–Louis L’Amour  (Down the Long Hills)

       “If you will help me, I will run to follow your commands.”

                    –Psalm 119:32 (NLT)
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What is it that you long for?  What would be your fondest wish?   When we read Psalm 119, especially in this section, we see that the psalmist longs for more of God’s Word and for more holiness.  Jonathan Edwards said that the distinguishing traits of true saints was “godly sorrow” and “holy thirst.”    He said that, “Godly sorrow and brokenness of heart is peculiarly acceptable and pleasing to God,” and “Holy thirst is a condition of participation of the blessings of eternal life.”
     It’s interesting that most versions of verse 17 state:
          “Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.”   Some (NIV, NLT) state, “Be good to your servant…”  But then they all have the same ending phrase that they might live and obey.  One of the great purposes in life is the privilege of obeying God’s Word.  
     All of us, from baby Christian to mature saint, need our eyes to be open.  Ezekiel speaks of rebellious people that “has eyes to see but does not see,” (Ezekiel 12:2, NKJV); Jeremiah repeats that claim (5:21).  We see in Mark, when Jesus speaks to those with hardened hearts, “Having eyes do you not see?…” (Mark 8:18, NKJV)  The psalmist cries, pleads with God to “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.” (119:18, NASB)  As we travel in this journey of life we need discernment, and that comes from the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  To keep God’s Word, we must pray to understand it for it is spiritual knowledge that produces life.  James Montgomery Boice states, “The treasures in Scripture are wonderful in themselves, wonderful because their source is in God, wonderful because of what they do in us and for us, and wonderful because they are everlasting when everything else we know is rapidly passing away.”
          vs 19, “I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.” (NKJV)
                    “I am but a foreigner here on earth, I need the guidance of your commands.” (NLT)
We cannot survive in this world’s system without the Word of God.  It must not only be words that we read, but it must be words that we live by, words that we trust, words that give us hope, courage, and strength.  Listen, and this is important–there is no place in the kingdom of God for a spiritual couch potato.  “A man will never grow into the knowledge of God’s word by idly waiting for some new gift of discernment, but by diligently using that which God has already bestowed upon him, and using at the same time all other helps that lie within his reach.” (John Kerr)  We must be men and women of faith every step of the way.
          vs 28, “My soul weeps because of grief… (NASB)
                    “My soul melts away for sorrow…(ESV)
                    “My soul melts from heaviness…” (NKJV)
The psalmist is in a sad state.  His strength is gone, physical and spiritual, and perhaps emotional as well.  He prays to the Lord for strength–strength that comes from the Word of God.  Each of the translations have the second phrase of this verse to read, “Strengthen me according to Your word.”  If we want strength we must have God’s Word in our heart, then we must look to it.  In this life we will face tests and trials, some of which may take us to the breaking point.  It is at this point that we must dive into the Word of God and hold tightly to His promises, His testimonies, and let that assurance cause us to rest in Him.
          vs 30, “I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me.” (NASB)
                    “I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me.” (NKJV)
                    “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.” (ESV)
and I like the way the NLT puts this verse, “I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your laws.”
There is no neutrality–it is the way of truth or the way of falsehood and deceitfulness.  We choose and continue to choose daily, therefore we must have the Word of God to help us.  We do not live a righteous life by wishful thinking.  Holiness is not pronounced upon us by the waving of some spiritual wand.
     At the beginning I asked what it was you truly longed for, what in your heart you desired the most?  Jesus tells us that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.”  We must eat of the riches of God’s Word and drink from His fountain that is provided to sustain us along the way.

                    “I hear your Word in love;
                    In faith your Word obey;
                    O send your Spirit from above
                    To teach me, Lord, your way.”
                            –Issac Watts

                    –Brad Dennison  (The Long Trail)

       “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled…”

                    –Luke 6:21 (NKJV)
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The wandering son is in a mess.  We see that he finds himself not only slopping the pigs, but staying with them.  What a plight–from wealth to rags; the wretched story of sin unfolded.  My NKJV Bible has the subtitle of this not the Prodigal Son, but the Lost Son, for he was now truly lost and undone.

          …there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to to be in want.  Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that they swine ate, and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
                   –Luke 15:13-18(NKJV)

     I cannot fully understand the lure and attraction of the large cities.  They hold nothing on me, yet in my experience I have had numerous students say how much they love New York City or Chicago.  Why?  Unless they are called by God to do work there, why set oneself up in the evil place?  It reminds me of Lot moving to Sodom.  And Christians, yes, they seem to adore Las Vegas.  Why?  Do they think they can get away with a “sin” when visiting because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?  Maybe that was the thoughts of the young man.  He went to a “distant country” which meant a Gentile land.  To live there he would quickly find that it would be “characterized by pagan values and heathen morals.” (Gary Inrig)  Of course, he was in a condition that he no longer held to the God and teachings of his father’s house.
     The Bible states that he “wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” (NKJV)  William Barclay translates this as, “wanton recklessness,” and the NIV puts it this way, he “squandered his wealth in wild living.”  Listen–choices bring consequences!  He ran out of money, plus there came a severe famine on the land.  Here in the United States we have been blessed by God to not have faced a national famine.  If there is a shortage in one part of the country, there is land enough to make up for it in another, but other countries, nonindustrial (third world) do not have this pleasure.  Think of Sudan, Ethiopia, and in fact, over 75% of the world cannot feed itself.  The young man found himself in dire straits.  Reality hit him in the face, just as the hunger hit his gut.  Gary Inrig writes, “Desperation knows no pride, and the young man not lives with the pigs, he is willing to eat with them.”  
      “No one gave him anything,” what a sad commentary.  Once wealthy, now hungry and in shambles.  I am reminded of Horace Tabor and his wife Baby Doe.  One of the richest men in America.  A man who flaunted the wealth he made from his silver mines in Colorado.  Then in the 1890s, the silver boom, busted.  Gold became the only standard.  The powerful man, once a senator, is reduced to a postal clerk and when he dies he leaves a worthless mine to Baby Doe who is found years later, penniless and frozen to death.  There was no wealth to save either of them and they died in sickness and squalor.
     Remember, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.  They would have been content to leave the wretched lad in the pigpen, saying he deserved it.  But Jesus goes on with the parable.  The motivation for his thinking to return to rightly to him may have been hunger, but repentance is there for he wants to return to his father.  Greg Lane has accurately said, “Any fun or pleasure that can be achieved outside of the Father’s House will eventually end.”  It took a while; it took the loss of everything along with hunger to finally bring the man to his senses.  “There is an insanity to sin,” said Gary Inrig.  Think of it–leaving the Father’s House and now sits in the mud with the pigs.  Henry Harbuck translates it this way, “But finally he came to his senses–realizing how depraved he had become.”  Harbuck continues in the same verse, “all the numerous hired servants have enough food and even some to spare, [but I am] starving and almost dead from hunger!”
     What did it take for the young man to come to his senses?  The pigpen–with its slop, mud, and excrement.  Hunger, for he was almost starving.  And I wonder, was there also a hunger not only for the food to be found at his father’s house, but also the truth of God’s Word that was taught there?  “We can never find ourselves in sinful indulgence.  There is often more truth in the pigpen of consequences than in the banquet halls of revelry.” (Inrig)  Party, party-hardy and where will it take you?  This man left home to be free and found himself in bondage serving the pigs.  I like the way Barclay puts this, “Jesus believed that so long as a man was away from God he was not truly himself; he was only truly himself when he was on the way home.”  
     Live with the pigs in the slop [of sin] or go home to the Father.  That’s the choice before the young man, and many others.  Once decided the person can then start to become the person that God intended; he can then begin to live as one of God’s children.  If you find yourself in a condition similar to this Wayward Son, get up out of the slime and slop, come to your senses, and start on your way home.

                    –Ralph Compton  (The Goodnight Trail)

       “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

                    –2 John 10-11 (NKJV)
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I read the other day that our lives should be parables displaying God, His character and attributes.  That means, according to Gary Inrig, “They help us know who God is.  They not only expose our condition, but also point to a divine remedy.”  If that is the case, then are we looking deep enough into the parables of our Lord?  This morning, I want to look at two verses and see if they relate to us in any way.

          Then He said, “A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
                   –Luke 15:11-13 (NKJV)
          He also said:  “A man had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’  So he distributed the assets to them.  Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.”
                  –Luke 15:11-13 (HCSB)
          The younger of the two sons said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate [before you die] that rightfully belongs to me.”….  [After the younger son had sold the property he inherited] and not long afterward–(that is, just a few days later) he gathered together all his profits and everything else he owned and left for a distant country, and there wasted his inherited money on wild and reckless living.”
                  –Luke 15:12-23 (Henry A. Harbuck)

     To get some insight, look at this Parable of the Prodigal Son (or better, Wayward Son, or Presumptuous Son).  Have you ever been somewhere and lost track of your child?  Perhaps in a store, a playground, or any crowd?  Panic is probably the first thing that hits; but do we feel the same anguish when the child wanders away spiritually?  Some may cast it off saying that they have to “sow their wild oats.”  In this situation there is actually more serious danger.  We can visibly see the person, but know that they are lost.
     Look at the brazenness of this youth.  He doesn’t go to his father for a loan, or for a handout, but for his total inheritance.  “This young man’s request is a dagger in his father’s heart.” (Gary Inrig)  It went totally against the societal norms of the day.  The father, in his graciousness, does as the young man requested to the point of giving away his livelihood.  Greg A. Lanes points out that, “You can be living in the Father’s House and be dissatisfied and discontented to the point where you think you’re missing out on something and want to leave.”  Or maybe it was like the children of Israel, wanting to leave the provisions of God (the Father) to go back to the slavery of Egypt and die there.
     Notice the words, “give me.”  Isn’t that so indicative of many youth?  “Give me” for you owe me.  “Give me,” I want it now.  “Give me” before you die, pay off my loans, my debts.  There is something within this lad who wants to break the shackles of his home.  He feels tied down, perhaps to his “mother’s apron strings,” or he may feel that he has no freedom.  The world, and its glamor and allurement, was calling and drawing him away from the security of home.  He didn’t want to miss what it had to offer.  “Give me,” is not asking the father for advice or consulting his wishes.  George Morrison states, “It is the selfish cry of thoughtless youth, claiming its own to use just as it will:  ‘Father, give me what is mine.'”
     The father did not hold him back; he let the young man go to follow a meaningless pursuit.  “When you leave the Father’s House you leave His presence.  His presence is ‘where He is.'” (Lane)  Can you feel the father’s pain?  “Sometimes a parent is helpless to prevent a course of life leading to destruction.  There comes a time to let the prodigal go.” (Inrig)  I have seen this over and over.  One of the reasons I went into Christian education was to try to prevent such courses of action.  “Don’t, here is why,” I would cry in one way or another.  The Bible shows us the result of such actions.  Can’t you see it, or more likely, like the Wayward Son, they only see what they want to see.  The allure, the glamor, the excitement of the world.  It’s like the liquor and beer commercials–never is shown the man in the gutter, the broken homes, the abuses that take place.
     Beckoning is the devil’s call.  Come, enjoy the fun.  Look at your peers, look at society, look at what is out here for you.  Take your inheritance ( or sell it like Esau) and join in the festivities of “wild and reckless living.”  Go for the “gusto,” remember you only live once.  The lad doesn’t heed his teaching, he goes.  “What agreement does Christ have with Belial?  Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:15, HCSB)