–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)

                    –James Oliver Curwood  (The Valley of Silent Men a Story of the Three River Country)

       “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent.  Has He said, and will He not do?  Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

                    –Numbers 23:19(NKJV)
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Go back, way back to the years of Howdy Doody.  On the show there was a strange creature:  Flubadub–equal parts of duck, car, giraffe, cocker spaniel, seal, raccoon, and dachshund.  What a mixture, what a mess.  Aren’t you glad God doesn’t create such chaos and confusion?  Aren’t you glad He doesn’t work on a whim?  With God there is no chaos, no confusion, for He is faithful and sure.
       Scripture declares, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:9, NKJV)  Paul writes, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13, NKJV).  God is faithful, and that should bring great hope and comfort.  “Everything about God is great, vast, incomparable.  He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word.” (Arthur Pink), in other words He is completely faithful in all that He does and says.  Oh, the tremendous hope that we have from the words of Jeremiah, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NKJV)
       If we see confusion around us, or have confusion in our lives, we can be assured that it is not from God, but from the devil.  If we see chaos, we know that it is not from God for He brings order.  God is true–He is faithful.  As Pink says, “God is true.  His Word of Promise is sure.  In all His relations with His people God is faithful.  He may be safely relied upon…faithfulness is an essential part of the Divine character.”  
       Get this into your heart and mind if you have doubts.  He is faithful in making good His threats.  He is faithful in preserving His people.  God is faithful in discipling His people.  We need to trust in Him for He is faithful.  Never fear what God might do, or where He might go–He is there, He is faithful.  The Psalmist wrote, “I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”  (Psalm 119:75, NKJV)  
       We need to get it into our souls that He will never leave us, never forsake us, never turn His back on His children.  “When we trustfully resign ourselves, and all our affairs into God’s hands, fully persuaded of His love and faithfulness, the sooner shall we be satisfied with His providences and realize that ‘He doeth all things well.'” (Pink)

          “‘Great is Thy faithfulness,’ O God my Father,
          There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
          Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
          As Thou has been Thou forever wilt be.

          Great is Thy faithfulness!  Great is Thy faithfulness!
          Morning by morning new mercies I see;
          All I have needed Thy hand hath provided–
          Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
                    –T.O. Chisholm

                    –Ernest Haycox  (Guns of Fury)

       “Get out of my life, you evil-minded people, for I intend to obey the commands of my God.”

                    –Psalm 119:115 (NLT)
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As we come back to Psalm 119 after some time off, I want to share a story I came across from William Petersen’s book, “One Year of Psalms.”  The story come from the life of the great early church leader who lived 150 years after the apostles–Tertullian.  He was trained in a career in politics and was a competent orator.  His mind was said to be razor-sharp.  At the age of thirty-five he became a Christian and chose to follow Christ leaving a lucrative career in politics.  In relation to this Psalm (cf 113) he couldn’t understand half-hearted Christians.  One day he was talking with another Christian, who was involved in some questionable business practices.  Defending his actions, the man said, “But I must live.”  Tertullian sharply retorted, “Why?”  Petersen then states, “When you think about it, how important is living compared with pleasing the Lord?  Like Tertullian’s friend, we make many compromises because we consider them necessary to maintain a certain way of life.  But how necessary is that way of life?  What kind of life does God call us to lead?”

          .113 — I hate those who are undecided about you, but my choice is clear–I love your law. (NLT)
                     I hate the double-minded, but I love your law. (ESV)
                     I hate vain thoughts:  but thy law do I love.  (KJV)

     As Tertullian, our hearts should be stirred when we see those who are against God and those who call themselves Christians that live a life of compromise.  Being double-minded is to be unstable, to be doubting.  James Boice says, “Double-minded people are people who know about God but also not fully determined to worship and serve Him only.”  We must understand that vain thoughts are the natural product of an unrenewed heart and mind.  Know that we are responsible for our thoughts and we are to control them, and then we are to obey God’s word.  As George Kell said, “Thoughts lead to words and words lead to action.”

         .119 —  All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies. (ESV)
                     All the wicked of the earth are the scum you skim off; no wonder I love to obey your decrees!  (NLT)

     Dross is like scum; it is useless.  God’s word is pure; there can be no dross.  Those who compromise should remember this and tremble.  God removes the dross, the scum–He is the refiner and He will act in complete righteousness.  Know that God is not a buddy!  He at the least is our heavenly Father and at the most the Most High God–the I AM!  Charles Lamb wrote, “If Shakespeare was to come into this room, we should all rise up to meet him; but if that person [Jesis] was to come into it, we should fall down and try to kiss the hem of His garment.”

          .133 — Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.  (NKJV)
                     Make my steps steady through your promise; don’t let sin dominate me.  (HCSB)
                     Order my steps in thy word:  and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.  (KJV)

     Our steps are to have purpose!  As a soldier, we are to march in the cadence of the Holy Spirit.  We are to have our focus, our purpose, our affections united in one central principle–under the direction of the Word of God.  The Word not only cheers our path, but orders our steps.  Our responsibility is to fill our minds with the Word, and they obey.  It is important to know that omissions lead to commissions; only an ordered life can save us from the disorder of wickedness.  Charles Spurgeon puts it this way, “He enables us to put our feet step-by-step in the very place that His Word ordains.”

                    “O let me feel thee near me; the world is ever near;
                    I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear;
                    My foes are ever near me, around me and within;
                    But, Jesus, draw thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.”
                            –John Bode