Prioritizing Love: God First, Neighbors Second
Devotional
Sermon Summary
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The world is as it is tonight according to our Lord's teaching because it has got its priorities wrong. No, I'm speaking in the modern idiom, am I not? Here's the great slogan of today: get your priorities right. That's what the world believes in, so it tells us that it's no use unless you've got your priorities right. [00:10:42]
The whole trouble with the Pharisees and scribes was that they've got their priorities wrong. You see, this is the whole point of this man's question. He comes along and he says, "Master," he says, "which is the first commandment of all?" You see, what he really meant was this: I say always that it's this, but then some of others say that it isn't. [00:12:22]
The world is as it is tonight for this simple reason: that mankind has got its priorities all wrong. It's putting this, that, and the other in the first position. They have their different views as the scribes argued amongst themselves as to which is first, but the point is they're all wrong. They're all putting something that isn't first into the first position. [00:25:22]
The first and perhaps, of course, the most cardinal error of the modern man concerned about his world, anxious to put it right, who says, "Where do we go from here? Where do we start? What is the trouble?" His first and cardinal error is this: that he always starts with men. Always starts with men. [00:15:21]
The world is full of institutions, full of organizations designed to deal with and to help and to solve the problem. I needn't worry by mentioning them. Once we had a League of Nations and League of Nations Union, now United Nations and all kinds of subsidiary and ancillary movements and organizations. [00:10:01]
The modern man comes and says, "Now what I'm interested in is this: I'm not interested in a theology, but what I do want to know is how can I love my neighbor? How can men be reconciled to men? How can I be reconciled to my neighbor?" Well, now what we are told here is this: that if man gets these priorities wrong, he will inevitably have a wrong view even of himself. [00:32:36]
The world is demonstrating tonight that man has got his priorities wrong, but I don't want to leave that merely as a blunt assertion in that way. I want to prove it to you. I want to prove that what our Lord says is right. I'm here to show you that the Bible alone has the answer to the problems of men, whether individual or collective. [00:27:16]
The first and the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. The second is like unto it: thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. You see, my friend, you'll never be able to do the second until you're right on the first, and there is only one way to be right on the first. [00:55:23]
The Gospel is regarded as just a way of life. People say, "We're not interested in salvation, but we are interested in living." That's the argument. We want to know how to get on with our fellow men and women. We want to know how to deal with these problems. Now that's what we are after. We are not interested in your old salvation. [00:22:24]
The moment you face God, you begin to realize that you're but a creature. You're not the center of the universe. Everything doesn't revolve round about you. All the planets, all the cosmos is centered around that ultimate being, God, the Lord your God, and the moment you face him, you realize your creaturehood, your creaturely character. [00:45:25]
The world is as it is because it's living outside God, and God has handed it over to a reprobate mind. He's allowing it to stew in its own vileness. The clever modern world that says it can get on without him, God is saying, "Get on then, get on then," and that's what he's saying tonight. [00:53:46]
The problem of mankind is not political; it's spiritual. It is men's relationship to God, and here he is in his utter helplessness. Change your government; it won't change the conditions because it doesn't change men, and man is helpless. He can do nothing, and he cannot escape the wrath that is there over his head. [00:50:31]
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The whole trouble with the Pharisees and scribes was that they've got their priorities wrong. You see, this is the whole point of this man's question. He comes along and he says, "Master," he says, "which is the first commandment of all?" You see, what he really meant was this: I say always that it's this, but then some of others say that it isn't. [00:12:22]
The world is as it is tonight for this simple reason: that mankind has got its priorities all wrong. It's putting this, that, and the other in the first position. They have their different views as the scribes argued amongst themselves as to which is first, but the point is they're all wrong. They're all putting something that isn't first into the first position. [00:25:22]
The first and perhaps, of course, the most cardinal error of the modern man concerned about his world, anxious to put it right, who says, "Where do we go from here? Where do we start? What is the trouble?" His first and cardinal error is this: that he always starts with men. Always starts with men. [00:15:21]
The world is full of institutions, full of organizations designed to deal with and to help and to solve the problem. I needn't worry by mentioning them. Once we had a League of Nations and League of Nations Union, now United Nations and all kinds of subsidiary and ancillary movements and organizations. [00:10:01]
The modern man comes and says, "Now what I'm interested in is this: I'm not interested in a theology, but what I do want to know is how can I love my neighbor? How can men be reconciled to men? How can I be reconciled to my neighbor?" Well, now what we are told here is this: that if man gets these priorities wrong, he will inevitably have a wrong view even of himself. [00:32:36]
The world is demonstrating tonight that man has got his priorities wrong, but I don't want to leave that merely as a blunt assertion in that way. I want to prove it to you. I want to prove that what our Lord says is right. I'm here to show you that the Bible alone has the answer to the problems of men, whether individual or collective. [00:27:16]
The first and the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. The second is like unto it: thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. You see, my friend, you'll never be able to do the second until you're right on the first, and there is only one way to be right on the first. [00:55:23]
The Gospel is regarded as just a way of life. People say, "We're not interested in salvation, but we are interested in living." That's the argument. We want to know how to get on with our fellow men and women. We want to know how to deal with these problems. Now that's what we are after. We are not interested in your old salvation. [00:22:24]
The moment you face God, you begin to realize that you're but a creature. You're not the center of the universe. Everything doesn't revolve round about you. All the planets, all the cosmos is centered around that ultimate being, God, the Lord your God, and the moment you face him, you realize your creaturehood, your creaturely character. [00:45:25]
The world is as it is because it's living outside God, and God has handed it over to a reprobate mind. He's allowing it to stew in its own vileness. The clever modern world that says it can get on without him, God is saying, "Get on then, get on then," and that's what he's saying tonight. [00:53:46]
The problem of mankind is not political; it's spiritual. It is men's relationship to God, and here he is in his utter helplessness. Change your government; it won't change the conditions because it doesn't change men, and man is helpless. He can do nothing, and he cannot escape the wrath that is there over his head. [00:50:31]
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