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A SERMON FOR THE NEXT GENERATION!

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached on Lord’s Day Morning, October 28, 2007
at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:30-32).


Someone gave me the words of a hit song that many young people have been listening to on the radio. I do not recommend it because it contains some foul language. But, as I read the words, I was filled with sorrow – because it describes the way so many young people feel today.


I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone.

Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me

‘Til then I walk alone.

   (Green Day, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” 2004).


The popularity of that song reveals what most young people feel. “I walk a lonely road…I walk alone.” Most young people feel lonely today. Community life is gone. Homes are divided by divorce or lack of love. The family unit of the past is all but dead. Friends disappear forever after graduation. New friends at college don’t seem to really care about you. You go to a movie. There’s a big crowd of people around you – but you still feel lonely. You go to a mall. You’re surrounded by hundreds of people – but you still feel alone. You go to a party or a “rave.” Everyone is talking. They are dancing and drinking – but you still feel that loneliness inside. You can’t seem to escape from the loneliness you feel.


I walk a lonely road

The only one that I have ever known

Don’t know where it goes

But it’s home to me and I walk alone.


You go home – but your parents aren’t there. Your brother has his head stuck in a video game. No one listens to you. No one cares how you feel. There’s nowhere to turn. David expressed it perfectly when he said,

“No man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4).

Christ expressed your feelings perfectly in the story He told about the Good Samaritan. Dr. Chan read that story from the Bible a moment ago. This young man was robbed and left wounded by the side of the road, on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. People passed by, but no one stopped to help him. He was left there – lost and alone.

But I have news for you this morning! There is an answer to your loneliness! Christ does not want you to be lost and lonely. That’s why He told that parable about the Good Samaritan. There is somebody that cares for you – and there is a way out of loneliness and despair! That answer is the very theme of this church – “Why be lonely? Come home – to church! Why be lost? Come home – to Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”

The parable Christ told about the Good Samaritan is full of meaning. I hope you will listen to it carefully. It shows that there is at least one person who wants to help you overcome your lost and lonely condition, and that is Jesus Christ Himself. Let’s think about Christ’s story very carefully and deeply.

I. First, the young man was robbed, wounded, and left half dead.

That young man pictures every lonely young person here this morning. He is a picture of every young person who walks alone on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Jesus said,

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment [his clothing], and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead”
      (Luke 10:30).

That young man is you! Isn’t that what they have done to you? Fifty million American kids like you have been “stripped” from the womb and cut to pieces with surgical knives because they were unwanted – and some pagan court ruled that your mother had the “choice” to murder you. What a filthy, godless “choice” that is! Half of your generation was so unwanted that their tiny, quivering bodies were thrown into a garbage can, in an alley behind an abortion clinic. We call it the Abortion Holocaust because it reminds us so much of Auschwitz, and the other death camps in Hitler’s Germany, in World War Two, where six million Jews were gassed to death, and then burned in ovens – six million of them in about six years. We call that the Holocaust to this very day. I fail to see how the American Abortion Holocaust is any different. The unwanted Jews were murdered by Hitler’s orders. Today, unwanted young people of your generation are slaughtered by the Supreme Court’s orders. Please tell me what the difference is? I can’t see any difference at all! It’s a Holocaust – the mass genocide of your generation. No event in American history is more heartbreaking or ghastly.

Only four thousand American young people have died in Iraq. Over twelve thousand times that many have been killed by abortion! Why don’t the newspapers and TV newsmen talk about that? I’ll tell you why, they really don’t care about you – they only want to attack the President, that’s why!

The small number of you who were not murdered by abortion were mostly unwanted as well. Even if they didn’t kill you, many of your parents didn’t really want you, didn’t really understand you, didn’t really care about you. You are the unwanted and unloved generation. They were too busy playing Bingo or getting drunk, or going to Las Vegas, or working extra hours for more money, to listen to you or provide you with a loving home. They left you alone – in front of a TV, or wandering the streets at night on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

The young man in Christ’s story was robbed. You too have been robbed. You’ve been robbed of the things most of my generation took for granted. You’ve been robbed of your parents and their love. You’ve been robbed of a real home. You’ve been robbed of a stable environment. You’ve been robbed of the happiness young people deserve. I am broken and heartsick when I think of America. It used to be the land of promise for young people. Now it is nothing but a Boulevard of Broken Dreams – and you walk alone.

And, then, the young man in Christ’s parable was left half dead. Did you know that suicide is the number three cause of death among teenagers? Many young people feel so depressed, and lonely, and lost that they commit suicide. I remember one teenager who told me he was so lonely and lost that he didn’t want to live. A short while later he took a gun up to Griffith Park. He put the barrel of the gun in his mouth, pulled the trigger, and blew out the back of his head. He was eighteen years old. I have never forgotten my friend Mike. We went to John Marshall High School together one semester. After 48 years I can’t get Mike out of my mind. Thousands of other young people have killed themselves because they could no longer face life in this materialistic, godless, lonely culture. Like my friend Mike, they were left half dead, ready to commit suicide, on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. I hope and pray that doesn’t happen to you some day.

II. Second, the young man was shunned by those
who should have helped him.

They didn’t want anything to do with him. Dr. J. Vernon McGee said,

A certain priest passed by on the other side. He represents ritualism and ceremonialism which cannot save a person. Someone has said that the reason the priest passed by on the other side was because the man had already been robbed! [he would have been interested in the young man only if he had money to give him]. Next a Levite came by, and he too passed by on the other side [the Levites were a lesser order serving in the Temple. The priests made the sacrifices in the Temple.] [The Levite] represents legalism. Neither ritualism, ceremonialism nor legalism can save…There is a great deal of talk about getting the gospel out to the world, but not much of an effort is made to see that people know about Christ [here in America]…That sounds like the average Christian’s commitment to Christ! (J. Vernon McGee, Th.D., Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1983, vol. IV, page 293).

Dr. McGee’s statement is a direct application of Christ’s story to our own time. Fifty million kids of your generation have been slaughtered in the Abortion Holocaust. Where were the preachers? They passed “by on the other side.” Even Billy Graham never said anything about the slaughter of your generation on his huge TV crusades. Also, other preachers in America are very eager to support foreign missionaries, but they seem to have very little interest in young people living in our own cities, going to high school or college. The great cities of America are left without the gospel, while these preachers talk and prattle on about foreign missions. Young people like you are left out in the cold while they brag about how many foreign missionaries they support. I think it is high time for them to stop passing “by on the other side” (Luke 10:31-32). I say to those preachers – do something for our own kids in America!

Young people in our vast cities are shunned by those who should have helped them. I think it is high time for someone to reach out and help young people like you to find salvation through Jesus Christ! And that is exactly what we are doing in this local church!

You were left alone on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The religious people passed by, and did not help you. But, thank God, He has raised up this local church to tell you about Christ, and help you find salvation through Him! Why be lonely? Come home – to church! Why be lost? Come home – to Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

We went out to the colleges and malls and streets of this city – and we invited you to come to church this morning. And many of you came. Why did we invite you to come this morning? Because Christ told us to love you and help you find the way out of loneliness and sin. Christ said,

“Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).

And that’s our message to you this morning – “Why be lonely? Come home – to church! Why be lost? Come home – to Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”

Come home, come home, Ye who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling, O sinner, come home!
   (“Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” by Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909).

III. Third, the young man was finally helped by the Good Samaritan.

Look at Luke 10:33-34. Let us stand and read these two verses aloud.

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:33-34).

You may be seated. Yes, ultimately, Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He is the one who saves us. But notice the end of verse 37. Jesus said,

“Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37).

Christians are told to do what the Good Samaritan did. “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37). The Bible says that Christ left “us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (I Peter 2:21). Christ told us to help young people like you escape from the horror of loneliness in a lost and dying world.

What did the Good Samaritan do for that young man who was wounded and left alone by the road side? He had compassion on the wounded boy. He poured medicinal ointments into his wounds. He brought him to an inn and took care of him. Christ said, “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37). Christ told us to go out of our way to help you. That’s why we invited you to be with us this morning. Christ told us to provide medicine for you. That’s why we preach the healing message of the gospel to you. Christ told us to bring you to “an inn” and “take care” of you (Luke 10:34). That’s why we brought you to this local church – to care for you. This is the place where your loneliness can be healed! This is the place where your lost soul can find salvation in Christ. Why be lost and lonely on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams? Why keep on saying, “I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone”? “Why be lonely? Come home – to church! Why be lost? Come home – to Jesus Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said,

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Come home to this friendly church. Come home and be part of our church family. Come home to church again tonight at 6:00 PM. Come home to church every time the door is open! And be sure that you come to Christ. He loves you and He wants to save you from loneliness and Hell. An old song says it all.

I’ve wandered far away from God, Now I’m coming home;
The paths of sin too long I’ve trod, Lord, I’m coming home.
Coming home, coming home, Never more to roam.
Open wide Thine arms of love, Lord, I’m coming home.
   (“Lord, I’m Coming Home” by William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921).

Decide now to come home to church with us tonight – and next Sunday morning. You’ll find true friends here. You’ll find Christ here. You’ll never be alone again!

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.realconversion.com. Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Luke 10:25-37.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (by Green Day, 2004)/
“Lord, I’m Coming Home” (by William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921).


THE OUTLINE OF

A SERMON FOR THE NEXT GENERATION!

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:30-32).

(Psalm 142:4)

I.   The young man was robbed, wounded, and left half dead,
Luke 10:30.

II.  The young man was shunned by those who should have helped
him, Luke 10:31-32; 14:23.

III. The young man was finally helped by the Good Samaritan,
Luke 10:33-34, 37; I Peter 2:21; Matthew 11:28.