In this sermon, the preacher discusses a conversation between Jesus and an expert in the law. The expert asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by telling him to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus commends the expert for his answer and tells him to go and do it. The preacher emphasizes that no one on earth can truly fulfill this commandment, as we are prone to love other things more than God. However, Jesus' intention in giving this commandment is to show that we are all like the man who was beaten and left for dead by robbers, and that Jesus is the Good Samaritan who comes to our rescue and offers us eternal life.

Shall we pray? We pray that you will touch us, that you will send us wonderful things in your holy word. Amen. Shall we read from Luke 23? Please excuse me if I read quite a number of verses. We read from verse 23 and chapter 10 from the gospel according to Luke. 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. And they said to him, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, but did not hear 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? He replied, Jesus said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of 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, he 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 oil on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. The innkeeper looked after him and said, And when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. The innkeeper said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, mercy on him I said to jesus oh hamba wins in charlottenih way jesus told him Go and do likewise. Here in this passage which we have read our Lord praises and marvels about the glory that we as Christians have received. We Christians have a name that supersedes any other name. There is no name that surpasses that of a Christian. There is no wealth that surpasses the wealth and the riches that there are in the Christian faith. You can go throughout the whole world to all nations and all peoples and you will never find a name that surpasses the name of being a Christian. And Jesus says, Blessed are your eyes. Blessed are you among women. Blessed are you among men. Blessed are you among women. In German it is Salach. I don't know what it is in African. Salach. Yeah. There is nothing in this world that can compare to that of being a Christian to the name that we have and carry. There is nothing in this world that can compare to that of being a Christian to the name that we have and carry. In German it is Salach. I don't know what it is in African. Blessed are you among women. Blessed are you among men. Blessed are you among men. Christians do not realize their exalted position and they treat that name as a common name and their position as a Christian as just a common position like being like a Muslim or a Hindu. Blessed are you among men. Blessed are you among women. Blessed are you among men. Blessed are you among men. There is no blessedness that can be compared to it. No wealth or treasure in this world. Even if you would receive millions, that would not compare to being a Christian. There is no diamond that has the glory of being a Christian. There is no diamond that has the glory of being a Christian. And it is just a pity that many do not understand and realize that. But let me tell you, you do not realize that you are dead spiritually. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear. When Jesus was with his disciples, he privately said to them, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear. He said, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but it was not given to them to see it, but you have seen it. What is it that they saw? They saw Jesus. There is nothing comparable to that, to see Jesus. That you have the privilege to see Jesus. That you have the privilege to call yourself a Christian. And right until the end of your life, where you can be a Christian. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear. Those who have not seen Jesus are lost and damned. The one who has not seen Jesus is lost, doomed and damned. No matter from which nation you are, whether you are a raw heathen or whether you have some other religion, but the one who has not seen Jesus is lost. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear. Those who have not seen Jesus are lost, doomed and damned. No matter from which nation you are, whether you are a raw heathen or whether you have some other religion, but the one who has not seen Jesus is lost, doomed and damned. You may have father, mother, wife, children, a wonderful house, you may own farms, you may have whatever wealth, but if you haven't seen Jesus, you are lost and you are damned. That is why Paul says in the New Testament, that I count everything as done and as a loss for that I might know Jesus and His glory. There was an author, a scribe, when he heard Jesus, he asked of Him a question. An expert in the law and he said, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? When we hear those words, we might say, well, he seems to have very serious intentions and is very serious. In the meantime, he's a rogue. He's a man of Satan. But you who don't have discernment, if you would have heard that, you would have thought, my, this is a good man seeking the way to eternal life. You get people that say pious things, but they are criminals. But if you would hear how piously they speak, you might even give them a place at the pulpit. In the meantime, His motive for asking that question was to test Jesus, to trap Him. He, so to say, wanted to get a rope with which you could hang Jesus. He wanted to trap Jesus. He wanted to trap Him with His own words. So that afterwards, He could run to His friends and His pals and say, you know what Jesus said? He said this and the following thing. There are people that come here with that motive, not seeking life, but seeking for something like a rope or a rim to hang that person. If indeed He was seeking life, we would have rejoiced, but He was just testing Jesus, tempting Him, trying to trap Him. He said, oh teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus recognized it as a trap, realizing this man asked this question with an ulterior motive. His intention wasn't to get to heaven, but to get something which He could hold against the Lord Jesus. He was sent by Satan and impersonating Satan at that moment. Asking Him in a crafty manner like Satan, trying to get something which He could hold against Him. Those chains which He intended to entrain the Lord Jesus with, the Lord Jesus snapped them apart like one would snap the threads of a web. And then Jesus answered him. Jesus said to him, in other words, since you are an expert of the law, what is written in the law, how do you read and understand it? And he was so disappointed because Jesus didn't fall into his trap. And so he answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus replied, you have answered correctly, go and do that. And Jesus asked him, what is written in the law? And then he asked him personally, how do you see it? He didn't aim it in various directions, he aimed it right at him. He said, do this. Well, he was disappointed and had lost heart and he had lost. He had failed. Why did Jesus say that? Jesus said that for he knew that no man on earth out of himself can do this, can love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength. Nowhere, not even anyone amongst us. You will love your child, you will love money, mammon, the world, this and that and the next thing, but you won't love your God with all your heart. And with all your soul, that means it includes all your feelings and with all your mind and your strength, no one can do that. Don't you glance at different things, in different directions, and you get attracted to that, and you want that now, instead of God. So he said, do this. For he knew that that man, that expert of the law, couldn't do that from himself. But he was like a cat that you just cannot kill, he sidestepped and evaded the question. He said, who then is my neighbor? He asked that of Jesus. He said of Jesus, he asked him, who is my neighbor? He said, who is my neighbor? who beat him up and they left him there next to the road bleeding and they left him for dead and where he would have died if nobody had come to help him and then a priest came along that road and when he saw him there next to the road he made a detour around him after some time a Levite came the same story he saw him and then he just looked at him he didn't do anything to help him he just looked at him like what many people do they just look on they don't do anything to help and then a Samaritan came the Samaritans were despised by the Jews looked down upon because they were of mixed race the Jews that had intermarried with other nations and then the Samaritans came about of mixed race and the Jews looked down upon them they despised them not only intermarriage they just get babies like people today most of them come to the house and they are expecting and they are not married yet and when this Samaritan so to say Khaled came he saw him and he took pity on him he went to him bandaged his wounds pouring on oil and wine and then he put him on his own animal might have been a donkey or a horse we don't know but he took him on his own animal and took care of him this Samaritan felt pity had empathy with this man and then Jesus asked of this expert of the Lord he said now which of these three men were a neighbor to this man he said well after all the one who helped him this Samaritan even took that man to a holiday in of those days and he said look here is some money for the expenses and if that's not enough I'll come back again and I'll pay reimburse you for the rest now what did Jesus try to say what is what was Jesus intention of saying through this yes we can take it just exactly at face value as he said it but it fulfilled a word from Ezekiel 16 verse 6 in fact each one of us here is like that man traveling that met up with a band of robbers that met up with Satan the murderer and we were beaten and left for dead by him in our lives Satan with his hordes of demons came and beat us stripped us of everything leaving us beside the road full of blood with no one taking pity on us and then the Samaritan came that had mercy on us God created us in his own image but today we have lost his image but today we have lost that image we have taken on the image of Satan we are now in his image because you get people that get drunk and you get people that are immoral and you get girls that are women girls they're not pure anymore but they're not married women either Satan has taken away that stamp that God placed on us and he placed on us his own stamp and we take God's name in vain we use God's name in vain we say to ourselves, oh Lord, oh God and Jesus said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, you do not do what I tell you we lie we curse there are so many things that we do that are not according to the likeness of God but of Satan and Satan is the one who has come and ambushed us along the way as we were going along, stripping us naked, leaving us there, defiled at the beginning, man was holy, man was good, pure but man has now been defiled, spoiled, hurt, wounded by Satan, being left there for dead I will read a word in African, Ezekiel 16 verse 6 then I passed by, and saw you kicking about in your blood and as you lay there in your blood, I said to you, live, grow live, as you lay there in your blood, I said to you, live, and I made you grow that Samaritan is Jesus himself oh Jesus, we can compare Jesus to a coloured person that is mixed, because he is both man and God true God and true man and Jesus came, the true Samaritan, and he saw you lying there in your blood, kicking about in your blood just think just think just think how sin and how Satan had destroyed your life totally, left you wounded, where you were enslaved by that sin where you became a sinner, defiled, dirty, and you say, well I'll leave that sin, I won't ever do it again and you go back to it like a person that uses drugs, and is a drug addict, that destroys his own life or a person that's immoral, a prostitute, a whore, that just lives immorally, where that person is totally destroyed just telling lies, unfaithfulness where you meet a with a murderer, John calls Satan a murderer, and where he comes, and he robs you of everything that you have until Jesus came down and he walked that road, and there he found us along the way, destroyed, finished, at an end of ourselves, where even our own righteousness are like filthy rags in the sight of God where the image of God has been destroyed in a person where it's, there's nothing of it left, nothing to be seen in a person, where that person has, you cannot trust him, you don't know whether they're going to tell you the truth, or whether they're going to lie to you and where that person is left for dead, having been murdered by Satan for Jesus and where there are even people that shouted those slogans, kill a cop for Jesus, can you kill a cop for Jesus, there Jesus is Satan and then Jesus came, full of mercy, full of grace not like that Pharisee, or that scribe, that just knew the Bible, that knew the word of God, but did nothing about it, and didn't live it Jesus came as the heavenly, the true Samaritan, finding us there, wounded, destroyed by sin and by Satan, with all manner of filth and defilement, with lies, with immorality, whatever filth or defilement you can think of, clinging to us there but Jesus came as the true Samaritan and had pity on us as he saw us lying there who could help us in that state? We ourselves couldn't even help ourselves Jesus came as the true Samaritan and had pity on us as he saw us lying there Jesus came as the true Samaritan and had pity on us as he saw us lying there but he alone, the heavenly Samaritan, was able to help you when he found you there, lying in your blood, kicking about in your blood, bleeding, with your life ebbing away he took you, he had pity on you, he washed and cleansed you, washing that blood away that is when you confess your sin, and you are cleansed, and then he dressed and bandaged your wounds, and that is when he brings about life, when you believe on him and he took you on his animal, and he took you to those that can help you to the end, where there are others that can help you you know what? you know what? you know where that N represents, that hospital so to say? That is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the congregation that is where Jesus takes you to, that you may be helped, and then he says, if that which I have provided isn't enough, I'll come back and I will even reimburse you for that and Jesus is returning, he says there is not one glass of cold water that you have given to one of those who believe on him, that will go unrewarded that is when you confess your sin, and you are cleansed, and that is when he brings about life, when you believe on him here Jesus speaks about where a person comes into that community of believers, into that fellowship, into the church, where they can be taken care of, where you find a person bleeding, but you can bandage their wounds you can help them to get well, where that person puts his faith in the Lord Jesus, and they get well spiritually, where a person can be full of joy, and rejoice, and go about alive and well spiritually but it is not that all churches are like that, when the Lord Jesus came into the temple one day, he made a whip, and he chased those people out of there, he said, God's house should be a place of prayer and worship, and not a place, a den of robbers that you have made it into me, so you find that as well Jesus is that great Samaritan, who had pity on us who found us there, kicking about in our blood, destroyed by sin, like one 21 year old person, that said, I'm like a 70 year old person, there's no sin that I haven't committed in my life so Jesus said, well if that is what the Lord then says, do it, knowing that he couldn't do it we were destroyed, beaten by satan, left there for dead, wounded, next to the road, when Jesus came and had pity on us where Jesus came, and had pity on us, washing us, cleansing us, dressing our wounds, bringing healing and life to us where the image of God is restored in us, where no longer we are seen to be dirty and full of sin, but where we are holy, we become saints let's close our eyes and pray let's close our eyes and pray we thank you we thank you Lord Jesus, you, the true Samaritan from heaven, who came and saw us kicking about in our blood, having been destroyed and ravaged by satan and sin we thank you Lord Jesus, that you had pity on us, that you cleanse us, you restore us, you sanctify us, before you came we had no life, no salvation, but now we have salvation