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Please turn to Luke, chapter 10, verse 30. It’s on page 1089 in the Scofield Study Bible. Please stand as I read it.

“And Jesus answering said, 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. 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 10:30-34).

You may be seated.

This is a story that Jesus gave to teach us a lesson. The lesson is very important. The lesson shows why the churches don’t reach young people. Fifty percent of Dr. Hymers’ generation became church members. Thirty-five percent of my father’s generation became church members. Fifteen percent of those born between 1966 and 1986 became church members. But only four percent of my generation are church members. My generation has been lost by the churches.

These figures show that the churches are completely failing young people of our age group. The churches can’t even keep young people who are born in the church. Eighty-eight percent of us leave the church by the time we are twenty-five years old. The churches are total failures. They cannot reach unchurched young people today. They can’t even keep the young people raised in the church! I say that the churches are losing us. I say the churches are a complete failure. I say this means the churches are dying. They are dying because they cannot get young people like you and me. And Christ’s story tells us why they are dying. Yet our church is alive. We are winning young people. Our church is growing at the same time others are dying. We are succeeding while the others are dying.

Christ’s story gives the reasons we are succeeding while others are dying. There are five people in the story – the thieves, the young man they wounded, the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan who saved the young man. Let’s look at them.

I. First, the young man who was alone.

He represents young people like you and me. He was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was alone. No one was with him. He walked on the lonely road of life. Green Day sang a song that is still popular today. Mr. Griffith sang it before I came to preach. It’s called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” It says,

I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone.
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me.
‘Till then I walk alone.
   (Green Day, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”).

That song shows that most young people feel lonely. No wonder you feel lonely! Homes are divided by divorce. Even if your parents aren’t divorced they don’t have time for you. They are too busy working. They are too tired after work to help you. Friends you had in high school are gone forever after you graduate. New friends at college don’t seem to really care about you. You go to a movie. There’s a big crowd around you – but they don’t know you. You still feel lonely. You go to a mall. You’re surrounded by hundreds of people. But you don’t know them. You still feel lonely. You go to a party or a rave. Everyone is talking. They are dancing and drinking. They seem to be having fun. But it doesn’t help you. You still feel that loneliness inside. You can’t seem to get rid of the loneliness you feel. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” said,

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 are too busy to listen to you. Your brother has his head stuck in a video game. No one listens to you. No one cares how you feel. You text a couple of people. They text back a few words. They are busy with other things. No one cares how you feel. There is no one to turn to. David said, “No man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4). The young man in Christ’s story was alone. He knew the feeling of that song,

I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone.
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me.
‘Till then I walk alone.

II. Second, there were the thieves who robbed him.

They stripped him. They wounded him. They stole what he had. They left him half dead. That young man is you. Isn’t that what they have done to you? Fifty-eight million kids have been “stripped” from their mother’s womb and cut to pieces because they were unwanted. Nine old men on the Supreme Court said that mothers had a “choice” to murder kids like you. What a horrible, godless “choice” that is! Half of our generation was unwanted. Those “thieves” on the Supreme Court stripped them, wounded them, and left them in a garbage can behind an abortion clinic. Six million Jews were murdered by Hitler. Today, half of your generation was slaughtered by the Supreme Court. Please tell me what the difference is? I don’t see any difference at all. It’s the mass extermination of your generation. No event in the history of America is more horrible or heartbreaking. Why don’t they talk about that on the news programs? Why don’t they talk about the horror of it in your college classrooms? They talk about everything else that’s wrong in our country. Why don’t they talk about the mass murder of half of your generation? I’ll tell you why. They don’t care about young people like you! They don’t care about you or your generation. They are like the thieves that stripped and wounded that young man. They don’t care what happens to you kids!

The small number of you who are not murdered by abortion are unwanted as well. You young people are the unwanted generation. Many of you have parents that don’t really want you. They don’t understand you. They don’t really care about you. They are too busy making more money to listen to you. Too busy to give you a loving family and a happy home. They left you alone in front of a computer, or wandering the streets at night on what that song calls “the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

You have been robbed. Robbed like the young man in Christ’s story. Robbed of your parents’ love. Robbed of a real home. Robbed of the happiness you deserve. Robbed of life as it should be. There is nothing left for you now but a “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” And you walk alone. You find a girl friend. And she goes off with another guy. You find a boy friend. But he goes after another girl. You have a friend, but they no longer have time for you! And you walk alone! You have been robbed by thieves on the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”!

III. Third, the religious leaders didn’t help him.

The priest and the Levite looked at the dying boy. But did they stop to help him? No, they did not! Jesus said they “passed by on the other side” of the road.

They remind me of many preachers today. They talk continually about foreign missions. They take offerings to support foreign missionaries. And they leave you alone. They brag about how many missionaries they support. But they don’t do anything to help young people like you and me.

That isn’t the only thing they do wrong. They don’t know how to attract young people today. They are stuck back in the seventies. They bring in rock music to attract young people. That may have worked back in the 1970s, but we aren’t in the 70s! Our parents like that stuff. But we don’t want it. What we want is an answer to our loneliness. What we want is a group of people who care about us. What we want is real friends. What we want is a church that’s open for us on Saturday and Sunday night. What we want is people we can trust. And that brings me to the fourth person in Christ’s story.

IV. Fourth, the young man was finally helped by a Samaritan.

Jesus said that the Samaritan “had compassion” on the wounded young man. He treated his wounds. He took the young man to an inn. He took him there so they could help him and heal him. That inn is a picture of our church.

Our pastor Dr. Hymers knows what we need. He came from divorced parents. His father left when he was two years old. He lost his mother when he was twelve. He lived with people who didn’t want him. He was taken to a church – that didn’t meet his needs. He saw all the falseness of the so-called “youth program.”

Finally he decided to start this church. He threw out “Sunday School.” He threw out a “youth ministry.” He decided that the whole church should be a youth ministry! He knew that 90 percent of all conversions happen between the ages of 15 and 25. That’s when he decided to make this whole church a youth ministry. We evangelize no one but young people. That’s why we brought you to church this morning. We did it because Dr. Hymers told us to bring you here!

Leading Baptist preachers have said our church is unusual. Dr. Lee Roberson said our church is “the most unusual church in America.” What makes our church “unique”? What makes our church “unusual”? I’ll tell you what makes us unique and unusual. It is the vision of Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.. He is what makes us different! He is the one who told us that young people like you and me are important. He is the one who says we are the most important of all! He is the one who told us to go and bring you here this morning. He told us to pay special attention to you! He told us we could make a difference. He told us we could create a great church here in Los Angeles. And we could do it because we would show you the love of Christ. We would give friendships and fellowship you can’t find anywhere else!

Dr. Hymers is a very special preacher. He cares for you because Christ cares for you. Christ saved Dr. Hymers from loneliness himself. He walked the streets of Los Angeles as a lonely teenager. He knows how it feels. He knows there is nothing really wrong with you. You feel lonely because you are alone. He knows that most churches don’t care about you. They didn’t care about him either. He was a kid from a broken home. He was an outsider.

The Samaritan wasn’t Jewish. He was an outsider. Jesus Himself was an outsider. And Jesus Christ is not only Dr. Hymers’ Saviour. Jesus Christ is Dr. Hymers’ hero! And He is Dr. Hymers’ model. That is why you are here this morning. You are here because he told us to bring you here. And take Christ’s love to you! And give you the answer to loneliness. You will find the answer right here! Right here in the “new” Baptist Tabernacle!

The Samaritan brought the wounded boy to an inn. They took care of him in that inn. That “inn” is right here in the “new” Baptist Tabernacle! This is where you will find real friends. This is where you will be an important person. This is where you will hear about the love that Jesus has for you!

I know. I was a lonely kid myself. Dr. Hymers preached on the love of Christ. The love that made Him suffer and die on the Cross to save you and me. It was the Blood of Jesus that saved me. It was His love that healed my loneliness. It was the love of the suffering Christ that healed my loneliness. And Jesus rose from the dead. He rose from the dead to give me life and hope! I had no hope. No hope at all – until I encountered Jesus Christ.

I was lonely. I was crying. I felt lost. My friends couldn’t help me. My friends didn’t have the answer. Then Dr. Hymers sat down by me. He asked me if I would trust Jesus. I did trust Jesus that day. Jesus cleansed me from all my sin. He took away my loneliness and sin. I felt low and rotten. But Jesus saved me. I want you to come back here to church. Come back and hear more about the love that Jesus has for you. Come back to church. Come to Jesus and be saved by Him alone!

I love this church. I love the friends I have in this church. I love the way we help lonely young people! I love our pastor Dr. Hymers for creating this church – the “new” Baptist Tabernacle. I love Dr. Hymers so much that I want to be like him. I want to help lost people myself. That is why I am going to become a pastor myself. I want to be like Dr. Hymers. I want to be like the Samaritan. I want to be like Jesus. I want to help you find a new life – right here in this church. Right here in the “new” Baptist Tabernacle!

Dr. Hymers wrote a little song. It’s a song that says it all. It’s called, “Come Home to Dinner.” It’s a song that tells what our church is like. It’s number 4 on the song sheet. Please stand and sing it. It’s number 7 on the song sheet.

Come home to Jesus, the table is spread;
Come home to dinner and let us break bread.
Jesus is with us, so let it be said,
Come home to dinner and let us break bread!
Come home to the church and eat, Gather for fellowship sweet;
It’ll be quite a treat, When we sit down to eat!

The fellowship’s sweet and your friends will be here;
We’ll sit at the table, our hearts filled with cheer.
Jesus is with us, so let it be said,
Come home to dinner and let us break bread!
Come home to the church and eat, Gather for fellowship sweet;
It’ll be quite a treat, When we sit down to eat!

The big city people just don’t seem to care;
They’ve little to offer and no love to spare.
But come home to Jesus and you’ll be aware,
There’s food on the table and friendship to share!
Come home to the church and eat, Gather for fellowship sweet;
It’ll be quite a treat, When we sit down to eat!

Come home to Jesus, the table is spread;
Come home to dinner and you will be fed.
Your friends will be waiting, so let it be said,
Come home to dinner and let us break bread!
Come home to the church and eat, Gather for fellowship sweet;
It’ll be quite a treat, When we sit down to eat!
   (“Come Home to Dinner” by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.,
      to the tune of “On the Wings of a Dove”).

Dr. Hymers, please come and close this service.

(END OF SERMON)
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Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

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These sermon manuscripts are not copyrighted. You may use them without Dr. Hymers’
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from our church, are copyrighted and can only be used by permission.

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Aaron Yancy: Luke 10:30-34.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (by Green Day, 2004).