Love God with Everything You Are | Mark 12:28-34 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | (Gospel of Mark Series)

Let's go together to Mark chapter 12, shall we? And please, put your eyes on verse 28 of Mark chapter 12. And to let you know in advance, keep your Bible open today because there will be different passages that we must turn to to fully grasp what the Lord Jesus is saying here. Mark twelve twenty eight. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, which commandment is the most important of all?

Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, oh, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher.

You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Lord, thank you for your word.

We ask now that you help us understand it And that, Lord, the very commands that we read would become more real in our lives. And so we ask that you increase these kinds of loves in us and through us. Lord, spare us from being in a moment where we just hear things and do not feel them and do not apply them. Even in the delivery of this message, Lord, may it not go over our heads, may it not be delivered in a manner that is distracting or confusing, but may it come from your heart, and may any man disappear. And may everything that is said that is in alignment with this word plant deeply into our inner being.

We trust that you will help us as we've come to you in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, what do we have here today? Well, you and I, week after week, have been watching the embarrassing attempts of Jesus' enemies who try to discredit him. And so you have the Pharisees and the Herodians who partnered together, and then you had the rival of the Pharisees, the Sadducees also coming with their attempt.

But now we have this final group, one more group who will try to take advantage of this opportunity to ask Jesus a challenging question. And Mark tells us that the questioner was a scribe. Now when you read it from Matthew's perspective, he says he was a lawyer, and there's no contradiction there. The lawyer is really just an alternate title to the same and of the same occupation. The scribes and the lawyers of this time were scholars.

They were, men who were by profession devoted to interpreting and determining the appropriate applications of the law of Moses. And the responsibility the responsibilities included much, including copying the Hebrew scriptures and also compiling legal documents for those who abide by the law of Moses. Now this is important. They were distinct from the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were their own group.

Although, some of those scribes were in fact Pharisees. And if those Pharisees were not scribes, these scribes worked very closely with the Pharisees. And Matthew indicates that with a parallel account of the same exchange. You don't have to turn there, but listen to Matthew's version. He says in Matthew twenty two thirty four and thirty five, but when the Pharisees heard that he silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a lawyer, asked them a question to test him.

So So it's the same scene. The scribe and the lawyer is the same person. Matthew gives us a little bit more insight that after the Sadducees were muzzled, they regathered and they thought, okay, we'll try do this one more time here. And they came up with one question and whether they delegated one of these guys or one volunteered, we are not told. But this was another test.

This was again another, attempt to ensnare Jesus, but not entirely. See, if you read this from Matthew's perspective, you would be under the persuasion that this was another attempt to try to malign the Lord's reputation, but Mark gives us a different insight. Again, look back at Mark 12 and look at verse 28 closely. It says here, and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing, them being the Sadducees and Jesus. Heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well, asked him.

So seeing that Jesus answered so profoundly and wisely, this compelled this one scribe to to ask this question. Meaning, this scribe, although in part he is working with the Pharisees to try to do something, he also is coming from a curious place. There's some sincerity in his heart. He genuinely wants to know. And the evidence of that is that unlike the other interrogators before him, Jesus doesn't rebuke the scribe.

Jesus doesn't expose him for his insincerity. He actually commends him. And so this scribe is coming from a good place. And I believe it's because he wanted to know the answer to this question. He wanted to discover what it is that God desires of him.

Now the reason why that's important before we move on is because the scribes generally were condemned by Jesus Christ. They were not his favorite group of people. And if you want a hint of that, scroll down and look here at verse 38 of chapter 12. Notice what Jesus says. And in his teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feast, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers, they will receive the greater condemnation.

So this is a category of people that Jesus has very strong opinions about. And when you go to Matthew 23, it's even elaborated more where he gives these blistering woes. You've probably heard them and you're probably familiar with them. But to who are those woes aimed at? The scribes and the Pharisees.

But this scribe is different. Jesus is actually moved by him because the scribe is moved by Jesus, and that encourages me. The reason why it encourages me is because you and I can learn from this that anyone who belongs to any group, whether it be ethnic, whether it be religious, whether it be political, is not beyond the hope of being drawn to the truth. A scribe? The ones who will receive the greater condemnation?

You tell me one of those guys? Jesus says, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Christians sometimes are a skeptical bunch as much as they are a believing people. Oh, they believe in the power of the gospel, but not for those kind of people. Very unlikely for that kind of a person from that kind of a background or that kind of sin to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ.

It reminds me though of a testimony that Paul himself agrees with concerning another group of people. And it's almost at the first reading of it hard to kinda see how Paul would say something like this. I want you to see it with your own eyes in Titus chapter one. Go to Titus chapter one. Because as shocking as this may be, it provides a glorious comfort about this very truth that I'm trying to convey.

Look at Titus one and look at verse 12. If you wanna know where Titus is, it's with all the other epistles that start with t. They're all grouped together. So if you're in Thessalonians, if you're with Timothy, you're close. Keep flipping the pages.

You'll find Titus eventually. Titus one. Look what Paul says in this brief letter to his colabor in the gospel named Titus. He says in verse 12 of Titus one, one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true.

Gasp, Paul. You're saying this testimony is true? Then it goes on to say, therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. So Paul remarks here about the general character problem of this group of people known as the Cretans. And he derives his point from one of the leading voices who also confessed this truth about his own culture.

Now, I'm looking at a room here with different people, different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, nationalities, histories, heritages, and I'm sure many of you can make also accurate assessments of the negative qualities of where you come from. I'm sure there are patterns. I'm sure there are things that you yourself were once associated with in terms of mannerisms or convictions or failures and shortcomings. And so we can't blame Paul too much here because what Paul is doing is essentially agreeing with this known saying among the Cretans that they even accepted. While also learning from firsthand experience that this culture tolerates, this culture entertains and produces immorality, and all these other vices that come with it.

So So what what are we supposed to do with this? Well, think deeper. Meditate on it. This is an encouragement to me. An encouragement because Paul is speaking to Titus who was left in Crete To do what?

To help manage and organize the churches there. Go to verse five. Look at it with me. This is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. So think about it.

In a region that has a reputation of again producing and tolerating dishonest self absorbed idle people, you know what happened? God redeemed souls. God saved people. God transformed them and regenerated them. So even with a culture that was written off, that had this nasty kind of reputation, God did a work.

God did a work. And the point that I'm trying to say is that the Lord can work in the hearts of absolutely anybody no matter who they are or where they come from, whether they be a scribe or a cretin. And you and I have to have the faith that this is how powerful the gospel is. And I know in these days, we're looking at political groups and we're looking at people who believe certain things, and we might think to ourselves, they're almost beyond hope. Listen.

Don't lose faith in the gospel. But let's come back to our main text and let's meditate further. Why did the scribe ask this question? Out of all the questions. Because again, though individually he might come from a different place, he's also connected to the scribes and the Pharisees who came up with this kind of inquiry.

What are they trying to get at? What are they trying to get from Jesus? I believe it's pretty simple. Their hope could have been to have Jesus say something that would have been wrong, That he would have said something that wasn't the most important command. That's less likely.

I think what's more likely is that they were hoping Jesus would say something that would seem to have contradicted or eclipsed what Moses taught. And so what they were trying to get Jesus to do at this point was to make him seem to be anti Moses, and you know how much they esteemed Moses. And this isn't something that they just tried with Jesus. If you read the book of Acts, you see that they tried to do this with Paul. The Jews always try to get something on Paul, and their main weapon was he is trying to overtake, he is trying to dismiss and neglect and ignore what has been given to us in the law.

So this is a common tactic, and it's being used here against the savior. And so we see here that these Jewish leaders are again trying to trap the Lord and they're gonna find out that they're gonna be the ones who are entrapped. But again, this man, he's delegated by the Pharisees, but it seems as though he asked this question knowing that even among his peers, this is a contested thing. I'm sure there was debates among these schools of what was the important commandment, and and I I'm persuaded that he himself wants to settle it in his own soul. He he heard that Jesus answered his rival so well concerning the resurrection and perhaps something in him was like, oh, I'm not gonna his rival so well concerning the resurrection and perhaps something in him was like, I I just wanna know.

This man is something else. As we heard earlier from pastor Mark, he he doesn't speak like anybody else. Maybe he can settle this once and for all my own heart. What's the most important thing that God wants from me? What is it that I need to do for him to be pleased with me?

And you read it, did you not? Verse 29, Jesus answered, the most important is, hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. He wants to first establish that there is no God like this God. We believe in one God. Jesus is again emphasizing that we don't believe like these pagans and a plethora of different gods and deities.

No. There is one God. And then he builds upon it, not just acknowledging who he is theologically, doctrinally, but loving him. Loving him. Loving him.

And his answer really is two part, is it? Not because he speaks about loving God and then loving your neighbor. And he pulls this out of two places in the Hebrew scriptures, Deuteronomy six five and Leviticus nineteen eighteen. And notice that Jesus speaks about these two commandments as though they were one. So what's the most important commandment?

And he gives two commandments. Do you know why that is? Because they are inseparable. They coexist and they cannot live apart from one another. And the apostle of love, John, said in his own epistle, in the first one at least, something that confirms this truth.

Again, don't turn there, but listen to what John says in first John four twenty. He says, if anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. You can't say that you love God and then hate his people, or hate those who are created in his image. If you claim to love God who is invisible while also hating people that you can see, how is that possible?

And I believe that's built upon this truth that although these are two separate commands, they're joined together and they can never be never be severed. If you're going to say that you love God, then you're also automatically going to love people. In fact, you can't love people unless you first know how to love God. And so Christ here is making it clear, these are the most important commandments. But here's the thing, I'm looking at this and I'm wondering to myself, how do we apply it?

And here's what I wanna say before we break these things down. You have to understand that Jesus is not here explaining what commands you need to obey in order to be saved. That's not the case. He's not even answering that kind of a question. He's simply trying to explain here of what God ultimately desires from man.

And so I hope I am preaching to a room filled with people who have already done the most important thing, and that's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to hear what's about to take place in the next, I don't know how long. I want you to hear it as people who have already made the step of realizing that you can't abide and fulfill any law. You fall short. And what you did do, I pray, is that you confessed your inability to uphold anything God asks of you in the way that he asks of you, and that you've surrendered to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

So here, what I'm about to teach in this moment from the place of already believing on Christ, on the other side of believing on him, because they apply. They apply. As a Christian now, you should be preoccupied of wanting to know how can I obey my savior? What is it that he wants from me? Not to get right with him.

You've been made right because of the son of God. So hear it in that way. Now posture yourself as a born again believer. Okay, Lord. What is it that you want?

What is it that I put my most energy and thought and affection toward? And now you're in the right place. And Jesus makes it so plain and clear. You know, it's amazing. Christ is such a clear communicator.

I love it. And this is what he says. Love God. Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. You know how you can translate that?

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to try to break down every component. What does it mean to love God with your heart? What does it mean? Yes. You you can do that.

And all it's really saying is with all your affection, with all your intellect, with all your energy. A translation to this is very simple. Love God with everything you are. With absolutely everything you are. Nothing less than that.

And if you're like me, then, yes, it's plain and clear, but I always have questions. And here's my question. What does that look like? I know what it says. It's clear.

The bull's eye is there, but what do I do to arrive there? How do I pursue this? What does it look like with legs and arms? I need to see how this is fleshed out. And that's what I began to ask reading this earlier this week.

Lord, what does it look like for me to love you in this way? And God is merciful. God is very kind to us. He's very kind to me because I'm reading this earlier this week. I try to do it as early as possible in the week, but I also do my own reading.

And so I'm reading in first and second Kings, second Kings. And as I'm just reading through second Kings, I stumble upon a passage as I was reading about in my bed yesterday morning about King Josiah. And there's something about King Josiah at the end of his biography that leaped off the page and clutched to my heart, and I began to rejoice in bed being like, thank you, Lord, for helping me with the sermon this Sunday. And it's gonna be somewhere in second Kings, if you turn with me to chapter 23. I told you we're gonna turn to some passages today.

I want you to see what the Holy Spirit says of this one king among the many kings of Judah, how he stands out in second Kings 23 verse 25. It says here about king Josiah. Before him, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. I I couldn't move past that. Maybe because I was reading Mark 12 earlier and I thought to myself, what a tribute that's been given to a king.

What a tribute that's been given to such a man. There was no king like him before and there was no king that arose after him because he was highlighted for the love. The love that he had for the Lord. And so it got me thinking. It got me thinking, what was it about Josiah?

What was it about this particular man that qualified him to have such a privileged honor? What was it about this man that's made him stand out to love God in this way in the very same way that Jesus tells you and I that we must love God? And I'll tell you this, because that's the end, near the end of his life, I began to just look back at what is described of him and pick out some clues that I believe the Holy Spirit makes so obvious in terms of why Josiah was different. Putting him in that place of being crowned with such a privileged honor. There are many different kings in Israel and Judah, and there are some reformers, but he stood out even among the reformers.

And I believe the reason is what we see at the beginning of his mention in the Bible. So you're still there now. Go to chapter 22, second Kings 22. And look here at verse 11. Here's what's happening.

King Josiah, after becoming king, wants to work on the house of God. So he hires men and he has people do just that. And when they're cleaning the place up, they discover the book, the book of the law. And it's so staggering because when they discover the book of the law, they could barely recognize it. They could barely recognize it.

And so his secretary begins to read from it and and he comes into the presence of the king and he says, look, we found this book. And he begins to open it up and unveil the content. And look at the reaction of this king in verse 11. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Hakam the son of Shaphan, and Nahbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant saying, go inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found.

For great is the wrath of the Lord that has kindled against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. He tore his clothes. And you're thinking, well, why is this important? I've seen and read about men who've done the same. True.

But I want you to see how important this was to God himself. Because he inquires of the Lord and a prophetess by the name of Huldah sends word back to Josiah. And notice what she says on behalf of the Lord concerning Josiah's response, pay attention to the word of God. Scroll down to verse 19. This is the prophetess speaking on behalf of the Lord concerning Josiah.

Because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord. When you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you declares the Lord. Connect this with the truth that he was a man who stood out for his great love for the Lord with all his might and all his heart and all his strength. A man who loves the Lord, his God, in that way, is a man who reveres the word of God. If you don't think that is relevant, if you don't think this is how God views and measures our love, then read again and notice that God tells Josiah, the only reason why I heard you is because you first heard me.

Look back again. Look at the last part of verse 19. He says, you have torn your clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Because when you heard my word and you responded accordingly, I will honor you by listening to your words.

So here's the thing. You have to ask yourself this if you wanna measure this kind of love that Jesus demands of us. Very simple. You ready? How do you view God's word?

How do you view it? Do you do you cherish it? Do you enjoy it? More importantly, do you submit to it? Because this man here shows us not just an emotional response to the word of God, but also how he acts upon it, which is remarkable.

It's remarkable. So let me say this. You cannot separate your claim of loving God with how you relate to the word of God. Show me a man or a woman and how they relate to the word, and you will tell me everything I need to know about how they love the God of the word. It's inseparable.

It's inseparable because it's clear here that God makes that connection. God has given us his word as a means to relate to him. So how I treat this, how I engage with this, how I relish this really determines what I feel. I know you say it. I know sometimes you get the fuzzies when the worship songs are right.

I get it. But ultimately, it is measured according to this book, according to God's mind by your view of the word. How I feel about it? More than that. Because this is not the only thing that this prophetess said to king Josiah.

Before this wonderful commendation, she describes him a coming condemnation. And she says back in verse 16 of second Kings 22, look at this prophecy. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be kindled against this place and it will not be quenched. And then she goes on to say, but I notice how you respond to my word, Josiah.

So what do we take from this? She's essentially as a prophetess declaring that the coming judgment against Judah is certain. My wrath will be poured out. It's not gonna be quenched. It's definite.

Now, you gotta think about it this way. If I receive word like that as a leader, as a king, I'm not sure that provides much motivation to try to bring reform. I'm not sure how much I would want to now get people to recognize who God is, our negligence of his will, and then try to provoke national repentance. Why? Judgment is coming anyway.

It's certain. And you would think this would deter Josiah. You would think that this would make him discourage and he would slump his shoulders and make way back into his palace thinking, well, it's I guess it's too late. Is that what Josiah does? No.

No. No. You gotta keep reading. I'm not gonna read it for you, but you can if you want. He brings one of the greatest revivals in Israel's history.

Not just in Judah, it actually bleeds into the Northern Kingdom. That tells me something about this man. That tells me something about how he viewed God's word. That despite the present or the coming circumstances that were not favorable, it didn't mess with him. He told himself and he told others, despite what has been set for us, we're still gonna obey God for the time being.

So you know what that tells me about Josiah? He's he's the kind of man that will obey God. This is so fascinating whether or not there is a reward for it. Because according to these words, there's gonna be no benefit really in a short amount of time. Judgment is still gonna come.

And Josiah is saying, yeah, well then what's the point? No. No. No. No.

Despite the reward being there or not, I still am going to obey my God. Because it's not about the reward, it's about the person. It's about God himself. No wonder that he is upheld with such esteem. Loving the Lord.

Why? Because even when he was told, yeah, you don't know what's really gonna happen now because, things are gonna get very gloomy in a short amount of time. That doesn't matter. I still discover what God said and I still wanna please his heart. That's a man who doesn't just value content or data, who wants to live what God said.

He has to live. Whether he lived long, whether they was gonna make him a mighty man, a reputable man, whether it was gonna bring profit to his administration, it doesn't matter. If God said it, then I will do it. I'm thinking of another king. Of another king who also one that we're more familiar with, who has been given one of the greatest titles that I believe you can give another person, especially because it comes from God.

You know who it is. All I have to tell you this and you know exactly who I'm speaking about. He was someone who is after God's own heart. Yeah. There you go.

You see, he didn't let me finish. He said, David, you know who it is. A man who's after my own heart. What else do you want than that? For God to say that about your life.

Fill in the blank your name in whom I have found a heart that is after my own heart. Can I ask you something? We love that. We quote that. We know who that's about.

What does it mean? What does it mean? Does it mean that he wrote wonderful worship songs? Does it mean what what does it mean for David to be a man after God's own heart? Because I want that.

I want that more than anything else. Strip me any accolade, any kind of recognition, any kind of invitation. If God from heaven can look at me and say, he's after my own heart. I'm a very happy man. And I'm thankful that it's not cryptic in the Bible.

I'm thankful that actually the Bible tells me why David was a man after God's own heart. And I wanna show it to you so you can know if you wanna walk in that same path. It's in the New Testament, Acts chapter 13, and I want you to see this verse with me. Acts chapter 13, And look at verse 22. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart.

Here it is. Who will do all my will? That's the answer. Why was David this kind of a man? Because he was willing to do everything that God told him to do.

Everything. And that's what positioned him to be praised in such a manner. So if you wanna know how can I be a man that God can say of such, just be somebody who is ready to do everything that he makes known to you? That's what it is. So it's not about how loud you are when you sing.

It's not about how expressive you are. It's not necessarily about how much activity you're involved with. That's all lovely, but it comes down to this, who will do all my will. So let's let's reel back now. Jesus said, the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your might, all your mind, all your heart, all your soul, all your strength.

What does that look like? Well, Josiah, we're told that he was a man who did that and he actually excelled in it in comparison to the other kings. Okay. So what is it about Josiah? Well, look at how he related to the word.

And look at David now, if we just broaden that testimony and we look for a man who is after God's heart, what are we told about that? Well, he was willing to do all that God willed. Let me show you one more thing before we go to loving one another. Jesus quotes that from Deuteronomy chapter six. Go there.

The Shema. Right? It's known as the Shema. And I want you to see what comes immediately after what Jesus quoted in that scripture. Deuteronomy six four.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Now what does he do? Right after saying that, look what he talks about in verse six. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

It's right there. It's everywhere. It's the consensus of sacred scripture. You cannot separate your love for God from the word of God. So love him.

And if you're gonna love him, you can't do it without this word being etched and inscribed on your heart. On your heart. David had that heart for God. Why? Because he did all his will.

Josiah had that heart. Why? Because despite the reward or lack of reward, despite punishment or prosperity, I'm gonna obey God because I love God. And even in the origination of this command, we're told love God in the very next breath. Now take these commands and place them on your heart.

So I know it's very practical. If you wanna be a person, if we wanna be a church that walks in that way, Ask God for the eyes, for the affections, for the discipline, for the revelation of his word. And the more you grow in this, the more you'll grow in that love, and the more God will be able to save us. They're after my own heart. They love me.

But that's not the only thing he said. Back in our original text, he says in verse 31, the second is this of Mark 12, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? I'll tell you what it doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean that if you want to love others better, then you have to love yourself better. I know that a lot of people are teaching that. Right? There's a great campaign in these days for self esteem and self worth, and I get it, a little bit. But Jesus is not commanding to love yourself.

He's not saying, if you wanna be able to love others first, you gotta love yourself more than anything else and prioritize yourself, and that way you'll be able to know what to give to others. No. Instead, he's saying here, love others the way you love yourself. The way you love yourself. It's an innate human thing for all of us to love ourselves.

Now there's obviously a self love that is wrong, prideful, dangerous, selfish, but there is something that's wired in us that makes sense. Even Paul himself in Ephesians tells husbands that they should love their wives as their own bodies. And what do they do with their own bodies? They nurture and cherish it. That's precisely what the Lord is conveying here.

How do you love yourself? Well, you provide yourself protection and provision and holy and righteous pleasure. So you put clothes on yourself and you make sure that you fuel your body and you look for some shelter so that you are protected from the elements and you cherish relationships and you create memories with loved ones. The, everybody pursues that and when somebody ceases to do that, there's something drastically wrong in their wiring. Just from the standard of human nature.

So not love yourself more and then you'll be able to love others more. No. It's love others the way you love yourself. And that is pretty straightforward, but again, I'm wondering like the first one, what does that mean? What does that look like?

What is this Christ commissioning quality of love manifest like? And you might argue looks like plenty of things because there is a vast catalog of duties and responsibilities and manifestations of how to love our neighbor, and that's true. But is there a way to summarize it? Is there a way to categorize what it means to love my neighbor as myself? And I believe there is.

If you're gonna love your neighbor as yourself, it's gonna look like two things. It's very simple. You'll never forget it, I'm sure. Loving somebody else the way I love myself looks like me not doing certain things to others and me willing to do certain things to others. So there's a negative aspect of loving my neighbor and a positive aspect.

And I wanna show you how that's true because what Jesus says here is built upon by other writers who were given the Holy Spirit to do just that. So let me show you what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. And, again, my desire here is to make it as plain as possible, and the Bible makes it as plain as possible. So here we're going to Romans chapter 13. Look at this with me in verse verse 10 of that chapter.

Romans 13 verse 10. Paul says, love does no wrong to a neighbor. Now here's why I come to this verse because look at the the second part of this verse. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. So Paul is building upon what Jesus taught.

Because he says that there's no other commandment greater than these. In Matthew's version, he says this. He says that upon these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. In other words, if you don't get loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself right, you won't get the other commandments right. All the meticulous and detailed things, you will not be able to perform without first establishing loving God and loving your neighbor.

So he's building upon that by saying, look, love is fulfilling of the law. And he describes what love looks like horizontally. It looks like me not doing things to others. And if you think that that's a stretch, if you don't believe it, look at the previous verse. Look at Romans thirteen nine.

For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So it's a clear connection. And he's just fleshing it out. So based on this in connection to Paul's master and our Lord, loving my neighbor as myself looks like me willing to refrain to do things that I shouldn't be doing to my fellow brethren, believer and unbeliever alike.

And Paul describes some of those things, not committing adultery, not murdering, these are all negatives. Not stealing, not coveting, and those seem obvious, do they not? But you and I understand that Jesus Christ in coming into this world, not overthrowing the law, but as the Messiah prophesied comes with the law of Christ. And it's your duty and mine to come to the law of Christ and discover what it is that I am called not to do. Not to do.

I hope all of us in here understand that we shouldn't murder each other. Please. But what about the other things that we overlook? So I'm reading and studying this. I'm thinking to myself just from a surface level meditation.

K, Lord. But what what else do you ask me not to do? And I thought of Colossians three nine. Do not lie to one another. Murder we get.

Murder. Murder. No. No. No.

No. No. Lie. You know what that also means? Do not lie to one another.

If I really love my neighbor, I'm gonna tell you the truth even if it hurts. I'm not gonna lie to you. Because I love you, I will speak the truth to you. And it might cost me something, but I love you too much to keep it from you. And so that's what we do.

We endeavor to discover these things that the Lord tells us not to do and then we apply them by the power of the Holy Spirit and we're walking in the greatest commandment not to do. If I love you, it's my duty not to speak ill of you if I love you. If I love you, then it is my duty not to and discover what the new covenant has to say. But it's not just not doing, it's not just negative. Loving my neighbor as myself is something that I'm also called to do in action.

I'm supposed to pursue positively. And I believe Jesus elsewhere peels the layer to that command so that we can see more clearly how practically it looks like for me to love my neighbor as myself. And I'll tell you why I'm gonna go to this verse and ask you to turn there. Because like Romans thirteen ten, there's a statement made that connects this verse to what Jesus says in our original text. So it's in Matthew seven verse 12.

You know this very well. You memorized it. What does it mean for me to love my neighbor as myself? Well, it means that you will not do wrong to a neighbor. But also means in Matthew seven twelve.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. That's why we're going there. Because he says this is the law and the prophets. Same terminology and language in connection to how loving God and loving my neighbor upon all the commands do these things are hinging on.

And here he comes kind of echoing that same thing, but I believe he gives a deeper layer to the horizontal reality of it. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. What a God we have. What a messiah we have. Here's what this means.

Here's what Jesus longs for you, followers of the way. That in every situation you find yourself in, where you are invited to act in the life of another, no matter how big or small, Jesus Christ wants us to make the conscious effort to frame our efforts in a way that we would wanna receive it. Let me speak plain English. Put yourself in their shoes. And let that frame how you approach.

Let that frame how you engage. Let that frame how you dance in obedience to the Lord's will in that person's life to the best of your ability. So let me give you an example. One of the most uncomfortable things to do as a Christian is what I alluded to as an example earlier, correction. I don't know anybody that likes confrontation.

It's the worst thing. Well, there's a lot of other things that are bad, but it's one of the worst things for me. Very awkward. But here's a tip. I mean, this is just one example of many many examples.

When I know that I have to do it, by the grace of God, here's what I try to do. How would I like to be approached in this moment of correction? Like, how would my would I want my tone to be? How would I want the words to be? How would I want the encouragement in it to be?

How would I want to hear it if I was sitting on the other side of the table? And some days, that thought is prevalent, and it's Sundays like this where you and I are reminded to go back there when we forgot to do it. Because that what it that's what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Whatever I wish that others would do to me, I'm gonna do to them. In any situation that I am invited to act in in somebody else's life, I am to consciously make the effort to think, how would I want to receive this?

Anything from correction to help. This is what we are governed by as Christians, by the way. Love. Notice that both of these commands that Jesus gives and deems as the greatest is based on love. Love.

And so this man hears this, and let's come back in close together in verse 32 of Mark chapter 12. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. I mean, he just, with his wisdom, sucked whatever remaining air there was in that atmosphere. You are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him, and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself.

And then he asked you this. Jesus didn't mention this. He's saying this, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Where's this conversation taking place? If you honor the context, in the temple courts.

You just try to envision that that the scribe confesses this while all this hustle and bustle is going on purchasing and and preparing and examining the place where sacrifices took place. This man says, what you just said is more important than all of this. What is he saying? Love is more important than committed, consistent, yet empty ritual and ceremonies. No matter how much you busy yourself with external things, even though it looks sacred and holy and consecrated unto the Lord, no matter how much you stuff your weekend with things that are connected to Christian worship, This man admits something that you and I also have to see.

It does not work if it doesn't come from love. In other words, Christianity is not about this. It's not about this. It's not about this. It's about this inside.

This is what Jesus is saying. Let me see your heart. Let me see your heart. What do you say about God? What do you say about his word?

How do you view your fellow man? This man saw it, and he understood that that's even the heart of the law. This is not something new Jesus introduced. It's something that he unveils to the fullest capacity, but it was always there because it's the same God. Notice what Jesus says.

Verse 34. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Have you ever met anybody like that? I've met so many of them. After a service, maybe I haven't heard from them for a while and then they contact me and they say, hey, man.

I've been reading my bible or whatever the case may be. And you can almost feel you're so close. Have you met anybody like that? You're so close. Like, you get it.

Everything is there. You just gotta make that leap. You just gotta make that leap. That's what Jesus is saying here. And so it's encouraging that somebody can be so close, especially a scribe, but it's also terrifying.

You know, it's possible to be almost saved. Almost redeemed. Almost engrafted. Almost forgiven. Almost assured, almost numbered among the saved.

I don't know if I can think of a more pathetic place to be in life than almost saved. Is there any indication that this man did did come to Christ? No. I hope one day we will see him. But this is also a reminder that you can even accurately understand what truth is and still not be saved.

You you can listen to this. If somebody were to ask you in similar fashion, what is the gospel? And you give a Spurgeon esque answer and still not be part of the kingdom of God. Why? Because it's about here.

It's about what that truth has already done to you. I wonder if you're almost saved today. And maybe you fooled yourself and others because you can talk like the scribe. How do I know if somebody's saved? How do I know if I'm saved?

Tell me about your relationship with God. You wanna discover a lot about a person? I figured this out and others have figured out long before me. Just ask them what they think about Jesus. Just ask them, who's Jesus to you?

And you'll know so much. You'll know so much just by that one question. Because a lot of people can tell you, the heathen can tell you that God came into this world to forgive sinners. I've talked to drunk people on the street who are half naked, who told me what Jesus Christ did for their sin. That's an important question.

But now tell me, who is Jesus to you? And I wanna ask you that question. Do you love God? Because he first loved you. And the only appropriate response to the great love that he has shown is the unreserved love that he deserves.

If you don't know him, if you know about him, if you know many things in this book, but it unlike Josiah, it hasn't translated, it hasn't got into your blood. You know, it could change today. It can change today. I want you to go from the place of being almost saved to certainly saved. I've said this before.

I'll say it again. When I go to funerals, sometimes when I'm asked to speak at them, the most uncomfortable funerals I've been to is when people don't know for certain if that person was saved. It's it's so strange. The best ones are when you know. Say, you know where this person's at.

You know it. And you almost wanna wear white because you wanna celebrate. They graduate into glory. But those where it's like, yeah, I think they were. Like, they came to church.

They were like they were good, I guess, but those make me feel very uncomfortable. And I've been to far too many of those. I don't want that to be you. I want you primarily to be assured I belong to him. My sins are forgiven.

And because he has forgiven me, I love him. I love his word and by his grace, I see people differently and I wanna love them with the same love that I've been loved with. How do I get there? Acknowledge that you need your sins forgiven. Come to him and ask him to cleanse you from all your wrong.

Accept the fact that only Christ can make you whole. It can make you right before God. And when you do that sincerely with a repentant faith, you will know an infusion of hope and peace that can only be deemed as supernatural. And you won't have to be like the scribe where you're almost there. Lord, we thank you for this time together.

Thank you for reminding your children of the greatest commandment to love God and love our neighbor as ourself. So, Lord, help us now strengthen our love for the word. Not just to know it, though it is important to do that, but, Lord, like Josiah, like David, like Deuteronomy six says, to bind them on our hearts, to apply them to our lives. All of it, Lord, from Genesis to Revelation, may that be our treasure as an expression of our love to you. And, Lord, when we look out to the world and we see opportunities to love our neighbor as ourselves, We pray that we remember that love looks like me, choosing not to do certain things while also wishing to do to others what I would desire for them to do for me.

Help us know when to do that, how to do that with discernment and all knowledge according to Philippians one nine. Help us love and increase in that kind of a love. Thank you, Lord, that this motivation, this charge to love comes from the place of being accepted in the beloved. And so, Lord, we do not sit here in condemnation. We sit here as your children being reminded of our duty in this this brief life.

Lastly, for the person like this scribe who knows that there's something different about this book, about these words, may they not be impressed merely, but may they come to the place of applying their faith to it and throwing themselves at this truth in complete surrender. May this day be the day where they go from almost to assuredly. Only your spirit can help in that, so we petition and ask. We worship you today, Lord, in song. Thank you for reminding us our true purpose in this life, loving you, loving our neighbor.

Amen. Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord.