Who Is My Neighbor? Unpacking the Good Samaritan

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Today on Real Life Radio.

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You and I owe a fellow human being, no matter what they believe, no matter what they’ve gone through, no matter who they are, the decency and the value of their self-worth. Regardless of their politics, regardless of their lifestyle, they are created in the image of God and they are valuable. And if they’re valuable to God, they should be valuable to us.

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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. Looking for real answers in real time? JackHibbs.com is your go-to destination for resources on faith, world events, and everything in between. Explore Happening Now, where Pastor Jack Hibbs takes a timely, no-nonsense look at today’s biggest issues, blending biblical insight with the latest headlines. Now, whether you’re curious about the world around you or you want guidance on a personal level, Pastor Jack has you covered. And, by the way, don’t miss the Real Life Network. It’s packed with relatable, family-friendly content that really speaks to everyday challenges and triumphs, offering something really valuable for every member of your family. Now, if you’re new to the faith, you want to refresh your perspective, start with that tab that says Know God, an accessible, welcoming space to learn and reflect and find your footing. Now, whatever your path, jackhibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need. Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again, the website jackhibbs.com. on today’s edition of real life radio pastor jack continues his series now called the parables of jesus and a message titled parable of the good samaritan now whenever jesus spoke to the crowds he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes and the bible calls them parables Now, in this famous parable, Jesus is teaching us about kindness, good works, and compassion. Now, you see, the act of doing good, that’s not a strange event for a Christian, making us responsible for our own conduct. Our response to this parable exposes what is really going on in our own minds and hearts and our prejudice towards others. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when a lawyer asked Jesus who is our neighbor, Jesus is demonstrating that there is no one that is not one, that loving one’s neighbor requires action and a willingness to help, regardless of who they are or what their status is in this life. Now, with his message called Parable of the Good Samaritan, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

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Thank you for your word tonight. And Lord, we thank you that You’re so very good to us. Lord, it fails us, time fails us to count, to enumerate all the good and all the generosity you have bestowed upon us as a people, let alone as Christians, my goodness. And Lord, we pray that tonight your word would go forth and Father, that we would leave this evening stronger in the faith, more appreciative and different. We need to be different today In 55 minutes from right now, different. So Lord, give us ears to hear. We ask in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen. Grab your Bibles tonight and turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 and our study of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous parable. The parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke chapter 10, beginning at verse 25 down to verse 37. As you’re turning there, the parables of Jesus. It’s remarkable, the Bible tells us that Jesus spoke publicly in parables. You ever think about that? You read the Bible, and you and I take for granted, as we read the scriptures, that that’s what all the people heard. Not so. In public, Jesus predominantly, by and large, spoke in parables. Why? Parables are a divine tool, way of communication. God invented it. The parabolic form of teaching is tailor-made for our brains, the way our minds work. And they paint a picture. A parable paints a picture of an eternal truth that is so clear, listen, this is where a parable is, it’s like a double-edged sword. It either does a great job cutting something down or it does a great job cutting something in half. When a parable goes forth to an open heart, a parable judges the human heart. When it goes forth, if that heart is open, if you are willing, to learn from God, to hear from God, then that parable truth comes across your mind and it causes the reality of God, the truth of God, the instruction of God to burst open in what I call technicolor truth. HD, boom, wow, why didn’t I see that before? That’s what a parable does. But if a heart is not open, It exposes that person’s resistance to the light, to the truth of God. Did you hear that, everybody? A parable is a very, very terrifying thing. That’s why, for example, children love parables. Don’t children love stories? A story opens things up. Children love to say to you, tell me a story. Why, because when you speak to a kid and you tell them a story, they see it in color. They see it just explode in their minds. And God made you like that. God designed you to respond to truth. We say, well then why doesn’t everybody become a Christian? Why doesn’t everybody understand a parable? God made you, designed you to respond to his truth. The problem is, you and I, we’re responsible for the conduct of our own hearts and minds. We’re the ones that are raising up our hearts to be open or closed to what God wants to say. Isn’t that something? And it removes from us any criticism of God. Why this? Why that about God? Wait a minute. The truth of God when given exposes the depravity of our heart or the openness or the willingness of our heart. God does that. No wonder why the Bible says, let there be light. God wants us to be illuminated by his word. And this is a great parable. In fact, let me say this. This is a parable which some debate is even a parable. Why? Well, number one, it doesn’t say, and Jesus spoke this parable unto them. It’s one of the unique technicolor moments of the ministry of Jesus. the parable that we call of the Good Samaritan. Is it more than a parable? We don’t know. Is it in fact a parable? It is, but it could be an actual event. What’s the answer? I don’t know. Nobody knows. That’s the cool part about this particular parable. It drives, in my opinion, even the truth deeper, stronger, home to our hearts. Was it an actual event? What was taking place? Or is it a parable? Regardless, it is the technicolor truth of God. Luke 10, 25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and testing him, Jesus, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Can you circle the word I do or words I do? Circle those two words. And Jesus said to him, verse 26, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? And so he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, with all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said to him, you have answered rightly. Do this and you will live forever. But he, wanting to justify himself, he should have stopped right there and just… Wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Then Jesus answered and said to him, now watch, here comes the casting of truth in the form of a parabolic teaching. He said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, And departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, the Levite, when he had arrived at the place, came and looked… Verse 33. Verse 33. and took care of them. And on the next day when he departed, he took two denarii, that’s two days wages, and gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these, Jesus is asking now, which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves. And he said, that is the man responds, he who showed mercy on him. And then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. Awesome, isn’t it? You know, we’ve all heard the term, oh, look at the good Samaritan. Now, I don’t know if this is true or not anymore. When I was growing up, either it was a real law or it was a culturally accepted or expected law of the land, but there was a good Samaritan rule or the good Samaritan law. Now, some of you law enforcement can give me a thumbs up if that’s true, meaning that if somebody’s in need and you don’t help them, that you can actually be arrested or prosecuted for not getting involved, right? I was in a class not too long ago. I’m not gonna tell you what kind of class it was. You don’t need to know. But it was a class. And in that class, the instructor said, this is the scenario. And the instructor painted the scenario. And a person was being severely attacked and abused in the scenario that was being brought up in the class. And… Then he asked, what is your responsibility? What are you to do? And somebody said, just keep driving. I’m not going to get involved. And the instructor said, why? And he said, there’s too many attorneys in the world. I’m not going to get involved. But the story was this, that if that person was allowed to keep doing what they were doing to that person, they would be killed. They would be Now today our culture says, no, just keep driving, look the other way. If anything, our culture, when someone’s being beat to death, pulls out a camera now and stands back and takes pictures of it. That is an indictment on the culture of America and its godlessness and its heartlessness. Caught on tape is what? Not so much the murder that you caught on tape, but the depravity of your wicked heart. Am I my brother’s keeper was the question Cain asked. Do you know what the answer is? The answer is yes. Did you know that? You and I owe a fellow human being, no matter what they believe, no matter what they’ve gone through, no matter who they are, the decency and the value of their self-worth. Regardless of their politics, regardless of their lifestyle, they are created in the image of God and they are valuable. And if they’re valuable to God, they should be valuable to us. That’s why the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him, upon him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.

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As we look to this parable of the Good Samaritan, mark it down. First thing we look at right here in verses 25 to 29 is that the parable of the Good Samaritan speaks to us about this. What is the will of God for me? What’s the will of God for me? What’s the will of God for you, for us? But we’ll make it personal. What’s the will of God for me? Number one is that my faith, your faith, be secured. Mark this down, verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer, circle the word lawyer, stood up and tested Jesus, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? What’s going on here? Again, scholars disagree on what’s happening. Number one, some scholars say that this lawyer, by the way, he’s not an attorney. Make note of that right now. He’s not an attorney like you and I know attorneys, right? He is a lawyer, that is, he is an expert in the law of God. He is either connected or is an association or he is a Pharisee or he is a Sadducee. He’s some sort of high-ranking scribe. He knows the Bible inside and out. Much of what he does know is committed to memory. He’s an expert on the Old Testament, this guy, right? A lawyer, that is, he is a student, a professional student, a professor, as it were, of God’s word. And so listen, he’s testing Jesus. And this is a word that is a strong word. And this is where the doubt comes in about what is this man doing? Is he really honestly asking a question? Or is he being rude and is he being nasty about it? He’s testing Jesus. The word test is the same word that Satan tested Jesus in the wilderness. Same word. And he stands up. Which is interesting, by the way, because that’s how the questioning would take place in that day. But this guy seems to be coming out of the box with a little bit of a, I’m going to try to stump Jesus. Well, what if he’s not though? What if he’s asking a real question? And I think this is interesting. Regardless, it’s important to us. The will of God for you and I is to make sure that our faith is secured in God properly. Note this. He says, what must I do, teacher, to inherit eternal life? What? Listen, church, this guy’s either really shrewd and crude or he’s really a very bad lawyer of the word. He’s either really bright or he’s really dumb. You wanna know why? What must I do to what? To inherit eternal life. What do you do to inherit anything? You see this problem? What’s he talking about? You don’t do anything to inherit anything. You will inherit something if you are written into the will. How much do you have to pay to inherit something? Nothing. What do you have to do? Nothing. Just stand there. So good master, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And listen, what if the guy is sincere? Let’s take him at his word for a second. He’s sincere. Doesn’t this speak to you and I about how your faith will never be secure if you are trying to enter heaven or earn salvation through the works of your own righteousness? This man’s an expert, you’re not. This man’s an expert, I’m not. And he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The Bible says you can’t inherit eternal life by doing something. And yet that is the core, the root, the foundation to legalism. To human works. We always get it messed up in our humanity. Do this, do this, do this. I heard it on the news tonight. Some news commentator was talking about Jesus. I hate when they do that because they don’t know what they’re talking about. But millions of people are watching them and they make some statement that’s not even biblical. But the guy made a comment about, you know, if you just live your life good, then you’re good. Jesus will be good with you. That’s heresy. Well, shouldn’t we be good? Of course we should be good. But that’s not how you get to heaven. Where do we get that from? It’s our own humanity. It’s our desire to grade on the curve, as it were, because if you wanna talk about being good enough to get into heaven, good like whom? Good like how? Well, I’m better than all my neighbors on my street. Well, yeah, but what if there’s a next street over and all the neighbors on that street are better than you? And God grades on a curve. Oops, I’m sorry, at 87%, you go to hell. You understand that? It’s human nature to do that. We are programmed in our humanity to judge ourselves against others. And the Bible says those who judge themselves among themselves are not wise. Why? Because that’s not the standard. The standard is Jesus Christ. You say, well, then who can be saved? Now you’re thinking. You can’t get saved by doing the right things, the good things, right? Is your faith secured? It’s not in what you do. It’s what the one in whom you trust in has done. My faith is in Jesus Christ. My hope is in Jesus Christ. My assurance is in Christ. I have no merit. He has all merit. Well, it sounds like to me you’re just gonna ride into heaven on his coattails. That’s exactly right, except it’s a robe. That’s exactly right. Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, testing him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Interesting thing, as we’ll see in a moment, is that he’s trying to justify himself. This is an important thing. As I said, we’ll hit this in a second. But he’s trying to promote, in front of Jesus, his innocence. So he’s clearly misunderstood who Jesus is. This man’s faith is in himself. Listen, friend, before we move on from this, is your faith in you? Is your faith in your ability to perform? Is your faith what? Do you think somebody who tithes more money gets a higher rank in heaven? Well, you know, I was kind of thinking about that. Nope. Do you think the worship team, that they have a special place in heaven because they have good voices and they lead a work? Nope. Nope. Do you think that because I teach the Bible, I’m gonna have a special spot in heaven? Oh no, in fact, I’ve read my Bible. The person that teaches the word of God has a stricter judgment than those who don’t teach. And I’ll probably be back in the, what do we call it, nosebleed section? Because listen, what I teach you, I’m supposed to be doing in my life. I ask God, by the way, don’t let me Fail at this, you know. If we’re all in this together and if this is a real thing, then God do it in my life first. And I’m wondering what Lisa is doing right now because she couldn’t be here tonight. And I had this idea today from going door to door, you know, like you guys did with 1266. And I’m gonna revisit all the homes I went to. I wrote this note today and I said, hi neighbor, we may or may not have met one another, but I just want to remind you that I’m a Christian, Lisa and I are Christians, and I want you to know that we pray for our neighborhood, which means we pray for you, even though we may not know who you are, and that should difficulty, hardship, calamity arise, here’s our address. Let’s be together, you know, in the time, and if you have any need for prayer for any reason, and I’m gonna hand, I printed it out today, and I’m gonna go door to door. Why? Because I’m thinking that’s what I would like to do or have done to me from my neighbor. Well, why’d you do that? Because I finished the study today on the Good Samaritan. You see? Convicted about who’s my neighbor, right? And at least my neighbors will know, you know, God can cause a crisis in their lives or allow one to come and then they’ll come to my house, I hope. And maybe one of them will accept the Lord. I don’t know. Several of them have already. Several of them won’t let me on their lawn. They allow other things on their lawn, but they won’t allow me on their lawn. But this man’s at the top of his game. Everybody would have thought of him. This guy knows the way to heaven. And he says, what shall I do? Is your faith secured in Christ?

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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Parable of the Good Samaritan. You know, this message, by the way, is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was walking here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack, this is pretty exciting. We’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of Real Life Network. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? It’s beyond amazing. We launched this thing over two years ago, just a little over two years ago. And it’s been exciting. I mean, it’s been quite a ride, right? Some people call it the Netflix of the Christian world. That’s pretty cool.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:14

Yeah, absolutely. It has exploded. For those of you who don’t know, you’ve got to do this. It’s free. Go to your applications and get this app. It’s the Real Life Network app, and it’s 24-7, 365, 100% Christian character-based material. And the programming, we started out, Davey, two years ago with a fledgling handful of some broadcast and some content, and it has exploded. 70 million minutes of broadcast time has already been invested in by the viewers. And listen, here’s what’s shocking, everybody. God blessed us so much during COVID that that we wanted to create a cancel-free, censor-free Christian network. And it’s not only free for you, the user, it’s free for all of the ministries broadcasting because God has paid the bill. It’s been amazing. Yeah.

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What’s coming up next? What’s right around the corner?

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Wow. I have to be careful to say a lot. We have caught the eye. of some wonderful producers of great content. One of them is they’ll find people at PragerU who are famous for not only their conservative worldview positions, but PragerU is famous for their five minute videos. Prager U. So we’ll be working with them shortly. And we’ve been invited by Blaze TV there at Mercury One in Dallas, Texas to join up with the Blaze TV. And we are going to be doing some pretty exciting things with the Real Life Network and the Blaze TV. And there’s more, but we’ll save that for later.

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Sounds good. So if you haven’t checked it out already, that’s The Real Life Network, streaming the best in Christian and conservative content. Sign up and start streaming today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That’s reallifenetwork.com. Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show? with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like. It’s called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you’re going to love him on TV. So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That’s jackhibbs.com. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.