The duty of the Christian
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Mark 12: 28 – 32
Mark 12: 28 – 32
Introduction: Some years ago
a former American astronaut
took over
as head
of a major airline,
And he determined
to make the airline’s service ……
the best
in the industry.
so
One day,
as the new president
he
walked through
a particular department,
and he saw an employee
resting his feet
on a desk
while the telephone on the desk
rang incessantly.
“Aren’t you going
to answer that phone?”
the boss demanded.
“This isn’t my department,”
answered the employee
nonchalantly.
see...
apparently
He hadn’t recognized
his new boss.
so
the man said
“I work in maintenance.”
“Not anymore
you don’t!”
snapped the president.
And
The point of that story
was that
The president
wanted that employee
To do his duty.
And with that in mind…
Let’s read our text
For this morning.Shut
As I’ve already said
It is Mark 12
The Bible says
In Mark 12:30–31 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
Let’s go to the Lord
In a word of prayer
(Pray)
I. Our duty with regards to our Savior
Declaration
Now
Listen again
To our text
If you would please
And I want you
To pay close attention
To all that is said
The
Lord Jesus said
(Mark 12:30–31 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
Man
Think about that.
We have a duty
To love our Lord.
And to love others.
And those two things
Are the greatest duties
That we have
As believers.
Now
For the last couple of weeks
We’ve been talking
About Biblical Christianity.
And when I say biblical…
I mean
Bible-based.
But
We’ve been talking about
Biblical Christianity.
And two weeks ago…
We looked at
a description
Of what biblical Christianity is
In fact
We looked at the church
Of Antioch.
Because
“the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
The Bible says
In Acts 11:26
The followers of Christ
Were first
Given
The name…
They were first identified…
As Christians
At the church at Antioch.
Which tells me something.
It tells me that
Those believers
In their church
Were
Emulators
Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were trying their best
To be conformed…
To the image of God’s Son.
And that’s why they were given
The amazing title
Of Christian.
And
By the way
I Hope others
Who were watching your life
Can say to themselves…
That person
Seems to be following…
Seems…
To be emulating Christ.
What an important thing!
But then
Last week…
We talked about
The discipline
Of Biblical Christianity
And that discipline
Is prayer.
One
Of the most important disciplines
If not the!
Most important discipline
For we as believers
Is praying.
And we spent
an entire service
Talking about
the importance of prayer
But
As we conclude
This mini series
On biblical Christianity…
I want to talk about
The duty…
Of biblical Christianity.
And although
Those
Who are following Christ…
Those
Who are emulating Christ.
Although we
Have many different kinds
Of duties
Yet
There are three
Duties…
That in my humble opinion…
are of utmost importance.
And I want to share them
With you this morning.
And as I do…
I want you to ask yourself
am I doing
My duty?
and
By the way…
Speaking of duty…
when Queen Victoria
was a child,
she didn't know
That
she was in line
for the throne of England.
and
Her instructors,
trying to prepare her
for the future,
were frustrated …
because
they couldn't motivate her.
She
just didn't take
her studies seriously.
Finally,
her teachers
decided to tell her
that one day …
she would become
the queen of England.
and
Upon hearing this,
Victoria
quietly said,
"Then
I will be good."
see
The realization
that she had inherited
this high calling …
gave her a sense
of Duty.
A sense of responsibility…
that
profoundly affected her conduct
from then on.
And
Christian…
if Victoria
Could determine
To do her duty
For the sake
of the throne
Of England
Then
I daresay
There isn’t one of us
Who can’t take our duty seriously
As Christians…
For the sake…
Of the throne…
Of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Who is indeed
King of kings
And Lord of lords!!
Discussion
So
For a little while
This morning
Let’s talk about
The duty
Of our Christianity.
And
First of all
I want you to consider
Our duty…
With regards…
To our Savior.
And look back
in our text
Here
in Mark 12
Now
I want you
To think about the setting
Of the text that we read
Jesus
is teaching in the temple
in Jerusalem.
and
Unbeknownst
To the disciples
This was just prior
To His crucifixion
And
Just before
this interaction here,
In verse 28 – 32
Here in Mark 12
The Lord Jesus
Had successfully silenced
the Pharisees/Herodians
With regards
to paying taxes to Caesar
Render
Unto Caesar…
The things that are Caesar’s.
And render to God…
The things that are Gods!
Jesus said
In verse 17.
but
Not only did the Lord
put the Pharisees
To silence.
But He did the same
to the Sadducees
With regards
to the resurrection.
So
As our text
Here in verse 28
Begins,
a scribe
asks
a genuine question
about prioritizing
the commandments
He said
Jesus…
(Mark 12:28 “ Which is the first commandment of all?”
By the way
In Bible days
And in Judaism
A scribe
was an expert
in Jewish Law.
And obviously
He had been listening
To the exchanges
Between Christ
And the Pharisees…
And Christ
With the Sadducees.
And
As The scribe
was listening
to these exchanges.
Well
Unlike the others
who were testing Jesus
with malicious intent
according to Matthew's
parallel account
Mark
portrays this scribe
as a sincere inquirer
who was impressed
with Jesus' answers.
So he asks
The question,
"Which commandment
is the The greatest
That is
most important of all?"
By the way
That Scribes question
was a subject
of ongoing debate
among Jewish rabbis,
who had identified
613 laws
in the Torah .
So
The Lord Jesus responds
In verse 30
by summarizing
the Mosaic Law
into just
two commandments,
quoting
from the Old Testament
It’s Self:
He
Said
(Mark 12:30 “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
That statement
By the way
Is a quote
from Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
Jesus then
Went on
To say
In verse 31
(Mark 12:31 “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
And that is a quote
from Leviticus 19:18
But then
The Bible says
In verse 32
(Mark 12:32–34 “And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.”
But
As I thought about
That exchange…
I began to think
To myself…
If those were
The most important commandments
To the people of God
In Moses’ day
Then
What about us
As people today?
And God’s church?
What about those of us
Who are followers
Of the Savior?
Those who are emulators
of the Lord Jesus Christ?
If
Loving the Lord
With all of our heart
Soul and mind
Was the most important thing
You could ever do
The most important duty
You could engage in
For believers then?
Ought not
It to be
The most important duty
That we as believers
Can engage in
In this day and time?
Absolutely!
Listen again
to verse 30
The
Lord Jesus said
(Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
Deliberation
Now
Before we get
Into the details
Of that duty
There is one word…
We need to define.
The word love
and
The Bible uses words
like Agape (Greek)
and ahavah (Hebrew),
In speaking about love
And
These two words
mean far more
than just emotion.
They Describe
a deep-seated love,
They describe a commitment
to act on behalf
of the One
who is loved
It
Is a selfless act
Of giving of oneself
For the benefit
Of the one that is loved.
It is not taking…
It is giving.
It gives
100%
Of its self
And it expects
Nothing in return.
And
Jesus said
The most important duty
You can engage in
Is the duty
Of loving
The Lord your God
Of
Acting
On His behalf
Of giving yourself
For the benefit
Of the Lord.
And
Let me ask you
My dear Christian friend…
Is that how
You see your duty?
To the Lord your God?
Do you love Him?
And again
It’s not about
emotion
It is about motion.
Or should I say
It is about giving
so...
Do you love
the Lord your God?
Well
We are commanded
To do so.
It is our duty!
It is in fact
The greatest commandment
Of them all!
Our God wants us
To love Him
To
Love
His Son
And to love
His Holy Spirit.
(Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
The Lord Jesus said.
And that’s why I said
As Christians
As
Followers
Of the Lord Jesus Christ…
We have a duty
To our Savior.
And that duty
Is to love Him
With all of our heart
All of our soul
All of our mind
And all of our strength!
So
Let’s talk about these
Components…
Of our duty…
To love our Savior.
And first of all
Jesus said
You have a duty
To love your Lord
With all
of your heart.
Now
In the Bible
The heart
Is considered to be
The center
of one's being,
it encompasses
Our emotions,
our passions,
and will.
And
Loving God…
Loving the Savior
with all your heart
means
having a deep,
sincere,
and undivided affection
for Him.
It is
From the core
Of our being.
it is
Giving of ourselves
For His benefit.
So let me ask you
My dear Christian friend
Do
You love
The Lord God of heaven
With all your heart?
And by the way
He didn’t say
With half of your heart.
See
The truth is
Some people
are halfhearted
When it comes
To their love.
And by the way
Half-hearted love
is A love
That lacks commitment
Enthusiasm
And sincerity
Toward the one
That it loves
So again
Let me ask you
Do you love the Lord
With all of your heart?
Do you enthusiastically
Give of yourself
For Him?
Are you willing
To put yourself out
For Him?
Or
Do you…
Like people…
Express
A kind of
halfhearted love
For your Savior?
Well listen please
Jesus said
The
Most important thing
You can do…
The most imperative duty
That you have…
Is to love the Lord your God.
And
To do so
With all of your heart.
What an important duty!
Demonstration
Notice also
Jesus said
Not only should you
Love the Lord your God
With all of your heart.
But He said
You shall love the Lord your God
With all
of your soul.
Now
The soul describes
Your very essence.
It is
who you are
in your entirety.
So loving God
with your soul
means
giving all of yourself
to Him.
It is like saying
Lord
I surrender all.
Which reminds me
Of a song we sing sometimes
All to Jesus
I surrender
All
To Him
I freely give
I will ever love
and trust Him,
In His presence
daily live.
I surrender all,
I
surrender
all;
All to Thee,
my blessed Savior,
I
surrender all.
but … Christian.
Can you honestly say that?
See
It’s easy
To sing that
In fact
Let’s sing that chorus
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
It is easy to sing that.
But before God…
Who
Knows your heart…
Can you really say
Lord…
I surrender all?
I love you
From the depths of my soul.
Have you
Given Him
Every
Part of your life?
Even your personal life?
Your finances?
Your vow
Of faithfulness?
Do you love the Lord your God
With all of your heart
And your soul?
Well
I’m afraid
There are some Christians
Whose love for God
Is wanting.
It is lackluster.
And please Understand this…
The Lord knows!
By the way
When I was a kid
I had my first girlfriend
In the first grade
and I had girlfriends
All through primary school
Junior high
And senior high.
And
I cannot begin
To tell you
How many girls
I told
That I loved them.
but
If the truth be known
I have forgotten
Just about all of them
But
I never truly...
Loved a girl
Until I met
My girl.
My dear wife.
I can truly say
I love my wife
Now
I was fond
Of some of those other girls.
But I didn’t love them.
And my point is
The God whom we serve
Doesn’t want…
Our fondness…
Or else…
He would’ve told us that
But
Our Lord
Our Savior
wants us to love Him
With all of the heart
And with all of the soul
I truly hope we do
Delegation
But
Notice another aspect
Of our duty
To love our Savior.
Jesus said
The most important Duty
You can do
Is
To love the Lord
With all of your heart
And with all of your soul
And then He said
Love the Lord
With all of your mind
Now
The mind
Describes your intellect,
It is talking about
Your thoughts,
and understanding.
So to say
Love the Lord your God
With your mind
means
loving God
by engaging your mind
in faith
and understanding.
to
it is not just
Loving
with your emotions.
See
The so-called love I had
For my first grade girlfriend
Cynthia
Was an emotional
Mushy kind of love.
Now
By the way
Love
Always produces emotion
Doesn’t it?
And it is wonderful.
But true love
Far exceeds emotion.
True love
Is a choice I make
With the intellect
so the Lord is telling us
As believers...that
The most important thing
we can do
Is to choose
With our intellect
To give ourselves
To God
Lock
Stock
And barrel
But
Let me ask you
My dear Christian friend
Is that how
You love your Lord?
Do you choose
To give 100% of yourself
For the benefit
of your Lord?
Do
You choose
To give of your time
For Him
Your treasure
For Him
The use of your talents
For Him?
Is
That the kind of love
You have for your Lord?
Oh
That’s what He wants!
and that is
The most important duty
You could ever engage in.
But see
Jesus said
(Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
Which
Brings me
To the last component
Of our duty
To love our Lord.
We should love Him
With all of our heart
Soul
Mind
And
Strength!
The word strength
Describes your physical body,
It speaks of your energy,
and might.
So
To love the Lord
With all of your strength
involves
using your time,
energy,
and physical abilities
for God's purposes.
By the way
Some believers
Only use their time
Their energy
And their physical abilities
For themselves.
But
That
Is not the most important duty
They can engage in.
Jesus said
The most important thing
The most important duty
You can engage in
Is
To love the Lord
To give of yourself
To the Lord
With all of your heart
All of your mind
All of your soul
And all of your strength
So
Christian
Let me ask you
As an emulator
Of Jesus Christ
And that’s what you’re supposed to be.
As a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ
Are you doing
your duty?
Are you
Carrying out
The most important duty
You have
As a Christian?
I hope so
II. Our duty with regards to the saints
Declaration
There is
A second duty
That we as believers have
That Jesus alluded to
here
In Mark 12
Listen to Him again
And listen carefully
Jesus said
(Mark 12:30–31 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
So
Your greatest duty
Is to love the Lord
With all
That is within you.
But then He said
Love your neighbor
As yourself.
And
Let me say that
This command
suggests that
you should extend
the same level of care
and concern
you have
for your own well-being…
to those around you.
And
Some of those
Around you
Are the saints.
They are fellow Christians.
God
Has given us a duty
To care
For the saints.
And
By the way
That’s more than just
an attitude.
it means
taking action …
to show care …
and generosity …
in ways
that make a real difference
in other people's lives.
it
seeks the best
for others
without selfishness..
just as you would
for yourself.
it means
to assist those
who
are suffering
or in need,
even if they are not
your friends
or even
If they are not people
you agree with.
Discussion
And
When I think about
That kind of love
I think about Barnabas
Who we talked about
A couple weeks ago.
Barnabas
Did his duty
To love the saints.
In fact
Turn back
To the book of Acts
If you would please
Acts 4
And let’s read together
Verses 32 – 37
The Bible says
in Acts 4:32–37 “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
Now
The context
Of this chapter
Or rather
Of this portion
of Scripture
Is one of persecution.
See
It wasn’t popular
To be a Christian
Especially
In Jerusalem
In those days.
Christians were persecuted
for their faith
By the way
In recent days
Christians
Have began to be persecuted.
In fact
I read an article
On the Fox News website
About
A Christian student
Who was persecuted
Because of a paper she wrote
Regarding gender identity
and the Bible.
She received
a zero
For simply Stating
What the Bible says.
But
Far worse than that
Christians in Nigeria
Are being slaughtered
For their faith.
And that’s what was happening
In the book of Acts
And
As a result
Of the persecution…
The Christians were scattered.
Additionally
When people converted
To Christianity
Sometimes
They too
Were persecuted
Some
Lost their jobs
Because of their faith
Their families rejected them
Some lost their dwelling places
They paid a price
For their faith.
Oh
But in those days
Those early Christians
Practiced
Radical generosity
For the saints
Those
Who were being persecuted.
They practice radical generosity
Because
They were of one heart
And one soul.
That means
Those believers
Were knit together
With one another.
So
Those Christians
Who had financial means
Would sometimes
Sell a piece of property
And then
Bring those funds
To the pastors
And
The pastors then
Distributed those funds
To those needy saints
Who had been affected
By the persecution.
Which
Brings us again
To Barnabas
Notice again
Verses 36 – 37
The Bible says
(Acts 4:36–37 “And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
My
What a giving man
Barnabas was.
He sold
Some of his land
And brought the money
And Lade it
At the apostles feet
And
The point is
Barnabas
Went out of his way
To meet the needs
Of the saints
with physical needs
But
Let me ask you
Fellow Christian?
Is that how
You are?
I mean
We say
We love each other
In Christ
But
Are we willing
To
At our own expense…
Meet the physical needs
Of our brothers and sisters
In Christ?
that
If you knew
Your brother had a need
Would you help him?
Even if it cost you something?
Well
Listen to the apostle John
He said
In 1 John 3:17 “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
Now think about that.
If you have the means
To help a brother in need
And yet
You withhold
Even compassion towards him…
If you don’t help that brother…
Then how does God’s love
Dwell in you?
By the way
I should point out
That some people
Have the means
Of helping themselves…
But don’t!
But they should!
In fact
Keep your place
In Acts 4
And turn to Galatians 6
And read with me
Versus 1 – 4
The Bible says
in Galatians 6:1–4 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”
But don’t Miss
Verse 5
(Galatians 6:5 “For every man shall bear his own burden.”
Now
On the one hand
In verse 2
Paul tells us
To bear one another’s burdens
But on the other hand
In verse 5
Paul tells us
To bear
Our own burdens.
So
Isn’t that
Contradictory?
No, not remotely
And let me tell you why.
The word burden
In verse 2
Is a burden so heavy
That you just can’t carry it
alone
While
The burden
Mentioned in verse five
Is a burden
I can carry myself
So
The point I’m making is
Some people
Can carry their burden
But they’re just not willing to.
But Paul said
You ought to carry your own burden.
Carry
Your own weight.
That
If you can work
And there is work
To be had.
But if you can work
Then you should get a job
To help provide
For your own needs
And
Don’t burden somebody else
If you can help yourself.
But see Barnabas
Saw some in his congregation
Who were under persecution.
They couldn’t get a job
Because of their faith in Christ.
Jews wouldn’t hire them.
And their Jewish loved ones
Wouldn’t take them in
So
Barnabas sold his land
And gave the money
To help carry the burden
Of those people.
But
Do we do our duty
Where the saints are concerned?
Do we help meet physical needs
Of our brothers in Christ?
I hope so
Deliberation
There is
Another duty
That Barnabas engaged in
Not only
Did Barnabas
Endeavor
To meet physical needs
But
Out of love
Barnabas endeavored
To meet spiritual needs
As well.
In fact
Turn to chapter 11
In the book of Acts
We read this
A couple weeks ago
But let’s read it again
The Bible says
In Acts 11:19 – 26
Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Now
Think about
What it says.
About Barnabas.
He was a good man
According to verse 24
And as a good man
Who loved the brethren…
He exhorted them
It says in verse 23
That is
He pleaded with them
To cleave
To the Lord.
That is
He begged them
To
Get as close to God
As they could!
And to illustrate that
Have you ever seen a child
To jump in their daddy’s arms
And hang on tight?
Man
I have
And when they do
You couldn’t fit a piece of paper
In between them
And their daddy.
They are cleaving
To him
And
Barnabas
Out of selfless love and concern
For the saints
Urged them
He pleaded with him
To cleave to the Lord.
And
My dear Christian friend
I want to plead with you
To do likewise.
But Barnabas did.
Because
He was concerned
Not only
About the physical needs
Of the saints
But
He was likewise concerned
About the spiritual needs
Of the saints
Out of love.
So in verse 25 – 26
It says
(Acts 11:25–26 “Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Now
I want you
To put that in perspective.
Barnabas left
Whatever else
He was doing
To go spend an entire year
Teaching the saints
At Antioch.
He
Selflessly
Put his own agenda
On hold…
Because of his love
And since of duty
For the saints.
Determination
But Christian
Let me ask you a question
Are you like Barnabas?
Who
When he saw physical needs
In the church
He met them
And when he saw
A spiritual needs
He met those needs?
Are you like Barnabas
Or
Maybe
You turn a blind eye
Or a deaf ear
To the physical needs
Of others
Or to the spiritual needs
Of others?
Now
By the way
If you don’t have the means
To help others
You can always pray.
But if you have the means
Are you like Barnabas?
Well
Not only did Barnabas
Meet the physical needs
Of the saints
And not only did Barnabas
Meet the spiritual needs
Of the saints
But
Barnabas likewise
Endeavored
To meet emotional needs
where the the saints
are concerned
In fact
In
Acts 9
Saul of Tarsus
Who would eventually
Become the apostle Paul
But Saul of Tarsus
Got saved
He became a believer
And
By the way
I hope you will too.
If you’re not born again.
But Saul got saved.
But if you recall
Many of the other saints
Were skeptical
Of Saul’s conversion
Because
He had greatly persecuted
The Saints
And the Lord’s church.
But the Bible says
in Acts 9:26–27 “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.”
Now
I want you
To think about that.
Saul of Tarsus
Was born again
And when you’re really
born-again
You want to be around God’s people
You
Have a desire
To fellowship with them.
But can you imagine
How it
Must have
affected his emotions
When the disciples
Out of fear
Rejected him?
That
Must’ve really hurt
Saul’s heart.
It would’ve heard mine.
Oh
Bud Barnabas
Was a good man
he
Took Saul
To the apostles
And stood up for him
He no doubt helped
Saul of Tarsus
Who had been hurt
emotionally
and Christian
Listen to me today
There are many believers
Under the sound of my voice
Who are hurting emotionally
Unfortunately
Some who aren’t
Just don’t want to get involved
oh
But that’s not love.
Jesus said
Love one another.
In fact
He said
(John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
But
Let me ask you
Are you doing your duty?
To love the saints?
To serve the saints
To be a help
To the saints?
Are
You endeavoring
To help them physically
Spiritually
And emotionally
And prayerfully
III. Our duty with regards to lost souls
Declaration
There is
a third duty
That we have…
As Christians.
Not only
Do we have a duty
Where the Savior
Is concerned
To love Him
With all that is within us.
And
Not only
Do we have a duty
Where the saints are concerned
To love them
Working to meet their needs.
But
We have a duty
Where lost souls
are concerned.
And to see that…
Turn if you would
In conclusion
To the book of Luke
Luke 10
In Luke 10…
On one occasion
A Jewish man
Who was well acquainted
With the Old Testament Law
Asked Jesus
How to have eternal life.
So Jesus asked him
What does the Law say?
So that man…
Said
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. “
In verse 27
But then
The man asked Jesus...
Who is my neighbor?
Who exactly
Am I supposed the love
So
The Lord Jesus replied
Beginning in verse 30
(Luke 10:30 – 37
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Now
Think about that
This man
Who fell among thieves
Is a picture
Of a lost man.
one
who doesn’t know Christ
But yet
A Samaritan
Goes out of his way
To provide help
For that man
And that Samaritan
Is a picture of a Christian
Who does his duty
Where lost people
are concerned.
he
Goes out of his way
And at his expense
To provide spiritual healing.
So what I’m saying is
Christians have a duty
To bind up
To mend
The spiritually broken
but
Jesus said
Go
And do likewise
You go find people
Who are spiritually broken
Who are lost
And undone
People who need a Savior
And
You give them the Gospel
Because the Gospel is the power of God
un to salvation
Don’t be
Like the priest
Or the Levite
Who
Even though
They took notice
Of the needy person.
But yet
They went
the opposite direction
Because they simply
Don’t want to help
That’s
Not doing your duty Christians
no
Go do likewise
Like the Samaritan
Determination
So
Let me ask you
Christian
Are you doing your duty
Where lost souls
Our concerned
Do
You even carry
Gospel tracts
In your pocket
To give to the lost
do you do all you can
To point them to Christ
If not
Maybe
Your love
Isn’t what it ought to be
And
What about your duty
Toward the saints
Are you doing your best
To bear their burdens?
Well listen please
Some of your brothers and sisters in Christ
Have burdens.
Are you doing your best
To help them bear them?
If not
Maybe your love
Isn’t
What it ought to be
And
What about your duty
Toward the Savior
Do you love Him
With all your heart
Soul
Mind
And strength
If
You can’t honestly say yes
to one
Several
Or all of these duties
Then
When the music
Begins to play
You need to come to the altar
And rededicate your life
To doing your duty
Where the Savior is concerned
Where the saints are concerned
And where lost souls are concerned.
Maybe
You’re not a believer
But let me ask you
Would you like to have
All of your sins forgiven
And to be given a home
in heaven
If
You would
Then when the music begins to play
I want to invite you
To come to Jesus.
And if you’re not sure how…
WalkCan see down this aisle
And let us help you
Come to Jesus
And
If you’re listening from home
Call us
And let us help you
Come to Jesus
Conclusion: Let’s close in prayer
