Part 3.

Steve Gentry

[0:01] It was a wet one this morning. [0:04] I looked outside and now the sun is shining. [0:06] It was very convenient for us that it started shining after we set everything up. [0:11] It’s all good. [0:12] I thank you guys for coming. Welcome to the Village. [0:14] My name is Steve. One of the pastors here.

[0:17] I just want to let you guys know that under your chair is what we call connection cards. [0:22] If you’re new here and you’ve never filled one of those out, we just want to connect with you. [0:26] We asked that you fill one of those out and put it in the offering box in the back afterwards [0:30] so that we can connect with you, so that we can talk to you, so that I can bother you, [0:35] I don’t know, whatever you want to feel that it is. [0:37] But we really want to connect with you.

[0:39] We’re about more than just having a service here. [0:41] We’re about connecting and building relationships with people and coming together [0:45] to learn just how it is that we can follow God, how it is that we can worship God with our entire lives. [0:51] And that takes a lot more than an hour on Sundays. [0:54] It takes a lifetime. [0:55] And we’re not meant to do it alone.

[0:57] We’re meant to do it together. [0:59] Because if we’re honest with ourselves, on our own, we’re pretty powerless. [1:04] And we’re pretty needy people. [1:05] And we need each other. [1:07] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to the book of Luke, chapter 10. [1:12] Got a lot to get through.

[1:14] So let’s go ahead and get started. [1:16] But in Luke chapter 10, we’re going to deal with another tough saying of Jesus. [1:21] It’s a little more of a familiar one. [1:23] A little one that we’re kind of used to. [1:25] One that we’re kind of used to even saying in pop culture. [1:29] If somebody helps someone in need, it’s just, well, aren’t you a good Samaritan?

[1:35] It’s one of those things that we kind of take lightly. [1:38] And one of those things that we say of others. [1:40] And sometimes, if we’re honest, we even say it of ourselves sometimes. [1:43] Well, you know, I helped that guy today. [1:45] He had a flat tire. I stopped. I helped him. [1:47] I am such a good Samaritan.

[1:49] You know, and we kind of just kind of take pride in those things. [1:53] But today, we’re going to talk about that story a little bit differently. [1:55] That story, what Jesus is talking about in the story, [1:58] is a little different than what you might think He’s talking about. [2:02] And just to kind of recap, over the past few weeks, [2:04] we’ve been talking about no perfect people allowed.

[2:07] Now in the village, we don’t allow perfect people. [2:09] Mostly because there are no perfect people. [2:12] The first week, we covered the topic of Jesus versus religion. [2:16] And is it good to be religious? [2:19] Will religion get you to Jesus? [2:22] And we talked about the fact that each and every one of us struggle

[2:25] with this moral code of ethics that we try to follow. [2:29] These rights and wrongs that we try to follow in order to earn some credit with God. [2:35] In order to get us closer to God. [2:37] If we don’t do wrong and we do right, then will we get closer to God? [2:43] And we found out the first week that we won’t. [2:46] Because no matter how much right we do, deep down inside, there is still wrong.

[2:51] There is still sin in each and every one of us. [2:54] And those rights don’t cancel out our wrongs and in all actuality, [2:57] all it does is make us depend on ourselves and not on God. [3:01] And then last week we talked about Jesus versus hypocrisy. [3:05] And the fact that if you follow a system of right and wrong to earn your keep with God, [3:11] what actually happens is it turns you into a hypocrite.

[3:13] A hypocrite who kind of chooses what’s convenient for us to do. [3:19] And at the end of the day what it does is it makes us kind of clean up the outside. [3:23] And it makes us try to look really pretty on the outside so that the world can see how good we are. [3:28] And so that even God, if he’s not looking on the inside, he sees how good we are. [3:32] But Jesus really condemns people for that. [3:34] And he says, no matter how much you dress up the outside, on the inside, he calls you dead.

[3:41] He says you are in need of transformation and transformation that can only come from God through his son Jesus. [3:49] And today we’re just going to keep going and we’re going to go to the next logical step in this progression. [3:54] And that’s Jesus versus pride. [3:56] Because the fact of the matter is, if you’re religious and if you’re a hypocrite, [3:59] deep down inside of you there is pride, rear in its ugly head, right at you. [4:05] And today we’re going to talk about that and we’re going to use the story of the Good Samaritan

[4:08] to show what pride really looks like and why pride is really so hard and honestly why we all struggle with it. [4:16] Pride is something that each and every day all of us struggle with. [4:19] But let’s go ahead, open your Bible to Luke chapter 10 and I’m going to start reading in verse 25.

[4:27] Jesus is standing and he’s talking to a group of people, his disciples, and then there’s some Pharisees and some scribes. [4:32] He’s reading, behold a lawyer stood up to him, excuse me, to put him to the test saying, [4:39] Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [4:45] He said to him, what is written in the law? [4:49] How do you read it? [4:51] So this lawyer stands up and what a lawyer is in this day, a lawyer is a scribe.

[4:55] It’s not a lawyer like nowadays who goes to the court and he gives lawsuits or he defends criminals. [5:00] A lawyer in this day is a scribe, a lawyer is someone who has committed his life to reading scripture, [5:06] to studying the law of Moses and interpreting it for the people. [5:10] So a lawyer and a scribe are the same thing in the first century. [5:13] We talked about scribes last week. [5:15] And so this lawyer stands up to put Jesus to the test.

[5:21] And he looks at Jesus and he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? [5:24] And Jesus kind of shoots the ball right back at him and says, well, you know what the law says, right? [5:31] He is a lawyer. [5:32] He’s committed his life to teaching the law. [5:34] And he says, what does it say? [5:38] And he looks back and he answers, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

[5:46] with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. [5:52] And he said, you have answered correctly. [5:55] Do this and you will live. [5:57] But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

[6:08] So last week we had Jesus talking to the Pharisees directly after he says, [6:13] love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. [6:18] Jesus says this to a crowd. [6:19] This week, a man comes to ask Jesus, how do I get eternal life? [6:23] And Luke records that this lawyer looks back at Jesus and gives Jesus this command. [6:31] Obviously, he’s been around.

[6:33] He’s heard Jesus speaking. [6:34] He’s heard Jesus sum up the law. [6:37] And this is actually not a strange thing for people to do because in these two things you can sum up the entire law. [6:44] So when Jesus in the great commandment looks at the first century Israel and he says, love God and love people, [6:49] he’s not giving them something ground breaking. [6:52] He’s giving them something that they’re actually accustomed to.

[6:56] When we think about the Old Testament, sometimes we think, especially in the first century with the Pharisees and the people that were coming after Jesus, [7:03] we think that they are clueless about love, that they have no idea that that’s what the law is about. [7:08] But here we have someone that is steeped in the law actually looking back at Jesus saying the great commandment. [7:16] And what Jesus does to him, he says, well, you’re absolutely right.

[7:21] Do this. [7:23] You’ll inherit eternal life. [7:24] You’ll get it. [7:25] You’ll get what you want. [7:26] If eternal life is what you’re looking for, if you obey me, you will get it.

[7:32] But then the scripture kind of takes a funny turn because if I’m in the story and I’m telling Jesus this and Jesus looks back at me, [7:38] and says, you’re absolutely right, well, what else is there? [7:42] But the scriptures say that this man looks back at Jesus in order to justify himself and says, well, can you then tell me who my neighbor is?

[7:56] This is where the story kind of takes an interesting turn because in something that Jesus said, this man is greatly offended.

[8:05] In something that Jesus is telling him, he is completely found to not understand. [8:14] Because he, instead of doing the loving thing and saying, Jesus, how can I then be a better neighbor than I am? [8:21] Or even if he had turned it and said, and Jesus, how can I be more loving to those around me? [8:26] That would make sense. [8:28] But instead he looks at Jesus to justify himself and he says, and Jesus, who is my neighbor? [8:32] Instead of accepting what Jesus says, he says, Jesus, you then tell me how I can obey the law.

[8:41] What we find in what this man is saying, we find that he’s looking for a way out because he knows the truth of himself. [8:47] He knows who he really is. [8:49] He’s trying to not simply ask Jesus a question, but to catch Jesus in an error.

[8:57] The question that comes out of this to me though is what is pride? [9:02] Let’s start at A and then let’s get to B. [9:04] Because we’ve got to kind of establish something here. [9:07] Is there anything wrong with what this man is saying? [9:11] If you’re in first century Israel, you wouldn’t think so. [9:15] Because if you’re in first century Israel, you are the people of God.

[9:20] You’re kind of above everybody else in that God has chosen you to be his people. [9:25] And all of your life is based around completely staying pure, completely staying moral, completely staying unstained from the people around you. [9:34] So what this man is actually doing is he’s looking at Jesus and saying, Jesus, if this is the law,

[9:42] then tell me, I can’t possibly dirty myself with everyone, so can you specifically tell me who my neighbor is? [9:50] Because in his mind, he knew who he thought his neighbor was. [9:55] Other Israelites, other Jews.

[9:58] But he doesn’t want to admit that this extends outside of where he wants it to be. [10:05] What is pride? [10:06] Pride is where he was. Pride is starts. [10:12] It is basically self-worship. [10:15] In Romans 1, Paul’s writing, and he tells us that all sin boils down to one thing. [10:20] That’s idolatry. Idolatry is worshiping something other than God.

[10:24] Pride at its root is worshiping yourself rather than worshiping God. [10:30] And the people of Israel, especially the scribes, had set themselves up above everyone else in the world and did not see others as being equal to themselves. [10:41] So when you tell them, love your neighbor as yourself, they define neighbor as other Jews.

[10:49] And so he’s looking at Jesus saying, well, Jesus, how far does this go? [10:55] Because what he has actually done is he has set himself up above God in who can define how to obey the law. [11:05] Because in the Old Testament, when God gives the law to Israel, what he is doing is he’s giving them a picture of himself, a compromise, saying, [11:13] if you do these things, you will resemble me to the rest of the world. [11:19] And if you resemble me to the world, then the world will repent of their sins and they will come and they will stand alongside you and they will worship me as well.

[11:31] And what Israel had done is to instead get the law and get this picture of how we can measure up to God’s standards. [11:41] And they had set themselves apart from everyone else and have said, we have the law. [11:45] They do not. We cannot be in their presence.

[11:52] So when he asks, who is my neighbor, he’s still trying to trip Jesus up.

[12:00] Because what Israel had done is they had exchanged the mission that God had given them for their own mission. [12:09] One that they were comfortable with. One that did not cause them to actually love the world. [12:17] One that could help them just to love themselves and to worship themselves and to be full of pride in who they were. [12:28] Pride starts with you exchanging worship for God with worship of yourself. [12:35] And that is where this lawyer finds himself. Pride is the enemy of love.

[12:43] Like I said, if this man had looked at Jesus and said, Jesus, then tell me, how can I be more loving to everyone?

[12:52] Then we really wouldn’t have had to go any further. Because we would have seen that he’s obviously been transformed by God. [12:58] But instead, he says, who’s my neighbor? [13:02] As you can see, pride is the enemy of love.

[13:07] If you have pride inside of yourself, if you are a prideful person, then you set yourself up against love and you don’t even know what love is. [13:19] And this is where we find this man. And this is why Jesus catches him with a story that is shocking to them. [13:28] Let’s see what Jesus says. Start with me in verse 30.

[13:33] Jesus replied. It would have been easy if Jesus had just said, everyone’s your neighbor. [13:39] And Jesus replied, everyone. Okay, end of story. We’ve really failed. We’ll repent.

[13:44] Jesus gives a story. He gives a parable. And I’ll explain why. [13:48] Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. [13:53] Jerusalem’s up on a mountaintop and you have to walk down anywhere. [13:57] So he’s walking down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. [14:06] Now by chance, a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. [14:13] So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

[14:19] So Jesus is catching the scribe right where he really is. [14:23] Because a man has been going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers have caught him. [14:29] They’ve beaten him. They’ve robbed him of everything he has. [14:32] He’s laying on the side of the road that hundreds of people walk down. [14:36] This is not an untraveled path. And a high priest, excuse me, a priest from Israel walks by. [14:43] This is the religious person of that day. This is the person that can offer sacrifices for you.

[14:48] He walks right by the man. He sees someone hurt. He sees someone bleeding. [14:54] And in his mind, he immediately thinks impure.

[15:01] I have to distance myself from this broken person.

[15:06] And he walks on by.

[15:10] Then likewise, a Levite. The Levites, this is someone, the tribe of Levi in Israel, [15:15] is the tribe that is the descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses. [15:19] And the ones that could trace their roots directly back to Aaron became priests. [15:23] But if you were a Levite, if you were in the nation of Levi, [15:26] and you could not trace your roots all the way back to Aaron, you became an assistant to a priest. [15:34] So most Levites were assistants to priests.

[15:36] So a priest is walking down the road. There’s going to be a Levite nearby. [15:40] And this Levite passes by. And he sees this broken man. [15:43] And he thinks in his mind, impure, can’t touch. Let me go on by him. [15:46] I don’t want to dirty myself up. I’ve got sacrifices to help offer, right? [15:51] So he walks on by.

[15:55] Not helping the world. Not helping the needy. [15:58] But then Jesus really offends him. So far he hasn’t offended him. [16:02] Because, you know, in the mind, the lawyer is like, well, that makes sense. [16:04] Maybe they had a sacrifice they had to go offer. [16:06] Somebody else was surely going to walk by. [16:09] Jesus keeps going.

[16:13] He says in verse 33,

[16:43] Two days wages in that day.

[17:04] Jesus uses a person who the Jew, especially a lawyer, especially a priest, especially a Levite, [17:11] would say, this is not my neighbor. [17:17] I don’t know if you know who the Samaritans were. [17:19] But the Samaritans lived in an area north of Judea. [17:22] They had their own little village. [17:24] And what had happened is, back before the New Testament was written,

[17:28] Assyria had invaded Israel and actually taken over. [17:31] And there was a group in this area who the Assyrians had come to before they had gotten to Jerusalem. [17:36] And they had basically imprisoned this group of Jews. [17:39] And what happened was, is that through malicious rape, through just relationships, [17:45] the Assyrians had begun to marry and have children with these Jews. [17:49] Which to a Jew is totally unclean.

[17:50] Because remember, they had to separate from everyone else. [17:53] And so what happens is, you basically have somebody that’s half Assyrian and half Jew. [17:57] And if you were a first century Israelite in that day, [18:00] you’re looking at these people and saying, they are unclean. [18:03] So the Jews had separated themselves completely from the Samaritans, [18:06] Setting up a just a continual generational hatred between two groups of people.

[18:13] The Samaritans hated the Jews and the Jews hated the Samaritans. [18:15] You’ve probably heard that the Jews hated the Samaritans. [18:17] But the Samaritans hated the Jews just as much. [18:21] Because remember, Israel had totally abandoned them.

[18:25] And what they did is because of the religious and the generations of hatred that had taken place, [18:32] they had rewritten the Old Testament. [18:35] They took the first five books of the Old Testament and rewrote it [18:39] so that they could get to God and the Jews could not. [18:43] And they said, if you want to worship God, you have to come to Samaria and worship him on our mountain. [18:46] Those people over in Jerusalem, they can’t worship God. We can.

[18:50] So these are two groups of people that absolutely hate each other. [18:53] And if you’re defining who a neighbor is to a first century Jew, the Samaritans are not their neighbors. [18:58] But instead of saying, well the Samaritans are your neighbor. [19:02] Jesus tells this interesting story where the Israelites, the Jews, the people of Judah, [19:07] they pass by the man. Then a Samaritan comes by, saves him. [19:15] Goes above and beyond. He doesn’t just bandage him up and say, hey have a great day.

[19:19] Puts him on his donkey, takes him to an inn, takes care of him for a period of time, [19:25] leaves the inn, then goes to the innkeeper and says, hey, I’m going to give you some money. [19:30] Take care of this man and if this money runs out, I will come back later and I am going to pay everything that’s in need. [19:38] And instead of saying, well that Samaritan is your neighbor. [19:42] Instead, he says in the story, who was a neighbor to the hurting man?

[19:48] And of course at the end there, the scribe says, the one who showed mercy.

[19:56] So here we have this story. It’s an interesting story. [20:00] It’s one that we tell our kids and children’s church. [20:03] And the moral of the story is, be loving to everyone. Love all people.

[20:10] No, that is not the moral of the story. [20:14] I told you, you’re going to hear something a little different today. [20:17] The moral of the story is not to love people. [20:20] I mean, granted, you should love people. [20:23] But that’s not what this story is actually about. [20:27] This story is not Jesus telling them about love.

[20:32] This story is Jesus telling them about their incapability to love.

[20:41] Jesus gets this question from him and poses him a question and tells him a story. [20:45] And at the end of the story, Jesus does not look back and say, okay, I’ve told you this story. [20:49] Now you need to be like those Samaritans because they’re way more loving than you guys are. [20:53] So you need to go up there. You need to have some reparations. [20:56] You need to have some community meetings. You need to repair your relationships. [20:59] You guys should move in with each other. You should be neighbors.

[21:02] You should know each other’s lawns on the weekend. [21:04] And this will fix everything that’s ever happened and you will be more loving. [21:09] There’s only one problem with that interpretation of the story. [21:12] That interpretation of the story can make me more prideful.

[21:18] Because if I interpret the story this way, then I inside of myself can just fix this problem. [21:24] And say, well, I’ve obviously not been full of love. [21:27] Now I will fill myself up with love and I will love people that I have not loved before. [21:32] That neighbor who keeps hitting balls in my backyard, I’m going to go get those balls. [21:35] Actually, I’m going to go up to Dick’s and I’m going to buy brand new balls. [21:38] I’m going to give them to his kids. I’m going to stop yelling at them.

[21:40] I’m just going to love these people. I’m going to love everybody. [21:43] We’re all going to hug at the end of the day.

[21:47] That’s not what happens here. [21:49] That’s not what happens. [21:52] This story is not about the fact that they need to love. [21:54] This story is Jesus telling them that it’s impossible for them to love. [21:58] They don’t have the capability inside of themselves to love anyone. [22:04] This story also finds us completely bankrupt.

[22:07] This story finds us so empty and so incapable of love.

[22:13] At the end of the day, we don’t even know what it is.

[22:18] If I looked into your personal life and you looked into my personal life,

[22:23] we would find people that we just hate. [22:29] That we just dislike. [22:31] That we have zero love for them. [22:35] At the end of the day, we can come up with a list of reasons why. [22:38] Then we can justify ourselves as to why we don’t want to be their neighbor. [22:44] You don’t know what that person did to me.

[22:49] I’m going to justify. I don’t like them. [22:50] They hate me. I hate them. [22:52] We’ve been doing it a long time. We’re just going to keep doing it. [22:55] Just generation after generation of people finding either groups of people [22:58] or even individual people that they don’t have to love based on something that they did. [23:04] Or something that their father or mother did.

[23:07] Or something that their president or leader did. [23:10] We’ve just got this whole system set up of justice inside of humanity [23:14] that is based on what we think justice and righteousness look like.

[23:21] And we define that. [23:25] That is pride because that is us usurping God’s authority over us. [23:32] That is us saying, [23:33] The great commandment of Jesus is to love God and love people. [23:38] We’ll do this and then we look back. [23:40] But God, you have to define who my neighbors are.

[23:44] You have to help me here because they can’t be. [23:47] I will help these people because they’re like me. [23:50] They’re awesome.

[23:53] It’s all love them. But them?

[23:56] Jesus looks back at us and says, you can define that really. [24:02] He tells us stories.

[24:05] And then we continue to try to do the same thing over again. [24:09] Remember last week. [24:10] Last week we talked about how the Pharisees were total hypocrites. [24:13] Why? They were hypocrites because [24:17] they were dirty on the inside and clean on the outside. [24:21] What they needed was for God to completely transform their lives from the inside out.

[24:27] Because Jesus told them, you tithe and that’s really good. [24:31] But you’ve neglected the way to your matters. [24:33] Mercy, justice and faithfulness. [24:37] Remember they were incapable of mercy, justice and faithfulness. [24:39] Because mercy, justice and faithfulness do not come from the outside. [24:43] They come from the heart. They come from the inside.

[24:46] They come from what motivates us. [24:49] So does love.

[24:51] You can look like you love someone. [24:55] People do it all the time.

[24:57] But then when they get by themselves, the truth comes out.

[25:01] I hate them. [25:03] I have to be nice to them all day at work.

[25:07] Or better yet, go to a family reunion.

[25:11] Oh, it’s so good. It’s been 15 years since I’ve seen you. [25:15] You look good. How you been? [25:17] You get home and I know why I haven’t seen them in 15 years. Jerks.

[25:22] This is the human condition. [25:24] We’re all like this. [25:26] This is who we are. [25:28] We are lost people, incapable of earning God’s approval. [25:33] Because no matter how much right we try to do, [25:35] at the end of the day, on the inside, we’re still dirty.

[25:38] And Jesus is telling them a story about how dirty they are. [25:43] But you see the key is in this story. [25:45] Jesus is the source of love. [25:48] Jesus is defining love for them. [25:53] See, if you look inside of this story, remember it’s a parable. [25:56] It’s not a true story.

[25:58] And we start looking at the cast of characters. [26:00] This story takes on a whole new light. [26:04] He’s not telling them to be loving, but the question is what is he doing? [26:08] Well, what is he doing in the story? He’s preaching the gospel to them. [26:11] Remember, you have religious people. [26:14] You have Israel. You have their priests walking by this man.

[26:18] You have a man who has been beaten, who is hurt, who is dying.

[26:27] Then you have an unlikely hero who no one would ever define as being the one [26:34] with any help and any salvation inside of him come. [26:40] And he saves the broken, the bleeding, the hurt, the bankrupt. [26:45] And he doesn’t just give them a band-aid. [26:51] No, he completely fixes their condition. [26:55] Puts them in an entirely new life.

[26:58] And sets them on an entirely new path.

[27:04] Jesus is explaining why religion is counterfeit. [27:10] And why salvation is coming through a place that they did not expect. [27:17] In the book of Isaiah, there’s a couple of chapters between chapter 42 and chapter 53 [27:22] where God speaks through the prophet Isaiah. [27:26] And he tells Israel, he says, you have been my disobedient servant. [27:30] I set you up to show salvation to the entire world.

[27:34] And you’ve been disobedient. [27:35] Because of that, I’m going to send a different servant, a suffering servant. [27:41] And through that suffering servant, I am going to save the entire world. [27:46] And then in chapter 53, he says, but in order to do that, I am going to have to crush him. [27:52] I’m going to have to beat him. I’m going to have to kill him. [27:57] But he is going to, through that, bring salvation to the entire world.

[28:04] It’s not through religion. [28:07] It’s not through fake obedience that leads to hypocrisy. [28:10] It’s not through pride of us being better looking or better acting [28:15] than other people that salvation can come. [28:18] Jesus tells them the story of the good Samaritan to show them [28:22] it is through him that salvation comes.

[28:26] Jesus is the good Samaritan.

[28:32] Jesus is looking at a people who are looking for every reason [28:36] to catch him in a crime so that they can kill him and say, [28:41] I am bringing salvation to a world that needs it. [28:45] I’m not simply bringing salvation to Israel. [28:49] That’s too small. I want to save the entire world. [28:53] And it’s not going to look like you think it’s going to look.

[28:56] Because you think you’re going to do it. [28:58] But I’m going to come in and I’m going to serve. [29:01] And I’m going to help the people that you won’t help. [29:04] I’m going to die for the people that you won’t help. [29:06] I’m going to sacrifice myself, my life, my all for the people that you will not help. [29:14] Because you are so prideful and you are so stuck on worshipping yourself.

[29:19] You’re not doing anyone else any good. [29:21] And remember last week in Matthew 23, he says, [29:23] Because anybody that follows you becomes twice a child of hell as you are.

[29:30] And I can’t help but sometimes look at how we do church today.

[29:38] And say sometimes we as people that say we follow God, [29:41] look at God and say, God who is my neighbor?

[29:48] Because we have salvation.

[29:57] The human condition hasn’t changed at all since the first century. [30:00] We’re the same as they were. [30:01] We want to pretend like we’re not. [30:03] We want to pretend that we’re not like Israel. [30:05] We want to pretend that we can have love from inside of ourselves. [30:08] But at the end of the day, like I said, when Jesus stands in front of us,

[30:12] we still look back and say, who’s my neighbor? [30:14] And Jesus says, you’re right, you can’t love. [30:17] But I’m going to come in and I’m going to change you. [30:20] I’m going to save you. [30:23] Because what Jesus is telling them is you cannot love until you experience redemption.

[30:33] You cannot love on your own. [30:37] You can’t really love anyone on your own.

[30:41] We think we can. [30:43] But unless we know Jesus, unless we know God, unless we know sacrifice, [30:50] unless we know just how dirty we are, [30:52] unless we know what it took to save us that it didn’t come from inside of ourselves, [30:58] we cannot offer love to anyone because we’re still trying to get something out of loving.

[31:07] Real love does not come from a prideful heart where you get something in return. [31:11] Real love costs you something. [31:13] You have to sacrifice something. [31:16] You have to pay a price. [31:18] And what Jesus is saying is, I pay that price.

[31:24] In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells it like this. [31:29] He says in verse 21, he says, [31:31] He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. [31:42] If we could become righteous on our own, that verse would make no sense. [31:48] But because of stories like the Good Samaritan, [31:50] because of what he says to the hypocrites in Matthew 23,

[31:53] because of the Pharisee’s prayer in Luke 18, [31:58] we see that inside of ourselves we are bankrupt, we are empty, [32:04] we are prideful, we are hypocrites, [32:07] we are lying religious people who try to earn righteousness from God [32:11] in our pride, in our ego, in our worthlessness. [32:16] We still think we can eke out acceptance from God.

[32:24] Then why did Jesus have to take all of our sin onto Himself?

[32:31] Someone who did not sin. [32:32] The Son of God.

[32:36] Why did He do that?

[32:40] He did it because we are just sinners.

[32:45] We have no righteousness. [32:46] So what He does is He exchanges His righteousness for our sinfulness. [32:56] How unfair is that? [32:59] We have nothing to offer. We think we do.

[33:03] But we are prideful for no reason.

[33:07] Jesus is the definition of humility.

[33:12] He takes our sin, gives us His righteousness,

[33:19] starts a work inside of us that transforms us, [33:24] that we can’t take any credit for because we are not doing it. [33:26] He is doing it. We get all of the benefits, [33:29] and He gets all of the glory, [33:31] but He takes all of the pain, and we get all of the love, [33:34] we get all of the joy.

[33:41] Pride cannot save us.

[33:47] Only Jesus can.

[33:51] See there are no perfect people allowed.

[33:55] Because we are all prideful. [33:58] We all attempt to rewrite God’s law [34:01] so that we can justify ourselves, [34:04] and convince ourselves of our own righteousness. [34:08] Because that is what we all want to do, isn’t it? [34:10] We want to wake up and convince ourselves that everything is okay.

[34:15] But Jesus gives us all these blaring examples, [34:18] and then He gives us His word which is this mirror into my death. [34:23] It’s like, well, let me read the Scriptures so I can find out how ugly I am on the inside.

[34:29] But it’s not hopeless. [34:31] Because remember, in the story, there is a Savior.

[34:37] Jesus is that Savior.

[34:42] We are dead and we are in desperate need of redemption that comes in [34:45] to regenerate us, to transform us. [34:50] That is only available through Jesus. [34:54] You can know what real love is. [34:57] Just like the story of the Good Spirit, we can know that real love.

[35:02] But it has to come through the sacrifice of Jesus. [35:06] Because if we try to do it without Him,

[35:14] it does nothing but make us more prideful.

[35:18] You have to be redeemed. [35:21] That is what is so offensive about the Gospel. [35:24] Because we can’t do it ourselves. [35:27] Someone else has to come and do it for us.

[35:33] Let’s pray. [35:35] Father, we come before You right now

[35:42] to praise You.

[35:46] Lord, while we are asking who our neighbor is, [35:50] You are taking us as Your neighbor. [35:51] You are offering us mercy when we don’t even want it [35:55] because we want it to well up from within us.

[36:00] But inside, we have nothing but sin.

[36:05] We have nothing but doubt and pride in ourselves.

[36:11] God, come in. Transform us. [36:14] Bring us to Yourself. Help us to have humility. [36:17] Help us to exchange worship for ourselves, [36:22] for worship for us.

[36:25] Help us to submit to You.

[36:29] Because You took our sin.