The Commandment of Love: More Than Just Words

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Today on Real Life Radio.

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God says, you love me with all your heart. Oh, Lord, I love you with all my heart. The only problem is our flesh gets in the way of that truth. That’s the number one thing. This is your greatest passion in life. How many times do you fail at this, people? Every day. And every day, every moment, you get back up and you go for it again.

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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. You ever feel like your Christian values are under constant assault? In a world where biblical truth is often labeled hateful or backward, how do we stand firm without becoming combative or isolated? Pastor Jack Hibbs wants to help you find answers with this month’s featured resource, When Culture Hates You. It’s written by Natasha Crane. And in this straight talking book, you’ll discover how to tackle tough conversations, maintain biblical convictions, and respond to cultural hostility with both grace and truth. Now, think of it as your essential guide for navigating a world that often views faith as the enemy. You’ll learn how to speak confidently on issues of morality, identity, and belief without losing sight of God’s love because sometimes the strongest stance is one that balances conviction with compassion. Now, if you’re ready to stand strong in an ever-shifting culture, look no further. When culture hates you, it’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash realradio. One more time, jackhibbs.com slash realradio. 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 this parable is concerned about the heart of God within us. We’re never told who the man is that was in such desperate need, meaning it doesn’t matter. We are to care for others as God cares, regardless of the situation or circumstance. Now, with his message called Parable of the Good Samaritan, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

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What is written in the law, he asked the man. What is your reading of it? Two things. This is so cool. Jesus is saying this. I’ll paraphrase. Jesus turns to the man who knows the Bible and says to the man, well, you want an answer? Well, here’s your answer. Number one, what does the law say? Ladies and gentlemen, everybody write this down because it’s being attacked. Jesus Christ right here is saying that the Old Testament is the word of God. It doesn’t contain the word of God. It’s not part of God’s word. You need to hear this because there are people running around the planet right now saying, oh, you only need to read the red letters of Jesus. Some people are saying you don’t need to read the New Testament, just the red letters of Jesus. And some people are saying the writings of Paul the Apostle are demonic. Oh, how convenient is that? So listen, what if there was no New Testament? Honestly, have you studied the Old Testament enough to know this? If there was no New Testament, the Old Testament has revealed enough to know what the New Testament announces, if it was in your hands. Jesus as Messiah is crystal clear in the Old Testament. Everything God says in the Old is true. Yes, there are things that might pertain specifically to the Jews. Do you ever have lobster, any of you? Huh, have you ever had crab? Well, how come you’ve had crab and the Jews can’t have crab? God says to the Jews, you are my special people. I’m not asking any other people to get involved in this but you. I’m asking you. God says, I’m telling you, don’t eat lobster. To the Jewish people. He tells the Jewish people to keep the Sabbath. There’s a lot of Gentiles running around trying to keep the Sabbath day. and was never given to them to keep. You and I as Christians, every day, why limit yourself to one Sabbath day a week? The book of Hebrews tells me I have seven Sabbath days a week. Did you know what it means? It means to rest. Do you know Jesus? Then you should be resting right now. When? Every day. How? In him. He’ll take care of you. He’s your father. He’s your Lord. He’s your savior. He’s your redeemer. We’re not to worry about anything. We’re to cast all of our cares upon him. That’s what he does. It’s precious. Is my belief a reality? Does it shore up my life? So Jesus points this man to the very thing the man professes to know perfectly. Jesus says, well, I tell you what, buddy, what’s written in the law? The guy knew the law. And Jesus says, how do you read it? Oh, this is cool. Jesus says, have you read it? I know you’ve read it, you’re a lawyer. So how do you understand it? Oh, mark this down, everybody. Jesus is saying, so you know it, how do you apply it? That’s what he’s asking them. Have you ever had somebody quote you the Bible? And it’s the last thing they do. Oh, they’ll quote the Bible to you, but it’s the last thing they live out in life. Jesus is actually conducting a type of teaching in which the one who’s making the inquiry, this man, it’s brilliant. Jesus turns it around with a question. If you can do that in a debate, that’s a good thing to do. And Jesus is gonna answer him by asking questions of the man. Jesus directs the inquiry right to the Bible. And it’s an awesome thing. And he says, what is your reading of it? Man, this is a big deal today. I don’t wanna belabor this, although I’d love to. But when you read the Bible, how do you approach it? Let me tell you how not to approach the Bible. Okay, let me find that verse to see. I gotta find that verse or some verse that props up what I believe about this issue. I have a thought. I need to find a verse that props up my thought. Don’t do it like that. When you read the word of God, let it speak to you. And then form your opinion around the word of God. Don’t let you pick and choose areas of scripture. Listen, Satan did that when he tempted Jesus. Cults do that perfectly at your door. They knock at your door, what do they open? They have a Bible. And if you’re not grounded, you’re gonna get swept away because they’ll read a verse and it sounds so right because they’ll quote the verse and then they wrap it with the pre-packaged, trained response to deceive. If you study the Bible and let the Bible be an active, daily part of your life, you will never be led astray, never. When people are led astray, those of us who have been Christians for a while, we know exactly what happened. I ask people all the time. People will say to me, boy, this thing happened in my life. I don’t know how that happened. I don’t know. I go, yes, you do. No, really, I don’t, man. I don’t have a clue. And it’s just like, hello. And I ask them, have you been reading your Bible? And they go like this, well not, well listen, well not as often as I should. Do you know what that means? Translation, nope.

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Not as often as I should.

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Answer, nope. What’s that old saying, seven days without the Bible makes one weak? W-E-A-K. So true. Second Peter chapter three verse 16 says, And by the way, Peter’s talking about Paul. It’s kind of cool. As also in his epistles, Paul’s epistles, Peter speaks about them, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand. Isn’t that encouraging that Peter thought some of the Paul doctrines in his epistles were hard to understand? Doesn’t that encourage you? I mean, the first Pope didn’t get some of the things that Peter, Paul, and Mary, no, I mean that Paul was talking about. I’m joking about the Pope part. Peter’s going, man, that Paul, he’s deep. Can you imagine Peter saying, have you read the book of Romans? That’s heavy stuff. But when you read heavy stuff, you pray and God gives you understanding, illumination to it. But look what he says. Which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also the rest of the scriptures. You ever see people who just absolutely butcher the Bible and its meaning? The Holy Spirit, there’s no light in them. But not this guy. This guy knows what it says. And it’s powerful. Look what he answers in verse 27. He speaks reality. In fact, it’s rather awesome, his answer. This answer is extremely unique. You and I know it so well, but it’s extremely unique and it’s amazing. It doesn’t come from the mouth of Jesus. It comes from the mouth of his inquirer. So the man answered and said to Jesus, mark this down, number one, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind. He’s quoting the Old Testament. And this is brilliant. I mean, truly, it is truly brilliant. Number two, your neighbor is yourself. Why? Why are you saying it’s brilliant, Jack? Because up until this moment, the Old Testament never puts those two declarations together in one verse. In fact, you have to read two books of the law to come to this conclusion. This is absolutely awesome. This guy’s sharp. Extremely sharp. He lifts or takes two portions of scripture, jot them down, it’s good to know. By the way, there were 1,200 laws in Judaism that you’re to know. Can you imagine that without a computer? 613 commands you were supposed to have conduct your life. Did you guys hear that?

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Oh man, I don’t wanna go to church, but I’m supposed to. Bible says like we’re supposed to hang out together.

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We have a hard time with that, do we? How about if we give you 613? And what was that? Oh my goodness, things that would drive you absolutely crazy.

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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, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.

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Well, listen to this. Deuteronomy 6, verse 4. Hear, O Israel. You know this. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength. Greatest… Commandment of them all. Technically, look, forget about the rules. You nail this one, you can forget about all the other ones. You love God with all your heart, strength, soul, all of that, you’re… Right, think of it. You love God with all your heart, that’s it. There’s no law. You can’t make a law against that. God says, you love me with all your heart. Oh, Lord, I love you with all my heart. The only problem is our flesh gets in the way of that truth. That’s the number one thing. Isn’t it awesome, though, as a born-again Christian, born from above, the Bible says born of the Spirit, Christian, this is your greatest passion in life. How many times do you fail at this, people? Every day. And every day, every moment, you get back up and you go for it again. The second thing is this, Leviticus 19, 18 says, You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. This guy puts both of these together. It’s the first time you hear about it. It’s mentioned in Matthew’s gospel, here in Luke’s gospel. The book of Galatians mentions this. Book of Romans mentions this. This guy states an awesome truth that is perfect. But the question is, do you do it? In Matthew 22, 34, Matthew 22, 34, but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, those are two great groups of guys. They can’t stand each other. They’re both Jewish groups, religious groups. Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body. Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. And that was their big flashpoint. They’d get in fistfights over that. They’d kill each other over this. They gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, verse 38. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands hang all the law and prophets. Period. Period. The third thing under this point, verses 28 and 29, the will of God for me, for you, is that my actions be generous. And he said to him, verse 28, you have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. Perfect answer. Do it, Jesus said. Isn’t that great? He’s provoking him to think. Perfect answer. Now be perfect. That’s what he’s saying. Do it. Verse 20, now right there, the guy should have said, aye, aye, captain, should have walked away. But he can’t. Why? Because he is over compelled, he’s overcharged to justify himself. There’s people standing around. He keeps talking. Just give somebody enough rope. They’ll either pull themselves out of the hole with it or wrap it around their neck. Have you noticed that? Jesus said, watch out when you talk. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Don’t talk too much about it. If somebody keeps the, and listen, you ever been to court? The attorney, we wanna ask you this question. And the guy will start answering and the questioning attorney will just, oh, this is great, just keep talking. Everything goes on record. And then he comes back two days later and says, I thought you said, two days ago you said this. Oh, I did? This guy wants to justify himself. And look what he says. He says to Jesus, who’s my neighbor? This is awesome. Who’s my neighbor? What kind of neighbor are we talking about, Jesus? What type of neighbor? Is it a neighbor that’s… Now, in this context, honestly, the guy’s meaning this. Truly, I’m not joking. You mean my Jewish neighbors. I’m a lawyer of Judaism. My Jewish neighbors, right? So what kind of neighbor are we talking about here? This is shocking because watch what Jesus does. When he asked Jesus, who is my neighbor? with the intent to justify himself. He exposes the very heart. Judaism by nature, don’t misunderstand me, Judaism was created by man. A Jew following the Old Testament should be a Christ follower if he obeys the Old Testament. Do you hear me? We use the term Christian because Christians were first labeled Christian as a derogatory term in Antioch, Syria. Christians were made fun of and they said, oh, those bozos of the way. That’s what we used to be. We used to be those of the way. Did you know that? The way? But we’re first called Christians at Antioch because we were hated. What a bunch of dopes. Christians. Little Christ walking around. That’s what it means. Oh, look. A little Jesus walking around town. Aren’t you cute? They mocked us. But listen, the term stuck. I like it. And… This guy wants to say, well, I’m a Jew, so we’re just to hang out with Jews, because we don’t believe Gentiles are gonna go to heaven. They’re created by God, right, to be the fuel for hell? That’s what they believe. That’s Judaism. You say, well, I don’t believe that, because the Old Testament says Gentiles are gonna get saved. That’s because you believe the Bible. Judaism says, no, that’s made up by men. It’s not biblical. A Jew following the Messiah, we would say today is a completed Jew, a fulfilled Jew. And by the way, the day is coming. I want to make this loud and clear. The day is coming, the Bible says, when God will save Israel. The Jews will come back to faith in God. It’s going to be awesome. What does that mean? It means they’re going to follow Messiah. They are going to be Messiah followers. If we’re Christians, Christ is Greek for Messiah. They’re going to be Messiah-ians. Second point tonight is this. Mark this down if you would. Verses 30 to 32. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us the heart of God. In me, the heart of God in us. What do we mean by that? Now this illustration of Jesus is incredibly fearless. Watch what happens from here on out. I’m talking about you and I as the believer, the heart of God in us. Verse 30, we learn this. He’s concerned about suffering. When I talk about the heart of God in us, are you and I concerned about the suffering? We are commanded to. Concerns the heart of God. Watch this. Jesus says in verse 30, answers and said to him, A certain man went down from Jerusalem. You always go down from Jerusalem to Jericho. It’s about a 3,700 foot drop in a short distance, by the way. 3,700 feet drop from Mount Scopus down to Jericho, the city. And fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. Watch this. Know what is not said here. This is interesting. It says here it’s a certain man. Watch everybody. What color is this man? We don’t know. Is he black? Is he white? We don’t know. Is he from Europe? Is he from Africa? We don’t know. Is he rich? We don’t know. What do we know about this guy? He’s on a journey. He’s on the road of blood. That’s what it’s called. You know the road from Jerusalem to Jericho used to be called the road of blood. I’ve actually been on the road. Now you can’t go on it. You can go on it by foot. I’ve been on it. Some of you were with us when we took a bus on there. And some people had like major stress episodes because the wheels were hanging over the cliff. It’s amazing. And we… And shortly after that, they barred it from tourists taking a bus on there. So we were like one of the last groups to ever get a chance to do that. It was amazing. And it’s scary and steep. And it was known as the road of blood. Not because you crashed your bus in those days. It’s because the switchbacks, you would go like this in some areas and there would be thieves hiding around the corner and they’d kill you. They’d rob you blind. It was notorious. And they left him for half dead. But who is this guy? We don’t know. Here’s the beautiful part. We don’t know. We’re not supposed to know. Isn’t that neat? You hear the heart of God in this? Black, white, doesn’t matter. Rich, poor, doesn’t matter. Jesus paints the scene in the midst of the questioner’s mind. This thing’s planted, this picture. regardless of the situation or the circumstance. We’re supposed to be concerned about suffering.

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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.

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Well, friends, listen, it’s been two years here at the Real Life Network, and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel-free, censorship-free, uncompromising, so that we could bring the truth to anyone, anywhere. God has been so good to us these last two years, everybody, and we want to thank all of you. So today, we are amazed that over 70 million people minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on The Real Life Network. Every piece of our content on The Real Life Network is rooted in God’s word so that it’s safe, it’s secure. So listen, spread the word with us, will you? Encourage friends and family to join The Real Life Network and that we might grow together this community of believers all around the world.

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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. Pastor Jack, a listener letter from Kevin in South Africa. How about that? He says, I personally have not been a very good Christian for the majority of my 48 years of my walk with the Lord. He says, I wish I’d heard you many years ago, and then I would not have failed God as much as I have. Kevin says, keep on serving him the way that you have. God bless and thank you, Kevin. Wow, he really shared his heart there, didn’t he?

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Yeah, Kevin. And wow, thank you for listening from South Africa. Kevin, here’s the amazing thing about the Lord. And please read Joel, the book of Joel in your Old Testament. Why? Because there’s going to be a passage of scripture in there, Kevin, that God is going to announce to you that the years that have been eaten up by the worm and the canker of as well, and the locusts, all that wasted time or lost time, the Lord is able to bring that time back to you, to renew the time, to bring to you. So, Kevin, here’s the thing. As you and I approach the nearness of Jesus… that you can redeem that past by staying close to him now. Just make that a resolve of yours. I’m going to stay close to Jesus no matter what from here on out, period. And you and I will do it together, Kevin, and I’ll see you in heaven.

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Hey, you know, if you’d like to drop a note of encouragement to Pastor Jack, that’d be awesome. He’d really love to see what you have to say about him and how his ministry’s affected your life. So please do that. Go to the Connect tab at jackhibbs.com. That’s the tab labeled Connect at 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.