Luke Ch10v25-37 - Mercy Has No Favourites

Turn to the Word.

Frederick is going to preach from Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

That's on page 1041 in the Red Church Bible.

So we're going to read a little bit of context.

So we're going to read some of the verses in chapter 10.

Our main reading is from verse 25 and onwards.

But I'm going to read some of the verses from verse 1 onwards,

and I'll lead you through that.

So we'll start at Luke chapter 10 and verse 1.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

After this, the Lord appointed 72 others

and sent them two by two ahead of him

to every town and place where he was about to go.

He told them,

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,

to send out workers into his harvest field.

Verse 16.

Jesus says,

Whoever listens to you listens to me.

Whoever rejects you rejects me.

But whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.

And verse 21.

At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said,

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned

and have revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for this is what you are pleased to do.

And 23.

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately,

Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

For I tell you that many prophets and kings

wanted to see what you see, but did not see it,

and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.

Teacher, he asked,

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What is written in the law?

He replied,

How do you read it?

He answered,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your strength

and with all your mind

and love your neighbor as yourself.

You have answered correctly,

Jesus replied.

Do this and you will live.

But he wanted to justify himself.

So he asked Jesus,

And who is my neighbor?

In reply, Jesus said,

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho

when he was attacked by robbers.

They stripped him of his clothes,

beat him,

and went away,

leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road,

and when he saw the man,

he passed by on the other side.

So too a Levite,

when he came to the place and saw him,

passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan,

as he traveled,

came where the man was,

and when he saw him,

he took pity on him.

He went to him

and bandaged his wounds,

pouring on oil and wine.

Then he put the man on his own donkey,

brought him to an inn,

and took care of him.

The next day,

he took out two denarii

and gave them to the innkeeper.

Look after him, he said,

and when I return,

I will reimburse you

for any extra expense you may have.

Which of these three

do you think was a neighbor

to the man

who fell into the hands of robbers?

The expert in the law replied,

the one who had mercy on him.

Jesus told him,

go and do likewise.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.

Good morning, everyone.

It's wonderful, isn't it?

I'm actually happy

that it's cooler

because, yeah,

my name is Frederick Sandberg,

and I'm Swedish,

so I like it cooler,

not hotter.

I am married to Gemma.

She's an Irish girl,

and we have three kids,

and we live over in Balancholic,

and are members of Douglas Baptist.

It is a privilege

to be with you here today

to share God's word.

Today, we're going to jump

from your regular series,

John's Gospel,

here into Luke's,

but it's quite beautiful

because in God's sovereign timing,

last week,

you heard from Ralph

on loving one another,

and today,

the message has some correlations,

which is quite beautiful.

Today, we'll focus more closely

at looking at

helping people in need,

but more importantly,

that mercy has no favorites,

and we're doing this

from this very famous parable

of the Good Samaritan,

and Ross kindly,

sorry,

Sam kindly read those for us,

and I'm not going to go through

the entire parable again

because it's a very long parable,

but I'm going to go through

the chunks

because it teaches us

much more

than what you may have heard

in your regular school

or in other times.

It is a parable

that is so well known,

yet quite often

not taught correctly.

So first,

let's pray

and ask God

for his help

as we look at this together.

Father God,

we rejoice

that we can gather

here together.

Thank you for this place

that we can meet in.

Lord,

would you help me

speak clearly

with your spirit

to convict us all

to be good neighbors

to one another,

but to know

that we can do so

because of your mercy first.

we ask this

in your name,

Jesus.

Amen.

So I'm not sure

if you've heard

many Scandinavian jokes,

but as closely

neighboring countries,

Denmark,

Sweden,

Norway,

Finland,

we used to fight a lot

and more recently

we have replaced war

with war of words

and we make fun

of each other

all the time.

And for example,

one time

there was a Danish man,

a Swedish man,

and a Norwegian man,

stranded on a desert island.

And by the time

the Finnish man

came on his boat

to rescue them,

the Dane had built

a Lego theme park.

The Norwegian man

had built an oil rig

and the Swedish man,

this poor Swedish man,

was still trying

to figure out

his IKEA instructions

without any help

from his neighbors.

This is not exactly

a good picture

of being good neighbors,

right?

We see someone in need,

we should help them.

So today we have

this privilege

of looking at

a very well-known parable,

the parable of

the Good Samaritan,

and like the story

of Adam and Eve,

David and Goliath,

this is a biblical story

that the general masses

will know.

Charities are named

after it,

Samaritan's Purse,

a major charity

in the U.S.,

and closer to home,

Samaritans,

which provides

suicide prevention.

In fact,

quite recently,

myself and a friend

were walking

through Regional Park,

I do that a lot,

and right there

by the river

was a sign

stuck to the tree

saying,

Samaritans,

their phone number

and call

if you need help.

This is a story

and what it stands for

that has permeated

our society.

Being a Samaritan

is even a noun

in the dictionary.

Someone from Samaria

and someone who else

helps someone else

who is in distress

or need.

And as our title says,

mercy has no favorites,

today you are going

to think about

what mercy really means.

When you show mercy

to someone,

you show pity

and compassion

and love

to someone in need.

However,

you and me

have a great obstacle

to being good Samaritans.

Our first response,

just like my Danish

and Norwegian friends,

is first to care about me

and do what I'm interested in

or what I want.

And further,

when you have to help someone,

there's often a cost

and there sometimes

can be danger

to help someone else.

I have many times

in my work

driven long journeys,

driven by

in darkness of night

seeing a car

pulled over

at the side of the road,

probably a tire blown out,

and I've driven

straight past them

because I was either

not wanting to be inconvenienced

or I was afraid to stop.

Only to 30 minutes

down the road

sitting there thinking,

are they okay?

Was that a woman?

Was that a pregnant woman

on her own?

Was that a man

on his own?

Should I have stopped

to help?

So the question is,

do you ever

go past someone

in need

and not stop

and help them?

And finally,

it's very easy

when we do show

mercy

that we show it

to our favorite people.

Danes helping Danes,

Norwegians helping Norwegians.

you help your people

but not others.

And this is really like,

we all have our default setting.

It's like when you buy

a new TV

and you have the excitement

and then you see

your wonderful welcome screen

show up on the TV

only to know

that you're going to spend

the next hour

reprogramming the thing.

we have a default setting

of wanting to serve ourselves

that we have to reprogram.

And the parable

of the Good Samaritan

brings this face-to-face

for us

in a way

that is unmistakable.

So Jesus will challenge you

to consider

the pride of man.

Jesus will appeal to you

to consider

the pity of man.

Jesus will show you

that the true mercy

is in the pardon

of man.

Jesus will teach you

that love

and mercy

are two sides

of the same coin.

And that living

a life

of a good neighbor

is accepting

your own pride

growing in pity

and loving

your pardon.

Jesus will teach you

that mercy

has no favorites.

So let's look

at the first point

the pride of man

which is verses

24 to 28

25 to 28.

And it's important

that we think

about this

and I asked

Sam to read

the context

of these verses

because Luke chapter 10

Luke 10 · chapter mention

is about people

being on mission

going to reach

people for Jesus.

He's sending people out.

So when we think

about that context

this is about

how we interact

with others

that we meet.

So the conversation

we're about to

kind of jump into

and see

is likely taking place

in a synagogue

or some other

place of meeting

including where

disciples of Jesus

was.

And this context

is very important

as you think about

and listen to the

conversation.

So please look

with me at verse

25.

On one occasion

an expert in the law

stood up

to test

Jesus.

Teacher

he asked

what must

I do

to inherit

eternal life?

This single

expert of the law

stood up

to test

Jesus

the prophet.

in other places

we see

groups of Pharisees

or Pharisees

and lawyers

stand up

to try and

trick Jesus.

And if you

remember

18 years earlier

when Jesus

was 12

sitting in the

temple

and all

who heard him

were amazed

at his understanding

and his answers.

We're now

18 years later

from that point.

Jesus had done

many miracles

he had huge

followings

he was very much

a local

celebrity.

So there's

little doubt

that this

expert

of the

Mosaic law

knew

that he was

standing up

and challenging

the prophet.

So think about

that and keep

that in context.

And to give you

a picture of that

it is like

you or me

we're in a

court of law

with a judge

jury

defending

barrister

and a

prosecuting

barrister

barrister

but the

prosecuting

barrister

i.e.

the expert

in the law

is a

primary school

child

and the

defending

barrister

is a

university

professor.

Yet

pride

arrogance

and self

righteousness

of this

man

makes him

stand up

to challenge

Jesus

and it

should make

us cringe

to think

about that

because we

probably do

the same

thing.

Yet

the response

of Jesus

should make

you be

in all.

So the

lawyer does

ask a great

question.

What must

I do

to inherit

eternal

life?

This is a

question that

the world

has wrestled

with from

the beginning

of time

because the

question really

is what

happens to

us when

we die?

But rather

than being

a joyful

disciple

sitting at

the feet

of Jesus

to learn

from his

teacher

we see

that this

lawyer is

self-righteous

and he

wants to

test Jesus

the prophet.

And in

some ways

there are

parables to

Luke chapter

Luke 4 · chapter mention

4 when

Satan tries

to tempt

Jesus in

the wilderness.

Satan

tests or

tempts

Jesus,

the word

in Greek

is actually

the same,

and Satan

tests Jesus

with the

scriptures,

and in

the final

test of

Jesus,

Jesus responds

with the

scriptures,

it is said

you shall

not put

the Lord

your God

to the

test,

which is

quoting

Deuteronomy

6.16.

Jesus

answers the

lawyer like

he answered

Satan with

the scriptures.

Through this

interaction,

Jesus is

teaching his

disciples how

to answer

even the

most forcible

challenge with

the truth of

the word.

It is also

a powerful

lesson for

us.

As a good

defense lawyer,

Jesus answers

the question

with a

question.

What is

written in

the law?

He replied.

How do

you read

it?

Jesus puts

the weight

back on

the lawyer.

What is

written in

the Mosaic

Law,

and how do

you interpret

it?

This is like

you and

me.

We can

read the

scriptures,

but then we

actually need

to think about

what they

mean.

The lawyer,

in his

prideful and

self-righteous

way,

pulls out

the big

guns of

the Mosaic

Law,

only for

them to

greatly

backfire

right in

his face.

He answers

with Deuteronomy

6.5,

with an

addition from

Leviticus 19,

Leviticus 19:18

verse 18.

I'll read

them for us.

He answered,

Love the

Lord your

God with

all your

heart and

with all

your soul

and with

all your

strength and

with all

your mind,

Deuteronomy

6.5,

and love

your neighbor

as yourself,

which is

Leviticus 19.18.

The lawyer,

who is an

expert in

the Old

Testament

Law,

was probably

thinking,

let's see

how he

answers this.

I've given

a textbook

answer,

there's no

way he

can come

back on

this.

And it

is ironic

that the

lawyer chooses

this very

part of the

law of

Deuteronomy

6,

which is

why I

mentioned

the story

about Jesus

and Satan

in the

wilderness,

because only

a few

lines later

it says

you should

not test

the Lord

your God.

But then

Jesus answers

with an

unexpected

counter-argument.

You have

answered

correctly,

Jesus replied.

Do this

and you

will live.

And if

at this

point the

lawyer thought

he had

won the

case,

the conversation

would have

been done.

He would

have sat

back down,

the conversation

would have

been over,

but it

was not.

The

lawyer who

was an

expert in

the law,

someone who

knew the

Mosaic law

inside and

out,

was forced

to consider

the words

of Jesus,

but not

only the

words of

Jesus,

the law

itself,

and how

it applied

to him.

It is

like the

prosecuting

lawyer

brought a

motion of

appeal for

the judge

to give

an answer

on,

and only

as he is

presenting the

motion himself

he is

realizing

that the

motion itself

is about to

get his

case thrown

out of

court.

The motion

of appeal

was,

you must

surely be

able to

inherit eternal

life.

It only

says you

should love

the Lord

your God.

And then

he presents

the points

of the

appeal

with all

your heart,

like all

the time,

like really

all the time,

not one

moment of

fear,

anxiety,

jealousy,

or anger.

And the

judge says,

motion

denied.

With all

your soul,

with your

complete inner

being,

with not

one trace

of darkness,

motion

denied.

With all

your strength,

not any

strength used

for anything

else,

motion

denied.

with all

your mind,

not even

one wrong

thought,

not one

thought of

lust,

not one

thought of

anger,

not one

sinful

thought.

Motion

denied.

And

finally,

always

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

You have

to willingly

give your

neighbor everything

you have,

never ignoring

their needs,

always putting

your neighbor

first.

Motion

denied.

This is not

a good day

in court

for this

lawyer.

His case

is about

to be

thrown

out.

If

doing

things,

fulfilling

the law,

which in

today's

context is

doing religious

rituals like

baptism,

communion,

confirmation,

attending

church,

just to

check boxes

to get

into eternal

life,

to be

with God

in heaven,

then,

I'm sorry,

but your

motion for

appeal for

eternal life

is also

denied.

Jesus has

just shown

us that

there is

no way

we can

earn our

way to

heaven.

Yet your

hearts have

a default

setting that

you believe

that you are

righteous.

So will

you react

like the

lawyer,

even when

you know

you're

wrong,

to try

and change

the law

so that

you are

right.

Let's

look at

the next

part of

this

conversation

and how

we look

at the

pity of

man.

The

lawyer

realizes

his case

is about

to be

thrown

out of

court,

so he

tries to

justify

himself.

Look

with me

at

verse

29.

But

he,

the

lawyer,

wanted

to

justify

himself,

so he

asked

Jesus,

and who

is my

neighbor.

The

lawyer

realized

that he

could not

fulfill

the law,

so he

moves to

try and

defend

himself

and

change

the

law.

It's

like you

and I,

we have

our own

inner

eternal

barrister.

Our

hearts

instantly

try and

defend

ourselves

when

someone

challenges

us.

Or

when we

read

scripture

and we

read

perfectly

well

what we

can see,

but then

it's

challenging

us

and we

immediately

start to

defend

ourselves

or we

start

trying to

change

what that

really

means.

This

question

is actually

a second

test

that is

a lot

more

subtle.

Let me

read you

the full

verse

from

Leviticus

1918.

It

actually

says,

you shall

not take

a vengeance

or bear

a grudge

against the

sons of

your own

people,

but you

shall

love

your

neighbor

as

yourself.

I

am

the

Lord.

If the

words

the

expert

of the

law

was

quoting

back

to

Jesus

actually

specified

already

who

the

neighbor

is,

why

ask

this

question

of

Jesus?

Because

it was

another

test.

Even

when

Jesus

has

presented

overwhelming

evidence

that the

lawyer's

case was

going to

be

rejected,

he

still

tried

to

bend

and

weasel

himself

out

of where

he

was.

But

Jesus,

who knows

the

law

inside

out

and

knows

the

heart

and

mind

of

the

expert

of

the

law

just

like

he

knows

every

single

thought

of

yours,

instead

answers

with

this

famous

parable

that

Sam

read

for

us.

And

because

it's

very

long,

I'm

not

going

to

go

through

it

line

by

line

because

we

would

be

here

for

a

long

time.

But

I

want

to

bring

it

closer

to

them

would

have

been

absolutely

shocking.

It

is like

a movie

when the

barrister

gets up

and all

of a

sudden

he

brings

in

four

brand

new

key

witnesses.

To

help me

illustrate

this,

I want

to bring

the

location

and

the

main

characters

closer

to

home

here

in

character

line.

We

have

four

characters.

The

man

beaten

within

an

inch

of

his

life

lying

on

the

ground.

We

have

the

priest,

the

Levite,

the

Samaritan.

We

have

a

location,

the

road

from

Jerusalem

to

Jericho.

This

is a

notoriously

dangerous

road,

big

mountain

sides

going

way,

way

down

and

was

a

very

easy

place

for

robbers

to

attack

people.

What

would

be

a

place

closer

to

home

that

would

be

very

similar

to

this?

Let's

say

we're

walking

down

St.

Patrick

Street

in

Cork

City

and

we

have

to

go

down

one

of

those

very

dark

side

streets.

I'm

6'3

and

202

many

pounds.

I'm

scared

to

go

down

those

side

streets.

Let's

say

that

the

man

lying

on

the

floor

in

one

of

those

side

streets

off

St.

Patrick

Street

is

a

teacher

from

here

in

one

of

the

schools

in

Carragoline

who's

been

set

about

by

a

group

of

thugs.

So

who

would

the

priest

would

be

a

Catholic

priest

for

example

walking

home

from

a

day's

work.

The

Levite

who

were

servants

in

the

temples

could

be

a

deacon

from

a

Baptist

church

also

walking

on

his

way

home.

Both

men

saw

the

injured

man.

They

didn't

just

walk

by

and

not

see

him.

They

saw

him.

And

they

didn't

just

walk

by

him.

They

walked

to

the

other

side

of

the

road

and

kept

on

going.

Just

picture

this

in

your

mind

for

a

moment.

Now

let us

consider

who

would

the

Samaritan

be

today.

The

Samaritan

could

be

someone

like

an

immigrant

from

another

part

of

the

world

simply

traveling

through

Cork.

The

priest

and

deacon

saw

and

rejected

this

man

in

need.

The

immigrant

saw

and

had

pity

on

this

man

by

acting.

By

doing

something

about

it.

The

immigrant

took

care

of

him,

put

this

injured

teacher

in

his

own

car,

brought

him

down

to

the

Mater

private

hospital

and

gave

them

two

days

worth

of

wages.

One

denarii

is

a

day's

wage.

So

two

days

wages

!

is

a

lot

of

money.

But

he

doesn't

just

say

that.

He

says,

please

take

care

of

him.

Anything

else

it

costs,

I

will

pay

when

I

come

back.

This

parable

is

very

uncomfortable

when

you

look

at it

from

the

equivalent

perspective

that

Jesus

was

teaching

it.

I

always

wondered

if there

would

be

outrage

or

complete

silence

after

Jesus

spoke

to

us.

But

we

have

other

places

when

Jesus

did

get

chased

out

of

town.

On

this

occasion

the

conversation

went

on,

so I

think

you

could

have

heard

a

needle

drop

on

the

ground.

The

lawyer

tried

to

test

and

catch

Jesus

just

like

we

try

and

do

far

too

often.

Jesus

responded

by bringing

in

four

new

witnesses.

The

expert

of the

law

brought

law

and

self

righteousness

but

rather

than

bringing

down

a

sledge

hammer

Jesus

answers

with

pity

just

like

he

has

answered

you

and

me

with

pity.

Even

pity

when we

try

to

test

Jesus.

So

let's

look at

the

final

part

the

pardon

of

man

verses

36

to

37

Jesus

asked

the

lawyer

which

of

these

three

do

you

think

was

a

neighbor

to

the

man

who

fell

into

the

hands

of

the

robbers

the

expert

in

the

law

replied

the

one

who

had

mercy

on

him

Jesus

told

him

go

and

do

likewise

the

case

was

closed

Jesus

let

the

lawyer

and

those

listening

see

that

mercy

not

law

is

what

gives

you

access

to

eternal

life

that

the

pardon

of

man

the

pardon

of

us

all

being

put

into

the

prison

of

hell

comes

from

mercy

not

law

and

we

are

not

told

how

this

lawyer

responded

but

I

really

hope

that

his

eyes

were

opened

or

maybe

even

that

he

would

be

alive

when

the

crucifixion

and

resurrection

took

place

and

that

he

would

come

to

have

a

saving

faith

mercy

always

conquers

law

and

religious

practice

love

always

conquers

law

and

religious

practice

the

mercy

of

God

has

no

favorites

his

mercy

is

available

to

all

of

us

and

if

Father

God

had

favorites

your

motion

of

appeal

for

eternal

life

would

be

a

big

problem

we