The Great Commandment
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35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Introduction
Introduction
Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 22
The scribes had determined that of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament, 248 were positive injunctions and 365 were negative prohibitions. No doubt hoping to spark a controversy, the lawyer asked Jesus which of the 613 was the greatest commandment.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
They knew this was the greatest commandment.
Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 22
The Jews knew this was the Great Commandment. Orthodox Jews wrote it out and put it in their mezuzahs—the small, elongated boxes thy fastened to their front doorposts. They wrote it out and put it in their phylacteries—the leather pouches they wore on their foreheads in obedience to the command to keep the Word always on their minds. Thus, it would have been no surprise that Jesus named the Shemah, Deuteronomy 6:4, as the greatest commandment. But then He went on.…
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
This comes from another place in the law.
16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord.
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer] רכיל rachil signifies a trader, a pedlar, and is here applied to the person who travels about dealing in scandal and calumny, getting the secrets of every person and family, and retailing them wherever he goes.
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
Solomon put it this way:
5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Jesus deals with this as well:
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
This does not mean that if a pastor is dealing with an issue he can’t warn the sheep. (Paul and the Corinthians)
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
If I knew tonight that I had an enemy, I may have. I perhaps have. But if I do, I don’t know just who it is. If it was, I sure wouldn’t go to preaching till I went, first, and made that right, see if I could get it straightened up, ’cause we’re not supposed to have anything against anyone, or if anything we can do, let no one have anything against us.
And It don’t say, “If you have ought against a brother,” but, “if the brother has a ought against thee,” see, “you go to him,” see, “if he has the ought.” And that way, why, we live peaceful. 61-0215 - "Thou Son Of David, Have Mercy On Me"
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Continue:
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
This is the commandment linked with the Greatest commandment. If you love God, you will love your neighbor.
Who is your neighbor?
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 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.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 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.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Jerusalem sets on a hill; Jericho sets in the valley. And the good Samaritan found a man coming from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell among thieves. Think of it. He was backsliding, coming from the heavenly to the cursed.
Jericho is a cursed city. Jerusalem is a blessed city. And he was on his road backsliding when he fell among thieves and robbers that stripped him. And that’s when you’ll fall among thieves and robbers, when you start backsliding away from God. Just expect the enemy to be along the road. 54-0402 - "Blind Bartimaeus"
You know, Jesus found a man, one time in a parable, was on his road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It showed he was backsliding. He was going from up high, going down low. He was a backsliding. And he met him on the road, and a enemy had beaten him, and robbed him, and left him half dead: that was physically alive, spiritually dead.
The priests and the Levites, and so forth, passed him; but the good Samaritan, as Jesus taught it, came, picked him up, poured oil in and wine and taken him to the inn.
(Oil heals, wine burns)
Now, there’s the place I want to get to you. He taken him to the inn and said to the caretaker, “Take care of him.” He give him a couple of pennies, or whatever it was, to pay his way, and said, “Now, if he needs any more, just go ahead and take care of him; I’ll make it right when I come.”
Now, you shepherds, God give you the Spirit and the Word to take care of these wounded ones that’s been brought in. If you need any more, He’ll take care of that when He comes. So just feed those sheep. 57-0325 - "The Lamb And The Dove"
If you want to help people, you don’t have to marry them. You don’t have to bring them in your house. Take them to the inn, and let the innkeeper, the pastor, the shepherd, feed them the Word.
…we can only as the good Samaritan bring them to the inn, and the Lord told the innkeeper, said, “Take care of him,” give him so many pence and said, “If he wants anything give it to him, when I return I’ll make it good with you.”
And I’m sure God will do that when He makes it good with His pastors at the coming of the Lord Jesus. 57-0810 - "Jehovah-Jireh"
(Bro. Branham at the end of a meeting)
The good Samaritan has come by, poured oil in the wound. But he’s took you now, and he wants you to go to one of the inns here, the closest to you. He’s done paid the pastor to take care of you, so he’s paid; he received the Holy Ghost, got blessings of God, and health, and revelation, he can just feed your soul!
So you come now and join one of the churches, and it’ll be the best thing that you can do to keep your spirit fed and moving on. 59-1129 - "Let Us See God"
Remember the good Samaritan that found the man wounded? He brought him to the inn (that’s the church) and gave the man there two pence, and told him if he needed any more he’d pay him when he come.
So, he’s got two pence, he’s able to doctor you up if he’s a man of God. If he’s a man of God that stands on the Word of God, he’s got what God give him: the Spirit and the Word. Is that right? How is it we’re to worship? In Spirit and in Truth. And the Word is the Truth. Is that right? 61-0319 - "Jezebel Religion"
Well, now, I want to ask you: What about you, when you get all messed up in trouble, don’t you go to your pastor? Is that right? You should do it. If you get in trouble, you should go to your brother and tell him, say, “Brother, I did something wrong, I shouldn’t have did that. I pray you to help me now to pray through till I get over this thing.”
Or, “Help me in my troubles.” Isn’t that the Scriptural way to do it? Well, that’s because he’s your pastor, he’s your shepherd, he’s the one who gives the Food out to you to eat.
And he knows how to feed his sheep, that God and the Holy Spirit has made him overseer over the flock, to watch over them and take care of them, and that’s what he’s for. 61-0311 - "Be Not Afraid"
If he sees sheep eating locoweed He’ll jerk it away from him as quickly as possible.
And a real pastor, a real servant of Christ will be a poor example of Christ, to see the sheep eat something that’s going to drive him away, or make him an outlaw before God, a breaker of His Word, a breaker of His commandments. You shouldn’t do that. You should watch that very closely. 61-1231M - "You Must Be Born Again"
We should want to help people in the right way.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Make sure you don’t become a partaker.
Laying in the gutter with him doesn’t help him.
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Burdens = baros - weights. (eg. Something to heavy to carry alone)
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
Not a contradiction of vs. 2
Burden = phortion - pack carried by a soldier.
Bro. Branham ordaining Merlin Anthon:
Now, brother, we know that you coming from a great group of people, Salvation Army, they’re a great people. But, and, but the Salvation Army does do a great work out on the street. We can say nothing against the Nazarene, the Pentecostal church, or the Salvation Army, or any of them; they are our brethren.
But, you see, we believe that we are carriers of a great Message for this very hour that we’re living in. You want to do that with us? [Brother Anthon says, “Amen.”—Ed.] 65-0418E - "Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word?"
Jesus at Bethesda
People don’t know what compassion is. They mix a phileo love with Agapao love; it’s two different loves, altogether. 64-0315 - "Influence"
(Lame man at the Gate Beautiful)
4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
We want perfect love.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Perfect love.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Fear is “phobos” or terror.
Anything that had a beginning has an end. It’s those things which have not a beginning, has an end. Did you ever think of that? God the great Master rainbow in the skies (we’d say like that) with the seven Spirits of God: red, perfect love. After that comes phileo love, from a Agapao to phileo love.
That’s the love that you have for your wife. If some man would insult her, you’d shoot his brains out. See? Because it creates a jealousy. But that’s phileo love, secondary love.
Then comes lust for another man’s wife. Then comes filth. See? It just becomes perverted. But all of this kind of a love had a beginning.
But when that real genuine love of God, that I’ve been talking about, comes into the human being by the new birth, being born again, it had no beginning and it’ll have no end. You are then a son of God and a daughter of God, and your affections are on things above.
Phileo love would make you shoot a man for insulting your wife. Agapao love would make you pray for his lost soul. That’s the difference. 58-0619B - "Ye Must Be Born Again"
Agapao makes you want what is best for others, not what is best for you. Perfect love and compassion is to do the will of the Father.
If His love is to be perfected in us there must be a Bride who will do only His will, who will have perfect love.
THUS SAITH THE LORD, it’ll take perfect love to put you in that place, for that’s all there was there.
So whatever you do, you lay aside everything else until you are just so filled with the love of God till you can love those who hate you. 60-0522E - "Adoption #4"
Conclusion
Conclusion
Pray, “Lord Jesus, perfect your love in me”.