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

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

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Speaker 1: Never underestimate the value of music.
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Speaker 2: Never. In our evangelical circles, we have made preeminent the
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Speaker 2: spoken word, but tragically we have diminished the value of
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Speaker 2: the sung truth. It's being devalued in our schools. The
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Speaker 2: arts are being passed away for some other budgetary reasons.
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Speaker 2: And the church is one of the places where great
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Speaker 2: music must continue to be. You must continue to be
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Speaker 2: good students of great theology sung from the hymnal. So
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Speaker 2: rather than taking a hymnal from the church today.
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Speaker 1: Buy one.
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Speaker 2: And let the music of your life comfort you When
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Speaker 2: nights are long and days are dark. When the message
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Speaker 2: from the physician is heartbreaking. When information regarding life is
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Speaker 2: tough to hear. Let your soul sing. My sin, oh,
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Speaker 2: the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part,
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Speaker 2: but the whole.
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Speaker 1: Is what? Nailed to the cross. I bear it no more.
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Speaker 1: Praise the Lord, O my soul.
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Speaker 2: Martin Luther believed that the Reformation really was not complete
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Speaker 2: unless there were two books held in our hands, the
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Speaker 2: Bible and the great songs of the faith. And let
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Speaker 2: us never forget the value of both. Well, we have
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Speaker 2: just three verses today from Romans chapter 13. Don't think
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Speaker 2: that means a short sermon.
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Speaker 1: It just means... I.
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Speaker 2: Have a friend here in Texas who said when I
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Speaker 2: spent a little while on just a few verses, you
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Speaker 2: sort of super irrigated that today, Chuck. These verses appear
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Speaker 2: in a context that is of invaluable significance on the
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Speaker 2: whole matter of love. And Paul does not end the
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Speaker 2: thoughts without driving them home in verses 8, 9, and
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Speaker 2: 10 of chapter 13. So out of respect for the
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Speaker 2: word of God, may we stand together for the reading
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Speaker 2: of these verses of scripture. Romans chapter 13 Verses 8, 9,
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Speaker 2: and 10. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.
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Speaker 2: For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
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Speaker 2: For this, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder.
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Speaker 2: You shall not steal. You shall not covet. And if
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Speaker 2: there is any other commandment, it is summed up in
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Speaker 2: the saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love
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Speaker 2: does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the
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Speaker 2: fulfillment of the law.
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Speaker 1: You may be seated.
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Speaker 2: These days, it goes without saying that this church has
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Speaker 2: never placed great emphasis on structures, but.
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Speaker 1: We are on occasion.
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Speaker 2: Very grateful very grateful for a place to meet. This
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Speaker 2: building is being built out of the faithfulness of God's people.
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Speaker 2: And that would be the people who are sitting in
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Speaker 2: this room. It is not the responsibility of our guests
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Speaker 2: to feel any sense of obligation to participate in the offering.
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Speaker 2: If you are our guest today and you've never met
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Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus as your Savior, take this as an
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Speaker 2: opportunity to receive the gift that most of us in
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Speaker 2: this room have received. And that gift has transformed our thinking,
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Speaker 2: our lives, and has turned us from being hateful, hopefully,
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Speaker 2: to being loving people and from being selfish to being
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Speaker 2: generous people. We come today to worship our God and
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Speaker 2: pray that you who do not know him will be
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Speaker 2: drawn to him So our Father, for many, we're able
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Speaker 2: to sing. It is well.
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Speaker 1: It is well with our souls. That's because of your grace.
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Speaker 2: We've made a mess of our lives, but you're the
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Speaker 2: master at cleaning up those messes. We have spent more
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Speaker 2: days selfish than we have spent unselfish. We have been
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Speaker 2: more often argumentative than we have been cooperative. We are
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Speaker 2: far more often concerned about what we are going to
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Speaker 2: get out of something rather than what other people may
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Speaker 2: benefit from it.
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Speaker 1: Forgive us.
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Speaker 2: And may we learn today again this simple four-letter word
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Speaker 2: and its significance as it works its way out in
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Speaker 2: how we think.
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Speaker 1: How we respond, how we live.
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Speaker 3: And how we give.
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Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus. We pray and we give.
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Speaker 1: Everybody sit.
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Speaker 2: Amen. Nothing is more attractive than love. And nothing is
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Speaker 2: more unattractive and repulsive than the absence of it. Yesterday,
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Speaker 2: we had an opportunity to see both placed in juxtaposition.
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Speaker 2: The room today we find filled with worshipers. Yesterday, it
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Speaker 2: was filled with mourners as we buried a fallen hero.
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Speaker 2: A second lieutenant in the United States Army who had
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Speaker 2: died a hero's death after less than two months in
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Speaker 2: battle in Iraq. leaving a family of mom and dad
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Speaker 2: and brothers and sisters and a heartbroken fiance. Large picture
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Speaker 2: of this fine man stood on an easel right here
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Speaker 2: on this platform.
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Speaker 1: And people gathered from all over.
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Speaker 2: Being a local football player in his growing up years,
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Speaker 2: there were former teammates and coaches.
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Speaker 1: Who had come to mourn.
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Speaker 2: And what a marvelous occasion to reflect on his years
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Speaker 2: at Texas A & M and finally a commission in
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Speaker 2: the Army and cut down by an insurgent assault. And
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Speaker 2: we heard from one of his coaches who brought a
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Speaker 2: eulogy of love for this man and his love for others.
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Speaker 2: Describing him as a fine athlete who played defensive end,
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Speaker 2: in fact, covered the fumble of the opposing team as
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Speaker 2: a winning team were able to make it in for
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Speaker 2: the final winning touchdown and they won the championship. He
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Speaker 2: said it was so like him, said the coach, doing
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Speaker 2: Something that would help others succeed. At the same time,
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Speaker 2: out on the corner, there were protesters carrying ugly signs
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Speaker 2: that said, God hates America. God loves 9-11. And other
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Speaker 2: signs too repulsive for me to repeat.
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Speaker 1: Right out there.
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Speaker 2: I deliberately drove right in front of them to be
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Speaker 2: sure I could look into their faces and read their signs. Thankfully,
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Speaker 2: the family was protected from that awful scene by being
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Speaker 2: rerouted into the church and surrounded by freedom riders with
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Speaker 2: their big flags and all of them veterans riding their
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Speaker 2: Harleys and encircling the family with their love.
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Speaker 1: As opposed to the hate-filled rhetoric on the corner.
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Speaker 2: I thought as I drove home how ironic in this
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Speaker 2: cold rain this afternoon, the very freedom the.
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Speaker 1: Man died to.
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Speaker 2: Protect allows them the freedom to protest. But how drawn
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Speaker 2: I was to this family in their mourning and love
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Speaker 2: for this fallen hero who earned a Purple Heart, an
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Speaker 2: Iraqi Medal, as well as a Bronze Star, having died
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Speaker 2: a hero's death. You know, friends, whatever else I have
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Speaker 2: to say, love never goes out of style.
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Speaker 1: Love is never inappropriate. The absence of love always is.
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Speaker 2: I'm not surprised then that the apostle, in writing this
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Speaker 2: grand letter filled with doctrine, would cry, Keep unpacking the
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Speaker 2: same message again and again so that we could see
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Speaker 2: all facets of it as you would look at various
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Speaker 2: facets of an enormous diamond sitting on black velvet. Because he,
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Speaker 2: being a realist, knows that ours is a world filled
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Speaker 2: with sin.
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Speaker 1: You cannot escape it.
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Speaker 2: For whatever it's worth, we took our trip to Australia.
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Speaker 1: And there's sin there. I mean, even in the land
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Speaker 1: down under. The news sounds just like news in the States,
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Speaker 1: except with an accent.
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Speaker 2: I mean, there's murder and there's violence and there are
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Speaker 2: kidnaps and there is abuse and there is terror and
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Speaker 2: there is robbery and there is dishonesty and there is
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Speaker 2: personal misery and there's political mudslinging.
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Speaker 1: It's all over down there.
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Speaker 2: It's all over.
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Speaker 1: You can't get away from it.
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Speaker 2: I tried to escape one night and I clicked onto
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Speaker 2: a sports channel.
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Speaker 1: Crickets. Cricket.
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Speaker 2: It's like baseball on Vicodin. The longer you watch it,
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Speaker 2: the less you understand it. It's like watching paint dry.
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Speaker 1: Cricket.
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Speaker 2: And they play it for days. There's sin everywhere, friends.
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Speaker 2: I can't wait to get mail back from Australia in
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Speaker 2: this message. You move to Wyoming, live on a ranch,
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Speaker 2: you'll get a sinful neighbor who will.
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Speaker 1: Make your life miserable.
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Speaker 2: You go to Hawaii, you'll have a sinful person in
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Speaker 2: the hotel room next door who will make your nights miserable. Furthermore,
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Speaker 2: you carry a sinful person into the room when you
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Speaker 2: walk in.
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Speaker 1: It's everywhere.
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Speaker 2: It's everywhere, as one theologian put it, if depravity were blue,
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Speaker 2: we'd be blue all over.
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Speaker 1: So Paul writes to blue people.
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Speaker 2: And he says to us in this context, this is
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Speaker 2: how to live the Christian life. That's the general context
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Speaker 2: of this passage of scripture.
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Speaker 1: Here's how to live the Christian life. The specific concept
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Speaker 1: context is blue. This is how to be a good citizen.
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Speaker 2: So the general context is in verses 9 through 21
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Speaker 2: of chapter 2. The specific context is in chapter 13,
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Speaker 2: verses 1 through 7.
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Speaker 1: I should have said chapter 12.
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Speaker 2: 12, 9 to 21 is the general context, how to
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Speaker 2: live the Christian life. And then 13, 1 to 7
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Speaker 2: is how to be a good citizen. while on that
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Speaker 2: subject he doesn't leave the matter of love. He begins
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Speaker 2: in a way that would surprise you, and some have
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Speaker 2: been surprised and even led astray by taking only the
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Speaker 2: first four words and teaching that there should never be debt.
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Speaker 2: Owe no one anything. But the verse is filled with
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Speaker 2: many other words. It begins, owe nothing to anyone, and
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Speaker 2: you could think, well, that means we should never borrow money.
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Speaker 2: It would be wonderful if we never had to. It
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Speaker 2: would be magnificent if we could live debt-free, and some do,
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Speaker 2: and everyone applauds that. People ask, is the church in debt? Yes,
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Speaker 2: it's a debt we can manage, but yes, well, why
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Speaker 2: are we in debt? Well, we prefer not to meet
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Speaker 2: in the rain. It was just helpful.
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Speaker 1: To have a roof over our head.
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Speaker 2: And I think you'd agree we didn't splurge. And we're
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Speaker 2: here with a debt.
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Speaker 1: Will there be debt in the new building? There will
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Speaker 1: be debt.
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Speaker 2: But I thought the scripture says, owe no man anything.
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Speaker 2: But do you know what the rest of the verse says?
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Speaker 2: You say, well, before I look at the rest of
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Speaker 2: the verse, I want to know what that means.
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Speaker 1: And I don't blame you.
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Speaker 2: First of all, the verb is in the present tense,
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Speaker 2: meaning keep on owing. So the idea is don't keep.
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Speaker 1: On owing on the same debt. Pay it off.
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Speaker 2: Let no debt remain outstanding. You borrowed money to buy
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Speaker 2: a car?
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Speaker 1: Pay the debt off.
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Speaker 2: Don't get another debt on top of that debt on
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Speaker 2: top of another debt.
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Speaker 1: If you have a credit card, pay the credit card off.
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Speaker 1: Don't keep stacking credit on top of credit. Pay off
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Speaker 1: the loan. You buying a home? Pay it off.
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Speaker 2: At chunks, over time, over the years, you finally get
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Speaker 2: it paid off. And so he says, owe no one anything,
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Speaker 2: meaning don't let your debt remain outstanding. No one has
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Speaker 2: been more conservative in his writings than Martin Lloyd-Jones, so
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Speaker 2: he certainly wouldn't take liberty with what we just read.
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Speaker 2: In his work on Romans, he writes, there's no need
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Speaker 2: to waste any time over this. This verse cannot mean
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Speaker 2: that because we are instructed elsewhere, cannot mean that because
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Speaker 2: we are instructed elsewhere in Scripture to give loans. In
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Speaker 2: the Old Testament, as well as in the New, the
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Speaker 2: question of usury is taken up, also the question of
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Speaker 2: paying interest on borrowed money, and they are not prohibited.
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Speaker 2: A legal loan correctly arranged is all right, as long
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Speaker 2: as you observe the terms of the agreement.
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Speaker 1: It is wrong not to repay as soon as possible.
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Speaker 2: Anything you have borrowed. That's the point of the first
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Speaker 2: four words. But now that you have listened to that
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Speaker 2: explanation on loans, understand what he's really teaching.
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Speaker 1: Keep reading.
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Speaker 2: When you do serious study of the scriptures, guard against
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Speaker 2: partial verses and forming convictions out of a few words.
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Speaker 2: Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. That's
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Speaker 2: the debt you stay permanently involved in paying off. Owe
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Speaker 2: no one anything except to love one another.
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Speaker 1: Keep reading.
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Speaker 2: For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
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Speaker 2: This is the debt you never stop paying. Let me
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Speaker 2: have a parallel here to give you an example. Hold
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Speaker 2: your place and look at Romans chapter 1. You'll remember
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Speaker 2: when we were there several months ago, or was it
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Speaker 2: years ago, when Romans 1, verse 14, notice what he
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Speaker 2: says about being in debt.
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Speaker 1: He says, I'm in debt.
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Speaker 2: In fact, the same Greek word rendered, oh, nothing, verse
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Speaker 2: 8 of chapter 13, is the identical Greek word as
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Speaker 2: translated under obligation in verse 14 of chapter 1.
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Speaker 1: Same term, so it's the same meaning. I am in debt,
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Speaker 1: both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the
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Speaker 1: wise and to the foolish. Meaning what?
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Speaker 2: I am in debt to give them the good news.
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Speaker 2: That's why he says in the next verse, so for
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Speaker 2: my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to
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Speaker 2: you also who are in Rome. For I'm not ashamed
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Speaker 2: of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation
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Speaker 2: to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also
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Speaker 2: to the Greek.
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Speaker 1: Look at his I am's. I am in debt.
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Speaker 2: Verse 14. I am eager to preach the gospel.
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Speaker 1: Verse 15. I am not ashamed.
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Speaker 2: Verse 60, there's your devotional for next week when you
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Speaker 2: have to bring your talk.
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Speaker 1: There it is.
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Speaker 2: You can act like you found it on your own.
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Speaker 2: I am's of Paul right there. But the one that
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Speaker 2: interests us today is I am under obligation. Let's see
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Speaker 2: if I can illustrate it. Let's imagine that you, though
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Speaker 2: young in life, suffer from a terrible dread disease. that
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Speaker 2: is affecting your joints, your muscles. It's a lot like arthritis.
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Speaker 2: Perhaps it's even worse than that. It keeps you awake
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Speaker 2: at night. Before long, they are no longer supple. You
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Speaker 2: can't move them without pain. You find you can't move
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Speaker 2: around as you once could, playing tennis or playing catch
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Speaker 2: or playing a little pickup game of basketball.
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Speaker 1: You can't move about. And the pain is horrendous.
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Speaker 2: You try the massage therapy and you try spas and
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Speaker 2: you go to one physician after another.
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Speaker 1: And in the process, you find out there's no cure
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Speaker 1: for this ailment. Then you have.
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Speaker 2: Someone tell you almost by chance, there is this physician
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Speaker 2: who lives in another country who practices good medicine and
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Speaker 2: has come up with a formula that he can prescribe
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Speaker 2: that if you take it, you'll be free of pain.
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Speaker 2: You don't ignore that. As soon as you're able to
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Speaker 2: afford it, you take that trip and you go to
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Speaker 2: that physician. And he listens to you and you describe
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Speaker 2: your situation and you realize, he realizes.
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Speaker 1: That you've got exactly what he's able to help.
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Speaker 2: And he writes that prescription. You take that prescription and
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Speaker 2: you have it filled. You begin to take that medicine.
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Speaker 2: Three or four mornings later, you're noticing an absence of pain.
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Speaker 2: Less and less pain and another week passes and you're
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Speaker 2: sleeping through the night. And in less than two weeks,
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Speaker 2: you're free of pain. Let's say in the next month
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Speaker 2: you come across someone you've never met who is obviously
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Speaker 2: in pain. And you could tell by looking they're going
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Speaker 2: through the very same thing that you were going through.
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Speaker 2: And you have the name of the physician right here
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Speaker 2: near your heart. You are under obligation to give that
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Speaker 2: name to this suffering friend, right?
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Speaker 1: You're in debt. To everyone you meet who is in
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Speaker 1: this kind of pain, you dare not keep this to yourself.
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Speaker 1: This is hope. Now you know where I'm going.
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Speaker 2: Many of you lived many years without Christ and you
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Speaker 2: knew what it was to go through sleepless nights and
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Speaker 2: anxious moments and the misery of guilt and doing wrong
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Speaker 2: and not being able to quote, straighten up your life.
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Speaker 2: And there was a sense of hopelessness and despair and
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Speaker 2: education didn't help and travel didn't remove it and you
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Speaker 2: couldn't escape it until someone cared enough about you to
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Speaker 2: pay their debt. And they told you of the Savior,
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Speaker 2: the name of the one who could change your life.
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Speaker 2: And now you carry that name right in your heart.
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Speaker 2: In that sense, verse 8 is saying in chapter 13, Oh,
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Speaker 2: nothing to anyone except there is a debt you do
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Speaker 2: owe and you will owe it the rest of your life.
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Speaker 2: And that is to love one another. He who loves
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Speaker 2: his neighbor has fulfilled the law. Interesting change in terms.
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Speaker 2: I have to take the time to say this, even
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Speaker 2: though it may sound a little pedantic. See the word
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Speaker 2: another in verse eight, love one another. And see the
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Speaker 2: word neighbor a little later on? It doesn't really read
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Speaker 2: in the original neighbor. It reads another, except it's another
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Speaker 2: of a different kind. The first is another like you,
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Speaker 2: and the other is someone very different from you. Different
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Speaker 2: in beliefs and theology, different in personality, different in politics,
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Speaker 2: different in mannerisms, different in taste and color and values
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Speaker 2: and past history. All of that different makes no difference.
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Speaker 2: The love is to be shown.
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Speaker 1: You're still in debt.
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Speaker 2: Don't let any of the barriers that would normally hold
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Speaker 2: you back from extending a life of love to that
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Speaker 2: other individual hold you back from doing it.
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Speaker 1: You're in debt to them. And it's a perpetual debt
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Speaker 1: that goes on and on.
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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I love the way it continues.
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Speaker 2: When you do that, you actually fulfill the law. What's
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Speaker 2: the purpose of the law? To make us like God.
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Speaker 2: But it has no power to do it. Until Christ
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Speaker 2: comes into the life. And as Christ comes into the
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Speaker 2: life and we live out the life of Christ, which
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Speaker 2: is a life of love, it.
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Speaker 1: Is amazing. It is amazing the difference it makes.
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Speaker 2: And as I said at the beginning, nothing is more
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Speaker 2: attractive than being around someone who loves us unconditionally. And
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Speaker 2: yet discerning enough to express that love in a way.
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Speaker 1: At times it's tough. Honest.
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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it goes on to say,
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Speaker 2: as you fulfill the law, you shall.
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Speaker 1: Not commit adultery.
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Speaker 2: May I make the statement, delicate though it is, don't
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Speaker 2: let anyone who is attempting to lure you into adultery
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Speaker 2: convince you.
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Speaker 1: That it's love.
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Speaker 2: Love doesn't prompt adultery. Love, verse 10, does no wrong.
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Speaker 2: Adultery is obviously wrong. But when you love, you don't
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Speaker 2: commit adultery. It wasn't love that David had for Bathsheba.
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Speaker 2: He didn't love Uriah, her husband.
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Speaker 1: When he lured Bathsheba into his home, into his palace.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't love.
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Speaker 2: Though I'm sure he used words that were very affectionate
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Speaker 2: in the process of lust. And you shall not murder.
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Speaker 2: Never convince yourself that you take someone's life.
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Speaker 1: Out of love.
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Speaker 2: It's impossible.
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Speaker 1: It's impossible.
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Speaker 2: Or stealing, taking something that isn't yours. You never do
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Speaker 2: it because you love them. Or coveting what they have
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Speaker 2: or who they are or some title they possess or
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Speaker 2: whatever may be that point of covetousness doesn't come from love.
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Speaker 2: Love seeks the highest good of the other person. You
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Speaker 2: know what it does? Well, I'll tell you what it
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Speaker 2: doesn't do. Verse 10, it does no wrong to a neighbor.
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Speaker 2: Let's face it, folks, we live in a cold, heartless,
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Speaker 2: uncaring world. It is a world that is going its
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Speaker 2: own way and won't stop to help you as you
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Speaker 2: struggle in your way.
26:12
Speaker 1: I thought of it when I read this article from.
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Speaker 2: The Chicago Tribune titled, He Started Cutting, Nobody Stopped. It's
26:24
Speaker 2: a story of Mary Hannigan. Mary was assaulted on Chicago's
26:28
Speaker 2: Kennedy Expressway when a man purposely rammed her, then attacked
26:33
Speaker 2: her with a knife in her own car.
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Speaker 1: When she stopped to check the damage.
26:38
Speaker 2: As the struggle for her life, as she struggled for
26:41
Speaker 2: her life, no one stopped to help. When she managed
26:44
Speaker 2: to move her car forward so it blocked an exit ramp,
26:48
Speaker 2: one car even drove around her without stopping while she
26:53
Speaker 2: was being brutally attacked. Fortunately, her assailant fell from the
26:57
Speaker 2: car when she was able to push on the accelerator again,
27:01
Speaker 2: and she escaped. In the hospital, after a plastic surgeon
27:05
Speaker 2: had worked six hours on her face, leaving 100 stitches,
27:11
Speaker 2: her husband said, That's what I can't believe.
27:16
Speaker 1: It's as if people went.
27:17
Speaker 2: Out of the way not to help her. Sergeant James
27:23
Speaker 2: Marble commented, the only ones who would have helped her
27:26
Speaker 2: would have been police officers driving by. People just don't
27:31
Speaker 2: help other people, unfortunately. Now, I make a study of
27:41
Speaker 2: your faces, and I can see all kinds of things
27:47
Speaker 2: going on in your mind. Some of you are thinking, well,
27:51
Speaker 2: I mean, my life could be in danger. Others, if
27:55
Speaker 2: you were saying it's really a risk to get, I understand.
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Speaker 1: Every time I drive by someone in need, that's my thinking.
28:05
Speaker 1: So like you, I too do that.
28:09
Speaker 2: Not always thankfully, but more often than I'm proud to admit. I, um,
28:18
Speaker 2: I would like to urge all of us to stop
28:20
Speaker 2: and think about the last time we helped someone we
28:23
Speaker 2: 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.
28:40
Speaker 2: I will tell you this now that you and I
28:43
Speaker 2: are both struggling with the guilt of that statement. Um,
28:47
Speaker 2: We will never have trouble talking with them about Jesus
28:50
Speaker 2: after the fact. You help Mary Hannigan in her car
28:55
Speaker 2: and get her to a hospital and rescue her from
28:58
Speaker 2: the assailant. And I will tell you, Mary Hannigan wants
29:01
Speaker 2: to know everything she can about you and your life.
29:05
Speaker 2: And she can't say thank you enough. You don't have
29:08
Speaker 2: to fight for an opportunity to witness. She will beg
29:11
Speaker 2: to know, how come you stop? What is it that
29:15
Speaker 2: made you different from all the other drivers? Why didn't
29:21
Speaker 2: you just pass by like everybody else? I said earlier
29:29
Speaker 2: the problem is universal, so it's everywhere.
29:34
Speaker 1: And by the way, it's timeless. It happens in every generation.
29:38
Speaker 2: Let me show you an example in the Bible. Turn
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Speaker 2: to Luke 10. Please, just turn back. Luke chapter 10.
29:51
Speaker 1: Love this story.
29:52
Speaker 2: I must have told it dozens of times in my ministry,
29:55
Speaker 2: and every time I do, something new sort of pops up.
29:59
Speaker 1: That happened this time as well.
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Speaker 2: Verse 25 down through verse 37 contains the story of
30:07
Speaker 2: the good Samaritan. Don't you love the story of the
30:10
Speaker 2: good Samaritan?
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Speaker 1: Just great. What you don't understand is Samaritans.
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Speaker 2: Were hated people, hated people. There was no prejudice like
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Speaker 2: the prejudice a Jew had.
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Speaker 1: For a Samaritan.
30:26
Speaker 2: Samaria is right here in the middle. Judea is down here.
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Speaker 2: Galilee is up here. In order for a Galilean to
30:34
Speaker 2: come to Judea, he would go around Samaria so as
30:38
Speaker 2: not even to get the dust of Samaritan soil on
30:41
Speaker 2: his sandals. That's like going from Kansas to Texas around Oklahoma.
30:49
Speaker 2: I gave that illustration one time, and I had a
30:51
Speaker 2: couple of three big Oklahoma Sooner former football players walk up,
30:56
Speaker 2: and one of them spoke for the group, saying, hey, Chuck,
31:01
Speaker 2: we just.
31:02
Speaker 1: Want you to know there ain't no Samaritans in Oklahoma.
31:07
Speaker 2: Please, bear with me. But the story really, really doesn't
31:15
Speaker 2: begin with a Samaritan. It begins with an attorney. who
31:19
Speaker 2: is in a crowd getting Jesus' attention.
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Speaker 1: Verse 25. There's a lawyer who stands up.
31:29
Speaker 2: Apparently most were sitting down. And he put Jesus to
31:34
Speaker 2: the test saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
31:38
Speaker 2: eternal life? I read about the law. I hear about righteousness.
31:43
Speaker 2: I've listened to your message. What do I have to
31:45
Speaker 2: do to prove that I'm a part of the family
31:48
Speaker 2: of God? What's involved in that? Jesus says, what is
31:53
Speaker 2: written in the law? How does it read to you?
31:55
Speaker 1: What you may not remember is.
31:57
Speaker 2: That lawyers wore phylacteries on their wrists. Little leather pouches
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Speaker 2: that were strapped to their wrists and often on their forehead.
32:06
Speaker 2: And in these little pouches were Handwritten in Hebrew, of course,
32:10
Speaker 2: the law of God.
32:13
Speaker 1: Various verses from the law of God.
32:16
Speaker 2: Perhaps while his hand is in the air, Jesus sees
32:19
Speaker 2: the phylactery and says, what's written in the law? So
32:23
Speaker 2: the attorney answers from memory. He knows what's in there.
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Speaker 2: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
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Speaker 2: with all your soul, with all your strength, and with.
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Speaker 1: All your mind. And your neighbor is yourself. That's what
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Speaker 1: it says.
32:39
Speaker 2: Jesus' answer, you have answered correctly. Do this, you will live.
32:46
Speaker 2: Here in Texas, we would say, you got.
32:48
Speaker 1: It, now get at it.
32:51
Speaker 2: Problem is, the ball is now served back into the
32:54
Speaker 2: lawyer's court. Lawyers don't like balls served into their court.
32:57
Speaker 2: They like serving them. And so he turns it into
33:00
Speaker 2: another question, but this time to put Jesus, well, actually
33:05
Speaker 2: to justify himself. This is what we do when we
33:08
Speaker 2: don't want to face our own guilt. We rationalize, it's
33:12
Speaker 2: called here, wishing to justify himself. Verse 29, he said
33:18
Speaker 2: to Jesus, and.
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Speaker 1: Like, who's my neighbor? Is that like a lawyer or what?
33:28
Speaker 2: I mean, we got a big picture issue, and he's
33:31
Speaker 2: now picking at terms.
33:33
Speaker 1: Like, I mean, next door? What if he's three doors down?
33:38
Speaker 1: Or what if he lives in Starwood? Or, you know, Plano?
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Speaker 1: Is that my neighbor?
33:46
Speaker 2: Or what if he's way downtown Dallas? Is he still
33:52
Speaker 2: my neighbor?
33:56
Speaker 1: I'm always amazed at Jesus' patience. I think he was
34:03
Speaker 1: never tempted. So if I'd been there, which is a
34:05
Speaker 1: tragic thought, my being in Jesus' place. First thought was, duh.
34:11
Speaker 2: But he gives them a story. Now we're back to
34:15
Speaker 2: the Samaritan. Remember the question. Who is my neighbor?
34:22
Speaker 1: Which, by the way, he never answers.
34:26
Speaker 2: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
34:29
Speaker 2: fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him
34:31
Speaker 2: and went away leaving him half dead.
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Speaker 1: By chance, a.
34:35
Speaker 2: Priest was going down on that road and when he
34:37
Speaker 2: saw him He passed by on the other side. Likewise,
34:42
Speaker 2: a Levite also, when he came to the place and
34:44
Speaker 2: saw him, passed by on the other side.
34:46
Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with their eyes. They both saw the same thing.
34:50
Speaker 1: Neither stopped. But a Samaritan. The S word. Ears perk up.
35:03
Speaker 1: The attorney is now all ear. A Samaritan who was
35:11
Speaker 1: on a journey didn't even live there. He couldn't.
35:13
Speaker 2: It was between Jerusalem and Jericho. A Samaritan who was
35:19
Speaker 2: on a journey came upon him.
35:20
Speaker 1: So they're strangers. And when he saw him, he felt compassion.
35:24
Speaker 1: He saw the same thing the priest and Levite had seen,
35:28
Speaker 1: but he felt something different. It's called love.
35:36
Speaker 2: He felt compassion, and he came to him and bandaged
35:38
Speaker 2: up his wounds, and he poured in wine and oil,
35:41
Speaker 2: and he put him on his own beast, and he
35:43
Speaker 2: brought him to an inn, and he took care of him.
35:45
Speaker 2: And on the next day, he took out two denarii,
35:48
Speaker 2: which is a pretty good amount of dough, and gave
35:50
Speaker 2: them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him
35:53
Speaker 2: whatever more you spend, not if, but when I return,
35:56
Speaker 2: I will repay you. This is a magnificent story. When
36:01
Speaker 2: I come back, I'm going to come back and check.
36:04
Speaker 2: When I do, if there's more I owe on the
36:05
Speaker 2: hotel bill, let me know and.
36:07
Speaker 1: I'll pay that too.
36:09
Speaker 2: End of story, but not end of lesson.
36:13
Speaker 1: If you carry a red letter Bible, you notice the
36:15
Speaker 1: red runs on to the next verse. Jesus still speaking
36:22
Speaker 1: to the lawyer.
36:23
Speaker 2: Which of the three do you think proved to be
36:28
Speaker 2: a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hand?
36:35
Speaker 1: Genius, isn't it? He didn't answer, who is my neighbor?
36:40
Speaker 1: He answered, who is my neighbor's neighbor?
36:45
Speaker 2: Got it? Which one proved to be a neighbor? And
36:54
Speaker 2: the attorney, perhaps with a sigh, answers, the one who
36:59
Speaker 2: showed mercy toward him. Jesus said, you got it.
37:06
Speaker 1: Now get at it. I'll tell you something. Even though
37:17
Speaker 1: he may have been a Jew.
37:18
Speaker 2: Who had been attacked, assaulted, and left to die, when
37:24
Speaker 2: he woke up in that hotel room with his wounds bandaged,
37:30
Speaker 2: with medication on them, with a bed to stay in
37:35
Speaker 2: and a roof over his head, perhaps not even remembering
37:40
Speaker 2: how he.
37:40
Speaker 1: Got there, his first question would be.
37:44
Speaker 2: Who.
37:46
Speaker 1: Did this?
37:48
Speaker 2: And when the Samaritan shows up again, I can assure you,
37:54
Speaker 2: perhaps the first time in his entire life that Jew
37:57
Speaker 2: 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.
38:18
Speaker 2: Determines what you see. And what you see determines what
38:25
Speaker 2: you do.
38:37
Speaker 1: Are you a Christian? If that's what you are, you
38:48
Speaker 1: will see a.
38:50
Speaker 2: Number of occasions in life, none of which will occur at.
38:55
Speaker 1: A convenient time or in a very secure setting. There
39:04
Speaker 1: will be risk. There will be threat. There will be uncertainty.
39:08
Speaker 1: There will be chance. There will be the unknown.
39:17
Speaker 2: But what you are will determine what you see, and
39:21
Speaker 2: what you see will determine what you do. The only
39:31
Speaker 2: continuing debt that honors the Lord.
39:37
Speaker 1: Is loving others.
39:43
Speaker 2: Which means finding ways to show it. I say one
39:48
Speaker 2: more time When you do, they will know you belong
39:58
Speaker 2: to someone.
40:01
Speaker 1: Else that they've never met.
40:08
Speaker 2: The Greyhound bus had slowed and then stopped. It was
40:12
Speaker 2: just a wayside stop with a garage and a small store.
40:17
Speaker 2: A young Native American stepped aboard and after he had
40:21
Speaker 2: paid his fare, He sat down behind me.
40:25
Speaker 1: It was February.
40:28
Speaker 2: We were traveling from Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
40:33
Speaker 1: The night was cold.
40:35
Speaker 2: In the warm bus, the tired youth was soon asleep.
40:41
Speaker 2: But after a while, he got up and walked to
40:44
Speaker 2: the front of the bus to ask if we were
40:46
Speaker 2: near his destination. We passed there a long time ago,
40:51
Speaker 2: the bus driver snapped. Acknowledging he had known the boy
40:56
Speaker 2: was riding beyond his stop, he asked angrily, why didn't
41:00
Speaker 2: you get off? The quiet passenger's shoulders drooped. He turned,
41:08
Speaker 2: came back to his seat, barely had sat down when
41:11
Speaker 2: he rose up again and went back.
41:12
Speaker 1: To the driver.
41:14
Speaker 2: Would you stop and let me off, he asked. I'll
41:17
Speaker 2: walk back.
41:17
Speaker 1: No, no, it's far enough. It's too far and too cold.
41:24
Speaker 1: You'd freeze to death.
41:27
Speaker 2: You have to go to Albuquerque with the rest of
41:29
Speaker 2: us and then take a bus back. Disappointed, he walked
41:35
Speaker 2: back to his seat. Were you asleep?
41:40
Speaker 1: I asked him. Yeah.
41:43
Speaker 2: And my sister's waiting for me back there. I was
41:48
Speaker 2: returning to Wisconsin after serving a quarter term As a
41:52
Speaker 2: volunteer teacher in an Indian mission school, this experience had
41:56
Speaker 2: taught me the hard living conditions of Native Americans in
42:00
Speaker 2: the area. The small adobe houses with earth floors, the
42:05
Speaker 2: lack of privacy in those little one and two room places.
42:09
Speaker 2: The role played by teenagers was especially hard. There was
42:14
Speaker 2: no room for them at home, yet they were not
42:16
Speaker 2: really ready to go out on their own. All the while,
42:21
Speaker 2: we're nearing Albuquerque, a large, strange city. I thought he
42:26
Speaker 2: must be wondering what he would do after he got there,
42:30
Speaker 2: and I turned and asked him, Are you afraid? In
42:36
Speaker 2: a I-hate-to-admit-it sort of way, he shrugged, Yeah. Stay with me,
42:45
Speaker 2: I said. I'll help you get back on the right butt.
42:51
Speaker 2: but they'll make me pay again when I come back
42:53
Speaker 2: on another bus and I don't, I'll talk to the driver.
43:03
Speaker 2: I said to him later, will you please check with
43:05
Speaker 2: the return driver so he need not pay the return fare?
43:10
Speaker 1: Reluctantly, he agreed. Okay.
43:14
Speaker 2: I came back and said, everything will be all right.
43:17
Speaker 2: You need not worry about anything.
43:19
Speaker 1: Just stay with me.
43:23
Speaker 2: His eyes said, thank you. We rode on possibly 10
43:30
Speaker 2: more minutes in silence. And then a finger tapped me
43:37
Speaker 2: on my shoulder. I turned to see my young friend
43:42
Speaker 2: leaning toward me in a quiet and reverent voice. He asked,
43:50
Speaker 2: are you a Christian? What you are determines what you see.
44:07
Speaker 2: What you see determines what you do. Are you a Christian?
44:19
Speaker 1: Bow with me, please. I understand. I really do.
44:30
Speaker 2: I live in the same world you live in. I
44:34
Speaker 2: read the same papers. I'm aware of the same risks.
44:40
Speaker 2: I know the same horrendous stories of heartache and heartbreak
44:46
Speaker 2: and even others being hurt while trying to help someone.
44:56
Speaker 2: But does that block every act of kindness? Is there
45:07
Speaker 2: someone you know right now, right now, who could benefit
45:15
Speaker 2: from your helping them out?
45:22
Speaker 1: Why on earth wouldn't you do that? Why on earth?
45:39
Speaker 2: If you find yourself one of those along the side
45:42
Speaker 2: of the road beaten up and forgotten, sort of thrown aside,
45:47
Speaker 2: you made a mess of your life, you hear these
45:52
Speaker 2: things and you think, I would love, I would love
45:57
Speaker 2: to know more about this. But you have to admit
46:02
Speaker 2: there's never really been a time in your life when
46:04
Speaker 2: Jesus and you have met. What on earth are you
46:10
Speaker 2: waiting for? We have a quiet room called a prayer
46:16
Speaker 2: room where you can slip in following our meeting and
46:19
Speaker 2: right down front here to your right, you'll meet people
46:23
Speaker 2: 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 2: But if you choose not to do that, right where
46:40
Speaker 2: you're sitting right now, just by a simple invitation, God,
46:46
Speaker 2: I acknowledge I'm a sinner.
46:52
Speaker 1: You and I are distant from each other. But I know.
46:56
Speaker 2: Jesus has bridged that distance.
47:00
Speaker 1: By his death and resurrection. I take him now. Do that.
47:11
Speaker 1: You'll never regret it.
47:24
Speaker 2: Thank you, Father, for another occasion to search our souls
47:31
Speaker 2: and to allow the Spirit of God to do surgery
47:35
Speaker 2: down where no surgeon's scalpel could ever reach. We're reproved.
47:44
Speaker 2: We're in reality pretty stunned with the realization of how
47:50
Speaker 2: we have lived our own lives.
47:54
Speaker 1: Pretty isolated. Protected.
47:59
Speaker 2: So it'll take courage to pull us off and we
48:02
Speaker 2: ask for that. We ask the scales to be removed
48:07
Speaker 2: so that we really do see and we really do
48:11
Speaker 2: feel And we're willing to risk. And for those who've
48:20
Speaker 2: never trusted.
48:21
Speaker 1: You and.
48:23
Speaker 2: Come to know your son, I pray that you would
48:28
Speaker 2: bring them to yourself. Everybody said, Amen.
48:36
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Legal Tender and Loving Care, was copyrighted
48:40
Speaker 3: in 2007, 2010, and 2025 and the sound recording was
48:45
Speaker 3: copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights
48:51
Speaker 3: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
48:55
Speaker 3: is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
49:01
Speaker 3: is grateful to Eternity Magazine and the Alliance of Confessing
49:04
Speaker 3: Evangelicals for permission to quote the article, Are You a Christian?,