You Go and Do Likewise

And we're going to begin our worship singing Psalm 122, Psalm 122 in the Scottish Psalter.

And that's from page 416, the tune is Free Church.

I joyed when to the house of God go up, they said to me, Jerusalem within thy gates, our

feet shall standing be. Jerusalem as a city is compactly built together, and to that place

the tribes go up, the tribes of God go thither. A psalm that celebrates, sings praise in regard to

coming to be together to worship the Lord, but also speaks of the unity that God's people enjoy

as represented there by Jerusalem, the city of the Old Testament times. So let's sing through

these verses, the whole psalm. We'll stand to sing, I Joyed Went to the House of God.

I Joyed Went to the House of God, O what they said to me. Jerusalem when in thy gates, our

peace shall stand outside me in thee.

Burst the Alejandro Magdalene Paulin and the Church of Jesus' fire to the Lord and the

arching is strong to swan out and be blessed.

We'll be right back.

To God's name thanks to him.

For thrones of judgment,

King the thrones of David's house,

The host does keep me selected,

roughest day.

Free,

but Jerusalem,

leah,

peace of

Happy City.

Let them that love me and my peace have still prosperity.

Therefore I wish that peace may still within thy woes remain.

And ever may thy policies prosperity retain.

Now for my friends and brethren saints,

Please be in me, I say.

And for the hearts of God our Lord,

I'll see thy good always.

Let's again join together in prayer.

Let's call upon the Lord now in prayer.

Almighty and gracious God,

help us, we pray, to draw near to you once again

as a gathered people.

And enable us to do so, O Lord, in due dependence upon you.

We know what it is, O Lord, to gather together so frequently.

We know what it is to read your word,

to sing these psalms of praise.

And yet again, O Lord, we confess

our need of your own application

of all of these privileges to us.

And we pray that you would help us, O Lord,

as we interact with your word once again this evening,

to receive it as your word,

to receive it in such a way

that we will hear your voice speaking to us through it.

We thank you, O Lord, for that privilege that we have

of gathering together once again

at the end of,

approaching the end of this Lord's day.

And we pray that it may always be our delight

to gather together in such a way as we do now.

We have been singing of these words of the psalmist

from so long ago.

And they are still redolent, O Lord,

in the experience of your people.

And they live with us as an expression

of the excitement and the joy

that was given to him and to his people

as he went with them to join with them

in the worship of God.

And Lord, we pray that it will always be

our joy to gather together as we do now

in order to praise the Lord,

in order to manifest his praises

to the world in which we live.

And we ask that you would make us conscious, O Lord,

of the privilege we have in doing so.

And we pray that as we gather here tonight,

your blessing will rest upon us.

We give thanks, O Lord, for the guidance

your word gives us in respect to our drawing near to you.

O you are God, and we know that we need to respect you

in every way.

And that as we draw near to you in worship,

so also we need to come with reverence,

with godly fear,

even along with our joy and rejoicing in you.

And we thank you, Lord, that you have combined

these elements in the experience of your people

in their hearts and minds,

so that they themselves are pleased, O Lord,

to come to seek to draw near to you in this way.

Help us to exalt you in our thoughts,

in our consideration this evening of your word.

Enable us, we pray, to lift up your holy name

as we worship you,

but to do so in a way that would willingly

and consciously ascribe all glory

and honor and praise to you.

And we pray, O Lord, that your blessing

will be with us as a congregation

of your people during these days.

We give thanks for the gospel amongst us.

We give thanks for the support of your people

of the gospel.

We give thanks, O Lord,

in times of difficulty,

financially and economically,

that your people still support your cause

financially as well as prayerfully.

We thank you for this,

and it encourages our hearts, O Lord,

when we see people committing themselves

to the further support of your cause in this way.

We thank you tonight for those who pray

for the advance of your cause,

for the advance of your cause in this congregation,

as well as in every other congregation of your people.

We thank you for the remembrance

that they have in prayer

of the preaching of your word

and of the preachers of your word,

and of those who are elected to leadership

in your church,

for those who rule in your church as elders,

for those who give of their time as deacons,

for those, Lord, who come to support the prayer meetings,

and for every way in which your people,

O Lord, show their support for your cause

and their concern that you be glorified,

that your cause be advanced.

We ask, Lord, tonight, too,

that you would bless us in all our activities

in relation to the gospel itself,

along with the services of worship.

We thank you for the many ways

in which people have come to commit themselves

to meetings that involve our young people

and our older age people as well.

And we ask, O Lord,

that you would bless every effort made

to the well-being of people to be advanced.

And we pray that especially under the gospel's teaching,

that we will come together as a people

to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ,

and that it may be our concern daily

to see ourselves advancing in this way.

We pray your blessing for the forthcoming

Over 55 Club.

We pray for Duncan Norman

as he heads up the organizing of it.

We pray, Lord, that you would continue

to own and acknowledge the club

as it meets together.

We pray that there may be that

mutual support of each other

by those who attend.

We thank you for the encouragement

from the last meeting.

We pray that that will continue.

We ask your blessing for the anticipated

presbytery camp as well

for our young people.

Lord, remember them, Lord,

as we pray for them

and pray for their own further establishment

in the things of grace,

in the ways of the gospel,

in the ways of following the Lord.

Gracious Lord, protect them,

keep them, guide them in your ways.

I give them not to turn aside

through temptation from the world

to those things which would make them

depart from following the Lord

and following his teaching.

And remember,

any who have gone aside, O Lord,

in recent times or recent years

from the teachings of Christ.

Oh, remember them, Lord, we pray,

who once frequented the services

of your church and no longer do so.

Oh, gracious God, remember them,

we pray, in your pity and mercy.

And show to them, O Lord,

that they're still welcome

to come to join with your people

wherever that may be.

Grant that you would graciously

work in their hearts

so as to reignite and renew in them

that desire after yourself.

Remember, we pray to those tonight

who have various troubles in their lives,

socially and morally and in family life.

Oh, remember them, we pray as well.

We commit to you, too,

those who are mourning the loss of loved ones

during these days.

We ask that you would bless them

with your comfort

and grant to them, Lord,

that you would make them conscious

of how near you are

to those who call upon you in truth,

that you have made yourself available

through the gospel

so that we might come

and draw our strength

and our encouragement from you.

We ask, O Lord,

that your blessing will reach out

into the world in which we live,

that you would use ourselves

and give us the further desire

to be used by you

as a people who would communicate

the love of Christ

to this generation we belong to.

We pray, Lord,

that all who do serve you in this way

and seek to act as witnesses

to you in the world,

in their homes,

in their places of work,

wherever they may be.

We ask your blessing

to follow every instance

of witnessing to you

and of seeking to commend you

to this lost world

in which we live.

We thank you that

in saving ourselves,

your people always,

Lord, look to that as evidence

that you are able to do for others

what you have done for them.

And this is our prayer tonight,

O Lord.

Reach out your hand, we pray,

and take those

who are presently living

without a care for eternity

and without trust in the Lord.

Oh, bring them, we pray,

to realize their spiritual state

and grant that you would,

even tonight,

reach out and work in hearts

around us in our communities

so that they may come

to realize their need

of the Lord himself.

Remember any tonight

who hear the gospel

but are not yet saved,

whether it be in this building

or in other gatherings

of your church,

we pray, O Lord,

that your Holy Spirit

will tonight work creatively

in the hearts of those

who are still not saved.

We pray that their familiarity

with the gospel

may not itself prove

to be a barrier

to the reception of the Lord.

Grant that you would overcome

whatever obstacles

they themselves may place

in the way,

in the way of turning to Christ,

in the way of receiving him gladly,

in the way of turning

to follow him in this world.

We pray your blessing too

for those, Lord,

who are caught in various addictions,

also working with them.

We remember Davy

and his work with Road to Recovery

and every other related work

that deals with such social problems

during these days.

O Lord, remember them, we pray,

and grant that all efforts

made to be of help

to those who have such difficulties

and trials in life,

that you would be pleased

to bless them

and bless the efforts, O Lord,

that those who sincerely seek

to bring the power of the gospel

to bear upon such lives.

Remember us now,

we pray too,

as a nation.

Remember our government

here in Scotland.

Remember the government

in Westminster.

Remember them, Lord,

at this time

when there's so much uncertainty,

so much turmoil

in the political system.

We pray for our Prime Minister,

whatever people may think

of her election

or of herself.

We pray for her,

we pray for the new Chancellor.

We pray that there may be stability

in the days to come,

not only economically,

but what we would love to see,

O Lord,

would be stability

morally and spiritually.

And we ask that you would turn us

as a people to yourself,

that you would graciously

bless the witness

and testimony of your people,

especially those of them

who serve in the parliaments

of our nation

and who bear testimony

to Jesus,

to the Lord

and to his law,

before their fellow

members of Parliament.

O Lord,

bless them, we pray.

Hear their prayers

as they pray to you

for direction.

We ask that

in all of these ways

you would grant

to hear our prayers

this evening.

Do for us, Lord,

we pray more

than we can ask or think.

For this is how you describe yourself

as God

in your word.

We pray that it may be

our experience likewise

of the Lord's ways

with ourselves.

Hear us now,

we pray.

Cleanse us,

pardon us,

accept us.

For Jesus' sake.

Amen.

We're going to praise

the Lord again this time.

We're praising him

from Psalm 25.

In Sing Psalms

this time

on page 29,

the tune is rocking him.

Psalm 25

and verses

8 to 15.

Because the Lord

is just and good,

he shows his path

to all who stray.

He guides the meek

in what is right

and teaches them

his holy way.

To those who keep

his covenant laws,

he shows his love

consistently.

For your name's sake,

O Lord my God,

forgive my great

iniquity.

Psalm 25

is verses 8 to 15

to God's praise.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Because the Lord

is just and good,

he shows his path

to all who stray.

He guides the meek

in what is right

and teaches them

his holy way.

To those who keep

his crown and cross,

he shows his love,

consistently.

For your name's sake,

O Lord my God,

forgive my great

iniquity.

who then are those

who fear the Lord.

He'll teach to them

the chosen way,

God's praise.

The king may prosper

all their life,

their children in the land

will stay.

God's praise.

God's friends are those

to fear his name.

With them his

covenant he will share.

my eyes,

my eyes,

the only

saw the Lord.

He'll free

my feet

from

every

seer.

Let's turn now to read the Word

of God.

Tonight's reading is from Luke's Gospel,

chapter 10.

The Gospel of Luke,

Luke 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10,

reading from verse 25.

Luke 10,

at verse 25.

And behold,

a lawyer stood up to put Jesus

to the test,

saying,

Teacher,

what shall I do to inherit

eternal life?

He said to him,

What is written in the law?

How do you read it?

And he answered,

You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul,

with all your strength

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him,

You have answered correctly.

Do this,

and you will live.

But he,

desiring to justify himself,

said to Jesus,

And who is my neighbor?

Jesus answered,

A man was going down

from Jerusalem to Jericho,

and he fell among robbers

who stripped him

and beat him

and departed,

leaving him half dead.

Now by chance,

a priest was going down that road,

and when he saw him,

he passed by on the other side.

So likewise,

a Levite,

when he came to the place

and saw him,

passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan,

as he journeyed,

came to where he was,

and when he saw him,

he had compassion.

He went to him

and bound up his wounds,

pouring on oil and wine.

Then he set him

on his own animal

and brought him to an inn

and took care of him.

And the next day

he took out two denarii

and gave them to the innkeeper,

saying,

Take care of him,

and whatever more you spend,

I will repay you

when I come back.

Which of these three

do you think

proved to be a neighbor

to the man

who fell among the robbers?

He said,

The one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus said to him,

You go

and do likewise.

Now as they went on their way,

Jesus entered a village,

and a woman named Martha

welcomed him into her house.

And she had a sister

called Mary

who sat at the Lord's feet

and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted

with much serving.

And she went up to him

and said,

Lord,

do you not care

that my sister

has left me

to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me.

But the Lord answered her,

Martha,

Martha,

you are anxious

and troubled

about many things,

but one thing

is necessary.

Mary has chosen

the good portion

which will not

be taken away

from her.

Again,

we pray God

will bless to us

that reading

of his word

this evening.

Let's sing now

to his praise further

in Psalm 113.

Again,

it's from the Scottish Psalter.

Psalm 113.

We'll sing the whole psalm.

It's on page 393.

The tune this time

is Argyle.

Praise God,

ye servants of the Lord.

O praise,

the Lord's name praise.

Yea,

blessed be the name of God.

From this time

forth always.

From rising sun

to where it sets,

God's name

is to be praised.

Above all nations,

God is high.

Above heavens,

his glory raise.

Psalm 113.

To God's praise.

Praise God,

ye servants of the Lord.

O praise the Lord.

O praise the Lord.

Say praise.

Yea, blessed be the name of God.

From this time forth always.

From rising sun to where it is set,

God's name is to be praised.

upon upon nations,

upon nations,

God is high.

Upon nations,

God is high.

Of hence,

his glory raise.

unto the Lord.

unto the Lord,

the Lord,

the Lord,

that dwells,

on high,

who can't compare,

himself that come,

and the Lord.

He will be the name of God.

He will be the name of God.

He will be the name of God.

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

CHOIR SINGS

Singeth man to thee, of Sam's hammer, where full of joy, praise to the Lord give thee.

Let's turn for a short time this evening now again to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, and we're going to look at this passage from verse 25 down as far as verse 37. It's entitled there, The Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10 · chapter mention Luke 10 · chapter mention

It's very obvious from reading the Gospels that Jesus was a very great observer of the world around him, an observer of the creation, an observer of the natural world.

You see how many times as you read the Gospels he drew from what he found in the natural world to illustrate his teaching.

But he was also a great observer of human beings, of human nature, of human tendencies, of human actions and human words.

And he wasn't just an observer. He was an observer that was able instantly to just weigh up what he was seeing and bring pronouncements in regard to it.

And as you find in this passage here, I think you can say that we could say that if it is a parable, it's entitled a parable, but there's nothing in the text itself that says it was a parable.

The characters and the characters and the actions and the thoughts as they were indeed set out here by Jesus were things which undoubtedly happened in the world of his day.

And it may very well be that he had seen something like this himself or been told of this as an actual event.

But in any case, it does show us that his observation of human nature, of human tendencies, was very much behind what he said here in regard to the way that he answered this lawyer and got this lawyer to think deeply about what he was really saying.

And you can see that verse 25 there,

And when that word appears in the text of Scripture, it's there as a kind of spotlight to just say, well, here's something really important coming.

But I think it's also indicative of how the Lord was constantly being sought by various people, how he didn't have much time to rest as he went about from place to place.

And here we find that it came soon after he had expressed his joy, having sent out the disciples.

The 72 returned with joy, and Jesus himself rejoiced in spirit as he heard the report of the blessing of God through them.

But he didn't have time to rest after that.

It's indicative of much of his life.

He really was hard-pressed so often by various needs, by things that were brought to him, people that were brought to him, descriptions made to him about people.

And tonight we can be greatly thankful that we have a Savior who appreciates what it is to hear about people's problems and to give his full attention to them,

even when he was tired, even when he was tired, even when he didn't have time to rest.

It is the kind of Savior that he is, the kind of person he is, the kind of Redeemer God has provided for us,

one whose interest in our well-being is so tremendous that it really overtook anything that he had with regard to himself and his own peace.

And so tonight, as we look at these verses and see that they fit into that category of people just pressing Jesus for reactions to what they were going to say to him,

look first of all at the lawyer as he questions Jesus.

I'll give some time to that, and then we'll look secondly at how Jesus reverses the lawyer's question in order to correct his thinking.

And in fact, he doesn't just correct it.

He turns it completely the other way around, and there's so much that we can learn from that as well.

But here is, first of all, this lawyer who stood up and put Jesus to the test saying,

Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Now, a lawyer here wasn't the kind of person that nowadays we describe as a lawyer,

not a solicitor or a defense lawyer or prosecutor or something like that.

This would have been probably a scribe, one of the scribes who belonged to the teaching element of God's people in those times,

who would teach the people regarding the laws of God, and very often, of course,

the laws that had been added to the law of God by the scribes, the Pharisees.

And here was somebody who was himself a religious man, a religious man as far as his own official place in the system was concerned.

And so he knew his Scripture, the Old Testament, of course, at that time.

And he came with this question to Jesus,

What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Now, as far as a reference to eternal life is concerned, this is an important question for him.

What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Although, of course, the emphasis on his doing is something that we note just in passing,

that we don't do things in order to inherit eternal life,

and yet there are things that are required of us that we may come to possess eternal life.

We need to have placed our trust in Jesus, to accept him, to receive him, as he's offered in the gospel,

so that we come, therefore, to possess through the Lord's blessing that eternal life.

But anyway, here is this lawyer, this scribe.

Let's take it, he's a scribe.

But you can see he's not coming with a real desire and a thirst to learn.

He's come to Jesus to try and catch him out.

He's come to Jesus to see how he will answer this question.

He's come really, as we say, as it's put there in verse 25, he came to put him to the test.

You see, here is this crowd listening to Jesus.

Here is this man.

He stands up all of a sudden and he says,

What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And he thinks he's going to catch Jesus out.

He's really taken with how Jesus is going to answer this question,

and he's going to assess Jesus on the basis of how he answers his question.

Of course, Jesus knows that very well.

So, he's not sincere in the way that he puts the question or the reason he puts the question to the Lord.

Now, it's always a very dangerous thing to think that you can somehow get one over the Lord,

that somehow you can actually do things in a way that just overcomes his ability or his word.

Here's a man who's in a very dangerous position.

He's religious.

He knows his Old Testament.

He knows his Bible at the time.

But he doesn't love the Lord in his heart.

He has no love for Jesus.

He has no commitment whatsoever to him.

He's just come to test him.

There's always a very dangerous thing for us to have a lot of head knowledge which is good in itself.

But then to think somehow that we can arrange our own lives,

that we can somehow just sidestep the demands, the requirements that Jesus lays before us

and the things that he requires of us,

and somehow think that, as it were, we're going to then manage by ourselves

or manage in a different way to the way that Christ's demands are set out before us.

You know tonight that that's not going to work.

And as you go through this passage tonight,

we'll see that more and more this man is being boxed into a corner

and eventually comes into a cul-de-sac, a theological cul-de-sac,

where Jesus actually forces him or brings him to just completely reverse his thinking.

We'll see that in a moment how he does it.

But you see what Jesus does.

He says, what is written in the law?

How do you read it?

And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your strength,

with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And it's important to notice that Jesus actually sent him to the Word of God.

Here was the man coming.

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What does Jesus say?

He says, go to the law.

Go to the Word of God.

Go to God's revelation.

That's where you'll find an answer to your question.

And that's again an important matter for ourselves.

One of the things that distinguishes us as a Reformed church,

a church that really prizes Reformed theology,

that goes back to the Reformation,

that goes back beyond that,

to the apostles indeed,

and to the teaching that arises out of the New Testament.

And as a Reformed church,

one of the central planks of our well-being

and our being as a church

is the truth of God

as we have it in a way that

here we're giving some,

the centrality to the gospel

that the gospel requires.

The Word of God is basic in our understanding,

basic in our thinking,

basic in our application to what life is

and what life is about.

That's how you must always think about yourself

and answering questions regarding yourself

or questions from others.

What do you think?

The first thing you think of is,

now how am I going to deal with this?

The first thing you think of is,

what does the Bible say?

Not what does the minister say?

What does the kirk session say?

Or what does such and such a church say?

What does any of those say?

Even if they're very sound

in what their thinking is about.

First thing you say is,

what does God say?

What does the Bible say?

And that means,

how is it written?

What is it written?

What is written there?

Jesus is saying,

what is written in the law?

And His response is correct.

His response is correct

up to the point of answering the question.

He says,

you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your strength,

with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.

In other words,

He went back to the law,

to the likes of Deuteronomy chapter 6,

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

where God had said to Israel,

hear, O Israel,

the Lord your God is one.

You shall love Him with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your might.

And you could add to that

the likes of Leviticus chapter 19,

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

where responsibility to your neighbor

is in different categories

set out there in Leviticus 16.

So, you could say that this man,

the scribe,

was really answering very accurately

and very knowledgeably

from the Scriptures

that he knew probably so well.

And Jesus is saying to him,

you have answered correctly,

do this and you will live.

Is Jesus saying to this man,

you've asked about how,

what you will do

to inherit eternal life,

and now I'm saying to you,

do what is written in the law

and you will have eternal life,

you will live.

Well, Jesus is not actually commending

salvation by works.

Jesus knew very, very well

that this man was not able

to keep the law

any more than anybody else,

apart from Jesus himself,

to the perfection that was required

if he was going to be saved

by his own works.

There's nothing wrong

in the principle that says,

if I was able to actually

observe the law of God

in all its requirements,

all the time,

every moment of my life,

for as long as I live,

then salvation would be

on that basis.

But we can't.

We're disqualified.

We're disqualified very obviously.

because it don't take long

from the time you get up

in the morning

to realize that you haven't

gone very far into the day

before you've sinned

in your thoughts

or in your actions,

in your speech.

And we confess our sins,

therefore,

on a daily basis,

as Jesus taught

in the Lord's Prayer.

Forgive us our trespasses,

our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

In any case,

this is what Jesus said to him.

You have spoken correctly.

Do this,

and you will live.

And then the next thing you find is

the man actually replies,

desiring to justify himself.

You see,

you can see a lot about

the character of this man,

first of all,

from the fact that he's putting

Jesus to the test,

that he thinks he's going to

outsmart Jesus

or catch him out.

And then you can see more

about his character

in verse 29,

but he,

desiring to justify himself,

desiring to justify himself,

standing in the presence

of the Son of God,

thinking he's going to

catch Jesus out.

So he says,

well,

who is my neighbor?

Well,

none of us

is going to be able

to justify ourselves

in the presence

of the Lord.

And this man

is a telling example

to us of

how we are not

to conduct ourselves

in the presence

of God.

You're not going

to outsmart the Lord.

You're not going

to catch him out.

You're not going

to box him into a corner.

It'll be the other way about,

as we'll see

with this man.

So tonight,

don't argue

in your own heart

against the Word

of God.

Don't argue

against it

when it tells you

things that you need

to know

and are required

to do

in order to come

to possess life.

Even though it is true

that you're not

going to be able

to produce

that eternal life

by your own

obedience

to the Word of God,

to the law of God,

there are many,

many things,

of course,

that Jesus,

as the Lord says to you,

are required of you

that require you

to alter your thinking,

that require you

to alter your way

of life,

the way that you go

about seeing yourself

and seeing the world

and seeing eternity.

And you know,

sometimes,

indeed,

until the Lord Himself

changes us,

until we have our minds

changed,

we're going to argue

against that.

We're going to argue

against the Scripture

that tells us,

that insists,

that today is the day

of salvation.

Today,

if you hear His voice,

don't harden your heart.

But,

and yet,

we'll still say,

no,

I'll leave it tonight.

There'll be other times.

That's arguing against God.

That's arguing against

the wisdom of God.

That's taking the mind

of Jesus

and saying,

no,

that's fine,

that's okay,

that's you saying that,

but at the moment,

I'll do it this way.

I'll do it my way.

I'll follow the path

I'm on.

And,

please look at yourself

tonight if you're here

and you're not yet

in Christ,

you're not saved.

I'm not saying this

accusingly to you.

I'm not,

I hope,

presenting the truth

to you tonight

in a way that

seeks to be judgmental.

That's not my business.

That's not my place.

That's not my right.

That's the Lord's business.

But I am seriously saying,

if you find yourself tonight

in your own heart,

secretly,

just arguing against

the argument of God Himself,

the requirements of Scripture,

the requirements of Jesus,

just think about

what that is saying.

It's really effectively

trying to justify yourself

against what the Lord

is telling you.

And that's really

what this man was doing.

He,

desiring to justify himself,

said to Jesus,

and who is my neighbor?

You see,

he's walking into

a theological cul-de-sac.

There's only going to be

one winner here

in this confrontation,

and it's not going to be

this man.

It never is.

Whenever you have

a contest

between

any of us

and Jesus Himself,

there's only going to be

one winner.

And it won't be you,

and it won't be me.

It will always be Him.

He's the Master.

He will always

come out on top.

He will always

have the last word.

His word will always

prove to be true.

So, there's the lawyer

questioning Jesus.

He's sent to the Bible.

He's sent to the Scripture.

He comes back

seeking to justify himself

with another question,

and who is my neighbor?

So, how does Jesus

then deal with that?

How does He answer

the second question

of the man?

Well, He does so

by effectively

reversing

the lawyer's question

and turning it

against Himself.

See how He does that.

He told them,

first of all,

about these three men.

Jesus said

about a man,

rather,

and three others

in the story as well.

A man went down

to Jericho

from Jerusalem,

and he fell among robbers.

He stripped him.

They beat him.

They departed,

leaving him half dead.

And then along

came a priest.

He was going down

that road.

When he saw him,

he passed by

on the other side.

So likewise,

a Levite,

when he came,

he saw him,

passed by on the other side.

It wasn't that

they didn't notice him,

but they just decided,

that's not for me.

I'm going to just pretend

I didn't see that.

I'll walk past,

go to the other side

of the road

and just make my way

that way.

And isn't it interesting

how language

that the Bible uses

has made its way

into our ordinary

everyday language

and expressions.

You know the expression

to pass by

on the other side.

Well,

this is where it comes from.

You pass by

on the other side,

you notice something

that really requires

your attention,

and you pretend

you didn't see it

unless you've seen it,

and you say,

well,

that's somebody else's business.

I'll just keep going.

I'll just mind

my own business.

I won't stop over that.

That's where it came from.

And it's here

given by Jesus

these three passers-by,

and the first two

very deliberately

by Jesus,

described in the way

He does,

you'd expect

the first two,

one of them

or other of both of them,

to have stopped

and attended

to this man.

After all,

the first person

going by

was a priest,

a religious man,

somebody who actually

had business

with the temple of God,

with the worship of God,

with the sacrificial system

of God.

He passed by

on the other side.

And then there's a Levite,

the tribe that were given

particular authority

to be in charge

of the worship system

of the temple,

passed by

on the other side.

Didn't stop,

pretended he didn't see.

And then

came a Samaritan.

Of course,

Jesus knows very well

that many of His listeners,

many of the Jews

of the time,

despised Samaritans.

And to actually hear

Jesus saying,

a priest passed by

without stopping,

a Levite passed by

without stopping,

but a Samaritan

passed by

and he stopped

and he looked

to this man

and he attended

to him in his need.

That would have been

grossly offensive,

speaking about

a Samaritan

in that way

to the Jews

of Christ's day.

And so,

Jesus is aiming

at the prejudice

against the Samaritans,

but He's using this,

He's observed this

obviously many times,

I'm sure,

in His own daily experience.

So, He's using this

in order to get

to the point

that this man,

this lawyer,

was asking this question

and to respond

to the question,

who then

is my neighbor?

And when Jesus

responded after

telling him

the story about

these three men,

these three different people,

this is what He describes.

He describes a Samaritan

as giving of his time,

of his money,

in order to care

for this poor man

who had been left

half dead

by the roadside,

having been mugged

on the way

as he went

towards Jericho.

Then Jesus,

you see,

comes and says,

Now then,

which of these three

do you think

proved to be a neighbor

to the man

who fell

among the robbers?

Now,

there are a number

of things in that

that I can just try

and highlight briefly.

There is,

first of all,

very much an emphasis

on you think.

Which of these

do you think

proved to be a neighbor

to the man

who fell

among the robbers?

And you see,

what Jesus is saying there

is,

never mind what

your contemporaries think,

never mind what

your peers think,

never mind for

those who actually

share your present views,

what they think,

and how much you may be

in the majority

with regard to these things.

Jesus is saying,

I'm asking you,

what do you think?

And you see,

that's so important

too under the gospel,

isn't it?

Because we're often

carried along

by what our peers think,

what our fellow age group think.

And of course,

that's true of all ages,

but our concern particularly

is for our young people,

the pressure that our young people

are under to conform

to worldly teaching,

to immoral teaching,

the peer group pressure,

the social media presence,

and pressure

that they're put under,

all of that,

you see,

has an effect.

And our prayer for them

to be established

in the ways of God

is taking account of that,

is for that very reason.

Because so many of them,

sadly,

are carried along

by whatever

the present thinking is

with regard to

how you treat people,

what you say

about people's condition,

people's illnesses,

people's mental health,

whatever else,

are carried along

in the tide of

peer opinion

and peer pressure.

But for us as Christians,

for all who are God's people,

it really comes down to this.

What is your thought?

What do you think?

What's your mind on this?

You can cast your mind

back over history

and right through

in the Middle Ages

from the earliest,

well,

from way back

before the Middle Ages

themselves,

right through to

the 1500s.

What did you find?

You found the church

throughout Europe

and the peer pressure

of Roman Catholic theology

and the Pope especially

heading up the system

where the pressure was

for people just to conform

to that

and just to accept that.

That's what the kind of life

that you're required to live.

That's what God is doing,

speaking through the church.

The church is saying this,

therefore it must be true.

Until you find

Reformers standing up

here and there,

culminating, I'm sure,

with Martin Luther

who stood up

and very bravely said,

no, that's not true.

People are not saved

by indulgences,

by the prayers

of priests

or whoever.

People are saved

through faith in Christ.

People are justified

in receiving,

by receiving Christ

as their Savior.

They are justified

by the grace of God,

not by the excellence

of human works.

Peer pressure

is shattered

once the truth

really comes

to engage

with people's minds.

Here's this man

and Jesus is saying to him,

which of these three

do you think

prove to be a neighbor?

And that's really

addressing me

and is addressing you tonight.

Because the Bible

and the Lord

through the Scripture

and through the preaching

of the Gospel

is not really asking tonight

about you,

asking you about

what does your

peer group think,

what does your neighbor think,

what does your family think,

what does the majority

of people in our society

think about these issues.

The Lord is concerned

to know what do I think.

What am I making

of his Gospel?

What are my opinions

about who Jesus is

and what a good,

sound,

moral,

believing life

should look like?

That's what he's saying

to us tonight.

What do you think?

You give me,

God is saying,

your opinion.

How are you using

my truth?

But you see

what he's doing.

Secondly,

he's not just saying,

what do you think?

But you see the way

he's reversed the question.

Here's the man who came,

who is my neighbor?

In other words,

he's saying to Jesus,

you tell me who my neighbor is.

You tell me who I should love.

You tell me who I should not love.

You make the differentiation.

You make the distinctions.

Then leave me to choose

who my neighbor is.

Then I will know

who I should regard as my neighbor

and who I should regard

as not my neighbor.

And therefore,

I don't need to bother with them.

That's his mind.

That's his thinking.

And what Jesus is doing

is completely reversing that

and is saying,

it's not a matter of working out

who your neighbor is,

but who you are going

to be a neighbor to.

He's not saying to,

Jesus is not saying to him,

look,

you've got to just pick

and choose

who your neighbor's going to be.

That's not the primary point at all.

Before you start thinking

of who your neighbor is,

you have to start thinking

of yourself,

who am I going to be

a neighbor to?

Wherever I find need

in the world,

how can I be a neighbor

to that person?

How can I be a help

to that person?

How can I come alongside

that person,

get down alongside

to where he or she is

and try to help them

in their predicament?

That's essentially

what Jesus is saying.

And you see how

that's completely changed

the tenor,

the thinking,

the direction

of this man's thoughts.

Who do you think

proved to be a neighbor

to the man who fell

among the robbers?

Jesus, you see,

is not allowing us

to think,

let me just think

for a moment,

Lord,

and work out

who my neighbor is,

who there is

that I need to attend to

and who it is

I need not.

The Lord is saying

to you,

to me tonight,

I need you

to be a neighbor,

to be a helper,

to be somebody

who ministers

to the need of others

irrespective of

who they are.

It doesn't matter

the color of their skin,

it doesn't matter

their background,

it doesn't matter

where they've come from

or what they've fallen into

by way of lapses

in their life.

To be a neighbor

means to take account

of human need

and to do everything

that we have open to us

to actually seek to help

in that situation.

Of course,

that is a massive challenge.

But the church's,

the application to that,

well, let's look at the,

before we come to the application,

let's look at the response

of the lawyer himself.

He said,

the one who showed him mercy.

In fact,

the older translation

is,

I suppose,

the one who showed him mercy

as if it's very reluctantly

coming to the acknowledgement

that Christ has caught him out

instead of him

catching Jesus out.

The one who showed him mercy.

Isn't it interesting?

Jesus had mentioned

the priest,

the Levite,

Samaritan.

He mentioned the Samaritan

by name,

the Samaritan,

gave him that label.

But interestingly,

when the lawyer replied,

he didn't say,

well,

it must have been

the Samaritan.

He just can't bring himself

to use the word.

He's got that much prejudice

in his mind

against the idea

of a Samaritan

actually coming to outdo

a priest and a Levite.

So he just says,

well,

the one who showed him mercy.

No,

Jesus didn't take him up

on the fact that he didn't

use the word Samaritan.

He simply said to him,

well,

you go

and do likewise.

Now you can trace

the thought patterns

of the Lord

and of this lawyer

all the way

through the passage.

And as you reach

the conclusion of it,

it's obvious,

isn't it,

that Christ is the master

of the situation.

That this man,

for all that he tried

his best to outdo Jesus

and to try and box him

into a corner,

he must actually come

to acknowledge

that Christ was right

and he was wrong.

And Jesus says to him,

well,

now you've said that,

you go

and do likewise.

He has to actually become,

if you like,

a Samaritan in practice

as described

in what Jesus

had said to him.

Now the application

of that is obviously

to us individually,

but it's also important

to us

in terms of

the church's

ministry of mercy,

ministry of doing

practical good

wherever the Lord

has set us.

And it's certainly

something we need

constantly to be

bearing in mind

and reviewing

as a congregation.

That we give ourselves

to mercy ministries

to help in every way

in which we find

people in need,

in need of our help.

God,

and whatever that help

will be

and however we

can contribute to it

practically,

financially,

prayerfully,

the Lord is saying to us,

well,

you go

and do likewise.

Don't leave it to others.

Don't pass by

on the other side.

Don't let us be

a congregation

that I know we're not,

but we have to remind

ourselves of how

important it is

that we don't

pass by on the other

side and simply say,

well,

it's a large congregation,

I'll just leave that

to somebody else

or somebody else

is more qualified.

No,

we should say,

well,

this is what my Lord

requires of me.

How can I actually

help with this?

How can I contribute

to meeting the need

that I see,

whether it's in my

congregation

or in my community,

wherever it is?

Mercy ministry

is part of the church's

work and witness

in the world.

Somebody once

went to Africa

as a missionary

and kept stressing

theology all the time.

Of course,

nothing at all wrong

with that.

Theology is a great thing

and we can't do

without it.

But one of the people

said,

well,

you know,

actually,

sir,

our people

listen with their stomach.

Our people

listen

with their stomachs.

In other words,

he was saying to them,

he was saying to the

missionary,

look,

it's fine to give us

this fine theological

teaching

and all that you're

setting out

by way of teaching,

but the practicalities

must not be neglected.

Give our people

the food.

Try and actually

arrange food for them.

Then they'll listen

better.

They listen with

their stomachs.

And that's

practically

how we have to

regard the world

out there.

The world out there

is not going to

listen to you

and to me

spouting theology,

not at least

for a start.

But they listen

to acts of mercy,

acts of kindness,

acts where we see

people in need

and that whatever

we open to us,

we actually then

seek to alleviate

that need

for that person.

There are many ways,

of course,

that we can do that.

I was just going to mention

one thing you're going

to hear about

more in days to come

and that is that

the charity

called Safe Families UK

are now established

in Stornoway.

Safe Families UK

do a tremendous work

throughout the whole

of the UK.

We have some

personal knowledge

of their work

in Scotland

through our son-in-law,

Andy Murray,

who is a manager

in the Lothian area

of Safe Families UK.

I'm not mentioning it

for that reason.

I'm mentioning it

because I met

just the other day

with the volunteer manager,

Catherine MacDonald,

who's been appointed

a volunteer manager

here in Stornoway

of Safe Families UK,

the Scottish branch of it.

And what is very obvious

is that

by and large,

people like myself,

and I'm sure

maybe many of yourselves,

are sheltered

in some way

from the plight

of people

who are indeed

in dire straits

financially

or materially

in our community,

who have

and do experience

poverty,

lack of resources,

lack of help,

lack of encouragement,

lack of support

even in a physical way.

And Safe Families

are concerned,

there'll be more publicity

given to this

in these weeks ahead,

I'm sure,

but Safe Families

are concerned

to engage volunteers

to come alongside,

to be trained by them.

It doesn't cost anything.

It doesn't cost

a congregation anything

or an individual anything,

just some time.

And some time

to get alongside

people

who maybe don't see

anybody else

from day to day.

Young single mothers

struggling with children

or people with other

different needs

to them,

but that's the kind

of world we live in.

That's the kind of

community difficulties

that we have.

And I'll just mention

it just now,

but if you're in a position

to be a volunteer

for Safe Families,

I really would commend

that to you.

And please don't think

that this is

in some way

contrary to the preaching

of the gospel

because the passage

we've got before us

lends itself very much

to me asking myself

and you asking yourself,

well, how can I fit into that?

How can I actually help

in my own community

with those people

who are in need

if I don't have access

to them personally,

myself through my own

personal direct intervention?

Can I do it

through the likes

of Safe Families?

The answer to that is yes.

And so let's really regard

that as a great opportunity

as it opens up for us

and as it opens up for us

that we too can go

and do likewise

as Jesus said

to this individual.

And may God bless

his truth to us then

to that end.

We're going to conclude

this evening

by praising God.

Psalm 112.

112 in sing-sams.

That's from page 151.

And we're singing

verses 5 to 10.

A tune is Highland Cathedral.

Good is the man

who gives and freely lends

to his affairs

with justice he attends.

Surely a righteous man

will stand secure.

His memory forever

will endure.

Though bad news comes

he will not be afraid.

His heart is firm.

He trusts the Lord for aid.

He will not be alarmed.

His heart holds fast.

He'll view his force

in triumph at the last.

He freely shares

his riches with the poor.

His righteousness

forever will endure.

And so on.

Due to the end of the psalm,

these four stands.

As good is the man

who gives and freely lends.

Amen.

Good is the man

who gives and freely lends.

To his affairs

with justice

he attends.

Surely a righteous man

will stand secure.

His memory forever will endure.

His memory forever will endure.

Though bad news comes

he will not be proudly.

His heart is firm

He will not be alarmed.

He will not be alarmed.

His heart will fast.

He will be his force

in triumph at the last.

He freely shares

his riches with the poor.

His righteousness

forever will endure.

The Lord himself

makes all his ceremony

He gives the strength

and he pray

and he pray

and he pray

and he

and him

The wicked see

in this world

feel this pain

He'll majesty

thou soon

will waste

the way

The wicked

and their grace

will come

to turn off

They

ever will

enjoy

what they

have

sold

This evening I'll go to the door

to my right

after the benediction.

Now may grace

and mercy

and peace

from God the Father

the Son

and the Holy Spirit

be your portion

now and evermore.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

pers hal