believed that the
1:52
Speaker 1: Reformation really was not complete unless there were two books
1:56
Speaker 1: held in our hands. The Bible and and the great
2:00
Speaker 1: songs of the faith. And let us never forget the
2:05
Speaker 1: value of both. Well, we have just three verses today
2:11
Speaker 1: from Romans chapter 13. Don't think that means a short sermon.
2:17
Speaker 1: It just means... I have a friend here in Texas
2:25
Speaker 1: who said when I spent a little while on just
2:28
Speaker 1: a few verses. You sort of super-irrigated that today, Chuck.
2:34
Speaker 1: These verses appear in a context that is of invaluable
2:39
Speaker 1: significance on the whole matter of love, and Paul does
2:45
Speaker 1: not end the thoughts without driving them home in verses 8, 9,
2:50
Speaker 1: and 10 of chapter 13. So out of respect for
2:55
Speaker 1: the word of God, may we stand together for the
2:59
Speaker 1: reading of these verses of scripture. Romans chapter 13, verses 8, 9,
3:07
Speaker 1: and 10. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.
3:13
Speaker 1: For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
3:17
Speaker 1: For this, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not
3:21
Speaker 1: murder anyone. You shall not steal. You shall not covet.
3:25
Speaker 1: And if there is any other commandment, it is summed
3:28
Speaker 1: up in the saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
3:35
Speaker 1: Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is
3:42
Speaker 1: the fulfillment of the law. You may be seated. These
3:53
Speaker 1: days it goes without saying that this church has never
3:56
Speaker 1: placed great emphasis on structures, but we are on occasion
4:04
Speaker 1: very grateful, very grateful for a place to meet. This
4:11
Speaker 1: building is being built out of the faithfulness of God's people.
4:17
Speaker 1: That would be the people who are sitting in this room.
4:20
Speaker 1: It is not the responsibility of our guests to feel
4:23
Speaker 1: any sense of obligation to participate in the offering. If
4:29
Speaker 1: you are our guest today and you've never met the
4:32
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus as your Savior, take this as an opportunity
4:36
Speaker 1: to receive the gift that most of us in this
4:39
Speaker 1: room have received. And that gift has transformed our thinking,
4:44
Speaker 1: our lives, and it's turned us from being hateful hopefully
4:50
Speaker 1: to being loving people and from being selfish to being
4:53
Speaker 1: generous people. We come today to worship our God and
4:59
Speaker 1: pray that you who do not know him will be
5:01
Speaker 1: drawn to him. And so our Father, for many, we're
5:06
Speaker 1: able to sing. It is well. It is well with
5:10
Speaker 1: our souls. That's because of your grace. We've made a
5:17
Speaker 1: mess of our lives, but you're the master at cleaning
5:21
Speaker 1: up those messes. We have spent more days selfish than
5:27
Speaker 1: we have spent unselfish. We have been more often argumentative
5:32
Speaker 1: than we have been cooperative. We are far more often
5:40
Speaker 1: concerned about what we are going to get out of
5:42
Speaker 1: something rather than what other people may benefit from it.
5:48
Speaker 1: Forgive us. And may we learn today, again, this simple
5:54
Speaker 1: four-letter word and its significance as it works its way
5:58
Speaker 1: out in how we think, how we respond, how we live,
6:07
Speaker 1: and how we give. In the name of Jesus, we
6:13
Speaker 1: pray and we give. Everybody say. Nothing is more attractive
6:23
Speaker 1: than love. And nothing is more unattractive and repulsive than
6:30
Speaker 1: the absence of it. Yesterday we had an opportunity to
6:35
Speaker 1: see both placed in juxtaposition. The room today we find
6:41
Speaker 1: filled with worshipers. Yesterday it was filled with mourners. As
6:48
Speaker 1: we buried a fallen hero. A second lieutenant in the
6:53
Speaker 1: United States Army who had died a hero's death after
6:58
Speaker 1: less than two months in battle in Iraq, leaving a
7:03
Speaker 1: family of mom and dad and brothers and sisters and
7:08
Speaker 1: a heartbroken fiancee. Large picture of this fine man stood
7:16
Speaker 1: on an easel right here on this platform. and people
7:22
Speaker 1: gathered from all over. Being a local football player in
7:27
Speaker 1: his growing up years, there were former teammates and coaches
7:33
Speaker 1: who had come to mourn. And what a marvelous occasion
7:42
Speaker 1: to reflect on his years at Texas A & M
7:45
Speaker 1: and finally a commission and the Army cut down by
7:51
Speaker 1: an insurgent's assault. And we heard from one of his
7:56
Speaker 1: coaches who brought a eulogy of love for this man
8:01
Speaker 1: and his love for others, describing him as a fine
8:05
Speaker 1: athlete who played defensive end, in fact covered the fumble
8:10
Speaker 1: of the opposing team as a winning team were able
8:16
Speaker 1: to make it in for the final winning touchdown and
8:19
Speaker 1: they and they won the championship. He said it was
8:22
Speaker 1: so like him, said the coach, doing something that would
8:29
Speaker 1: help others succeed. At the same time, out on the corner,
8:37
Speaker 1: there were protesters carrying ugly signs that said, God hates America.
8:46
Speaker 1: God loves 9-11. and other signs too repulsive for me
8:53
Speaker 1: to repeat. Right out there. I deliberately drove right in
9:00
Speaker 1: front of them to be sure I could look into
9:02
Speaker 1: their faces and read their signs. Thankfully, the family was
9:08
Speaker 1: protected from that awful scene by being rerouted into the
9:15
Speaker 1: church and surrounded by Freedom Riders with their big flags
9:21
Speaker 1: and all of them veterans riding their Harleys, encircling the
9:26
Speaker 1: family with their love, as opposed to the hate-filled rhetoric
9:33
Speaker 1: on the corner. I thought as I drove home how
9:39
Speaker 1: ironic in this cold rain this afternoon, the very freedom
9:46
Speaker 1: the man died to protect allows them the freedom to protest.
9:56
Speaker 1: But how drawn I was to this family in their
10:02
Speaker 1: mourning and love for this fallen hero who earned a
10:09
Speaker 1: Purple Heart, an Iraqi Medal, as well as a Bronze Star,
10:15
Speaker 1: having died a hero's death. You know, friends, whatever else
10:23
Speaker 1: I have to say, love never goes out of style.
10:28
Speaker 1: Love is never inappropriate. The absence of love always is.
10:40
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised, then, that the Apostle, in writing this
10:43
Speaker 1: grand letter filled with doctrine, would keep unpacking the same
10:48
Speaker 1: message again and again so that we could see all
10:51
Speaker 1: facets of it as you would look at various facets
10:54
Speaker 1: of an enormous diamond sitting on black velvet. Because he,
11:00
Speaker 1: being a realist, knows that ours is a world filled
11:04
Speaker 1: with sin. You cannot escape it. For whatever it's worth,
11:10
Speaker 1: we took our trip to Australia and there's sin there.
11:15
Speaker 1: I mean, even in the land down under. The news
11:19
Speaker 1: sounds just like news in the States, except with an accent.
11:23
Speaker 1: I mean, there's murder and there's violence and there are
11:27
Speaker 1: kidnaps and there is abuse and there is terror and
11:29
Speaker 1: there is robbery and there is dishonesty and there is
11:32
Speaker 1: personal misery and there's political mudslinging. It's all over down there.
11:36
Speaker 1: It's all over. You can't get away from it. I
11:38
Speaker 1: tried to escape one night and I clicked onto a
11:41
Speaker 1: sports channel. Crickets. Cricket. It's like baseball on Vicodin. The
11:56
Speaker 1: longer you watch it, the less you understand it. It's
12:00
Speaker 1: like watching paint dry. Cricket. And they play it for days.
12:09
Speaker 1: There's sin everywhere, friends. I can't wait to get mail
12:17
Speaker 1: back from Australia in this message. You move to Wyoming,
12:24
Speaker 1: live on a ranch, you'll get a sinful neighbor who
12:26
Speaker 1: will make your life miserable. You go to Hawaii, you'll
12:30
Speaker 1: have a sinful person in the hotel room next door
12:33
Speaker 1: who will make your nights miserable. Furthermore, you carry a
12:37
Speaker 1: sinful person into the room when you walk in. It's everywhere.
12:43
Speaker 1: It's everywhere, as one theologian put it, if depravity were blue,
12:47
Speaker 1: we'd be blue all over. So Paul writes to blue people.
12:57
Speaker 1: And he says to us in this context, this is
13:00
Speaker 1: how to live the Christian life. That's the general context
13:04
Speaker 1: of this passage of Scripture. Here's how to live the
13:06
Speaker 1: Christian life. The specific context is blue. This is how
13:13
Speaker 1: to be a good citizen. So the general context is
13:17
Speaker 1: in verses 9 through 21 of chapter 2. The specific
13:22
Speaker 1: context is in chapter 13, verses 1 through 7. I
13:30
Speaker 1: should have said chapter 12. 12, 9 to 21 is
13:33
Speaker 1: the general context, how to live the Christian life. And
13:36
Speaker 1: then 13, 1 to 7 is how to be a
13:38
Speaker 1: good citizen. While on that subject, He doesn't leave the
13:44
Speaker 1: matter of love. He begins in a way that would
13:48
Speaker 1: surprise you, and some have been surprised and even led
13:52
Speaker 1: astray by taking only the first four words and teaching
13:57
Speaker 1: that there should never be debt. Owe no one anything.
14:03
Speaker 1: But the verse is filled with many other words. It begins,
14:10
Speaker 1: owe nothing to anyone, and you could think, well, that
14:14
Speaker 1: means we should never borrow money. It would be wonderful
14:20
Speaker 1: if we never had to. It would be magnificent if
14:24
Speaker 1: we could live debt-free, and some do, and everyone applauds that.
14:30
Speaker 1: People ask, is the church in debt? Yes, it's a
14:33
Speaker 1: debt we can manage, but yes, well, why are we
14:35
Speaker 1: in debt? Well, we prefer not to meet in the rain.
14:40
Speaker 1: It was just helpful to have a roof over our head.
14:44
Speaker 1: And I think you'd agree we didn't splurge. And we're
14:49
Speaker 1: here with a debt. Will there be debt in the
14:52
Speaker 1: new building? There will be debt. But I thought the
14:54
Speaker 1: scripture says, owe no man anything. But do you know
14:56
Speaker 1: what the rest of the verse says? You say, well,
15:00
Speaker 1: before I look at the rest of the verse, I
15:01
Speaker 1: want to know what that means. And I don't blame you.
15:04
Speaker 1: First of all, the verb is in the present tense,
15:06
Speaker 1: meaning keep on owing. So the idea is don't keep
15:10
Speaker 1: on owing on the same debt. Pay it off. Let
15:16
Speaker 1: no debt remain outstanding. You borrowed money to buy a car?
15:23
Speaker 1: Pay the debt off. Don't get another debt on top
15:26
Speaker 1: of that debt on top of another debt. If you
15:28
Speaker 1: have a credit card, pay the credit card off. Don't
15:32
Speaker 1: keep stacking credit on top of credit. Pay off the loan.
15:36
Speaker 1: You buying a home? Pay it off. At chunks, over time,
15:41
Speaker 1: over the years, you finally get it paid off. And
15:48
Speaker 1: so he says, owe no one anything, meaning don't let
15:50
Speaker 1: your debt remain outstanding. No one has been more conservative
15:55
Speaker 1: in his writings than Martin Lloyd-Jones, so he certainly wouldn't
15:58
Speaker 1: take liberty with what we just read. In his work
16:01
Speaker 1: on Romans, he writes, there's no need to waste any
16:05
Speaker 1: time over this. This verse cannot mean that because we
16:09
Speaker 1: are instructed elsewhere, cannot mean that because we are instructed
16:13
Speaker 1: elsewhere in scripture to give loans. In the Old Testament,
16:17
Speaker 1: as well as in the New, the question of usury
16:20
Speaker 1: is taken up, also the question of paying interest on
16:23
Speaker 1: borrowed money, and they are not prohibited. A legal loan
16:29
Speaker 1: correctly arranged is all right, as long as you observe
16:33
Speaker 1: the terms of the agreement. It is wrong not to
16:37
Speaker 1: repay as soon as possible anything you have borrowed. That's
16:43
Speaker 1: the point of the first four words. But now that
16:47
Speaker 1: you have listened to that explanation on loans, understand what
16:51
Speaker 1: he's really teaching. Keep reading. When you do serious study
16:56
Speaker 1: of the scriptures, guard against partial verses and forming convictions
17:01
Speaker 1: out of a few words. Owe nothing to anyone except
17:06
Speaker 1: to love one another. That's the debt you stay permanently
17:11
Speaker 1: involved in paying off. Owe no one anything except to
17:16
Speaker 1: love one another. Keep reading. For he who loves his
17:24
Speaker 1: neighbor has fulfilled the law. This is the debt you
17:29
Speaker 1: never stop paying. Let me have a parallel here to
17:36
Speaker 1: give you an example. Hold your place and look at
17:38
Speaker 1: Romans chapter 1. You'll remember when we were there several
17:44
Speaker 1: months ago, or was it years ago, when Romans 1,
17:49
Speaker 1: verse 14, notice what he says about being in debt.
17:56
Speaker 1: He says, I'm in debt. In fact, the same Greek
17:59
Speaker 1: word rendered, oh, nothing, verse 8 of chapter 13, is
18:05
Speaker 1: the identical Greek word as translated under obligation in verse
18:09
Speaker 1: 14 of chapter 1. Same term. So it's the same meaning.
18:15
Speaker 1: I am in debt, both to the Greeks and to
18:19
Speaker 1: the barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. Meaning what?
18:24
Speaker 1: I am in debt to give them the good news.
18:27
Speaker 1: That's why he says in the next verse, so for
18:30
Speaker 1: my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to
18:34
Speaker 1: you also who are in Rome, for I'm not ashamed
18:38
Speaker 1: of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation
18:42
Speaker 1: to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also
18:45
Speaker 1: to the Greek. Look at his I am's. I am
18:50
Speaker 1: in debt, verse 14. I am eager to preach the gospel,
18:55
Speaker 1: verse 15. I am not ashamed. Verse 16, there's your
19:01
Speaker 1: devotional for next week when you have to bring your talk.
19:05
Speaker 1: There it is. You can act like you found it
19:07
Speaker 1: on your own. I am's of Paul, right there. But
19:11
Speaker 1: the one that interests us today is I am under obligation.
19:16
Speaker 1: Let's see if I can illustrate it. Let's imagine that you,
19:22
Speaker 1: though young in life, suffer from a terrible dread disease.
19:26
Speaker 1: that is affecting your joints, your muscles. It's a lot
19:31
Speaker 1: like arthritis. Perhaps it's even worse than that. It keeps
19:35
Speaker 1: you awake at night. Before long, they are no longer supple.
19:39
Speaker 1: You can't move them without pain. You find you can't
19:41
Speaker 1: move around as you once could, playing tennis or playing
19:45
Speaker 1: catch or playing a little pickup game of basketball. You
19:50
Speaker 1: can't move about. And the pain is horrendous. You try
19:55
Speaker 1: the massage therapy and you try spas and you go
19:58
Speaker 1: to one physician after another. In the process, you find
20:03
Speaker 1: out there's no cure for this ailment. Then you have
20:09
Speaker 1: someone tell you almost by chance, there is this physician
20:14
Speaker 1: who lives in another country who practices good medicine and
20:20
Speaker 1: has come up with a formula that he can prescribe
20:24
Speaker 1: that if you take it, you'll be free of pain.
20:29
Speaker 1: You don't ignore that. As soon as you're able to
20:32
Speaker 1: afford it, you take that trip and you go to
20:34
Speaker 1: that physician. And he listens to you and you describe
20:38
Speaker 1: your situation and you realize, he realizes that you've got
20:44
Speaker 1: exactly what he's able to help. And he writes that prescription.
20:50
Speaker 1: You take that prescription and you have it filled. You
20:53
Speaker 1: begin to take that medicine. Three or four mornings later,
20:58
Speaker 1: you're noticing an absence of pain. Less and less pain
21:02
Speaker 1: and another week passes and you're sleeping through the night.
21:06
Speaker 1: And in less than two weeks, you're free of pain.
21:12
Speaker 1: Let's say in the next month you come across someone
21:14
Speaker 1: you've never met who is obviously in pain. And you
21:17
Speaker 1: could tell by looking they're going through the very same
21:19
Speaker 1: thing that you were going through. And you have the
21:25
Speaker 1: name of the physician right here near your heart. You
21:32
Speaker 1: are under obligation to give that name to this suffering friend, right?
21:40
Speaker 1: You're in debt. To everyone you meet who is in
21:43
Speaker 1: this kind of pain, you dare not keep this to yourself.
21:49
Speaker 1: This is hope. Now you know where I'm going. Many
21:55
Speaker 1: of you lived many years without Christ and you knew
21:58
Speaker 1: what it was to go through sleepless nights and anxious
22:01
Speaker 1: moments and the misery of guilt and doing wrong and
22:05
Speaker 1: not being able to quote, straighten up your life. And
22:08
Speaker 1: there was a sense of hopelessness and despair and education
22:12
Speaker 1: didn't help and travel didn't remove it and you couldn't
22:14
Speaker 1: escape it until someone cared enough about you to pay
22:19
Speaker 1: their debt. And they told you of the Savior, the
22:22
Speaker 1: name of the one who could change your life. And
22:27
Speaker 1: now you carry that name right in your heart. In
22:31
Speaker 1: that sense, verse 8 is saying in chapter 13, Oh,
22:37
Speaker 1: nothing to anyone except there is a debt you do
22:41
Speaker 1: owe and you will owe it the rest of your life.
22:44
Speaker 1: And that is to love one another. He who loves
22:48
Speaker 1: his neighbor has fulfilled the law. Interesting change in terms.
22:53
Speaker 1: I have to take the time to say this, even
22:56
Speaker 1: though it may sound a little pedantic. See the word
22:58
Speaker 1: another in verse eight, love one another. And see the
23:03
Speaker 1: word neighbor a little later on? It doesn't really read
23:06
Speaker 1: in the original neighbor. It reads another, except it's another
23:10
Speaker 1: of a different kind. The first is another like you,
23:15
Speaker 1: and the other is someone very different from you. Different
23:18
Speaker 1: in beliefs and theology, different in personality, different in politics,
23:22
Speaker 1: different in mannerisms, different in taste and color and values
23:26
Speaker 1: and past history. All of that different makes no difference.
23:29
Speaker 1: The love is to be shown. You're still in debt.
23:33
Speaker 1: Don't let any of the barriers that would normally hold
23:36
Speaker 1: you back from extending a life of love to that
23:39
Speaker 1: other individual hold you back from doing it. You're in
23:44
Speaker 1: debt to them. And it's a perpetual debt that goes
23:47
Speaker 1: on and on. As a matter of fact, I love
23:49
Speaker 1: the way it continues. When you do that, you actually
23:52
Speaker 1: fulfill the law. What's the purpose of the law? To
23:55
Speaker 1: make us like God. But it has no power to
23:58
Speaker 1: do it. Until Christ comes into the life. And as
24:01
Speaker 1: Christ comes into the life and we live out the
24:04
Speaker 1: life of Christ, which is a life of love, it
24:09
Speaker 1: is amazing. It is amazing the difference it makes. And
24:16
Speaker 1: as I said at the beginning, nothing is more attractive
24:18
Speaker 1: than being around someone who loves us unconditionally. And yet
24:24
Speaker 1: discerning enough to express that love in a way at
24:27
Speaker 1: times it's tough. Honest. As a matter of fact, he
24:35
Speaker 1: goes on to say, as you fulfill the law, you
24:39
Speaker 1: shall not commit adultery. May I make the statement, delicate
24:43
Speaker 1: though it is, don't let anyone who is attempting to
24:45
Speaker 1: lure you into adultery convince you that it's love. Love
24:50
Speaker 1: doesn't prompt adultery. Love, verse 10, does no wrong. Adultery
24:57
Speaker 1: is obviously wrong. But when you love, you don't commit it.
25:02
Speaker 1: It wasn't love that David had for Bathsheba. He didn't
25:05
Speaker 1: love Uriah, her husband, when he lured Bathsheba into his home,
25:10
Speaker 1: into his palace. It wasn't love. Though I'm sure he
25:14
Speaker 1: used words that were very affectionate in the process of lust.
25:21
Speaker 1: And you shall not murder. Never convince yourself that you
25:23
Speaker 1: take someone's life out of love. It's impossible. Or stealing,
25:29
Speaker 1: taking something that isn't yours. You never do it because
25:31
Speaker 1: you love them. Or coveting what they have or who
25:35
Speaker 1: they are or some title they possess or whatever may
25:39
Speaker 1: be that point of covetousness doesn't come from love. Love
25:44
Speaker 1: seeks the highest good of the other person. You know
25:47
Speaker 1: what it does? Well, I'll tell you what it doesn't do.
25:50
Speaker 1: Verse 10, it does no wrong to a neighbor. Let's
25:56
Speaker 1: face it, folks, we live in a cold, heartless, uncaring world.
26:03
Speaker 1: It is a world that is going its own way
26:07
Speaker 1: and won't stop to help you as you struggle in
26:09
Speaker 1: your way. I thought of it when I read this
26:13
Speaker 1: article from the Chicago Tribune titled, He Started Cutting, Nobody Stopped.
26:21
Speaker 1: It's a story of Mary Hannigan, Mary was assaulted on
26:27
Speaker 1: Chicago's Kennedy Expressway when a man purposely rammed her, then
26:33
Speaker 1: attacked her with a knife in her own car when
26:35
Speaker 1: she stopped to check the damage. As the struggle for
26:39
Speaker 1: her life, as she struggled for her life, no one
26:42
Speaker 1: stopped to help. When she managed to move her car
26:45
Speaker 1: forward so it blocked an exit ramp, one car even
26:49
Speaker 1: drove around her without stopping while she was being brutally attacked. Fortunately,
26:56
Speaker 1: her assailant fell from the car when she was able
26:59
Speaker 1: to push on the accelerator again, and she escaped. In
27:03
Speaker 1: the hospital, after a plastic surgeon had worked six hours
27:07
Speaker 1: on her face, leaving 100 stitches, her husband said, That's
27:14
Speaker 1: what I can't believe. It's as if people went out
27:17
Speaker 1: of the way not to help her. Sergeant James Marble commented,
27:24
Speaker 1: the only ones who would have helped her would have
27:26
Speaker 1: been police officers driving by. People just don't help other people, unfortunately. Now,
27:40
Speaker 1: I make a study of your faces, and I can
27:43
Speaker 1: see all kinds of things going on in your mind.
27:49
Speaker 1: Some of you are thinking, well, I mean, my life
27:52
Speaker 1: could be in danger. Others of you are saying it's
27:56
Speaker 1: really a risk to get, I understand. Every time I
28:00
Speaker 1: drive by someone in need, that's my thinking. So like you,
28:07
Speaker 1: I too do that. Not always thankfully, but more often
28:11
Speaker 1: than I'm proud to admit. I, um, I would like
28:18
Speaker 1: to urge all of us to stop and think about
28:21
Speaker 1: the last time we helped someone we didn't know who
28:25
Speaker 1: was in need. Just a random act of kindness. Some
28:36
Speaker 1: of you can't remember. I will tell you this, now
28:42
Speaker 1: that you and I are both struggling with the guilt
28:44
Speaker 1: of that statement, We will never have trouble talking with
28:49
Speaker 1: them about Jesus after the fact. You help Mary Hannigan
28:55
Speaker 1: in her car and get her to a hospital and
28:57
Speaker 1: rescue her from the assailant. And I will tell you,
29:00
Speaker 1: Mary Hannigan wants to know everything she can about you
29:03
Speaker 1: and your life. And she can't say thank you enough.
29:08
Speaker 1: You don't have to fight for an opportunity to witness.
29:11
Speaker 1: She will beg to know, how come you stop? What
29:15
Speaker 1: is it that made you different from all the other drivers?
29:20
Speaker 1: Why didn't you just pass by like everybody else? I
29:28
Speaker 1: said earlier the problem is universal, so it's everywhere. And
29:34
Speaker 1: by the way, it's timeless. It happens in every generation.
29:38
Speaker 1: Let me show you an example in the Bible. Turn
29:43
Speaker 1: to Luke 10. Please, just turn back. Luke chapter 10.
29:51
Speaker 1: Love this story. I must have told it dozens of
29:54
Speaker 1: times in my ministry, and every time I do, something
29:57
Speaker 1: new sort of pops up. That happened this time as well.
30:02
Speaker 1: Verse 25 down through verse 37 contains the story of
30:07
Speaker 1: the good Samaritan. Don't you love the story of the
30:10
Speaker 1: good Samaritan? Just great. What you don't understand is Samaritans
30:17
Speaker 1: were hated people. Hated people. There was no prejudice like
30:23
Speaker 1: the prejudice a Jew had for a Samaritan. Samaria is
30:28
Speaker 1: right here in the middle. Judea is down here. Galilee
30:31
Speaker 1: is up here. In order for a Galilean to come
30:34
Speaker 1: to Judea, he would go around Samaria so as not
30:38
Speaker 1: even to get the dust of Samaritan soil on his sandals.
30:42
Speaker 1: That's like going from Kansas to Texas around Oklahoma. I
30:49
Speaker 1: gave that illustration one time, and I had a couple
30:51
Speaker 1: of three big Oklahoma Sooner former football players walk up,
30:56
Speaker 1: and one of them spoke for the group, saying, hey, Chuck,
31:01
Speaker 1: we just want you to know there ain't no Samaritans
31:04
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma. Please, bear with me. But the story really,
31:14
Speaker 1: really doesn't begin with a Samaritan. It begins with an attorney.
31:18
Speaker 1: who is in a crowd getting Jesus' attention, verse 25.
31:24
Speaker 1: There's a lawyer who stands up, apparently most were sitting down,
31:30
Speaker 1: and he put Jesus to the test saying, teacher, what
31:36
Speaker 1: shall I do to inherit eternal life? I read about
31:40
Speaker 1: the law, I hear about righteousness, I've listened to your message,
31:44
Speaker 1: what do I have to do? To prove that I'm
31:47
Speaker 1: a part of the family of God. What's involved in that?
31:51
Speaker 1: Jesus says, what is written in the law? How does
31:54
Speaker 1: it read to you? What you may not remember is
31:57
Speaker 1: that lawyers wore phylacteries on their wrists. Little leather pouches
32:02
Speaker 1: that were strapped to their wrists and often on their forehead.
32:06
Speaker 1: And in these little pouches were handwritten, in Hebrew of course,
32:10
Speaker 1: the law of God. Various verses from the law of God.
32:16
Speaker 1: Perhaps while his hand is in the air, Jesus sees
32:19
Speaker 1: the phylactery and says, what's written in the law? So
32:23
Speaker 1: the attorney answers from memory. He knows what's in there.
32:27
Speaker 1: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
32:29
Speaker 1: with all your soul, with all your strength, and with
32:32
Speaker 1: all your mind. And your neighbor is yourself. That's what
32:36
Speaker 1: it says. Jesus' answer, you have answered correctly. Do this,
32:44
Speaker 1: you will live. Here in Texas, we would say, you
32:47
Speaker 1: got it? Now get at it. Problem is, the ball
32:52
Speaker 1: is now served back into the lawyer's court. Lawyers don't
32:56
Speaker 1: like balls served into their court. They like serving them.
32:59
Speaker 1: And so he turns it into another question, but this
33:02
Speaker 1: time to put Jesus, well, actually to justify himself. This
33:07
Speaker 1: is what we do when we don't want to face
33:09
Speaker 1: our own guilt. We rationalize, it's called here, wishing to
33:14
Speaker 1: justify himself. Verse 29, he said to Jesus, and like,
33:22
Speaker 1: who's my neighbor? Is that like a lawyer or what?
33:28
Speaker 1: I mean, we got a big picture issue, and he's
33:31
Speaker 1: now picking at terms. Like, I mean, next door? What
33:35
Speaker 1: if he's three doors down? Or what if he lives
33:39
Speaker 1: in Starwood? Or, you know, Plano?
33:44
Speaker 2: No.
33:45
Speaker 1: Is that my neighbor? Or what if he's way downtown Dallas?
33:51
Speaker 1: Is he still my neighbor? I'm always amazed at Jesus' patience.
34:01
Speaker 1: I think he was never tempted, so if I'd been there,
34:05
Speaker 1: which is a tragic thought, my being in Jesus' place.
34:09
Speaker 1: First thought was, duh. But he gives him a story.
34:14
Speaker 1: Now we're back to the Samaritan. Remember the question. Who
34:20
Speaker 1: is my neighbor? Which, by the way, he never answers.
34:26
Speaker 1: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
34:29
Speaker 1: fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him
34:31
Speaker 1: and went away, leaving him half dead. By chance, a
34:35
Speaker 1: priest was going down on that road, and when he
34:37
Speaker 1: saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise,
34:42
Speaker 1: a Levite also, when he came to the place and
34:44
Speaker 1: saw him, passed by on the other side. Nothing wrong
34:47
Speaker 1: with their eyes. They both saw the same thing. Neither stopped.
34:54
Speaker 1: But a Samaritan. The S word. Ears perk up. The
35:03
Speaker 1: attorney is now all ears. A Samaritan who was on
35:11
Speaker 1: a journey didn't even live there. He couldn't. It was
35:13
Speaker 1: between Jerusalem and Jericho. A Samaritan who was on a
35:19
Speaker 1: journey came upon him. So they're strangers. And when he
35:23
Speaker 1: saw him, he felt compassion. He saw the same thing
35:26
Speaker 1: the priest and Levite had seen, but he felt something different.
35:32
Speaker 1: It's called love. He felt compassion, and he came to
35:37
Speaker 1: him and bandaged up his wounds, and he poured in
35:40
Speaker 1: wine and oil, and he put him on his own beast,
35:43
Speaker 1: and he brought him to an inn, and he took
35:45
Speaker 1: care of him. And on the next day, he took
35:47
Speaker 1: out two denarii, which is a pretty good amount of dough,
35:50
Speaker 1: and gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care
35:52
Speaker 1: of him whatever more you spend, not if, but when
35:56
Speaker 1: I return, I will repay you. This is a magnificent story.
36:00
Speaker 1: When I come back, I'm going to come back and check.
36:04
Speaker 1: When I do, if there's more I owe on the
36:05
Speaker 1: hotel bill, let me know and I'll pay that too.
36:09
Speaker 1: End of story, but not end of lesson. If you
36:13
Speaker 1: carry a red letter Bible, you notice the red runs
36:16
Speaker 1: on to the next verse. Jesus still speaking to the lawyer.
36:23
Speaker 1: Which of the three do you think proved to be
36:28
Speaker 1: a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hand? Genius,
36:36
Speaker 1: isn't it? He didn't answer, who is my neighbor? He answered,
36:41
Speaker 1: who is my neighbor's neighbor? Got it? Which one proved
36:49
Speaker 1: to be a neighbor? And the attorney, perhaps with a sigh, answers,
36:59
Speaker 1: the one who showed mercy toward him. Jesus said, you
37:03
Speaker 1: got it. Now get at it. I want to tell
37:12
Speaker 1: you something. Even though he may have been a Jew
37:18
Speaker 1: who had been attacked, assaulted, and left to die, when
37:24
Speaker 1: he woke up in that hotel room with his wounds bandaged,
37:30
Speaker 1: with medication on them, with a bed to stay in
37:35
Speaker 1: and a roof over his head, perhaps not even remembering
37:40
Speaker 1: how he got there, his first question would be, who
37:46
Speaker 1: did this? And when the Samaritan shows up again, I
37:51
Speaker 1: can assure you, perhaps the first time in his entire
37:56
Speaker 1: life that Jew is willing to listen to that Samaritan.
38:03
Speaker 1: Because he loved him in his hurt. Do you know
38:10
Speaker 1: what this is teaching? Listen very carefully. I'll put it
38:15
Speaker 1: in a few words. What you are determines what you see.
38:21
Speaker 1: And what you see determines what you do. Are you
38:37
Speaker 1: a Christian? If that's what you are, you will see
38:48
Speaker 1: a number of occasions in life, none of which will
38:54
Speaker 1: occur at a convenient time or in a very secure setting.
39:04
Speaker 1: There will be risk. There will be threat. There will
39:07
Speaker 1: be uncertainty. There will be chance. There will be the unknown.
39:17
Speaker 1: But what you are will determine what you see, and
39:21
Speaker 1: what you see will determine what you do. The only
39:31
Speaker 1: continuing debt that honors the Lord is loving others. Which
39:43
Speaker 1: means finding ways to show it. I say one more
39:49
Speaker 1: time When you do, they will know you belong to
39:58
Speaker 1: someone else that they've never met. The Greyhound bus had
40:09
Speaker 1: slowed and then stopped. It was just a wayside stop
40:13
Speaker 1: with a garage and a small store. A young Native
40:18
Speaker 1: American stepped aboard and after he had paid his fare,
40:23
Speaker 1: He sat down behind me. It was February. We were
40:28
Speaker 1: traveling from Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The night
40:33
Speaker 1: was cold. In the warm bus, the tired youth was
40:38
Speaker 1: soon asleep. But after a while, he got up and
40:43
Speaker 1: walked to the front of the bus to ask if
40:45
Speaker 1: we were near his destination. We passed there a long
40:51
Speaker 1: time ago, the bus driver snapped. Acknowledging he had known
40:56
Speaker 1: the boy was riding beyond his stop, he asked angrily,
40:59
Speaker 1: why didn't you get off? The quiet passenger's shoulders drooped.
41:07
Speaker 1: He turned, came back to his seat, barely had sat
41:10
Speaker 1: down when he rose up again and went back to
41:12
Speaker 1: the driver. Would you stop and let me off, he asked.
41:16
Speaker 1: I'll walk back. No, no, it's far enough. It's too
41:22
Speaker 1: far and too cold. You'd freeze to death. You have
41:27
Speaker 1: to go to Albuquerque with the rest of us and
41:29
Speaker 1: then take a bus back. Disappointed, he walked back to
41:36
Speaker 1: his seat. Were you asleep? I asked him. Yeah. And
41:43
Speaker 1: my sister's waiting for me back there. I was returning
41:49
Speaker 1: to Wisconsin after serving a quarter term As a volunteer
41:53
Speaker 1: teacher in an Indian mission school, this experience had taught
41:56
Speaker 1: me the hard living conditions of Native Americans in the area.
42:00
Speaker 1: The small adobe houses with earth floors, the lack of
42:05
Speaker 1: privacy in those little one- and two-room places. The role
42:09
Speaker 1: played by teenagers was especially hard. There was no room
42:14
Speaker 1: for them at home, yet they were not really ready
42:17
Speaker 1: to go out on their own. All the while, we're
42:21
Speaker 1: nearing Albuquerque, a large, strange city. I thought he must
42:27
Speaker 1: be wondering what he would do after he got there,
42:30
Speaker 1: and I turned and asked him, are you afraid? In
42:37
Speaker 1: a I-hate-to-admit-it sort of way, he shrugged, yeah. Stay with me,
42:45
Speaker 1: I said. I'll help you get back on the right butt.
42:51
Speaker 1: but they'll make me pay again when I come back
42:53
Speaker 1: on another bus and I'll talk to the driver. I
43:03
Speaker 1: said to him later, will you please check with the
43:06
Speaker 1: return driver so he need not pay the return fare? Reluctantly,
43:11
Speaker 1: he agreed. Okay. I came back and said, everything will
43:15
Speaker 1: be all right. You need not worry about anything. Just
43:20
Speaker 1: stay with me. His eyes said, thank you. We rode
43:29
Speaker 1: on possibly 10 more minutes in silence. And then a
43:36
Speaker 1: finger tapped me on my shoulder. I turned to see
43:40
Speaker 1: my young friend leaning toward me in a quiet and
43:44
Speaker 1: reverent voice. He asked, are you a Christian? What you
44:05
Speaker 1: are determines what you see. What you see determines what
44:10
Speaker 1: you do. Are you a Christian? Bow with me, please.
44:25
Speaker 1: I understand. I really do. I live in the same
44:31
Speaker 1: world you live in. I read the same papers. I'm
44:36
Speaker 1: aware of the same risks. I know the same horrendous
44:42
Speaker 1: stories of heartache and heartbreak and even others being hurt
44:50
Speaker 1: while trying to help someone. But does that block every
44:58
Speaker 1: act of kindness? Is there someone you know right now,
45:11
Speaker 1: right now, who could benefit from your helping them out?
45:22
Speaker 1: Why on earth wouldn't you do that? Why on earth?
45:39
Speaker 1: If you find yourself one of those along the side
45:42
Speaker 1: of the road beaten up and forgotten, sort of thrown aside,
45:47
Speaker 1: you made a mess of your life, you hear these
45:52
Speaker 1: things and you think, I would love, I would love
45:57
Speaker 1: to know more about this. But you have to admit
46:02
Speaker 1: there's never really been a time in your life when
46:04
Speaker 1: Jesus and you have met. What on earth are you
46:10
Speaker 1: waiting for? We have a quiet room called a prayer
46:16
Speaker 1: room where you can slip in following our meeting and
46:19
Speaker 1: right down front here to your right, you'll meet people
46:23
Speaker 1: who understand they've been there. You'll never be taken advantage of.
46:32
Speaker 1: You'll be helped. Just like the Samaritan helped the broken man.
46:38
Speaker 1: But if you choose not to do that, right where
46:40
Speaker 1: you're sitting right now, just by a simple invitation, God,
46:46
Speaker 1: I acknowledge I'm a sinner. You and I are distant
46:53
Speaker 1: from each other. But I know Jesus has bridged that
46:58
Speaker 1: distance by his death and resurrection. I take him now.
47:08
Speaker 1: Do that. You'll never regret it. Thank you, Father, for
47:25
Speaker 1: another occasion to search our souls and to allow the
47:31
Speaker 1: Spirit of God to do surgery down where no surgeon's
47:36
Speaker 1: scalpel could ever reach. We're reproved. We're in reality pretty
47:47
Speaker 1: stunned with the realization of how we have lived our
47:51
Speaker 1: own lives. Pretty isolated. Protected. So it'll take courage to
48:01
Speaker 1: pull us off and we ask for that. We ask
48:05
Speaker 1: the scales to be removed so that we really do
48:08
Speaker 1: see and we really do feel and we're willing to risk.
48:19
Speaker 1: For those who've never trusted you and come to know
48:23
Speaker 1: your son, I pray that you would bring them to yourself.
48:31
Speaker 1: Everybody said amen.
48:36
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Legal Tender and Loving Care, was copyrighted
48:40
Speaker 2: in 2007, 2010, and 2025 and the sound recording was
48:45
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights
48:51
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
48:55
Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
49:01
Speaker 2: is grateful to Eternity Magazine and the Alliance of Confessing
49:04
Speaker 2: Evangelicals for permission to quote the article, Are You a Christian?,
49:09
Speaker 2: copyrighted in 1977 by Olga Wetzel.