CHRIST'S REBUKE OF EMPTY PROFESSION WITHOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS

CHRIST’S REBUKE OF EMPTY PROFESSION WITHOUT TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS

Luke 10:25-37; Mark 12:28-34; Lev.19:16-18 ; 6:1-5;

Once again I welcome you all to our Sunday Worship.

I am so thankful to God that He has been with us from the begining, even before the coming of this plague (the Coronavirus) upon humanity.

According to Psalm 48:12, this God is our God forever and ever.

He will be our guide from now till the end.

While He allows us time to live here, we must live in righteousness and true holiness.

As our text today we will read from:

Luke 10:25–37 KJV 1900

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30 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. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 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. 35 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. 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Mark 12:28–34 KJV 1900

28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32 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: 33 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. 34 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.

Leviticus 19:16–18 KJV 1900

16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord. 17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 6:1–5 KJV 1900

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; 3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: 4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, 5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

The central issue in our main text is the question of Eternal Life. Jesus defined eternal life for us (John 17:3); see also 1John 5:11-12.

Do you know Jesus? What does it mean to know Jesus? It means to know Jesus

1. A LAWYERS’ DECEITPIVE QUESTION AND AND ANSWER FROM SCRIPTURE

Luke 10:25-28; Mark 12:28-34; Deut.6:4-5; (Exod.20:1-17); Lev.19:18; Psalm 19:7; Deut.4:1-2; 12:32;

(i) The Word of God is Clear on this subject (Mark 16:16; Jn.3:16,18, 36, John 5:24-29). We can see from the scriptures that the way to eternal life is clearly spelt out. So why was this expert on the Law asking this question?

(ii) Lawyers were experts (Doctors; Scribes) of the Law (Mat.23:1-3).

(iii) This Lawyer’s Question was Deceitful. He was not asking to get information. He was setting a trap for Jesus. He thought that Jesus would stumble over this because He was not a lawyer like him.

(iv) Light and Weighty Laws (Mat.23:1-4,23-24)

(v) Love God With all Your Life (Deut.6:4-5; Luke 10:27)

(vi) Love Your Neighbour As Yourself (Lev.19:18; Luke 10:27)

By the time of Jesus the Law had been expanded from 10 to 613. We are told that there was, at that time, an ongoing attempt to prioritise the commandments. There is a commandment not to add to God’s commandments nor diminish it. Jesus rebuked the Scribes and pharisees for adding and insisting on smaller details while neglecting the Weightier matters of the Law. We will come to this later.

2. THE LORD’S RESPONSE TO HIS FOLLOW UP QUESTION WITH A REBUKING PARABLE

Luke 10:29-35; Exod.22:26-27; Prov.14:25

(i) The Traveller The traveller is unknown. I believe that was for a purpose. He could have been a Jew, since a Jew would never help a Samaritan. Also the use of a priest and a levite would buttress this view.

(ii) The Thieves At the time Jesus was preaching, that road from Jerusalem down to Jericho known to be dangerous. Travelling alone on that road was dangerous.

(iii) The Torture Bad people always try to take advantage of desprate situations to enrich themselves. Can you believe that some peoplew are taken advantage of the pandemic to swindle, cheat and steal from others? The bandits took advantage of the man travelling alone, robbed him, beat him and left him half dead.

(iv) The True Neighbour

The Lawyer further revealed his true motive by asking a dumb follow-up question after he, with his own mouth, read the full requirements from the Law. If you want to receive eternal life, you cast off deceit and duile and hypocrisies.

The Samaritan obeyed that great commandment - Love thy neighbour as thyself. But the lawyer clearly did not judging from his question.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the True Neighbour (Mat.11:28-30; 18:11; 20:28). He was despised like this Samaritan was despised (Isa.53:3). Yet He chose to die for our sins that we may live. He saved us from the chief thief (John 10:10). Sin afflicted us and beat us down like this lone traveller, but Jesus came to give us life, abundant life, eternal life.

3. THE LASTING LESSONS DRAWN FROM THE DESPISED SAMARITAN

Luke 10:36-37; Mat.7:28-29; John 7:45-46; Mat.25:31-46

(i) Go and do thou likewise!

By this time the lawyer should have known that Jesus was not an ordinary itinerant preacher, but the Divine Son of Man; the greatest Teacher (Mat.7:28-29)! After giving him the lecture, He questionee him to check his understanding.

If this lawyer had known who ot was he was questioning, he would have requested for a course of lecture on the correct interpretation of the Law (John 7:45-46)!

(ii) To the Priest and the Levite: Their religious position and their Temple service were more important than the commandment to “Love Thy Neighbour”!

(iii) To the Lawyer - a deeper, beneath the surface intrpretation of the Second Great Commandment shattered his veneer of superiority and thoroughly deflated his ego and self-justification.

(iv) Things To Avoid - There lots of lessons we can learn from this parable:

We must avoid Racism;

Tribalism,

Nepotism,

Exclusivism,

Bigotry

Selfishness

All other forms of Discrimination

(v) Principles to Embrace

Love our Neighbour

Be Caring (Luke 10:34-35; Mat.25:31-46)

Be Helpful (Eph.4:32;Col.3:12)

Be Kind

Be Generous

Right now the world is experiencing a pandemic, Many will struggle to make ends meet. Others could lose their means of livelihood. So what should we do? Those who have not been affected, whose jobs are still secure, who are still earning money as normal will mobilise to support those who are struggling. Those who are not self-isolating should be ready to help where we can.

We can shop for them; we can cook for them; we can give financial support; we should regularly phone one another; we should find out if there are needs and see how we can meet them.

Remember: Only knowing the commandments of God will not bring righteousness, but doing them (James 1:22-25).