–Louis L’Amour  (Tucker)

       “O Lord, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.”
                    –Jeremiah 15:15(NKJV)
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I want patience and I want it now!  Are you glad that God doesn’t have to get patience?  Patience is simply a display of His mercy, Psalms 145:8 states, “The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger.”  This is one attribute of God that I’m very thankful for.  Without the patience of God where in the world would you and I be?
     Arthur Pink defines the patience of God this way, “that power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forbear so long in punishing them.”  The prophet Nahum says that, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.”  The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself.  Many times we do not show patience because we lack or do not take control of our passions.  We want to act immediately.  If you don’t think so, just go out and take a drive, especially during rush hour.  Does it cause your blood pressure to rise?  Or are you like me, and get upset at the arrogance and stupidity of those on the road?  Patience is not only God showing that He is slow to anger, but wisdom, self-control, and mercy are intertwined with His patience.  When we read in Scripture that the “Lord is long-suffering,” it is speaking of His power of self-restraint.
     “Now may the God of patience…” (Romans 15:5)  Just stop and think of that phrase for a moment.  What is it that you want God to be patience in, over?  First of all we know that God is patient in His dealings with sinners.  He doesn’t strike them down with a whim.  He is patient, allowing them either to repent or their sin to fill the cup.  Plus the fact that God forewarns those in which He is going to “lose His patience with.”  In the day of Noah, He warned the people, He waited, and all the time He had a preacher of righteousness warning them.  Today, instead of striking down He allows “nations to walk in their own ways.”  He has grace prepared, mercy in His wings, if only they repent.  But for a time, He shows patience.
     Israel is a prime example of how God is patient with nations and His people.  In the wilderness, He was patience–forty years worth of patience in dealing with that stiff-necked bunch.  He sent judges to Israel to deliver them.  He did not destroy them though they had wicked kings and followed their dictates.  There is another case of His warnings–He sent the prophets.  Finally, He sent them into exile, but He maintained a remnant, and eventually there was the dispersion but even in that God was patient and brought the nation back together in 1948.
     I look at the news and wonder how much longer God will hold in His patience.  Billy Graham said, “If God does not bring judgment upon America He will have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah.”  How dare puny man challenge God, mock Him, sully His name, and blaspheme His word.  Why does not the righteous wrath of God make an end to the abominations of earth?  Patience.  Patience and His divine decrees.  There will be a day when He says, “enough is enough,” and the time of the Tribulation will be upon the earth.
     But what about us?  God has patience with each of us and that should be a reason to worship and praise Him.  The Scottish theologian, Donald Gee writes, “God defers judgment, not because He is not interested in righteousness, but because He is longsuffering with human sin and rebellion.  The reason is not that God is otiose and does not care.  Rather it is that He cares so much that He is prepared to suffer an attitude towards His divine majesty that must be obnoxious beyond anything we can understand, in order that men may have the maximum opportunity to repent.”  Our admonishment then is to emulate the Father by loving our enemies, bless them that curse us, and do good to those that hate us–in other words, show patience.

                    –Donald L. Robertson  (Law and Justice)

       “Let me live so I can praise you, and may your laws sustain me.”

                    –Psalm 119:175 (NLT)
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I will conclude this week with Psalm 119.  I have only briefly touched on this magnificent Psalm, but I hope I have given you a taste so that you’ll do a more thorough study.  In fact, I have just finished a study on the Psalm and if I were to write something more detailed I reckon it would take somewhere between 75 and 85 days to complete it.  It is so full of truths, inspirations, and instructions for our lives.
     Jonathan Hughes writes that, “God’s Word ought to form the basis of every aspect of our lives.”  How true!  It is imperative that Christians have a truly Biblical worldview as we go through this world.  Hughes continues, “It is abnormal and wrong to claim to be a Christian and not to want to let God’s Word have control over every aspect of life.”

          .129 Your decrees are wonderful.  No wonder I obey them!  –NLT
                  Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.  –NKJV
          .130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.  –NASB
                  The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced.  –HCSB

God’s word is wonderful:  in its nature and in its effects.  We should never lose the sense of wonder that is the awareness of God.  We read, we wonder, then we obey God’s Word.  We are to walk in the light, but how is that possible if we do not read His word and obey it?  The world is full of darkness, in fact the world is darkness and as we travel through it we must have the light of God’s Word.  All the spiritual light known in this dark world has flowed from the Word of God.  Hughes states, “Our lives need to be wide open to the Bible and all that it has to teach us so that we can fully enjoy the warmth and light of the presence of God.”

          .142 Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true.  –NIV
                  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.  –NKJV

     The person who loves God’s Word will have a different attitude.  They realize that there are no errors or flaws in God’s Word, that it contains the truth, and, in fact, is the truth.  His word is the embodiment of holiness.  They are enough for life–focus on them!  Remember always, despite the views of culture and society, no matter the proponents of wokeness and progressivism that God’s standard of righteousness is an abiding one, that it is true.  If we obey God’s Word it will preserve us from sinful ways.  Perhaps we should consider the thought–social media or God’s Word.  
     Psalm 119 is known for the fact that almost every verse mentions God’s Word.  However, “the main point of this psalm is not the Word but the relationship between people and God through the Word.” (William J. Petersen)  In regard to relationship, throughout this Psalm there is the emphasis upon prayer.  Paul must have been very familiar with this psalm when he implored us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).   The Psalmist says, “I will praise you seven times a day” (vs 164).

          .147 I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word. –NKJV
                  I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.  –NLT
          .148 My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.  –KJV
                  I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise.  –NLT

     The Word and prayer, the way to a relationship with God.  Prayer should be a natural and consistent part of our life and it should be a constant focus throughout the day.   How often do we really pray?  How often do we perceive that God is with us through every minute of the day?  Charles Bridges said, “It is not, that such men are busy, and have no time for prayer, but that they are worldly, and have no heart to pray.”  To hope in His word is to build up our faith, and no matter the time of day we can be in conversation with our heavenly Father.  Get this into your heart and mind–“The aim of the Scriptures is not simply that you may know about God.  It is that you may know Him personally.” (Petersen)

                    “Holy Bible, book divine, precious treasure, thou art mine;
                    Mine to tell me whence I came; mine to teach me what I am;
                    Mine to chide me when I rove; mine to show a Savior’s love;
                    Mine thou art to guide and guard; mine to punish or reward.”
                             –John Burton

                    –Psalm 10:14 (HCSB)
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               “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’
               He said to him, ‘What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?’
               So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’
               And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’
               But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?'”
                           –Luke 10:25-29 (NKJV)

     The second greatest commandment according to Jesus:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  There are two issues in this wonderful parable:  love and neighbor.  What is love?  Who is your neighbor?
     Love is a greatly misused and misunderstood term.  It floats around and is often expressed…hmm, but is it really?  Gary Inrig writes, “The problem with a word like ‘love’ is that it is so easily cheapened.  It is the word of the seducer and the word of the huckster, but also the word of the sacrificial parent and the marriage partner.”  Martin Luther stated, “A Christian is someone who lives outside himself.  He lives in Christ by faith and in his neighbor by love.”
     Before trying to answer these two questions it is imperative that we get a background.  There have been hundreds of sermons preached, many lessons taught about the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Too often they are used without looking at the questions brought forth by the lawyer.  Attention must be given to his questions before going on to the parable.  Ponder them again for they are pertinent questions:  “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” or as Barclay translates it, “possessor of eternal life” and, Who is my neighbor?”
     First of all, notice the questioner is a lawyer, an expert in the law; that means the Jewish law therefore automatically invokes the idea of theology.  He asks a legitimate, yet wrongly worded question.  It is an important question, one that has been asked by millions through the ages, but he does not understand that “you can’t do something to inherit a gift.  Inheritance is based on relationship, not achievement.” (Inrig)
     Jesus asked the lawyer what he said and he answered rightly quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.  The verse from Deuteronomy is the essence of Old Testament faith–“a heart relationship to God, which shapes every facet of life.” (Inrig)  This first portion does not seem to be a problem for the expert, except maybe for the fact that he most likely expected Jesus to tell him to keep the law.  The man does not really know how to answer when Jesus said, “Do this…”  The man wanted to justify himself.  The New King James Study Bible states that possibly, “The lawyer was looking for minimal obedience while Jesus was looking for absolute obedience.”
     Briefly, a background of the thinking of the day regarding a “neighbor.”  The rabbis would argue the term using it as a synonym for “brother” or “people.”  They taught that one’s neighbor was a fellow Israelite.  There was one rabbinical saying that ruled “heretics, informers, and renegades should be pushed into the ditch and not pulled out.”  The Essenes required that a member of the community should hate “all the sons of darkness,” meaning even fellow Jews who were not part of their group.  (Inrig)
     In this world of hurt and need, of terror and evil where is the limit of love to my neighbor?  Do I give money to every beggar and panhandler on the street corners?  Who isn’t my neighbor?  Who don’t I have to love?  Is there a limit?  I leave you to ponder and sometime next week we will look at the parable.

                    –Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)
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My Pastor preached an intense sermon last Sunday, “The Saddest Word in the World.”  That one word is — LOST!  In that sermon he spoke of the five judgments that men face and the last one was the Great White Throne.  There is, sadly, little preaching regarding that subject anymore.  It is not something that people like or want to hear; one of those subjects that is put on the back burner if not on the shelf.
       Let’s set the stage for this final judgment.  We know that the Beast (Antichrist) and his armies will be defeated at the Battle of Armageddon.  Revelation 19:20-21, states that the beast was captured and with him the false prophet.  “These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (19:20, NKJV).  These are the first two to face that horrible eternal damnation.  Verse 21 goes on to state that the rest were killed with the “sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse…”. (NKJV)  Starting with chapter 20, we see that Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years.  In verse 3, we read that “he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.  But after these things he must be released for a little while.” (NKJV)
       Now, I cannot fully grasp all of this, but for some reason Satan must be released for a “little while,” or “short season.”  Man has known a thousand years of peace during the Millennial Reign of Christ.  The time is not perfect for man still has a sin nature, but there will be no tempter there.  Sin will come from the hearts of man, and most scholars believe that Satan is released to once again to “lead the nations astray, and to assemble them for war…  This will prove that man in his unregenerate state is a failure, for under these most favorable terms many will refuse to be subject to God altogether when Satan’s influence is released.” (William H. Pope)    
       Man must make a choice–God or evil.  Satan is released from his prison, and due to man’s fallen nature some will be deceived and follow Satan in a last rebellion.  How long is a “season” or a “little while” is open to wide speculation.  When the foes of God who have allied themselves with Satan surround the “camp of the saints and the beloved city.  And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.  And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:9-10, NKJV)  This rebellion, from the wording, seems to be somewhat successful for the armies have surrounded the camp of the saints and Jerusalem.  
       Then:  “I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV)  Whew…!
       Just a couple of things.  Man must face judgment.  Believers in Christ have accepted the judgment of sin at the Cross and have gone through the Judgment Seat where their works were judged.  Now, who is left to judge?  All the wicked.  Satan, the Beast, the False Prophet are already in the Lake of Fire, now at the White Throne are those who have gone through the Millennial, both good and evil, and all the wicked who have ever been on earth.  Hades and Death have delivered them to the White Throne.  The Book of Life–God’s register of those who are saved is opened.
       Imagine this scene if at all possible.  The wicked Antediluvians will be there, those who opposed the rule of God, His law and the words of the prophets will be there, Judas and those involved in the crucifixion if they did not repent will be there, all the host of wicked and Christ-rejectors of all nations and ages will be there. (Larkin)  Evil and wickedness and sin will flee away, man will bow and tremble as the Judge on the White Throne looks at the Book.  All have sinned and fall short of God’ standard, yet there are those who have their names in the Book of Life because they through faith have accepted the grace of God through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ.  
       Note that this second death does not mean annihilation.  “Death never means to annihilate.” (Pope)  Death, Hades, those last great enemies, along with those who rejected Christ and not accepted His grace and that He was the holy Son of God will be cast into the lake of fire.  “The rejection of the eternal gospel results in eternal condemnation.” (NKJV Study Bible)