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Man, Luke chapter number 10, I'm not going to have time to preach through this whole chapter tonight. It's been kind of a challenge in the book of Luke just because the chapters are pretty long and there are so many different things that are brought up in each chapter. So I'm going to choose to focus on the latter half of Luke chapter 10 this time, simply because if I start at the beginning, I know I'm not going to get there. And a lot of the things that are toward the beginning of this chapter are pretty similar to things that I talked about last week or in other sermons recently. So I'd rather focus on the latter half. So we're going to start actually in chapter 10, verse number 23, where the Bible reads, And he turned him unto his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. Then right after that it says, Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Now I'm going to get into that in a moment, but what I want to point out is, again, that this is a time in Christ's ministry where he's not speaking openly to the multitudes. He's not speaking the word of God to them explicitly, but he's speaking to them in parables and dark sayings. And then privately to his disciples, he makes things really clear to them. That's why he privately takes them aside and says, Blessed are your eyes that see. Many people wish they could see and hear the things that you see and hear. Now there are parallel passages in Matthew and Mark where these same statements are made about blessed are your eyes, for they see these verbatim comments. And the context is when the disciples came to him and asked him, Why do you speak to them in parables? Why are you speaking to the multitude in parables, but you speak clearly to us? And then he explains that seeing they might see not and that hearing they might hear not and that they would not perceive and not understand. He said that their heart is waxed, gross and dull of hearing. And he basically is giving them a very cryptic message. He's not being clear with them, but he's really clear with his disciples. Now go back if you would to Chapter 9 and let me just review one thing quickly from Chapter 9 as well to set the stage for this, what we're reading in Luke Chapter 10. Look at Chapter 9, verse 18, and it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him and he asked them saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist. But some say, Elias, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he straightly charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day. So even the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, even the fact that he is the Christ of God, that he's the Messiah, even the fact that he's going to die and be buried and rise again is something that they're not supposed to openly talk about right then. He says to them at the end of verse number 21 there, to tell no man that thing. So again, that puts it in context here that at this time in Christ's ministry, he's not openly revealing himself to the world. He's not making the gospel clear as far as how to be saved and the fact that he's going to die for them and be buried and rise again because he doesn't want to interfere with the plan where he's going to be rejected and killed and crucified. So the reason he doesn't want them to tell anybody is because the Son of Man needs to suffer these things and be rejected and be crucified and rise again three days later. And so he had a certain plan and a certain program to accomplish that. So you got to keep that in mind in Luke Chapter 10, that when Jesus is talking to his disciples, he's very clear, very plain with them, but that when he talks to the multitude, he often answers them in a tricky way, a cryptic way, a dark way, or in a parable. Now especially when they're coming up to him trying to trick him and tempt him and trip him up, he'll often turn the tables on them and spin them around and his goal is to show them how wrong they are. And that's what we see here in this famous passage beginning in verse 25. It says, Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him. So this guy's heart is not in the right place because whenever people are coming to Jesus and tempting him, it's people who are just there to try to sort of intellectually spar with him or prove him wrong or make him look bad. And of course, it never works. And Jesus lashes out at them a few times, says, you know, you hypocrites, why are you tempting me? And he calls them names and hypocrites and serpents and everything like that. But here this lawyer comes to him and says, tempting him, says, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou has answered rightly this do and thou shalt live. But he willing to justify himself said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And then Jesus goes into the story that we're going to look at in a moment of the Good Samaritan. But what I want to point out, first of all, is that the question is asked, What do I need to do in order to have eternal life? What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus asked him, Well, what's written in the Bible? What's written in the law? How readest thou? And he says, Well, I basically just need to love the Lord and love my neighbor as myself. And he says to him, Well, if you do that, you will live. You've answered right. This do and thou shalt live. But he willing to justify himself said, Well, who is my neighbor? So he's thinking in his mind, Well, okay, loving God, check. I've got that covered. Losing my neighbor. I think I'm good on that, depending on who my neighbor is, okay? Because the Jews at this time, especially the lawyers, the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they have two really big problems. Number one, they think that they are keeping the law perfectly and that that's going to get them to heaven, their own righteousness, their own works, because they are keeping the law to a T. And then their number two problem was to despise anyone who's not Jewish. They think that they're better than everybody else. They're the chosen ones and the Jews are so great and the Gentiles are scum. That's their attitude, okay? So in this story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus ends up dealing with both of those two issues, the despising of people of other nationalities and also this attitude where they think that they're more righteous than they actually are. Now, this is really similar to Luke 18. So keep your finger there on Luke 10. Let's look over at Luke 18 and see something very similar in Luke 18. The Bible says in Luke 18, 18, and a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? It's pretty much the same question, right? What do I have to do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is God. Now, right away we see that, again, he is answering with a tricky answer. He is not saying that he's not God here. He's not saying that at all, but that's what the Jehovah's Witnesses would point to this and say, hey, he's not God. What he actually says is a question. Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one and that's God. And here's a question that I've asked hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses and I've never had one be able to give me an answer on it. I asked him this, I said, well, is Jesus good? Oh, yeah. Well then, according to this, he's God, because he said, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one and that's God. Now what Jesus has explained to him is that only one person is good, only one person is without sin, only one person is righteous, that would be God. Jesus, of course, was also without sin and righteous because he was God incarnate. He's God in the flesh. So this verse actually proves the deity of Christ, although someone who doesn't know the Bible, doesn't understand the Bible, doesn't believe the Bible on a casual reading would read this and say, oh, see, he's saying that he's not God. But in order to be saying that, he'd have to be saying that he's a sinner. Because he'd basically be saying, I'm not even a sinner, I'm not even good. So you say, well, Jesus wasn't God, he's just a good teacher. Well, not according to this. There's only one that's good and that's God. So you see, when people come to him with a wrong attitude, he often answers them in a tricky, cryptic way. And as we keep reading, we're going to see how everything that Jesus says to this rich young ruler is just going right over his head. He's not understanding any of it. Because he says to him, the first thing out of the gate is, there's none good save one that is God, right? So let's see if this guy's listening to Jesus. Jesus tells him, there's only one good and that's God, okay? Thou knowest the commandments, verse 20, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother. And he said, all these have I kept from my youth up. You know, he's basically saying, I'm good. And what did Jesus just finish telling him? There's none good but one and that's God. This guy comes and says, oh, I've done all that. He's listing all the commandments, oh, yeah, I've done all that from my youth up. I've done it all. Do you believe that? Who here believes that that young ruler had done all that from his youth up? There's no way. He's a liar. Because everybody is a sinner. And so that's what Jesus is trying to demonstrate to this guy. So this guy, oh, I've already done all that. Now when Jesus heard this, these things, he said unto him, yet lack is thou one thing. Sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful for he was very rich. Okay. So he's basically showing this guy that he's not as perfect as he thinks he is by showing him the fact that he's hoarding a bunch of treasures on this earth. So he's telling him, oh, you lack one thing, buddy. Oh, you've kept all the commandments in the whole Bible? Oh, well, you forgot one. You know, give to the poor. Don't hoard all these things. Sell what you have and give to the poor. And also, you should be following me if you want to be perfect. Now it's very interesting because in Luke chapter 10, it says that the guy that asked the question, who is my neighbor, was willing to justify himself. He was trying to justify himself. Isn't that what the rich young ruler is doing when he says, oh, I've done all that. I've kept all the commandments from my youth up. So these stories are really similar to each other. The guy's trying to justify himself. He wants to go to heaven through his own merit. Good master, what good thing shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? Now, back in Luke chapter 10, the guy is trying to justify himself as well. And here's another similarity between these two stories is that in Luke chapter 18, the answer was keep the commandments and you'll have eternal life, right? Keep the commandments. Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not steal. Honor your father and mother. Thou shall not bear fire. He lists the commandments. The answer here is given by the lawyer as, verse 27 of Luke 10, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself, okay? Now is that the exact same answer? No, but I'm going to show you how it really is the same answer, even though on the surface it's not exactly the same. So the rich young ruler is told keep the commandments. This guy says, well, it's loving the Lord and loving your neighbor. And what does Jesus say to that answer? He says in verse 28, and he said to them, thou hast answered right, this do and thou shalt live. Okay. Let's go to Romans 13. Let's go to Romans 13. I'm going to show you that these are both basically the same answer. Romans chapter 13 says in verse number 8, oh, no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law for this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So what he's basically saying is that if you say love thy neighbor as thyself, you're actually fulfilling all those commandments that have to do with your behavior toward other people. Because if you love your neighbor, you're going to do all the right things toward your neighbor. You're not going to steal from him. You're not going to kill him. You're not going to commit adultery with his wife. You're not going to bear false witness about him and so forth. So he's saying that all of those commandments and any other commandment are briefly comprehended. You can sum it all up by just saying love thy neighbor as thyself. And then he says in the next verse, verse 10, love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So loving the Lord thy God with all your heart, that fulfills one part of the law that has to do with our relationship with the Lord. Fulfilling our neighbor as ourself has to do with fulfilling that part of the law that deals with our relationship with other people. And that's why Jesus said on these two commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor, hang all the law and the prophets. It can all be summed up with those two statements. So if the guy is being told love God and love your neighbor to inherit eternal life, that's pretty much the same thing as telling him keep all the commandments and you'll inherit eternal life. You don't believe me? Well, here's what the Bible said. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. How about this one? He that saith, I love God and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. So you see how loving God includes keeping all of the commandments. Loving our neighbor includes keeping all of the commandments because love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So you see how both men in Luke 10 and Luke 18 are given basically the same answer, that if you keep all the commandments, you'll be saved. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, I thought we're saved by faith. What are you talking? Is this a work salvation? I thought we're saved by faith alone, you know, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. But I've ever said, Well, actually, there are two ways to get to heaven. There are two ways to get to heaven tonight. You can either live a perfect life and keep all the commandments, or you could be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, if a person theoretically kept all the commandments, of course they'll go to heaven. How could God send a person to hell who kept all the commandments? What would they be going to hell for? What are they even being punished for? There'd be no reason to send them to hell, right? So the bottom line is that if a person kept all the commandments, loved God with all their heart, mind, soul, strength, and loved their neighbor as themself, of course they're going to heaven, except for the fact that there's nobody like that in the whole world. So what Jesus said was technically true, but it was a tricky thing that he said to him. Just like the first thing he said to him was tricky about, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, and that's God. Even in Romans, now here's what some people will say. They'll say, No, no, no, Pastor Anderson, you're interpreting it all wrong. Luke is a different dispensation. This is a scary teaching, this dispensationalism, and here's why. Because what they end up doing is they throw out everything Jesus said and say, Hey, we're only supposed to listen to the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, that's our Apostle. And so whenever they come up to things like this in the Gospels where Jesus said, Hey, if you keep all the commandments, you're going to heaven, they just say, Oh, that was a different dispensation. People were saved that way back then. Here's the problem with that. Nobody could ever be saved that way because nobody's ever kept all the commandments. And if people could be saved by their works in the Old Testament, and if people could be saved by keeping the commandments in the Old Testament, then why did Jesus even have to die on the cross? Why not just stay with that system? It's working. Right? No, no. The reason that that system never was designed to get anybody to go to heaven was the fact that man has always been a sinner and always will be a sinner. And salvation has only ever been through calling upon the name of the Lord by faith. That's the only way anybody's ever gone to heaven. It's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, the Bible says. Don't tell me, well, in the Old Testament, they had to keep the sacrifices to get to heaven. It's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That was all just a picture. It was all symbolic of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. No, there's only one way for us to get to heaven, and it's not through keeping the commandments. It's through believing on Jesus Christ. Although theoretically, if we kept the commandments, yeah, we'd make it. But you say, No, no, no, Pastor Anderson. It was a different dispensation. Okay. Why did Paul teach the same thing in Romans Chapter 2? Look down at your Bible. Romans Chapter 2 teaches the same thing. Romans Chapter 2 is basically doing the same thing that Jesus was doing with the lawyer in Chapter 10 of Luke and with the rich young ruler in Chapter 18. Look what it says in Romans 2, beginning in verse 6, speaking of the Lord who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. So he's saying, Look, God will render to every man according to his deeds and people who by patient continuance in well-doing, I mean, that sounds like a lot of work, patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will reward them with eternal life. Right? But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there's no respect of persons with God. So right there in Romans Chapter 2, it says, Hey, if you patiently continue and do all the works and do well, right, you'll get eternal life for that. But if you do evil, you will receive punishment. But here's the thing, you got to keep reading, okay? Because when we get to Chapter 3, what's Chapter 3 all about? Chapter 3 is all about the fact that everybody's a sinner and that everybody is doomed if they're judged by their works. Because right after that part, I don't have time to read you the whole book of Romans, but he starts out, first of all, in Romans 1, 16, making it pretty clear what he believes about salvation. Romans 1, 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also the Greek. So salvation is to everyone who believes. When we get into Chapter 2, he goes into this dissertation about how if you do all the right things, you'll be saved. And then he explains how the Jews are not following the law, even though they're claiming to. And then he gets into Romans 3 and says it's not just the Jews that aren't keeping the law. It's also the Gentiles who are filled with sin. Go to Romans 3, and I'll show you. It says in Romans 3, verse 10, as it is written, well, look at verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? Because Romans 2 is mainly condemning the Jews. In Romans 3, 9, it says, What then? Are we better than they? No and no wise. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. No not one. Look at verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus. What then? Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay. But by the law of faith. Look at verse 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. So if you took Romans 2 out of context, you're missing the conclusion. He's making a case. He's like a lawyer. He's building up his evidence. He's building up his arguments. In Romans 3, he brings the conclusion that the only way that anybody can be saved is through faith. It's only through Christ's righteousness. You know why? Because you don't have any righteousness. And you might be like that lawyer and think you do, or you might be like that rich, young ruler and think, oh yeah, I've done all. No, you haven't. You've sinned today. You've sinned yesterday. And I don't care how holy you think you are. You come short of the glory of God. And those who believe in a work-based salvation, they're very full of themselves. They're very proud. They're very pompous. Oh, I've done all that. You're going to split hell wide open. I don't care how righteous and holy you outwardly are unto men. You have sin in your heart, just like I have sin in my heart. And I guarantee you that you have sinful actions constantly. And not only that, what about the sins of omission? There are sins of commission and sins of omission, things that we should have done that we didn't do, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And so anybody who thinks that they're sinless is crazy. You'd have to be a crazy person. That's why he said if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. So we see here that the conclusion of the matter is that we're justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Now let's go back, if you would, to Luke chapter number 10. So it's pretty, and again, you know, we could go through all the hundreds of verses on salvation by faith. It's not of works. It's all by grace. It's a free gift, on and on. But what do the Jews think? The Jews think it's by works. That's why in Romans chapter 10, he said the Jews have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So it's not the law. It's not works. It's not animal sacrifices. It's faith in Christ that saves us. That's it. Now theoretically, will you be saved if you live a perfect life? Absolutely. Good luck with that. But I'm sure you've already blown it thousands of times over. It's never going to happen. That's why Jesus had to die on the cross. And I love what Paul says in Galatians, where he says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Why are you even a Christian then? Why don't you go be a Jew then, right? Go be some holier-than-thou Jew who thinks you're better than everybody and you're the chosen people and that by following rules, you're going to make it into heaven, right? Or join Islam. They're working their way to heaven, too. You know, Christianity is a salvation through Christ. And it's not by, oh, I'm going to follow his example and be as good as he is. You're not going to be as good as him. No. It's about receiving Christ as Savior. It's about his glory and his finished work on the cross. And it's amazing how you ask people who claim the name of Christ, you know, how do you know you're going to heaven? And they don't even mention Jesus. I mean, you go soul-willing. You know this is true. You knock on somebody's door. Oh, I go to so-and-so, the Christian church. Oh, okay. Do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Yeah, I do. Oh, well, how do you know? What do you think it takes to get there? And then they list things that Jesus doesn't even come into the picture. Oh, live a good life. Be good to other people. Go to church. No mention of, well, you know, Christ died for me. So I'm going in on his righteousness. You know, I'm saved by faith in him. He did everything. It's a free gift. It's eternal life. You know, it's amazing how blinded people are. And then when you point that out to them, sometimes they don't even understand what you're saying. Like, well, does it have anything to do with Jesus? Why are you going to heaven? That thought doesn't even enter their mind. It's truly amazing. So with that understood in Luke chapter 10, this guy wants to justify himself. Hey, I don't want to justify myself. I want to be justified by Christ. But he's trying to justify himself because he's trying to think in his mind, am I going to heaven? Am I good enough? Just like the rich young ruler, am I good enough? Am I going to make it into heaven? That's what he wants to know. So he says, well, you know, who's my neighbor? See how I'm doing in that area. Why? Because the Jews think it's okay to mistreat people if they're not fellow Jews. They think it's okay to cheat them and treat them ill because they kind of just have to stick together. Nuts to the goyim, you know, nuts to the gentiles. And that's their attitude. And all throughout the New Testament, we see that teaching that that's their attitude. Like, for example, when Revelation 3, when he says he's going to show them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not but do lie, he said, I'll make them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you, he tells the Church of Philadelphia. Now, why would he have to make the Jews know that he loved the Church of Philadelphia? Why? They don't think that he loves anybody except them. Isn't that interesting? That's a pretty interesting verse in Revelation 3. Read up on that where he tells the Jews and you say, well, they say they're Jews. They're not. Yeah, that's right. Because he's not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. And, you know, there's a synagogue of Satan right here in Tempe. It's called Temple Emmanuel and the rabbi is an open sodomite. How do you like them apples? When people were out here protesting our church about my sermon against the homos, that rabbi from Temple Emmanuel was out there on our lawn, the rabbi himself, the rabbi. And he was out there and he did an interview with the news and he said, well, it's important for me to be here today because I'm a homosexual. That's what he told the news. That's their rabbi. And you know what rabbi means? Master. Well, you know, the disciple's not above his master. Isn't that what the Bible says? Neither is the servant above his Lord. You know, what kind of people are going to a place where the master of their synagogue is an open sodomite? It truly is the synagogue of Satan right here locally. So this guy has that attitude. So who's my neighbor? Jesus knows all things. Jesus knows his heart. He knows his thoughts. He knows what he means by who's my neighbor. Is that fellow Jews? Or does that go for the Gentiles also, right? So here's how Jesus answers him. And Jesus answering said, in verse 30, so this story is an answer to the question. Well, who's my neighbor? Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance, there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So this priest, I mean, and this is the highest you're going to be in their Jewish society. Not only is he the chosen people, he's the chosen tribe. Not only is he the chosen tribe, I mean, he's of the sons of Aaron. And the priest basically sees this guy laying in the ditch, beaten, wounded, naked and half dead. And he just kind of crosses the street. Like he just wants to ignore it, doesn't even want to look at him, doesn't want to see it. He doesn't want to help the guy and he wants to just kind of pretend that the guy doesn't exist. Okay. He just wants to kind of just stick his head in the sand. And then it says, likewise, a Levite, you know, another guy that's high up on the totem pole in their Jewish mind. When he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, and this is who the Jews look at as the worst scum. They like the Samaritans even less than they like the Gentiles, okay. Because the Samaritans are a mixture, right, of Jew and Gentile. And that really bothers them because they've got to keep that racial purity, right. They've got to keep their racial pure, you know, line, which is not a biblical teaching at all. That's not even Old Testament teaching. In the Old Testament, anybody who wanted to, any black or Chinese or Arab could waltz into the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, get circumcised, eat the Passover, and he's part of the nation. And then the dispensationist will ask, well, what tribe is he? Well, it answers that in Ezekiel, it says, wherever he geographically sojourns, he'll become a member of that tribe. It's in Ezekiel, I want to say chapter 40, somebody help me quick, 47, it's somewhere toward the end. Don't turn there. But somewhere toward the end of Ezekiel, you can look it up later. Just look up the word sojourn, tribe, Ezekiel, type it into Bible gateway or whatever. So that goes to show you right there that, you know, God already thought of that. If some black dude showed up in the Old Testament, you know, he'd be a black Hebrew Israelite, amen? True that. But the point is, you know, anybody could join. Red, yellow, black, and white. That's why one of Jesus' disciples called Simon the Canaanite, right? But obviously, he or his ancestors or whoever had joined up with the Jews. He's living as a Jew. Obviously, he's a circumcised guy. He's eating the Passover with Jesus. He's at the temple. He's doing it all. Because that provision was made in the Mosaic law that anybody could join. Why? Because it was never about ethnicity. It wasn't about being a physical descendant of Abraham. It's about being a spiritual descendant of Abraham. And what's funny is that the Jews today, they even recognize that, which is why they will let anybody join as long as they renounce Jesus Christ and get circumcised, they can join. People can join. People can become Jew now, right? Sammy Davis, Jr., right, became a Jew. So the Jews, they understand that it's not about ethnicity. They have to because they have red hair and freckles and blue eyes, and we're supposed to believe they're from the Middle East, okay? But the funny thing about it, though, is that the Christians, though, have this idea that it's all about race. So you try to ask them, like, why in the world are the Jews God shows to be? Oh, because they're descending from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They're the physical seed. So to the Christian Zionists, it's all about race, right? Which makes no sense, okay? Because what it's really about is about a religion. See, being a Jew is not a nationality. It's a religion. And it is a false religion that's known as the synagogue of Satan. How could it be a right religion when it denies the Son? The same hath not the Father. So you know, sometimes you just want to grab these dispensationalists and shake them and grab these Zionists and shake them and say, how could these people be God's chosen people when they hate the Lord? Well, it's their nationality. What? When is God a respecter of persons? Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our Father. I mean, come on. When did God ever judge people based on the fact, oh, you're a child of Abraham? Oh, well, you're my people. No, no, no. He's constantly casting out disobedient Israelites and Jews and casting them out of their precious land when they worship idols, bringing the foreigners in when they worship idols. Why? Because that land isn't just a carte blanche for them to hate the Lord and get their precious land and be the chosen ones. They're chosen to be damned because God chose that everybody who rejects Christ is going to be damned. And that's them. Now, if any of them get saved, they'll be they'll go to heaven, but then they won't be a Jew anymore as the world sees it. Right? Because then the Jews will be like, you're not a Jew anymore. Now there'll be a spiritual Jew, amen? There'll be a Jew inwardly, but not outwardly. Certainly not. So anyway, that's what this guy's issue is. So the Samaritan, this is the one that's despised by the Jews. The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They didn't even comprehend why Jesus was even talking to a Samaritan in John chapter four. And it says here, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host. That's like two days wages in the Bible and gave them to the host and said unto him, take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now these thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves. And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. That's interesting because Jesus kind of tells the story backwards, in a sense, because what you would expect, here's what you would expect Jesus to do. If he wants to illustrate the point of who our neighbor is, he could have, you know, let's say we were telling the story, right, because we're not as smart as he is. Let's say we were telling the story. Wouldn't it make more sense to us to say, you know, he says, well, who is my neighbor? To tell a story where there's a Samaritan lying in the ditch, right? And the good Jew pulls the Samaritan out of the ditch, and he said, hey, go do that. But that's not what he does. He tells a backwards story where basically the Samaritan, the guy that this guy would have discussed for, is the hero of the story, okay? So he turns it around and tells it in a backwards sort of way, if you catch my drift. He kind of tells the opposite of what you expect. Instead of showing somebody reaching out to the other nations and the Samaritans and the poor and whatever, he tells it backwards where the Samaritan becomes the hero of the story that actually pulls the Jew out of the ditch and helps him out, gives him medicine, puts him in a hotel, gets him medical care, and everything like that. And I think the reason why Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, chose to kind of turn the story around there is because he's trying to show this guy it's not about having a neighbor. It's about being a neighbor. So what he's trying to show this guy is that you're looking at it backwards. When he said, well, who's my neighbor? He turns it around because at the end, he says, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy on him then said, Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise. So what he's saying is when you show mercy on somebody who's in need, when you find that person in the ditch, whoever they are and whoever you are, you're being a neighbor. That's your neighbor now because you've made them your neighbor because you're being a neighbor unto them. So it's not about, well, who's my neighbor? It's about let's go find somebody that I can make my neighbor. You see what I'm saying? By doing something, you know, because he's saying when you pull someone out of the ditch, you're being a neighbor unto them. And he's saying that's what you should go do. You should go and do likewise, meaning that when you see someone who needs help, when you see someone that you can do something for or show the love of Christ to or whatever way you show love to them, do that and then you're being the neighbor. And that's what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. It's saying love people, love others, love those who are helpless, those that are in need and not to just love in word or in tongue but to love in deed and in truth. The Bible says, but whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So we show our love by our actions, kind of like we talked about earlier that when we keep the commandments, that's love. Keep commandments about God. We're loving God. Keep commandments about people around us. We're loving the people around us. Well, when we do good deeds for people, when we help them, when we pull them out of the ditch, then we're showing them the love of Christ. Now some people have tried to take this scripture and they've tried to actually twist it to the definition, well, everybody's your neighbor, everybody. Now again, that's not what this says. That's not what this teaches. This does not teach everyone is my neighbor because first of all, in order for someone to be my neighbor, there would have to be proximity, okay? The word neighbor, if you actually look at where the English word neighbor comes from, the first part of that is nay, neighbor. Well that comes from the same root word as our word nigh, right? When something's nigh unto us, and how is nigh spelled? N-I-G-H. Something is nigh unto us, it means it's near unto us, okay? Well neighbor is someone who is near to us, okay? Now when these guys are walking by, I mean that guy's in the ditch, right? They help him out, there's proximity there, right? That's why when we talk about our neighbors, who are we talking about? Forget the Bible for a moment and just think from a secular standpoint, what does it mean to be a neighbor? It means you do what? You live next door, right? You live next door to someone, you know, or in the neighborhood, right? In the same subdivision. If somebody's in your subdivision, you say, hi, I'm your neighbor. Or they say, we're neighbors. We're nigh unto one another. So this idea that says, well everybody's your neighbor, well the problem with that doctrine is that everybody's not nigh unto you. Everybody's not near you. There's no proximity there for you to even do anything for that person or even talk to that person. You say, well where are you going with that? Why does that matter? Because what people are trying to do today is they're trying to get us to love those who hate the Lord. People who are like violent, evil, wicked people, pedophiles even. I mean people are now, it's not just the sympathy for the homos now. Now we're supposed to have sympathy for the pedophiles now. Right? I mean that's where it's going. Your eyes open? All manner of perversion. It's not enough now for the homos to be accepted. Now we have to accept people who are totally in drag and the transvestites and the transgender and all these weird, sick things and we can't say he or she, we just have to say they. You know? And all these weird things. And this is being crammed down Christian's throats of, well hey buddy, the Bible says love your neighbor, so this faggot is your neighbor, love him. Who cares if he molests children? Who cares if he's a pedophile? Who cares if he hates God? Or whatever. Look, that's not what the Bible teaches, friend. Now if that were what this, here's how this parable would read if that's what the parable taught. The guy in the story, he went and found the people who beat the living hell out of this guy and threw him in a ditch. He buys them lunch. Go do likewise. Think about it. I mean if that's how the parable read, then you'd have a point. Then you'd have a case, right? He sees the guy lying naked in the ditch, beaten, bloody, bruised. He walks up to him, spits in his face, right? And then goes and searches, where can I find the people who beat and almost killed this man and stripped him nude? I'm gonna buy them a hotel room. I'm gonna buy them dinner. I'm gonna buy gifts for them. That's how the story would read according to their logic. Does everybody follow the logic? That's how it would read. Why? Because here's the thing, if you actually love your neighbor as yourself, then you know what you would want to happen to predators? That they be put to death like the Bible says. You'd want predators to be put to death like the Bible says. Why? Because if you love your little neighbor child, then some dangerous sick predator, you'd want them off the streets. You would say, oh, bring them in. Let's bring them into the boy scouts. Let's bring them into church. Let's bring them into the Sunday school. I mean after all the Bible says love your neighbor, it's garbage. And you know what? I'll prove to you beyond any shadow of a doubt that it's garbage, but for that I'm gonna have to pull out the Old Testament. The big, mean Old Testament. Go to Leviticus, the dreaded book. Let's go to the dreaded book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 18. The dreaded book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 18, is the only place in the Old Testament that contains this phrase, love your neighbor as yourself. And when Jesus is constantly quoting this in the New Testament, and when that lawyer quotes it to him, and says, well, love your neighbor as yourself. He's quoting this. And when the Bible says this is the greatest commandment in the law, second greatest, second only to loving God, he's quoting this. Look at it. Leviticus 19, 18. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord. So there's the commandment right there, love your neighbor as yourself, okay? Now keep your finger there. In fact, put your finger on that verse, okay? Then take your left hand and go to Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 22. It says in Leviticus 18, 22, thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. Right? Everybody see that? Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it's abomination. Now with your finger still on Leviticus 19, 18, turn the page and look at Leviticus 20, 13. If a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. But Jesus taught, no, Jesus did not teach, Leviticus taught to love your neighbor as yourself. And you know how you can love your neighbor? Well it tells you in chapters 18 and chapter 20, why? Because love is the fulfilling of the law. How can you love your neighbor when you're just exposing him to all these predators? I mean it doesn't make any sense. I mean look, if you really love that guy in the ditch, right? If you love the guy in the ditch and you really want to help him, are you just going to be just enabling all of the highway robbers that want to beat him and kill him and throw him there? No, you're going to stand for the order of law, you know, you're going to stand for justice. I mean look, decent people all over the world say, hey, you know, if somebody's a thief, there's got to be some punishment for that. If somebody beats up an innocent person, there needs to be a punishment for that. If somebody commits murder, there's got to be a punishment for that. I mean isn't that what decent people all over the world would say? And they'd say why? Because we've got to protect people. We've got to protect people. So there's no contradiction between chapter 18, chapter 19, and chapter 20. Chapter 18 represents preaching. Why? Because chapter 18 in Leviticus, it's not giving a punishment, it's just preaching and saying, hey, this stuff's wicked. It's an abomination. God hates this stuff. It's bad, right? So that represents Bible preaching. And then in chapter 20, we actually have a civil government penalty saying, hey, here's the penalty if somebody's caught doing this stuff. You know, if somebody is caught being a sodomite or being with a beast or committing adultery with his neighbor's wife, they shall be put to death. Okay. So, anyway, you know, that's your context for thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself isn't saying, oh, that means love the rapist, right? Love the serial killer. That's not what that's saying. Okay. Because if it did, it would be contradicting the very source, Leviticus 19, which is in the midst of telling you, hey, look, this is how society has to run. Love your neighbor within a society that, you see, here's the, well, love your homo neighbor. I've seen that go around Facebook. Well, here's the thing. If I were living in the days of Leviticus 19, I wouldn't even have a homo neighbor because Leviticus 20, 13 would have taken him out of the neighborhood. The fact that I even have a homo in my neighborhood is because God's law has been ignored. If God expected me to love my homo neighbor, why did he say that the government should kill him? Wait, I was trying to love that guy. You're taking him away to be executed. People are nuts. People have lost their minds. They're crazy today. I heard some fundamental Baptist preacher earlier today. I tuned in and listened to this guy. Somebody sent me a link of this guy, and he was preaching against yours truly. People like to send me links. Hey, this guy's preaching against you. I guess it's just to keep me humble, a little self-examination. He's like, yeah, this guy. He's got a group of radical Baptists, and his group is really growing, and a lot of other churches are starting to kind of get on board, and this is what he said. He said, this guy wants to change what it means to be an independent fundamental Baptist. That's what he says. I don't remember saying that, but whatever. He wants to change that. Here's what the guy said. Well, if he does, then I'm just going to remove Baptist from the sign and change it to Bible church. And I'm just thinking like, you go, girl. You know what I mean? It's like, wow, big man. I'll show you. I'll become non-denominational. You're already non-denominational, you spineless coward. Radical Baptist is the only kind of Baptist there is. A radical Baptist is a real Baptist. Why don't you be cold or hot? Why don't you get in or get out? And since when did it become radical to be against the transvestites? Can somebody explain that to me? Ooh, radical stuff. Hey, I'll show you something radical. There's only two genders. Hey, let's get real radical. Marriage is only between a man and a woman. Let's get radical. Let's get radical, bro. I'll change the name. Oh, I see you changing the name on your sign. I'll put radical on my sign. Put it in parentheses with the radical kind. Beware, this is a radical church. We're nuts. We're crazy. We actually believe the Bible. But that's the way these fundamental Baptists are going. They're so soft. They're so soft and pudgy and cute. We need some man in the pulpit. Amen? And you know what? Because there are no men in the pulpit, that's why these freaks are taking over our country. They're taking over. It's become a giant insane asylum. Good night. Let's finish up with the chapter here. But I wanted to spend time on this portion of the chapter because these are some great teachings from Jesus here in Luke chapter number 10. Let me get there myself here. He says in verse 38, I got to hurry up and finish here. He said in verse 38, oh, first of all, before I get on to verse 38, though, you know, don't laugh, all right? I'm not talking about the freaks anymore. I'm done with them. They're not even worth any more of my time tonight. I want to go home happy tonight. So you know, he says, he that showed mercy on him then said, Jesus and them, go and do thou likewise. So what is he saying here? In conclusion is that we should be people who help other people out when we see people have a need, when we see people struggling. And especially the Bible says that we should do good unto all men, but especially unto those of the household of faith. Especially, you know, when you see people in church, if there's something you can do to help them or be a blessing to them, you know, that's what God wants us to do. That's the love of God. That's loving our neighbor. And even outside of the walls of our church, you know, especially in our neighborhood. You know, let's say there's someone in our neighborhood who needs something or we see someone or come across someone who needs help. You know, we ought to be ready to help those people out and step in and fill the need and so forth. Now obviously we've got to be careful for safety, especially ladies. You know, you don't want to just, any time somebody's changed an attire, ladies, you're by yourself. You don't just pull over, hey, can I give you a hand, you know, or whatever, because that could be like some kind of a scam going on. Right? You've got to be careful. Wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But you know what? When you do see somebody who's trying to do something, maybe they are having car trouble, they need a jump, they need a bat, you know, it's always good to help people out like that. Show them some love, show them some kindness. What is this about? He's saying love your neighbor as yourself. What that means is don't just be self-centered where it's all about, hey, I got to get to this place, I got to do this, I got to accomplish this. You know, look at the needs of other people. See what other people need and if you can help them out, do something nice for them and be a blessing to them. That's what really the sum total of it is. Now it says in verse 38, now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word but Martha was covered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister had left me to serve alone? Bitter therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. And what this scripture is teaching is that we need to make sure that we don't get so busy serving and working and doing things that we forget to commune with the Lord and listen to what he has to say. Right, Martha was really serving and working hard but Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part by doing what? Sitting at his feet and listening to him. So what that means is that it's great to do a lot of work for the Lord. We believe in that around here. We emphasize work around here. We have a lot of activities going on, a lot of work going on. We're taking trips every week up to Indian reservations and going soul winning. We have 11 local soul winning times. In addition to that, right here in Phoenix, 7 days, 11 soul winning times. I mean we're a working church but we need to make sure that we don't get so busy that we're not reading our Bible. Why? Because it's great to work hard but we also need to keep the church doctrinally right. So we need to sit down and listen to Jesus so that we know what's right. So that we know what's the right doctrine. So we know what to believe. And really the biggest problem today in churches is that people perish for lack of knowledge. They don't know the Bible. A lot of times they're not reading the Bible on their own. They go to church, they're spoon fed a few scriptures but they're not getting the big picture from reading it cover to cover. You personally, because I can't do it for you. Mary can't do it for you. You've got to do it, Martha. You've got to sit at Jesus' feet on a daily basis and let him talk to you. He wants to talk to you every single day. He's got something to tell you. You need to listen. And that's done by reading your Bible. You open the Bible, you read it every day and God speaks to you. And don't ever get so busy. Like, well, but you don't understand because I'm busy doing all the right things. Perhaps, right? You know, I'm working hard on my job. I'm making money for my family. I'm going soul winning. I'm doing volunteer work down at the church or whatever you're doing to stay busy for the Lord. Wait a minute. Be sure you carve out some Bible time. Be sure you carve out time for prayer. Why? Because of the fact that that is the most needful thing in our lives is to hear from the Lord. And if we're not hearing from him, we're going to go into error. If we're not listening to his instructions, we're going to go down the wrong path. And I mean, look, how many people have worked so hard for all the wrong things? I mean, it happens all the time. They work and they work and they work and they sweat and they sacrifice and it is all for nothing. Think about how many people that are giving huge donations to televangelists right now. Working hard, making money, saving, and then sending it to some guy who's just going to have a mansion in Tahiti and he's not doing anything for the Lord. He's a total false prophet. I mean, think about it. People who've donated money to the Roman Catholic Church or something. Or people who've donated their money to all marriages. Or are gone and volunteered and worked at churches that were preaching lies, preaching a false gospel, literally working for the devil. I mean, look, there are people who think they're serving God and they're serving the devil today. And many of them are sincere. But they're sincerely wrong. And you know what? They need to be listening to Jesus. Nobody's going to read this book and come away thinking that the Mormon Church is the right church. Or that the Catholic Church is the right church. You know what I mean? But people are investing their lives in these false religions because they didn't listen. Well, even Baptists could be guilty of the same thing where they're investing in this, that, or the other, even in their Baptist church, but they're not reading the Bible to know what's right and what's not right. And to be able to try the spirits, whether they be of God. And to be able to know whether the preaching is even Biblical, right? They need to prove all things. And when you talk to people who came out of Mormonism or came out of Catholicism, sometimes their testimony is, well, I started really reading the Bible and it wasn't adding up. That's how a lot of the testimonies are. I talked to a guy like that and he was like, I was really serious about reading the Bible. He would read the Bible, then he would read the Book of Mormon. Then he would read the Bible, then he would read the Book of Mormon. Cover to cover. He's a dedicated Mormon. But he started realizing that what the Bible was saying was not the same as what the Book of Mormon was saying. Look, anybody who truly seeks the Lord is going to find him. Seek and you shall find. But you know what? People just get busy doing works and they think like, oh, I'm doing the right works here. They're in the kitchen and they're making food and they don't even realize that Jesus isn't hungry. And you're in the kitchen making food. He already ate. He had meat to eat that you know not of. What are you doing? You're laboring in vain. He wants you to sit down and shut up and listen to him. But you're in the kitchen banging around pots and pans complaining that other people aren't doing the same wrong work that you're doing. We need to make sure that we have zeal for God that's according to knowledge. That's according to knowledge. Because look, you can work as hard as you want, but if you're working for the wrong team, what's that going to get you? It's going to get you nowhere fast. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you that all the answers are in the Bible. And Lord, some things in the Bible are easy to understand, and many things in the Bible are hard to understand, Lord. Help us to realize that there are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand, and help us to be diligent and work and sit down and listen every day to you explain them to us so that we can understand the hard things by listening to you explain them in your word, Lord. Help us to read our Bibles. Help us to know our Bibles so that we can do the right kind of works at the right time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.