Sermon Tone Analysis

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At first glance the parable of the Good Samaritan appears to be pretty simple to understand.
An expert in Jewish law asks Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 10:25), and Jesus tells a story about a man who helped a stranger.
“Go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37).
Seems simple enough.
Be nice to strangers and you’ll go to heaven.
This is the core message of the American social gospel.
Give a bum a buck.
Give a hitchhiker a ride.
Commit a random act of kindness.
This theology is taught in our churches and schools.
It is preached by our media, our politicians, and our clergy.
Be a Good Samaritan.
We often hear this message at funerals: “I know Bob’s in heaven, because he was such a nice guy.
He helped strangers.
He always had a smile for everyone.”
The Good Samaritan is understood as an example for us.
Be like this guy.
But there’s a problem with this interpretation.
Jesus commanded, “Go and do likewise.”
OK.
For how long?
How can you be sure you’ve been a good enough Samaritan?
What if you never see a naked guy lying in the middle of the road?
Exactly how many dollars do you need to give?
How many kind deeds do you have to do before you can be sure that you have earned heaven?
And there’s a bigger problem.
Many atheists are better at being Good Samaritans than you are.
How many plane loads of food did you send to Haiti?
How many billions of dollars have you pledged to fight AIDS in Africa?
If being a Good Samaritan gets you into heaven, you’re going to find yourself at the wrong end of the line – miles behind Bill Gates, Ghandi, Warren Buffet, and countless other pagans who are far more righteous than you.
Yet our sinful flesh loves to misinterpret this parable.
Why?
Because it hates the true Gospel and it loves its own works for righteousness.
It’s no wonder that the world, which is opposed to the things of God, can still be infatuated with the Good Samaritan.
We name our heroes, our hospitals, our laws, and our charity programs after the Good Samaritan.
We naturally love to see the Samaritan as an example just as we love to see Jesus as an example.
WWJD – you’ve seen the bracelets.
What would Jesus do?
The first thing Jesus would do is be born of a virgin.
How’s that working out for you?
Might as well throw out your bracelet.
You’re toast from the moment of conception.
Concerning salvation, you’ve lost before you even started.
Likewise, the lawyer’s first question to Jesus showed that he had everything wrong from the beginning: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
This man was supposed to be a legal expert.
He should have known better.
He should have chosen his words more carefully.
What shall I do to inherit?
What kind of question is that?
Can you imagine asking Warren Buffet: “What shall I do to inherit your infinite wealth?”
Are you kidding?
If you’re name isn’t Buffet you don’t get a penny.
You don’t do anything to inherit – you get born a Buffet or you don’t.
Once again, you’re toast at conception.
You will inherit nothing.
This isn’t rocket science, so how can this expert ask such a messed up question concerning salvation?
Because the carnal mind cannot comprehend the things of God.
The gospel is simply so foreign to our natural understanding that apart from the Holy Spirit we can’t even put even put a basic sentence together, let alone understand God’s plan of salvation.
Jesus said, “I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see, and did not see it, and to hear, and did not hear it” Lk 10:24).
The gospel was not hidden because God kept it a big secret.
It was hidden because our eyes were blind and our ears were deaf – deaf to any voice except the Law.
What must you do to inherit eternal life?
The Law answers: “You shall love the Lord, your God, out of your whole heart, and in all your life, and in all your strength, and in all your mind – and if that’s not enough – You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27).
Do this, not just once, not from now on, but every moment of your life, from birth to death.
Do this and you will live.
Have you ever broken the First Commandment by taking thought for your life?
Have you neglected the preaching of God’s Word?
Did you have a selfish thought once twelve years ago?
I’m sorry, the deal’s off.
Instead of eternal life, you justly deserve eternal damnation and torment in the fires of hell.
And those were just a few “petty” sins.
More importantly, the Law requires that you have perfect love for God.
This love must flow from the inward abundance of your heart and then spill over into every aspect of your life, your strength, and your thoughts.
But what do you find when you look into your heart?
Examine yourself with the mirror of God’s Word.
Jesus says, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (Mk 7:21-22).
How can perfect love for God, which the Law justly demands, flow forth from an evil source?
David writes, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5).
You can’t get blood from a turnip, and you can’t produce love for God from a dead and wicked heart.
Once again, you are toast at the moment of conception – even before you’ve had a chance to not love your neighbor.
Often we put the cart before the horse and focus on how we live, what we think, what we do.
But these things come out of the heart.
You can put lipstick on a corpse, but it’s still dead.
You can clean up your act somewhat and perhaps people will say nice things about you at your funeral.
But not God.
When it comes to salvation, he’s not counting the dollars you gave to orphans in India or the hours you volunteered at church.
He doesn’t look at the outward.
God looks at the heart, and that’s a big problem.
Although the lawyer was cut to the heart by the righteous demands of the Law, he still sought to justify himself.
When faced with the incalculable debt to the Law, there is no end to the self-justifying schemes of your Old Adam.
Give him ten minutes, and he’ll come up with a new plan to climb out of the hole.
Let’s pay off one credit card with another.
That’s exactly what the lawyer did.
Instead of throwing himself on the mercy of Jesus, instead of crying: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,” he tried one of the Old Adam’s favorite tricks: whittle away at the Law until it’s not so impossible.
Let’s ignore that fact that my heart is deceitfully wicked above all things, incapable of loving God.
Instead, let’s quibble over who is my neighbor.
More to the point: who can I cross of the list?
Which people do I not have to love?
This is the way the Old Adam works.
The lawyer had quoted from Leviticus 18:19 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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