• 3 months ago
Colm Fagan from Oxford Baptist Chapel returns to Chartridge Mission Church with a blisteringly energetic sermon on loving our neighbour and treating each other equally. Colm uses the parable of The Good Samaritan and Scriptures from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Acts, Romans and James to demonstrate God's Holy Law regarding having respect of persons.

Scriptures used: The Gospel of Luke, 10:25-37, James 2:1-9, Leviticus 19, Deuteronomy 1:17, 16:18-19, Proverbs 24:23, 28:21, Acts 10:34 and Romans 2:10-11.

Chartridge Mission Church began in 1844 and is still found in the village of Chartridge, just outside of Chesham in the beautiful Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

Filmed on Sunday, 8th of September 2024.

Join us for our Sunday service at 18:00.

www.Chartridge.UK
Transcript
00:00Good evening, everyone. All okay? All well? Thank you for coming this evening. My name's
00:15Colm Fagan. I live in Aylesbury or on the outskirts of Aylesbury. Now I've met all of
00:20you before, actually. So thank you for having us back. So Luke 10 verse 25, and it says,
00:26And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I
00:33do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou?
00:44And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
00:49all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as
00:55thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt live. But he,
01:05willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering
01:12said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped
01:20him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there
01:28came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
01:34And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by
01:40on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when
01:46he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring
01:54in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of
02:01him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the
02:07host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I
02:13come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbour unto
02:21him that fell among thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus
02:29unto him, Go and do thou likewise. Amen. Again, thank you for coming. I think it's
02:38my third visit here. I remember first meeting Brother Andy back in Quaynton. This is probably
02:43was a 2017, maybe 2018. I can't remember now. 2018 perhaps. And yeah, I always had great
02:51fellowship with Quaynton Baptist Church in Quaynton. And I know some of their believers
02:56will come here sometimes to fill the pulpit or the chairs here, regardless. And it's good
03:04to come here and fellowship. Because I remember when I was always visiting Quaynton, they'd
03:08mention Chartridge, and they'd say, oh, it's near Chesham. I think, okay, yeah. But when
03:13you actually have faces and names put to the church here, it's nice to actually personally
03:20get to know them. Because, again, it's just another name, another building that you don't
03:25know. So I'm glad that we can meet together face to face. You remember those times where
03:29we couldn't? That was very tough, dark times, weren't they? But God was at work during that
03:35time regardless. Maybe you kept a ribbon there or a bookmark, but if you could go back to
03:41Luke chapter 10, and you'd know what we read to be the parable of the good Samaritan. It's
03:49one of the most famous parables that Jesus taught, maybe the most irrelevant, but very,
03:55very well known. Some don't know the text that well, they just know the account or the
04:01story or the main points. But we know that when Jesus told this, it's only recorded in
04:06the Gospel of Luke, when he told it, he told it in response to a lawyer who knew the laws
04:12of God, very well educated, very well rehearsed man. But he would have knew what the scriptures
04:18said of course, and try to uphold them or that would have been his job, not necessarily
04:23a personal duty of his to honour God, but it was his job as a lawyer. But the reason
04:29why the Lord gives the parable to him of this good Samaritan man is because this lawyer
04:35was willing to justify himself before Christ. We're not told the reason why. It's probably
04:41a good thing because that way we can always take something from it. In my experience as
04:47a Christian, I've met hundreds of people that I've tried to witness to. The Lord saved
04:51me about 11 years ago, nearly 11 years ago now. And ever since he saved me, I look back
04:58in my own life and whenever I'm witnessing or dealing with other people, the amount of
05:02people that are always willing to justify themselves is immense, isn't it? You've probably
05:06met people like that. What's worse is when there's Christians that are willing to justify
05:11themselves in opposition to what the words of Christ actually say. And may God protect
05:17us and guard us from that, that we'd ignore Christ to justify our own way, our own perspective,
05:23our own traditions. But this lawyer, I don't think many people would go up to a certain
05:27lawyer at this time and say, no, no, you're wrong. I don't think most people would do
05:32that, even if they did. I've met many people that can argue and debate, even if they're
05:37in the wrong, they're very skilled with their words and they can flip it and make the other
05:41person look like they're wrong. But what this man does to Jesus is incredible. If you look
05:47in verse 29, he willing to justify himself said unto Jesus, who is my neighbor? Because
05:54the Lord says, well, what you should do is love your neighbor as yourself. And by the
06:01way, this lawyer should have known this text because it's found in Leviticus chapter 19
06:05in the old Testament. He should have already knew that the Bible taught this without the
06:09Lord confirming it again in the new Testament, but he's willing to justify himself. And he
06:14says, well, who is my neighbor? You see this multiple times in the new Testament, the Sadducees,
06:19they strung the Lord Jesus along and said, well, because they didn't believe in a resurrection,
06:23they're always willing to justify their stance or their position. So they say to Jesus, well,
06:28I mean, say, if you have a man, he married a woman, marries a husband, he dies. She marries
06:33again. He dies. She marries again and again, again, again, they will die. When she dies,
06:38whose husband would she be then? Huh? As if to say the resurrection is possibly couldn't
06:43be a case. There couldn't be an afterlife. There couldn't be a heaven. There's not a
06:46literal kingdom of God after someone dies. No, no, no. Because then you've got all these
06:52husbands and a wife. It doesn't make sense. Therefore you must be wrong. But then he has
06:56to educate them and correct them. And I love the way he always does it. But Jesus taught
07:02a parable and he always did it with questions and parables, how he taught people using real
07:06life examples to teach people. I've preached in this text before. In light of having compassion
07:15and God's compassion to us and how his compassion and mercy go hand in hand, because you'll
07:21see later on, you're familiar with the text in verse 33. He says, you know, in verse 33,
07:27the Samaritan had compassion on him. And at the end of the parable, Lord Jesus said, who
07:32was it that was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves at the end of the parable in
07:37the next page in verse 37. And he answered, he that showed mercy on him. There's always
07:44this that goes hand in hand every time, you know, like what we sang in great is thy faithfulness
07:48in lamentations, his faithful, his mercies are new every morning. Why? Because his compassions
07:55fail not. God's compassion and mercy go hand in hand to us. Thankfully so. But I'm not
08:01going to preach on that specifically today, because there's so much in this text. And
08:06what spoke to me was how do I really love my neighbor? Do I really love my neighbor?
08:15And the text doesn't stop there, does it? How do we finish that off? You should love
08:18your neighbor as thyself. You love your neighbor as thyself. That means however you want to
08:27be treated, however you want people to deal with you, that's how you should deal with
08:32other people. Now we all know when we've been wronged. Believe me, if mankind knows anything,
08:40they know that there's some sense of justice. They know when they've been wronged, don't
08:44they? They don't always see their shortcomings. Of course, we don't normally see our wrongdoing,
08:48do we? But we definitely know when something is wrong, we are grieved about it. We have
08:52a sense of justice on the inside that God has put inside us and you can't avoid. You
08:56can harden yourself to it, but you can't avoid it. So he willing to justify himself.
09:01I'm glad that he said this so that we got this parable. So if you look down with me
09:06in verse 27, so in verse 26, he says, what's written in the law? How readest thou? Because
09:14he said, what good thing should I do to inherit internal life? So the Lord Jesus is going
09:18to bring him to the end of himself. The Lord Jesus basically gets him to keep the whole
09:23law, which no man can do. He doesn't say, if you keep the law, you'll go to heaven.
09:28In a sense, a man would go to heaven if he was sinless, right? Because sin is the transgression
09:32of the law. You break the law, you've sinned, excludes you from the presence of God. But
09:37this man tried to justify himself in verse 27, 26 or he says, what is written in the
09:42law? How readest thou? And he answered and said, thou, you personally, singular, you
09:48Mr. Lawyer. If you want to be justified, if you want eternal life, you want to do something
09:54good in the eyes of God. You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, not 99%,
10:021% not, because it ceases to be all, doesn't it? By the way, I've read the scriptures many
10:08times now. When I see the word all, it always in context means all. Every time. All thy
10:14heart, all thy soul, all thy strength, all thy mind. It doesn't mean now and again, you
10:21give God your thought here and there. Now and again, you give God some commitment. You
10:26give God some lip service. You think about him or do good for him or to others. Now and
10:31again, no, no, no. All of your mind, all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your
10:35strength, all of it. And then he says, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. By the
10:40way, did you notice that he avoided the love thy God with all his heart, all his soul part?
10:44Did you notice that? He doesn't even acknowledge that because he knows he cannot possibly publicly
10:50convince everyone of this. He can't justify himself regarding that. But what he does try
10:54to do is this. He tries to justify himself by saying, well, I mean, yeah, you know, who
10:59is my neighbor? By the way, I mean, some of us have been good to our parents. Some of
11:04us have been good to friends. Some of us, we do love strangers as we possibly utmost
11:09can as ourselves, don't we? Some of us try our best to do that, right? This man, he's
11:15trying to justify himself and he says, who is my neighbor? Because he was probably thinking
11:18of some people in his mind that he has treated as they should be treated, as they should
11:24be dealt with. But the Lord Jesus says, I'll tell you who your neighbor is. And then he
11:31brings him to the end of himself. Your neighbor is not someone who is close to you necessarily.
11:37Your neighbor is not someone of your kin or your household or your country or your nation
11:41or your club. The example given to us here is this. A certain man left Jerusalem, went
11:48to Jericho. He fell among thieves. I won't take too much time to go into the parable
11:52because I want to go to another parallel text in the New Testament. By chance, they came
11:56down a certain priest. The priest avoided him. The Levite said he even came to look
12:01upon him and then he went the other way. And then the Samaritan came and he done his best.
12:07He sacrificed. He gave up his time. He bound up the man's wounds. He put him upon his beast.
12:12He paid for him to be looked after in a location. And he said, if there's anything more I can
12:15do, I'll repay. And he was neighbor unto him. The Samaritan was a stranger that would have
12:21never dealt with a man like this. Like just by default, you would not say they're neighbors.
12:26Just by default, you would not say the Samaritan is a neighbor with an Israelite. You wouldn't
12:30say that. No association would be the best thing for these people, but that's how they'd
12:34address it. But Jesus said, who was neighbor? And they said, well, the one that had mercy
12:38upon him. They didn't say the Samaritan, of course, they didn't say Samaritan, did they?
12:42They just said the one that showed him good. So the Samaritan, the one that cared was neighbor.
12:49The lawyer could not justify himself after this event because the lawyer wouldn't have
12:53done that to a stranger. Yeah, not even a stranger, an enemy of his or someone he considered
12:59to be less human or less valuable. Or some people look at it like this. We do have classes
13:04systems around the world. I have a Christian friend of mine from India. He says it's the
13:08same in India. He says like, if even Christian circles, there's a big struggle among class
13:15systems. Like it's a struggle to even like, if one of their daughters wants to marry someone
13:23from a different class to them, it's like completely frowned upon and pressures put
13:26on them into their society. You get this around the world as well. Now, we might not see it
13:31as this. There's Samaritans and there's Israelites. We might not experience stuff like this today.
13:35But all sorts of other people, they look at other people. And if you can dehumanize them
13:40to a degree, then it's justified that you don't have to do good to them. Have you ever
13:45thought how do so many atrocities happen in the world? How did World War II, the atrocities
13:51of World War II, that horrible war, how did some of the atrocities take place there? If
13:55you can just withdraw yourself and think this person isn't quite made in the image of God.
14:01They're not quite on the same level as me. Then to be consistent, you can truly justify
14:06your dealings with them negatively or, or a lack of positive dealing with them. You
14:11certainly can. But the lawyer couldn't justify himself after Jesus gives this parable, the
14:16Samaritan done good to this man. The Samaritan did good to him. Now, if it was you, by the
14:23way, you can do good to someone like this. He gives probably the broadest example here
14:29because he gives someone in need. Their life has been threatened. They're visibly hurting,
14:35aching, suffering. Okay. If there's someone lying on the street, I'm sure all of us would
14:40go out to their attention. We wouldn't go out and think, ah, now let's check their driver's
14:43license. Yeah. Yeah. There are kind of people. We'll go and help him. We don't, we don't
14:48tend to do that, do we? But go to James chapter two with me, something a little bit more personal.
14:54By the way, most of us would say if someone needs help, yes, we should treat them as ourselves.
14:58If it was me lying there, I'd want someone to help me. So I would help someone else.
15:03But let's look at it in this light because James gives us a bit more insight in his letter
15:09in the new Testament here. Just after the book of Hebrews, you come to the book of James
15:12chapter two. When you think of James chapter two, normally it's in regards to the faith
15:18and works issue. That's, that's from verse 10 onwards for context to the end of the chapter.
15:25But there's this portion, verse one up to verse nine in the book of James that's normally
15:30missed out. The book of James isn't written to the novice Christians. It's a very, very
15:38heavy and sometimes scathing letter that he writes. Very convicting, very sharp, very
15:45straightforward letter that James writes. If you look here, my brethren, verse one,
15:51James two, verse one, James says to the believers, by the way, I've, I've circled that every
15:56time it says my brethren in this book, I've circled it and countless times, countless
16:01times it says my brethren, he's talking to believers. So he says, my brethren have not
16:07the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. So he's
16:15saying here, look, Christian man, Christian woman, Christian child, do not have the faith
16:21of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he even puts more emphasis on the Lord's name, the Lord
16:25of glory. Don't have his way, his example, his faith. By the way, it's talking about
16:33the way we walk. When it says the faith, it's talking to how we live, what we do. It's talking
16:37to categorize everything that we believe in everything, who we are. Don't have that with
16:43respect of persons. That doesn't mean we have our way, our walk and talk with God and for
16:50God as a witness and ambassador in its world. It doesn't mean have it in disrespect of persons
16:56at all. No, it says, don't have it in respect of persons. It means this. You do not favor
17:02one person above another person or diminish or put down one person below another person.
17:08That's what he means. Because most of us will think, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't treat this
17:11person mean and then this person good. Sometimes we can positively do it. Sometimes we show
17:17great favor to certain people and ignore others. Did you know that? Did you know like
17:23a big cause of detriment in our society is this neglect? Neglect, lack of love, lack
17:31of compassion, lack of acknowledgement. By the way, if I put this across to you, imagine
17:36everyone in your circle, everyone at work or everyone in your household treated you
17:41like you were invisible. How would that make you feel? I know some very lonely people.
17:48They have loads of people around them, but in their circles, they're treated like they're
17:51not even there. How horrible a situation to be in. You'd know if, I mean, if they were
17:57getting punched and bullied every day, you'd know the cause of that. It's a bit easier
18:00to deal with. But if people treat you like you're not even there. Sometimes we can be
18:05guilty of this as Christians. Sometimes we'll just ignore people and think, oh, no, that
18:09person wants me to speak to them. Oh, okay. Yeah. How are you doing, buddy? You're right.
18:14And treat them as if they don't even exist. Treat them like they're not even a brother
18:16or sister. Would you treat Jesus like that? Because he says, as you've done to the least
18:23of my brethren, if you give a cup of water to a little child in my name, he said, even
18:30the very lowest of people, people that regard people as nigh and invisible, even if you
18:34do good to them, you shall not lose your reward. I see it. I know it happens. And it
18:40doesn't just mean like you do it. Oh, this is in the name of the Lord. It doesn't mean
18:43that it means you do it for Jesus sake. You do it in representation of him himself because
18:50we are his body. You do it as what the Lord Jesus would do. We would do on his behalf.
18:57If we give a cup of water to a young child, I mean, we're doing it on behalf of the Lord
19:00Jesus to show the love of God to them, that we have received compassion, love and grace
19:06from God, and we want to show it through us to them. So he says, even the least of my
19:11brethren, you've done it unto me. That's what he says. But what we do is we think we get
19:17high and mighty sometimes and we think that we don't really have to kind of do that. And
19:21James gives the example here. And just a minimal example that happens on a daily basis. Jesus
19:27gives us the example of someone who nearly died, who needed help, and someone came to
19:32their help. But James in the New Testament, he gives a very specific example. Look here.
19:38Most people think this is very menial, but look here. He says, don't have the faith of
19:41our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. Don't treat him different
19:47to him. Don't treat her different to her. And he says this in verse two, for if they
19:51come into your assembly, a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel. And look here. And
19:59they come in also a poor man in vile raiment. You have two completely different people.
20:04And by the way, it says if they come in onto your assembly, it doesn't say if they visit
20:10your village community hall. It doesn't say if they visit your home. It says if they come
20:13in your assembly, that's referring to a church meeting, by the way, people that gather in
20:18the name of God. Two people come in. One's got some flash jewellery on. You can tell
20:23he he's got some money. He's got some status. And then you think, hang on. You saw. Yeah.
20:29And then what we do is we give him such flattery, special treatment because he's got money.
20:36Someone comes in with dirty clothing. They have a dirty aura about them. And then what
20:40we do is we have respect unto him that wears the gay clothing. By the way, that means joyous.
20:47That word. And as a word that's been twisted over the years since like the 1970s and 80s.
20:52But that word, he has respect to him that wear the gay clothing. That means he would
20:56have had the money to have more colourful garments on. But most people couldn't afford
21:00stuff like this back 2000 years ago. We have respect him that wear the gay clothing and
21:05say unto him, sit down here in a good place and say to the poor, stand out there or sit
21:12here under my footstool. He said, look, that's reserved for the person who's got some money.
21:17You know, they can sit in a good spot. You stand at the back. But that's an ungodly thing.
21:23Look how God address. You might think. Nine verses, God would actually give nine verses
21:29of the Bible to address something like this. Yes, because it's very important to God. Very
21:33important to God. You know what turns most people away from churches? And I'm not just
21:38talking about unbelievers that would visit or children that would grow up in a Sunday
21:42school. I'm talking about believers that come to church. You know what turns most people
21:46away from fellowship? Hypocrisy in the church. By the way, we're all hypocrites time to time,
21:52aren't we? God protect us from it and God change us. We'd admit that, right? But when
21:56hypocrisy is tolerated in an assembly, it's disgusting, isn't it? It's disgusting. So
22:03when people come in to a church meeting and then we show more respect to one person and
22:08you just go at the back, leave as quick as you can. That's having respect of persons
22:14like can we really call ourselves Christians? Can we have the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
22:18by doing that? By the way, if you change your perspective, your actions will change after.
22:23He continues on and he says this. Are you not then partial in yourselves? And I'll become
22:32judges of evil thoughts. So you're saying you're imbalanced, you're partial. It's almost
22:38like you block something else out and you just put your energy and awareness into this,
22:44but you ignore this. How can you do that? What poor judgment? Would we not say that
22:49judgment is blind? Would we not say stuff like this? Now I want you to turn to a few
22:52scriptures with me or just for the sake of time turning here and there. You can just
22:57write these down. Go to the book of Leviticus chapter 19 in the Old Testament if you can.
23:02These laws are what helped England turning into Britain later on is what helped put a
23:09foundation that was fair and godly and just into having civil law in this country. It
23:16comes from this book that we have here. And if you ever heard the term that says justice
23:21is blind, it's a biblical concept, not in the same wording, but it's a biblical concept
23:26that you shall not, you shall not turn your eyes away from the wicked doing wicked and
23:32then pursue and persecute and punish other people unnecessarily because you feel like
23:36it because you have a bias. Now look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15. It says here, verse 15,
23:45you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. By the way, that's not just speaking to a
23:51judge that would be in a court. It's talking to believers. He's talking to everyone in
23:56that nation of Israel that left Egypt. He gives them laws, how to govern themselves
24:00in everything. And he says, you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not
24:06respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty. But in righteousness
24:11shall thou judge thy neighbor. In righteousness shall you make judgments. By the way, we make
24:18judgments on a daily basis. If someone gets a new car, if someone does this, we think,
24:24is it worth spending all that money on a car? Is it worth doing it? We make judgments
24:27every single day as people, not just as Christians, but everyone makes judgments every day. They
24:32read the newspaper. They look at the atrocities. They make judgments. They look at what the
24:35government's doing. They look at their neighbor, how they paint their house or their frames
24:39or whatever the case. They make judgments every day. We do the same, but he says, you
24:43do not do unrighteousness in judgment. Don't treat the poor differently to how you treat
24:49the mighty. Don't honor them differently. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter one. The book
24:54of Deuteronomy was written 40 years after the Israelites left Egypt. Okay. 40 years
25:02after is when God reiterates all of these words through Moses. So Leviticus was written
25:09when they first leave Egypt. Deuteronomy was written 40 years later. Now Deuteronomy chapter
25:15one, these are to a new generation of Israelites that didn't die in the wilderness. Okay. Everyone
25:22under the age of 20 years old, plus Joshua and plus Caleb went into the promised land,
25:28but everyone that was over 20 years old, they were left to die in the wilderness. They could
25:32not enter God said because of unbelief. But look at this Deuteronomy chapter one, verse
25:3817, one of the first statements really that Moses says to the people on behalf of God
25:4340 years later, look at this verse 17. You shall not respect persons in judgment, but
25:51you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man
25:58for the judgment is God's and the cause that is too hard for you. Bring it unto me and
26:03I will hear it. Look here. Sometimes we make poor judgments because we want something from
26:09someone else. So we're biased and we favor other people more than others, especially
26:13if someone rich is around, we think, hang on, if I kind of buddy up shoulder to them,
26:18they might kind of treat me a little bit different. You know, they might get me in their club
26:21or they might kind of, if they're getting rid of their car, they might sell it to me
26:24a bit cheaper. You know, sometimes we think like that, don't we? Cause we're sinful, but
26:29here sometimes we make bad judgments and we respect persons differently because of fear.
26:34We're afraid. We're afraid to tell this person that they're in the wrong. We'd easily do
26:40it to this person or easily do it to children. No problem. But to correct a brother or a
26:44sister and we think now I, I might be kind of put out the circle if I do that. No, no.
26:49The Bible says you shall not respect persons in judgment. You should hear the small and
26:52the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man. Righteousness should be far higher
26:58on a Christian's priority than man pleasing. And we're always guilty of this and we shouldn't
27:03be. And by the way, we do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
27:09If we don't practice it, this is the example of loving your neighbor by not respecting
27:14persons. You treat this person differently to this person. You're unjust for doing it.
27:19I'm unjust for doing it. Now go to the book of, uh, sorry, go to chapter 16. We have time.
27:24There's always time to look at the word of God, isn't there? Chapter 16. I could have,
27:29I could have got 50 verses that we could have all looked through here. 50 odd verses. Is
27:33that not it? Should we look through them? Shall we? Chapter 16 of Deuteronomy saying
27:37is you're there. Verse 19 says this. If you're noting them down, that's Deuteronomy 16, 19.
27:46But let me give you 18 just for context. Again, Deuteronomy means the second law. Basically
27:51he reiterates many of the commandments again, 40 years later. So Deuteronomy 16 verse 18
27:57and 19 says judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord
28:03thy God giveth thee throughout all thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just
28:08judgment. Thou shalt not rest judgment. Thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a
28:15gift. That means do not take a bribery to mask good judgment. Don't let someone pay
28:21you off. By the way, some people that they'll, they'll let something unjust slide because
28:27they get flattery or because they get recognition or they get a little bit of good favor here
28:32and there. He says, no, you shall not take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the
28:39wise and pervert the words of the righteous. Look here. We are righteous, not for our own
28:46doing, but we're righteous in the eyes of God and we can live righteous lives with his
28:50power and guidance. But look here, if we compromise so that we get something good out of it, so
28:56that we get a gift, so that we are, we are receivers of bribery. It says it perverts
29:02your vision. Look here. It perverts the words of the righteous and, and it blinds the eyes
29:08of the wise. If you want to be wise, you can't do it being blind. If you want to actually
29:14have just righteous ways and words and then not be perverted, don't treat people differently
29:20for good favor for bribery in the eyes of God is disgusting. Go to chapter Proverbs
29:2524, please. We'll look at two passages in Proverbs 24. These are commandments and instructions
29:30to us that we should already know and follow as Christians, but sometimes we need to hear
29:34it over and over Proverbs chapter 24, please. This is an amazing book. This is, I don't
29:42want to say favorites or anything like that, but I love this book in a unique way, not
29:47above other books, but I love the book of Proverbs Proverbs chapter 24, please. Verse
29:5323 says this, I'm just doing this so that we get the point, just so that you know, the
29:58scriptures say this, God is teaching us this today. Proverbs 24 verse 23. These things
30:06also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. This
30:12is from the wisest man who ever lived Solomon. He's speaking on behalf of God, obviously
30:15under inspiration, but in the laws of God, it says you do not pervert judgment. You do
30:21not take a gift. You do not fear people to do good judgment. You do not respect persons,
30:27whoever they are, it shouldn't be done. And then sometime later you have Solomon writing
30:32in the book of Proverbs. It is not good to have respective judge persons in judgment.
30:36Now go across to Proverbs 28, just a couple of pages to the right. So that was Proverbs
30:4024, 23, Proverbs 28, 21. It says this to have respect of persons is not good. Now we'd all
30:49agree. It's not good to have respective persons. Of course it's not good, but we'll finish
30:55off the proverb. It says this for, for a piece of bread, that man will transgress. What?
31:03Someone would sin. Someone would step over the line. Someone would do wrong just for
31:07a piece of bread. Yes, because your, your judgment has been perverted because you're
31:11a respecter of persons. No wonder people would do such atrocious things. Why? Because they
31:17don't look at their fellow man as someone who's been created in the image of God. They
31:20don't look at that man as a lost soul. They don't look at him or her as a brother or sister
31:24in Christ. When you have respective persons, it's no doubt that you would, even in small
31:30things, pervert yourself and even transgress for a piece of bread. We ought to be aware
31:36of this because in small things we transgress, it leads to bigger things. And we ought to
31:41be aware of that as Christians. Don't be a respecter of persons because in God's eyes,
31:46you pervert judgment and in God's eyes, it will lead to more and more and more. Now just
31:50go to, just for the sake of time, I don't want to go to too many scriptures, but there
31:55are numerous scriptures about God. These are all instructions to us that I gave you about
32:00God not being a respecter of persons. God is no respecter of persons. Go to Acts chapter
32:0510, please, in New Testament. And then we'll stay in the New Testament. I won't make you
32:08go back. Acts chapter 10, please. Acts chapter 10. A friend of mine, he was preaching a sermon.
32:16He said, yes, go to the book of Nahum. It's probably those pages that are very stuck together.
32:20They don't get open too well. So it's good to flick through your Bible as much as you
32:23can. Acts chapter 10. This is a sermon that Peter preaches to some Gentile believers.
32:32Okay. Now Peter, amongst other people, had a perspective that we can only preach and
32:39interact with the Jews. We can only do that, especially with those of Judea. We can't go
32:45to the Gentiles and preach the word of God to them. Even though Peter was from Galilee
32:49and the Bible says it is Galilee of the Gentiles, they would have been around Gentile people
32:53all their lives. But after Peter speaks to Cornelius and the other Italian soldiers that
32:59are in the Roman army, the first thing that Peter says in this sermon of his, by the way,
33:06he ends with these words. He says to him about Jesus, give all the prophets witness that
33:11through his name, whosoever believe within him shall receive remission of sins. That's
33:15in verse 43. At the end of what he says, that's how he finishes it. But look at how he starts
33:20it to give us the right perspective. If a preacher is to preach to the lost or to anyone
33:25else about salvation, yes, we end it. Always end it with going to the cross of Christ and
33:31saying that Jesus is the name above every name. All of the scriptures testify that Jesus
33:35can give you remission of sins. But Peter starts it like this in verse 34. Then Peter
33:41opened his mouth and said of a truth I perceive God is no respecter of persons. Peter, by
33:49the way, earlier on in the chapter had to be convinced of God of this. Now you might
33:53think what a spirit filled man like Peter, he wouldn't go to the Gentiles so that they
33:58could be saved. He, he considered them to be lost. Yes, but not that he would be the
34:03one to give the gospel to them. But he says this, God is no respecter of persons. Romans
34:09chapter two, you don't have to turn there, but just for sake of time, I'll read it. Romans
34:13chapter two verse 11 says this, the apostle Paul echoes the exact same thing. Romans two
34:18verse 11 says this. Verse 10 says, but glory and honor and peace to every man that work
34:24of goods to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons
34:28with God. Does God respect the Jews more than the Gentiles? No, he's the God of the Gentiles
34:33also. Is God a respecter of persons? No. And then it carries on in a book of Ephesians
34:40in Colossians. It says it even in one Peter chapter one, see it. You can go back to James
34:45chapter two, if you can, but one Peter chapter one, verse 17 says this. And if you call him
34:50the father without respect of persons, judges accordingly to every man's work past the time
34:57of your sojourning here in fear, because God is not respecter of persons. He doesn't treat
35:02people differently. No, he treats people according as they are. He's fashioned every man's heart
35:07like the Bible says. So back to James chapter two. Now, of course, we'd all say, no, no,
35:12if someone came into our assembly and they were rich or they had status, we wouldn't
35:16treat them differently. Are you sure? Because the stern warning against it, I see it happen
35:21all the time, by the way. Now, did you know under Victorian Britain, even before you had
35:26to rent a pew in Church of England churches, you know that the more money you had, the
35:30better the pew you had. You'd be able to sit in the gallery. You'd have more comfort.
35:35You'd be sat in that good place. You couldn't afford it. You go sit over there and go stand
35:39at the back then. We're not supposed to be respecter of persons as believers. Now, you
35:46fulfill the law in this. We'll carry on going because he says this in verse five, hearken,
35:52my beloved brethren. Now, I love this. James always gives like a sharp scathing message
35:58all the time. But then he reminds them, he says, listen, hearken, my beloved brethren,
36:04my Christians who are loved of God. Just listen. He says this, hath not God chosen
36:10the poor of this world, rich in faith? Now, by the way, we're all poor in God's eyes,
36:17aren't we? Even if you have more money than anyone else in the world, in the eyes of God,
36:21you are still dirt poor, dirt poor, especially you can't take your money with you when you
36:26die. Has God not chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which
36:33he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. God sees them as
36:41being rich in faith. God sees them as lost souls. You despise them. Do not rich men oppress
36:48you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by
36:52which you are called? But you dismiss the evil that people do just so that you can maybe
36:57get a little bit of goodness from them. You can maybe get a gift or a bit of favor from
37:01them. Now look at verse eight. If ye fulfill the royal law, that means God's kingly law.
37:10God is the king of earth and heaven, by the way. If you fulfill his royal law, that's
37:15how we should see this. We shouldn't just see it as commandments. We shouldn't just
37:18see it as statements from God. We say it is his royal law. What's good and just and unchanging
37:26His royal law, according to the scripture, thou shalt not love thy neighbor as thyself.
37:32Ye do well. That's how we can fulfill God's law. If we love our neighbor as ourself. Now
37:38look here, look here. This is how we teach children to do good. This is we say, what
37:45about if that person stole your toy? We always teach people if you can put yourself in their
37:49shoes, how would you be? You'd show a lot more compassion, wouldn't you? There would
37:54be much more repentance in our lives if we put ourselves in their shoes. And verse nine
37:59says this, but if ye have respect of persons, respect to persons, ye commit sin and are
38:08convinced of the law as transgressors. If you have respect of persons, you sin against
38:15God. Should we have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with such poor judgment, poor
38:20respect of persons? And by the way, we represent God and who he is as Christians. When an unbeliever
38:27looks at your life, they take that as examples of who God is. When a father, when a Christian
38:33man gives the example and teachings and his life to his children, they're the first knowledge
38:40and gathering of information that someone could learn about God. How do we represent
38:46our Lord and Savior? And this is an example that's clearly taught throughout the whole
38:50Bible. You should love your neighbor as yourself. Love them. Not, okay, I won't do bad. No,
38:57no, no. Love your neighbor as yourself. Or are you the kind of guy like, all right, but
39:03who? Everyone. Everyone. Don't justify yourself. Don't exclude yourself from anything. You
39:09love your neighbor as yourself. Everyone apart from you. We're too consumed with ourselves
39:16nowadays. We love ourselves. We think of ourselves. We'd be mindful of ourselves all
39:20the time, but not of other people. If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin. Now, most
39:28of the time we think, well, you know, I don't really lie at work. I don't steal. I don't
39:32skim from the till or anything like that. I definitely don't, you know, bully people.
39:37You know, I don't kill people. I'm not out committing adultery. I'm not out getting drunk
39:40every Friday and Saturday. I'm not doing these things. But if you have respect of persons,
39:45you sin. There are sins of commission, yes, but there are sins of omission. And that sin
39:53of omission is if you do not love your neighbor as yourself. How can we love our neighbor
39:59as ourself? We look at them in the eyes of God, through the eyes of God. We think they're
40:05a lost soul. How does God see him? How does God see that young lady? If we love the Lord
40:12our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, then we will love
40:18our neighbor as ourself. We will. Rather than trying to get commandment number seven, eight,
40:23nine, ten down, you know. No, no, no. If we have God in his rightful place, then we wouldn't
40:29want to honor God, would we not? And remember, Jesus is God. He is God. How did he live?
40:36How did he act? How did he treat people? And that's how we should. If we have respect
40:43of persons, we commit sin. Christians, we shouldn't be like this. We shouldn't. And
40:47then that gives the entire context of how James goes into faith without works is dead.
40:53Faith without works is dead. And he even says this, look, show me your faith. Can you show
40:59anyone your faith without works? No, because it's just lip service. And he says, I'll show
41:04you my faith by my works, by what I do. You'll see how I believe or what I believe in what
41:10I do, how I live, how I treat others. My devotion to God and my burden for my fellow man is
41:19how I declare the word of God. So look at this. Look at yourself. How do you treat people?
41:26And by the way, this can be geographical. And by that, I don't mean people from other
41:30religions, races, tongues and tribes. No, no, no. I mean, you come to church, you treat
41:35people one way here. And in your family at home, you treat them different. Your work
41:41colleagues at work, you treat them different. You know, you say, yeah, please, brother.
41:44Thank you so much. This isn't a pantomime. This isn't where we dress up and the women
41:49look lovely and feminine and modest. And the men, you know, they're actually, you know,
41:53speaking about the things of God. All week goes by. They go to the shop. No respect.
41:58So well-mannered. They don't even care. They want to get in, out as quick as they can.
42:02They don't want to deal with anyone. Sometimes we'd be like that. We're so hard, so stiff
42:07necked, so bitter. Why? God gave you another day. He gave you another time to go to the
42:13shop. He gave you another opportunity to go to work so that you can be an ambassador for
42:18him, so that you can love that neighbor as yourself. If we don't do that, we transgress
42:24the law of God. We might not go and give them a hard time, but if we don't love them,
42:30we break God's law. So love your neighbor as yourself. Yes, you know, you should. I
42:36know doubt all of you knew that probably from little children. You probably knew that. But
42:39love your neighbor as yourself. If you do, it says here, look at the words. If you fulfill
42:47the royal law, according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You
42:50do well. That's what God says. You do well. We are Christ's body here on earth. Jesus
42:57Christ will not walk the streets of charterage, physically speaking. He does it through us.
43:03His spirit has gone throughout the world, has it not? The word of God is not bound,
43:06is it? And he will use us for his glory. He will use us to reach people. And by the way,
43:13there is a big shortage of love in this world, is there not? Do we not have a big shortage
43:19of love and compassion in this world? Is there anyone, a specific group that we should
43:24find love and compassion amongst? I'd probably say Christians. Are you a Christian? Let's
43:30show it to the world. Whatever you've done, you can't undo it, but you can confess your
43:38sins and God is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
43:42If you've done wrong, God has given us confession so that we can get it off our minds and hearts
43:47and we can have fellowship with him and then we can walk in the light as he is in the light,
43:50as 1 John says. But if you want to stay the same as what you are, it's not that, yeah,
43:56you know, I'll just keep going the way I am. I don't really want to change. If I change,
44:01then people will kind of see that I was being lazy before. People will see that I was being
44:05unloving before. Well, if you change now, then tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will
44:10be different. You'll be more useful. If you don't change, it's not that you won't cause
44:15any harm. You will. You'll turn others away. So now is the day of repentance, of change,
44:22of following the Lord, of taking up your cross. So Christian, do this. This really spoke to
44:27me. I feel like I didn't expound as clear as I should have, but this spoke to me. The
44:31royal law of God and I fulfill it by loving my neighbour as myself. And if I do that,
44:36I do well in the eyes of God. So I think we have some love that needs to be shared
44:45and shown to the lost. And God will do that through us. Love is a very hard thing to follow
44:52in and to walk in and to keep ourselves in. As the Bible says, keep yourselves in love
44:56of God. Very hard thing to do because sometimes we've been hurt. Sometimes we see the wickedness
45:04that goes on in the world and we're grieved very deeply. Yes. But God still loved you
45:10no matter how much you grieved him. God still saved you no matter how much you wronged him.
45:16So may we love our neighbour as ourself and love the Lord our God with everything that
45:20we have. Amen.