Question Concerning the Greatest Commandment

Introduction to the Final Question in the Temple

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 21st, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us turn together in the Word of God to the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12. And as we continue our consecutive expositions in the Book of Mark, we come this morning to verses 28 through 34, Mark 12. And will you follow as I read, beginning with verse 28.

0:46 And one of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment? What commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O 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.

1:25 The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is one God. There is one God. There is one God.

1:32 There is one God. There is one God. There is one God. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1:36 And the scribes said unto him, Of a truth, teacher, you have well said that he is one, and that there is none other but he. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared ask him any question.

2:26 Our meditation in the word of God this morning will be based upon this portion read in your hearing. And in this portion of the word, we have recorded, recorded for us Mark's account of the fourth and final question presented to Jesus Christ in the area of the temple on the third day of the week of his passion. Our Lord's ministry for that day is not yet completed, but in terms of answering the questions of those who come seeking to ensnare him, or as we shall see in this case, at least seeking to have him take a position on an agitated question, and one on which the various groups of leaders differed, that facet of his ministry will be completed with his response to this fourth question. For the manner in which our Lord responds to this question indicates that it's so intimidating, that it's so difficult, that it's so difficult, that it's so difficult to ask him any more questions. Verse 34b.

The Final Question Raised: Who, Context, and Substance

3:49 Now in the question recorded in our text and in the answer of Jesus, there are to be found some unchangeable lessons of tremendous importance to every one of us. And so without further delay, let us plunge into the text, seeking to ask, ascertain the basic contents of this part of the narrative, and then attempting to bring it home to our own consciences in three specific areas of application. Now as we think our way through the passage, let us notice first of all the final question raised. The final question raised, verse 28, and we'll ask three questions about this verse. In the account of this final question, we shall notice who raised it, secondly what was the context of his inquiry, and thirdly what was the substance of his question. And one of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is first of all? And he answered, Now Mark is careful to understand the following, Now Mark is careful to understand the following,

5:10 underscore, who it was that raised this particular question. He tells us that one of the scribes came, and he was obviously a scribe who had heard some of the previous questions, at least the immediately preceding question, in which our Lord had put to silence the question of the Sadducees. Now, when we read the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 22, we find this individual described not as a scribe, but one of the Sadducees who was a lawyer, Matthew 22, 34. But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together, and one of them. That is, one of the Sadducees, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him. Well, on the surface, you see, this is the kind of thing that skeptics who want to, quote, prove errors in the Bible

6:26 seize upon and say, well, it's clear. Mark says a scribe. Matthew says a Pharisee who was a lawyer. They both can't be right. Here is a discrepancy. Well, that's a very, very surface way of approaching the passage. There is no contradiction whatsoever. For among the Pharisees, that is, among that particular sect of the Jews, the separated ones, there were those who were called scribes, and among them there were those who in a special way were experts on matters concerning not only the law of God, but Talmudic law, all of the laws of God. And they were experts on matters concerning not only the law of God, but Talmudic law, all of the laws of God.

7:11 that comprised the tradition of the elders that were embodied in the Talmud. And this particular individual was obviously someone who was associated with the Sadducees, who was indeed a scribe, but who was particularly expert, had a particular expertise in matters of debate concerning the application and the implementation of the law of God. And so, in this particular case, there was a particular individual of the rabbinical laws, and it is this particular individual who raises this question in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, the second question we ask of this first verse, in seeking to get a feel for the question, not only who raised it, but what was the context of his inquiry? Well, according to Mark, the Pharisees had witnessed Jesus in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in this particular case, there was a particular effective refutation of the Sadducees with their question concerning the resurrection. Matthew uses a much

8:21 stronger form of description. He says, when they saw that he had muzzled, the verb is the verb you would use when you would say, thou shalt not muzzle the ox. Jesus had muzzled them by his effective refutation of their sophistry. Now remember, the Sadducees agreed with Jesus in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they agreed with Jesus concerning the doctrine of the resurrection. They were constantly debating this doctrine with the Sadducees, so they were glad that Jesus championed, in defending the doctrine of the resurrection, championed one of their areas of discrepancy and debate with the Sadducees. So, in a context of gloating over the public discrediting of that party of denial, the Sadducees, they now put forward one of their own experts. To press on Jesus, a question frequently debated among the lawyers, the doctors of the law, the experts in the law.

9:24 Now, obviously, the Pharisees do not put forward one of their number out of a sincere effort to learn of Christ, but according to Matthew 22, 35, they do it out of a motive of trying Jesus. And it's interesting, because in Matthew 22, 35, they do it out of a motive of trying Jesus. And it's interesting to read the many commentaries on this passage, and to see that they are equally divided on whether or not this was a trying of Jesus that just oozed with malicious intent, for there are times when that phrase is used, trying him, putting him to the test, and it's evident that the whole intention was pervasively and exclusively malicious. Some say, well, the whole intention was pervasively and exclusively malicious. The whole way this man speaks in response to Jesus does not seem to indicate that he has come with a spirit boiling over with animosity and hatred to Christ.

10:24 The Pharisees may have assumed that he shared fully in their disposition, but he comes in a much milder spirit simply to put Jesus to the test with regard to a question that they often debated among themselves in order, perhaps, to take the opinion that Jesus was a trying of Jesus. The Pharisees may have assumed that he shared fully in their disposition, but he comes in a much milder spirit simply to put Jesus to the test with regard to a question that they often debated among themselves in order, perhaps, to take the opinion that Jesus was a trying of Jesus. great danger either by handing him over to the Roman authorities or by demonstrating that he was

11:19 a disloyal or poorly instructed Jew or perhaps even a subversive against their nation. So in this case, the intent is not that clear. The subsequent reaction of this man would indicate on the one hand that the man may have had a teachable disposition, but those who put him up to asking the question, being the Pharisees, they had no good intention. So it's difficult precisely to analyze the context with regard to the intention. But this much is clear. When Matthew tells us in the parallel passage, they asked or he asked the question, trying him, this much is clear, Jesus is the one who's put on trial with the question. You see that? Now whatever the intention is, how much good may have been mingled with the evil, how much it was pervasively evil, we cannot go beyond the text of Scripture. But this much is clear. It is a context which finds Jesus once again

12:29 under the spotlight, or as we would say, under the gun. They are putting Jesus on trial. This particular context is a context which finds Jesus once again under the spotlight, or as we would say, a particular individual who raises the question, raises it in a context of putting Jesus on trial. Now notice, thirdly, the substance of his inquiry. As we look at this final question raised, we've answered the question, who raised it? What was the context in which it was raised? Now, thirdly, what was the substance of the inquiry? We read that the substance was this, he asked him, what commandment is the first of all? Now the word that is used here and in the

13:18 parallel passage in Matthew, the Greek word poia, is sometimes used as an exact synonym with the word tis. What commandment is the first? But there are times when the emphasis on poia falls not so much on which commandment is the first. But there are times when the emphasis on poia falls not so much on which commandment is the first. Now, the answer is, which commandment is the first?

13:39 commandment is the first, but what kind, so that it more points toward what class or what kind or what quality of commandment is of the first rank. And here again, the exegetes and the commentators debate back and forth, and I would not seek to be dogmatic on the issue, but again, this much is clear. This man is asking Jesus either for a general principle by which to rank the relative importance of the many commandments, or he is saying of the many which stands first in rank above all the rest. Now, this was no little task, because we are told by students of rabbinic literature of that day that they counted no fewer than 6. 613 commandments in their system of law, 248 positive and 365 negative.

14:44 So which of all these 613 commandments is first, or as Matthew says, is the greatest of all? Now they may be asking, which one stands at the top of a heap of all 613? Or they may be saying, what kind of commandment should be given first rank? And when we have ascertained that, then we can sort out the others and put them in categories of relative importance.

15:15 Now the various methods by which they sought to rank the commandments is in some points humorous. Some would take all the letters in Hebrew in the commandment, and they give a numerical quality to every letter. A is 1, B is 2. C is 3 in English.

15:34 And then they would total up the numerical equivalent, and they made a commandment greater in terms of its numerical value when you took and substituted letters for numbers. Yeah, that's right. That's how some of them sorted it out. And then others had other ways that are both humorous and pathetic, as well as crassly arbitrary and legalistic.

15:57 But this was the burning question. One with which this particular...

16:01 The doctor of the law would have occupied, no doubt, many hours in discussion and debate with older rabbis and rabbis of different schools. You had your two major schools of rabbis in that day, but then there were other offshoots. And so this was an agitated question. It's not a question that people would have heard for the first time.

16:23 So there in the temple, here on that third day of the Passion Week, this scribe comes. In a context in which Jesus has shut the mouths of the Sadducees, he comes sent by the Pharisees, and he raises this question, which is, or what commandment is the first of all? Now notice in the second place, as we work our way through the passage, the answer of Jesus to the final question raised that day.

Jesus' Immediate and Reflexive Answer

16:56 The answer of Jesus to the final question raised that day. Without any hesitation, without any season of reflection or careful preparation, our Lord responds in a way that we could almost describe as reflexively.

17:15 A reflex response is one you don't even think about. Someone passes his hand in front of your eyes unexpectedly and without thinking you blink. Someone shoots off a gun in your ear and without thinking you jump. That's a reflexive response.

17:30 Look at the text. You get the sense that Jesus did not need to pause. Jesus did not need to reflect. That the very question was like the sounding of a gun in a man's ear.

17:42 And he responds almost reflexively. Jesus answered the first is, Hear, O 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.

18:04 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Now our Lord's answer would have immediately struck a response in the ear of every Jew in the temple that day. For our Lord answered in the first part of his answer by quoting what is called the Shema.

18:29 And every devout Jew would have heard the Shema. Dozens. Dozens and hundreds of times. They would say it twice every day.

18:41 Many of them in their homes. They would say it in their synagogues. And it's called the Shema because the word hear, the first word of that response in the Hebrew is Shema. And so it is called the Shema.

18:55 Hear, O Israel. And what our Lord does in quoting the Shema and then subsequently Leviticus 19.18, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Our Lord says that the first or the greatest commandment, either in kind, this is the category of commandment that is great and stands above all others, or this is indeed the greatest or first commandment.

19:26 He gives an answer in which he affirms certain basic things that form the very fabric of the theology that we are living in today. That is, that we are living in today. That God deposited in Israel. Look at those components.

19:40 First of all, he asserts the absolute unity and uniqueness of God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And in that confession, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, was an affirmation of the absolute unity and unity of God. And uniqueness of God.

20:09 Now that that was understood by the Jew is clearly indicated in the response of the scribe. And drop down for a moment, anticipating his response. Verse 32, And the scribe said unto him of a truth teacher, You have said that he is one, and there is none other but he. Now Jesus did not say in the Shema, there is none other but he.

20:39 But he knew that the implication of that confession did indeed assert that, and it was implicit in it. And so the scribe in his response, the doctor of the law in his response, amplifies what is implicit in that confession. So in that confession that the Jew would make in his own home, in the synagogue, in the temple, there was first of all a confession, of the absolute unity and uniqueness of God. Secondly, there was an acknowledgment of the totality of the claims of love to God.

21:18 God being who he is in himself, God being what he is to Israel as their covenant God, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, literally out of all of your heart. The heart in its love is to be utterly and totally emptied out upon God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Now we should not look for some technical psychology in this fourfold division of man in the Bible. The word man is used to mean mind, soul, soul, mind, and strength. Because in the Shema as it exists in the Old Testament, you do not have precisely the same wording. You have Jesus adding one dimension of the totality of humanity.

22:25 In the response of the scribe, you do not have an echo of the exact words. You have a different word for mind. So what our Lord is doing is taking the basic substance, the substance of the Shema, in which there is set forth the totality of the claims of love to God. Not in terms of technical, psychological terms that split up man into four departments.

22:55 What God is saying is this. Since He is the one true and living God, utterly unique in His being, since He is the one, the one God who has entered into covenant relationship with His people, Israel, this God who has given Himself in the totality of the uniqueness of His person in covenant love to His people, He is the unrivaled response of their love to Him. They are to love Him with all of the heart, with all of the soul, with all of the mind, and with all of the strength, and with all of the strength, that is, with the totality of their being. He has given Himself to the whole, so the whole of man is claimed by God. And God says, This is what I expect of you, my people, that you love Me with all the heart, with all the mind, with all the soul, and with all the strength. Then He adds the second, an inseparable, the second, but inseparable.

The Inseparable Second Commandment: Love Your Neighbor

24:23 In other words, He is saying, in essence, if the question of the scribe was, What singular commandment is first of all? Jesus is telling him, I will not give you one apart from the second. You must never think that you can render whole soul, total love to God, and be indifferent to your neighbor. So the second is this.

24:49 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now you see, He assumes that we all possess a love of self. There's none of this notion in the Bible that people need to be taught to love themselves. Fallen human nature is your built-in teacher from your conception.

25:11 And all this talk about self-love in our day is a wretched form of idolatry. The text assumes every man does love himself, cares for himself, and looks out for himself. And now God, as it were, seizing upon that native tendency in every one of us says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That is, be as concerned for his well-being as you are for your own.

25:39 Be as concerned for his reputation, his needs, his hurts, his wounds, as you are naturally for your own. Sin has so turned you inward upon yourself, that all you do is love yourself. Sin has so turned you inward upon yourself, that all you do is love yourself. But if your heart goes out in the kind of love that is required to God, then it will also go out in love to those who are made in his image.

26:05 And in the parallel passage in Matthew 22 and verse 40, Jesus said, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets, as surely as on this roof hang all these lights. Jesus said, On these two commandments you can hang all the prophets. So if you are looking for a classification which will help you to range all of the other commandments of God, here are the two structural beams of God's law. Here are the two great commandments, love to God with all the heart, love to one's neighbor as himself.

The Scribe's Hearty Approval and Penetrating Insight

26:47 Now then, after the question has been raised, and Jesus responds to the question, then we have set before us in the third place the response of the scribe to the answer of Jesus. And there we find it in verses 32 and 33. Here is the response of the scribe to the answer of Jesus. And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, teacher, you have well said, he is one.

27:15 And there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now the response of the scribe, and it comes through very forcefully in the original, is twofold. First of all, a hearty approval, and then a penetrating insight. First of all, he gives a hearty approval.

27:45 In our translation, you find the word further down. Of a truth, teacher, you have well said, but the word callous, comes right at the beginning of his response. And he says, well, teacher, we might say, beautiful, or in more current vernacular, right on, teacher. That's what he was saying.

28:10 When Jesus responded and said, this is the first commandment, here is the second, his response was to say, right on, teacher, you have spoken on the basis of truth. So there is a hearty, approval, on the basis of truth, you have said, God is one, he is the only God, and to love him with the whole of one's being, is the duty of every creature, to love one's neighbor as himself. Here was a hearty approval on the part, of this doctor of the law, that Jesus' assessment, of this oft agitated question, was right on. But then he follows the hearty approval, with a penetrating insight. Look at it at the end of verse 33. And to love his neighbor as himself, is much more, than all whole burnt offerings, and sacrifices. Now what was he saying?

29:15 Well, let's stop for a minute. When did the worship of an Israelite, come in a sense, to its most tangible point, of intense expression? Was it not, in the sacrificial ritual established by God, the whole Levitical system? When in a very tangible way, God was saying, that through his appointed priest, and his appointed sacrifice, communion and fellowship, between Israel as the covenant people, and Jehovah as the covenant God, is maintained and sustained, on the basis, of the sacrificial ritual, where the innocent victim is slain. And there, with blood spattering, all the accouterments of worship, God is saying, I fellowship and commune with my people, on the basis of blood. And yet this man came to understand, that though whole burnt offerings, by the way, the Greek word is the one from which we get our current word, Holocaust. A burnt offering, was an offering totally consumed, in fire.

30:37 Certain offerings, that were utterly consumed, symbolizing from the standpoint of God, the fierceness and fury of his wrath, against sin, that utterly consumes, the sinner's substitute. The animal upon whose head, the hands of the priest had been laid, and over whom, the sins had been pronounced, and God in fire, consumes that sacrifice. And from the standpoint, of the worshipper who understood the significance, there was that expression of utter, and unreserved consecration to God, totally consumed, in the person, as it were, of the sacrifice that is offered unto God. And so whole burnt offerings, captured some of the very essence, of the religion of Israel, in its purest forms, when understood, in terms of its divine intention. And then there were the lesser sacrifices, in which part of the animal, was kept out for the priest, and their ten o'clock snack, and part of the sacrifice, was kept back by the offerer, and he was to eat it in celebration, of that particular offering. And some were not animal offerings, offerings of grain and of wine.

31:56 But notice what he says, this penetrating insight, which is the first and great, of God's commandments. Jesus answers that the first, commandment is, that the heart is to go out, in unrivaled love to God, all the heart, mind, soul and strength. And one is to love his neighbor, as himself. And this man says, right on Lord, you've spoken on the basis of truth, and these two commandments, set forth a statement, of the will of God, greater, than all of the details, and requirements of the sacrificial system, both of old burnt offerings, and of lesser, and ordinary sacrifices, of all kinds. Now that's a penetrating insight, that millions of Israelites, never, never, never came to understand. You read in the prophets, again and again, God condemns his people, for their sacrifices. Because they thought, that the first and great requirement, was to keep Levitical ritual.

33:15 Offer the right sacrifice, at the right place, in the right way, at the right time, and you were right. Until God said, I'm sick and tired of this. I don't want, sacrifice and offering. I want your hearts.

33:28 And I want you to manifest, that having your hearts, you're delivered from crass, self-centeredness. And you begin to manifest, the genuineness of your love to me, by love to one another. And so the prophets, continually cried out for justice, among the people of God, and within the covenant community. This man had a penetrating insight, that very few Jews ever had.

Jesus' Reaction: 'Not Far From the Kingdom'

33:55 Well then notice in the fourth place, the reaction of Jesus, to this response to the scribe. The scribe responds, with his hearty approval, his penetrating insight. Now the basis, or the reaction of Jesus, to the response of the scribe, verse 34. You have both its basis, and its substance.

34:18 Look at it. And Jesus saw, and some of you brethren, with your Greek text, you'll see a pronoun, in brackets. And when Jesus saw him, that he answered discreetly. He said unto him, thou art not far, from the kingdom of God.

34:40 What was the basis, of Jesus' reaction? He saw with true perception, the man, and his response. And perceiving it for what it was, Mark tells us, that Jesus regarded it, as a discreet response. And when Jesus saw him, saw the man, not merely heard the words, but looked upon the whole man, as responding to his questions, or to his own answer.

35:17 And when he saw him, that he answered discreetly. And the only place that word is found, in all the New Testament, is right here. And it's a compound word. It comes from the word that means, your mind, and the verb to have, or to hold, nous and echo.

35:37 So when Jesus saw that he answered, holding or having his mind, in other words, when he saw that he answered, intelligently, as a man whose perspectives, were not shaped, by mindless conformity, to his upbringing, mindless conformity, to the current religious climate, when he said what he did, he, and as a man who was holding his mind, before the truth of God's word, this is why he answered the way he did. And the reaction of Jesus, to the response of the scribe, was based upon the perception of Jesus, of the understanding of this man's mind, and his willingness to hold that understanding, and openly confess it. When Jesus dared not to debate, or tentatively to say, could it be that this is, he took an authoritative stance, on an agitated issue, reflexively, this is the first commandment, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one, and you shall love him with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. When that scribe commended him, and said right on, Beautiful Lord,

37:05 you've spoken upon truth, far beyond in the estimation of Yahweh, God of the covenant, than all burnt offering devices, Jesus turned, and the basis of what he now says, rests upon this perception, that this man is holding his mind before truth, and is perceiving truth, that many an Israelite, let alone most of the Pharisees, did not see. And then the substance of Jesus' reaction, look at the words, He said unto him, You are not far from the kingdom of God, you are not far from the kingdom of God. That's a figure of speech, in which you assert something in the opposite. You are not far, that is, you are near to the kingdom of God. Holding in your mind these perspectives, that the great commandment is not that which grows out of something pertaining to the Levitical religion, a ritual, something pertaining to some rabbinic tradition, but that the great commandment has to do

38:31 with one's heart, love, to Jehovah, God of the covenant, and to know him in that love relationship is greater than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Oh, Mr. Lawyer Man, seeing that, answering discreetly, having and holding a mind, to see those realities, you are very into the kingdom. You are not far from the kingdom.

39:04 And in those words, Jesus meant to encourage you. What would you think he would have said when Jesus said you were not far from the kingdom? Well, if there had been awakened in him any real longings for the kingdom, wouldn't it be natural to say, Lord, if I'm near and not far, what distance yet remains between me and entering? If I'm close, Lord, what must I do to close the gap to get me in?

39:32 Thou art not far. You see, he meant to encourage him, encourage him to inquire, to draw him on, but at the same time, he meant to convict him. Yes, you're not far. You're close.

39:49 You're answering discreetly, but you're not yet in. Oh, yes, you're light years beyond your fellow Pharisees, who think you're not far. Who think that when they go through their rituals and parade their virtue before the masses, they are called rabbi and master, and looked up to by all the people, they think they've got it made for time and eternity. You're far beyond them.

40:15 But oh, Mr. Lawyer Man, you're not yet in. So he meant to encourage him, and yet at the same time, to convict him. And then the account closes in the fifth place with the general result in this question and its answer.

40:32 What was the general result? Sadly, nothing more is said about this lawyer, this scribe, this doctor of the law, but we are told this, and no man after that dared ask him any question. One man has commented on those words, no man after that dared ask him any questions. This is what he said, and I'll read his words, and not weary you with excessive words.

41:08 His enemies had been defeated and put to shame. Their murderous hate had been denounced, and the nets of their cunning had been rent like cobwebs. They had seen the heart of one of their own order kindled into open admiration, and they henceforth renounced as hopeless the attempt to conquer Jesus in debate. No man after that dared ask him any questions.

41:34 Jesus will now, carry war into their own country. It will be for them to answer Jesus. For verse 35 says, And Jesus answered and said as he taught in the temple, How say the scribes? Jesus now goes on the offensive and he starts asking questions.

Application 1: Why We Desperately Need Salvation

41:55 Well, dear people, that's the passage. That's the basic nuts and bolts of what it sets before us. Now in the time that remains, what are we to learn from this very fascinating portion of the word of God? Well, I hope in the time remaining to set before you three basic applications and observations.

42:16 The first is this. Learn from Jesus himself why you so desperately need the very salvation he was on his way to the cross to accomplish for sinners. Don't ever forget where this event took place. It took place in the temple.

42:35 And why did it take place in the temple? Because Jesus had entered three days earlier as the messianic king of Israel, entering that he might die, knowing that at Jerusalem he would be put to death as he was handed over by the authorities to the Roman government and would be crucified, spat upon, rejected, and rise again on the third day. And what better place for Jesus to teach men how desperately they need the salvation he was about to accomplish upon the cross than here on the very threshold of those tremendous epical events of Gethsemane and Golgotha and the open tomb? Why was he at Jerusalem? Why must he die? Well, the answer from this passage is very simple. If the greatest command of all is this, love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself, then what's the greatest sin any man can commit?

43:43 If the greatest commandment is to love God with all of the heart, all of the mind, all of the soul, and strength, and the second is like unto it to love one's neighbor as oneself, dear people, if that's the greatest commandment, then what's the greatest sin? The greatest sin is not robbing a bank, sleeping with another man's wife, chasing around with another woman's husband. The greatest sin is not adultery or thievery or lying or brutality. If the greatest commandment is to give, then the greatest sin... ...here today who's prepared to stand here

44:42 and then stand in the day of judgment and say, Well, that doesn't trouble me. From the dawning of my consciousness, I can say I have loved the God of the Bible, not a God made out of the stuff of my own imagination, not that puny little idol, but the God of the Bible, the mighty, glorious, awesome, intimidating Creator of heaven and earth, the loving patience of His world. I have loved that for this very moment. There's never been a situation when I've put my interest above my neighbor, above my wife, my children, my brother, my sister, my friends, my work associates. I have been utterly and totally selfless in all of my words and decisions and thoughts and desires and plans and ambitions. Is there anyone so besotted, so drunken with self-deception that you think that about yourself?

45:58 I hope not. But you say, No, I haven't loved God that way one day of my life. I haven't loved God like that one hour of my life. Well, my friend, if that's the first and great commandment, then sin is the breaking of the commandment.

46:15 You see what bad shape you're in? And you see what bad shape I'm in? For if that's the greatest commandment, and I've been breaking the greatest commandment every day of my life, every day of every week, every week of every month, every month of every year, then what kind of an ocean of guilt is out there stretching out into eternity, ready to die? To swallow me up in my wrath deservingness?

46:44 My friend, learn from this passage why you so desperately need what Jesus was about to accomplish as He was making His way to the cross and in just a couple of more days would hang upon that cross not a helpless victim before the malice of men, but in terms of His own words, laying down His life voluntarily taking into Himself all the arrows of divine wrath against the sins of His people, welcoming all the billows of that ocean of wrath created by the sins of His people, having God, as it were, scoop up the ocean of His wrath, carry it to Golgotha, and then make a sluice gate with His own hands and funnel it down upon His Son until He cried, All thy billows and waves have gone over me. My friend, why? Galatians 3 has the answer. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

47:54 For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon the tree. He hath made him who knew no sin to become sin for us. And so I say we learn from this passage what that scribe should have learned He was holding his mind and thinking discreetly when he said, To love God is a requirement exceeding form in ritual and ceremony. But he should have gone further and reflected, Have I loved God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength?

48:33 Every day? Every moment? Many would have seen, No, I have not. So what good can there be in a sacrifice and in a burnt offering?

48:42 When this commandment is greater than the commandments pertaining to sacrifice, burnt offering? He would have felt that horrible, horrible perplexity that comes to every convicted sinner. How can I stand before the God who is worthy to be loved with heart, mind, soul, and strength? But I have not loved Him that way.

49:02 How can I stand before Him? Then He would have been more than worthy to be loved with heart, mind, soul, and strength. Then He would have discovered that the answer was to be found in that very Jesus who in a few short hours would carry His cross to a place called Golgotha, the place of the skull. And there He would lay down His life a substitute for sinners.

49:29 My friend, listen, when you start talking about God's commandments, never think that God's commandments are steps by which you will climb to heaven. They are a mirror to show you that you are already on the slide to hell. But then the second lesson to learn from this passage is this. Learn from Jesus Himself what it is His death for sinners was intended to produce in them.

Application 2: What Christ's Death Produces in Believers

50:01 Learn from Jesus Himself what it is His death for sinners was intended to produce in them. And you see, it's at this point that we can come to an even more narrow and strict handling of the text. When Jesus quoted the Shema, it began with the words, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Who was Israel?

50:35 Israel was God's typically nationally redeemed people. He had come to them when they were in the bondage of Egypt, and according to Deuteronomy, not for anything in them, but for His sheer sovereign love. He fixed His love upon them, and He drew them out of bondage. He took them to Himself in covenant love and commitment, and He says, As I have poured out My love monergistically, that is, not taking into consideration any worth in you, but I love you because I love you.

51:11 Now what do I expect in response? Your love to Me. And what is set forth there, typically in the nation, is set forth really in the new Israel of God. Jesus Christ went to the cross, my friend, listen to me, not that you could rejoice that your sins are forgiven through His agony and death, to go on with a heart clogged up with a hundred other rivals.

51:43 Jesus Christ went to the cross that the first and great commandment might be the earnest, passionate commitment of your life. The Scripture says He gave Himself for us, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Bringing us to God, what would our posture be? 1 Thessalonians 1.9 You turned unto God from your idols to serve the living and the true God. And when we see Him as the one true and living God, the God who in the mystery of His being is Father, Son, and Spirit, who has sent His Son to die for sinners, who by the Spirit has opened our eyes to our horrible state and to the glory of His provision in Christ, what is the reflexive response of that heart? It is to serve this God according to His own requirements. And what are those requirements?

52:46 They never change. They were true for Adam. They were true for Israel. They are true for us.

52:51 They will be true of us in heaven. You shall love that God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And that's why when Jesus called people to Himself, do you remember what He said?

53:07 If any man come to Me and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple, I will not touch him. Dividing your affection with the creature, even the dearest creature, father, mother, son, you could go tripping to heaven with a heart full of idolatrous attachment to other people and other things. He died to get your heart. Has He got it?

53:48 Has He got it? Has He got it? Do you sit there this morning saying, Oh God, my greatest grief is that I do not love You with all the energy of my heart and with all the energy and faculties of my mind and all the energy and faculties of my soul and of my strength. My greatest expectation for heaven is that I will at last be able to love You as I am.

54:25 What's rivaling Christ's place? It's an insult to His death. It's making light of His blood. It's trifling with His agony.

Application 3: The Horrible Possibility of Being Near But Not In

54:39 And in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you name that name, take that idol this morning and go to a place called Calvary and ask God to smash it. But then thirdly and finally, learn from Jesus Himself, learn from Jesus Himself the horrible possibility of being near but not in the kingdom. The horrible possibility of being near but not in the kingdom. Why was this man near?

55:19 He came to Jesus with his questions. He came with a spirit of inquiry. He had some clear convictions about the existence of God, the uniqueness of God, the necessity of heart religion before God. He said, This is greater than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

55:38 He saw that the heart of religion was not in ritual and form and ceremony. And when a man begins to take seriously the existence of the one true and living God, when he begins to take seriously the uniqueness of this God and the necessity of having a heart relationship to God, he's getting near the kingdom. Friend, if you sit here this morning thinking you're in the kingdom or even near the kingdom because you've got the proper bloodlines, because you're not so bad, because you're sweet and kind and that, my friend, you're as far from the kingdom as heaven from hell. Until you begin to see that God is so holy that your best deeds are a stench in his nostrils. They are as filthy, polluted garments before him. You're not near the kingdom. But am I speaking to some who see, yes, God is holy.

56:33 God is the God who can be satisfied with nothing less than heart religion. God is the God who can only be approached if somehow the question of my sin is resolved. Oh, what can I say this morning? Learn from the words of Jesus the horrible possibility of being near, but oh, so far.

57:00 You see, near is good, but near is not enough. This man, if he got no further than he was that day, you are not far from the kingdom. But if he never entered, he'll go to the same hell as those Pharisees, far from the kingdom as night from day. Out of the kingdom means you'll go into outer darkness, away from Christ and the light of his countenance and the love of his presence and the glory of his throne and all that is pure and noble.

57:43 Oh, dear sinners, hear me, hear me, hear me this morning. Remembering near the final day when this same Jesus who is already on his way to the cross and then to Joseph's tomb and out of the tomb back to the right hand of the Father, when he shall come and the Scripture says every eye shall see him and they shall look upon him whom they pierced, what good will it do to say, Lord, was I not near the kingdom? Did I not sit in Trinity Church and did I not sing the hymns with some measure of conviction that you are a God of mercy and loving kindness and did I not pray over my food and thank you for your good things? To have him say yes. But did you take the place of a helpless, hell-deserving, guilty sinner, throw your guilty soul upon the weight of my person and my saving virtue? Did you turn from your sin and the world and give yourself up to me?

58:49 My friend, if you can't say yes to that, you came near, but you're so far that he'll say to you, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. These words have been haunting me this week. Thou art not far from the kingdom, but I've got no comfort from them because far is to be out and out is to be locked in eternal darkness. Oh, you dear children brought near by the prayers of your parents, the nurture of your parents, the loving concern of your Sunday school teacher and your Christian school teacher.

59:30 You children brought near to the kingdom. Why only be near when Jesus stands at the door and says, come unto me. Go to Christ. And you teenagers and young adults and older adults, near is not enough.

59:48 Learn from this text the horrible possibility of being near, but not in the kingdom. And don't rest until you know you're not only near, but in, in, in. Because you've gone to Christ the King himself in all the plenitude of his grace, in all his willingness to receive every and any sinner who comes to him. May God grant that the lessons learned from that fourth and final question on the third Passion Day will become the door of life to many.

60:31 Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you again for your living, holy, infallible word. Thank you for the record left to us of this unnamed scribe, this man of the sect of the Pharisees, this expert in the law. And oh, our God, we ask that we may learn from the tragic example of one who was near, but as far as we know, never entered.

61:10 We pray, our God, that we will ever remember that your great claim over us goes beyond where we put our feet and what we do with our mouths, that you want our hearts. And oh, Lord, we would afresh today say, take our hearts, take us in the entirety of what we are, that we may be yours, every whit, to live to your glory in gratitude for your mercy. Seal then your word to our hearts and bring eternal fruit from it to your praise, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.