SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/15/2022 11:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 "The Sabbath Does Not Restrict Acts
Of Mercy"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
12:7-8
Message of the
verses: “7
“But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A
SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 “For the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath."
We find in the Old Testament that the Sabbath was
the Lord’s special day, and a faithful Jew should have been especially
concerned to follow the Lord’s example of compassion on that day. As seen in the quotation from verse seven in
the NASB the words “I desire Compassion, and not a Sacrifice” are in all caps
meaning that these came from the Old Testament, which shows us that compassion
was important in the Old Covenant.
At this time I
want to quote a portion of a sermon that I was listening to the other day from
Ephesians chapter five which has to do with love and forgiveness, and so that
means that it has to also deal with compassion.
This quotation has to do with love as seen in the Ten Commandments, and
I think that all who read this will, perhaps learn something from it as many
don’t think about love when reading the Ten Commandments. Enjoy!
“Love
is to qualify everything in our life. This has always been God’s
standard. You say, “This is a New Testament thing.” No,
no. It’s always been God’s standard; the heart of everything is
love. From the very first time God ever laid out a standard, it
was love. You say, “Well, wait a minute. The ten
commandments, boy, that was crushing law, legalism.” No, it was
love. Did you know that the ten commandments are nothing but ten
aspects of love verbalized? That’s all they are. Ten
aspects of love verbalized. Look with me at Exodus 20, and
I’ll show you, very briefly, maybe something you never thought of
before. Ten aspects of love verbalized; it’s a fabulous thing,
first of all toward God, and secondly, toward others.
“Love
toward God in the first four commands; love toward others in the last
six. Are you ready? Here they come. First: love is
loyal. Love is loyal is what He’s saying, verse 3: “Thou shall have
no other gods before me.” That’s the way love is, love is loyal,
not fickle, but loyal. God is just saying, “Would you love Me enough
not to leave Me for some other god?” Your wife says, “Would you love
me enough not to leave me for another woman?” You see? Your
friend says, “Would you love me enough not to go and find somebody
else?” That’s love; love is loyal, that’s all He’s
saying. This isn’t anything different. Love is loyal, it
doesn’t make other gods, it isn’t fickle, doesn’t turn its back.
“Second:
love is faithful; faithfulness is loyalty extended. Love is
faithful. “Don’t make any graven image” –carved image – “of
anything in heaven above, or in earth beneath, or in the water under
the earth. Don’t bow down to them or serve them; for I, the
Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate
me; and showing mercy on thousands of them that” – what – “that love
me.” In other words love is loyal, and love is
faithful. And God’s saying, “If you love Me, you’re not going
to be fickle, and if you love Me” – that’s the negative – “you’re not
going to leave Me, but you’re going to stick to Me, and you’re going to be
faithful.”
“And
then third, love is reverent; verse 7: “Thou shalt not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that
takes his name in vain.” I’ve heard people say, “You can’t talk
about my wife like that,” boom, you know? “You can’t slander my
friend” – do you feel that way about God? Love is
reverent. If you love God, you’re not going to use His name in
vain; you’re not going to drag His reputation through the
gutter. Love is reverent. Fourth – I love this – love is
intimate – love is intimate. Beautiful. “Remember the Sabbath
day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy
work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it
thou shalt not do any work, nor thy son, thy daughter, manservant,
maidservant, cattle, stranger in thy gates; For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth” – and so forth – “the Lord blessed the Sabbath, and
hallowed it.”
“Love
is intimate; do you know what love does? It draws aside for
intimacy. God is saying, “You know, if you love Me you don’t just go
live your life, you come apart to Me. You want to be with
Me, you want to fellowship with Me, you want to drop the cattle, and
the activities, and the land, and the busyness, and you want to be
with Me.” And that’s the way love is, you see; love is loyal,
and faithful, and reverent, and intimate. That’s all He’s talking
about is loving Him; that’s all He wants. Why, when it was all
summed up, when the whole deal was summed up, Jesus said the whole
thing can be summed up in these words, “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Right? That’s it.
“And
the second part of the commandments are toward men, and what is He saying
there? Toward men, it’s love again; look at verse
12. First of all, love is respectful – love is
respectful. “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may
be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Love is
not lawless, it is not rebellious, it is respectful, it gives honor
to people. One of the great characteristics of love is love always
seeks to say the best about everyone; love always seeks to aid and
help, assist and honor. Love is
respectful. Secondly, love is harmless; where there is true
love there would be no injury, and so He says in verse 13, “Thou
shalt not murder.” Love wouldn’t murder. Love is harmless, it
hurts no one, it helps.
“Next
one, love is pure; oh, love always seeks the purity of another, so “Thou
shalt not commit adultery.” Adultery defiles, but love seeks only
purity. And then another, love is unselfish, He says.
Love is unselfish. “Thou shalt not steal.” Love doesn’t
steal, love what? It gives. It gives; it doesn’t take, it
gives. And then number nine is in verse 16: love is
truthful. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Well,
if you lie against your neighbor, you’re trying to hurt him; if you
love your neighbor, you say the truth. Love is
truthful. Finally, love is content. Love is content.
It doesn’t want its neighbor’s house, doesn’t want his neighbor’s wife,
nor anything he has; it’s content.
“It’s
content in this sense: love says, “I’m so glad you have that
stuff. My happiness is in your possessing it.” Do you see
what I’m trying to say? Love toward God: love is
loyal, faithful, reverent, intimate. Toward men, it’s
respectful, harmless, pure, unselfish, truthful, and content. You
see, even the Ten Commandments, beloved, say the same thing: be like God,
God loves. And the second commandment, Jesus said He summed up all
those last six. The first one, “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul, mind and strength; And thy” – what – “neighbor as
thyself.” If you love your neighbor, I’ll tell you something:
you’ll respect him, you’ll never harm him, you’ll treat him with
purity, unselfishness, truth, and you’ll be content not to have what he
possesses.”
1/15/2022 11:45 AM
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