 So today we're in Matthew 22. We're going to look together at verses 34 through 40. So let's begin reading Matthew 22, at verse 34. We'll read to verse 40. I'll give you an introduction and establish a context so that we can understand and apply this portion of scripture into our lives. So beginning at verse 34, reading to verse 40. When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer asked him a question and testing him and saying, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Now as we're picking up our study, let me give you a context. Let me remind you that Jesus is in the process of answering questions. The first question that Jesus answered was political in nature. It dealt with a hated tax. Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? That was a political question. The second question he answered was theological. It dealt with the resurrection. This third question that we're about to look at is also theological. And what it does is it pertains to God's greatest commandment. Now Jesus had just answered a question posed by the Sadducees and the question was related to resurrection. And the resurrection was one of those points of contention that the Sadducees had with the Pharisees. And so when Jesus answered that question, verse 33 gives us the response of those who were listening. It says when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. So Jesus' audience's response to his answer was profound. And so when we get to verse 34, it reveals to us how that the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees. Now when it says the Pharisees had heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, that word silence means to render speechless. He had rendered speechless the Sadducees. It's another way of saying he muzzled them. Jesus had silenced them. He had put a muzzle over their mouth. In Psalm 31, 18, it says, let their lying lips be silenced for with pride and contempt, they speak arrogantly against the righteous. And that's what Jesus had done. Their lying lips had been silenced. And it must have produced some confusion as well as mixed feelings amongst the Pharisees. Because when he gave this particular answer as it pertained to the resurrection, his answer really agreed with them. And they were also astonished at the fact that he had silenced their opponents. There's an old saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And they may have been pleased with his answer because the Sadducees were really theological enemies to them. But at the same time, Jesus is still an opponent. And so as this is taking place, how do they respond? Well, verse 34 tells us here in Matthew 22, it says, when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, their response, they gathered together. So instead of backing off, it increased the determination of the Pharisees. They desired to entrap him. They wanted to accuse him of evil. And so they're trying to entrap him in order to twist his words. Like it says in Psalm 56.5, all day they twist my words, all their thoughts are against me for evil. And that's what's taking place. And so they gathered together and they formulate a question. It says in verse 35, one of them, a lawyer asked him a question, testing him. And so they gathered together and they planned out how they are going to test the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when you look at this and you compare this to Mark's account of the same event, it appears that this one whom they have chosen was not really what you would call a malicious man because there's a ring of sincerity about him. Mark 12, 28 says, one of the teachers of the law came in and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. He asked him of all the commandments, which is the most important. And so it appears that this man had a sincerity about him. This is a person who's an expert in the law of Moses. And that's what it says in verse 35 when it says, then one of them, a lawyer. When we think of lawyers, we think in terms of our laws here, our legal things. But this was an expert in the law of Moses. And he noticed that Jesus had given a good answer. And so he asks Jesus a question that really had been prepared by the Pharisees who had gathered together. Now notice with me in verse 35 how it says, the lawyer came to Jesus testing him. So the question that he's asking was really formulated with an intent to cause Jesus some problems. The word testing means to test maliciously, to craftily put to the proof feelings or judgments. And so the intention of the group is malicious. But because he appears to be sincere, he'd be the perfect person to come and ask this question. And so he asks the question, it's found in verse 36 when he says, which is the great commandment in the law. We're gonna be looking at this today. This is where we're gonna try and find some things to understand as well as points of application for our own lives. Which is the great commandment in the law? Over time the Pharisees had divided the law into 613 laws. And these 613 laws had been divided into two categories. You had the category of the heavy commandments and you had the category of the light commandments. The heavy commandments were mandatory to obey. The light would have been less binding. So the question that's being asked really is which of the 613 commandments is the greatest commandment to obey? Which of the 248 positive and the 365 negative commands is the most important one to keep? That's the question. Now that's kind of like what you see as typical of the Pharisees. When you look at the Pharisees, there's a word that is used sometimes to describe them, at least in the way that they approach Christ. And the word that is used is the word reduction. They are what are called reductionists. What they want to do is they wanna reduce the 613 commands to a single command. They're reducing it, they're reductionists. They're looking for the most plain. They'd say sometimes these two things, yay, these three. So what they'd want to do is they wanna reduce all of the commands of Moses into a single command in order that they might be able to cause Jesus to be drawn into a comparison with Moses. And thus they'd have a way to accuse him if he differs with Moses. They have an ability to accuse him of heresy. So the heart of the question is what is the sum of all of the commandments? What is the most important command? Notice how Jesus responds. In verse 37, Jesus says, shut up. No, he doesn't. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The foundation of all commandments and the way that you interact with the world, the foundation of all the commands of God are to love God with everything within you. What Jesus responds with by the way here in verse 37 is what is called the Shema. In Israel, the Shema is the most basic declaration of the faith of the Jew. It is the most familiar, recited, and copied scripture in Judaism. As a matter of fact, these words here were worn by all religious Jews. They were in their Mizzuzas. They were part of the life of the nation of Israel. And thus, they were completely familiar with the scriptures that Jesus just quoted. In the time of Jesus, these scriptures, Deuteronomy 6, verses four and five, along with Deuteronomy 11, verses 13 through 21, and Numbers 15, 37 through 41, were recited by every religious Jew twice a day without fail. They knew these scriptures. They were familiar with the truth, but there's a difference between being familiar with truth and walking in it. Real faith is not simply reciting scriptures and it certainly isn't simply memorizing creeds. There are a lot of people today who can quote scripture and they do. I always see that during political election time, the seasons for elections, that a scripture or two will be thrown into a speech and very often they're intended to communicate to us that they have a regard for ancient wisdom. And Americans in general like to believe that those who lead the nation have a healthy fear of God. And so very often you're gonna find a scripture or two thrown into a speech which has a tendency of causing people who believe in the word of God and the morality found in scripture. It causes them to feel more akin to the individual who has given that speech. And all we understand that, we live in a time when people are, many people are familiar with certain phrases. They may not know where they come from but they've heard those things. Greater love has no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friends. There's a very famous scripture. People know that it's found in the Gospel of John. Some do, some don't. But they've heard that scripture before and thus when it's quoted, we'll say oh, this person has somebody writing their speeches who know scripture or perhaps he or she believes these things herself, himself. But there's a difference between knowing scripture and knowing the author of scripture. There's a difference between knowing things about God and knowing God. When Jesus said this is eternal life, he says this is eternal life that they may know thee, that they may know you, the only true God, that they may know you, not know about you. But this is eternal life that they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. There are a lot of people who can say, I know things about God and they're able to quote things they learned perhaps in religious school when they were children. Sunday school, that they learned certain things and facts about Christ. When I was a kid, I was seven years older so I was going to what are called catechism classes where they're giving you the essentials of the faith. And they taught us things. They taught us various scriptures or they taught us various traditions and all. And I learned these things, the apostles creed. Which many people were raised in my generation to know. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ's only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven from thence he would come to judge the living and the dead. You know these creeds because you're taught these creeds. And these are things that are essential to the makeup of your religious faith but that doesn't necessarily mean that you actually obey or do those things. And there are quite a number of people. Quite a number of people and it's just a fact we all know who know more than they do. We know more about what God says and what God is commanded than we know through personal experience and application of those things. Quite a number of people who are raised with devotions. Quite a number of people who went to Sunday school as a child. Quite a number of people who have heard so many things about the Bible but don't really do anything in terms of obeying it. So again, when Jesus is speaking to them, he's just making it very clear. Listen, these are scriptures you're familiar with. You're asking me what is the great commandment of the law? What is the essential? What is it necessary for a person to have faith or to obey or to know? And you already know those things. Hero Israel, the Lord thy God, he is one. And you shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, with all thy mind. That is what you know. You have them on, when you walk into your door, you have the Missusas, you have the phylacteries, the little boxes, prayer boxes on your forehead between your eyes. You know these things because these are the things that you recite twice a day. You know them, you've memorized them, but he's saying to them, but you don't understand them. You see, real faith is practicing what God's word says and evidencing that faith exists through a transformation of a life. You mean your Christianity is supposed to affect the way you live? Yeah, yeah. Your Christianity is supposed to affect the way you think. Your Christianity is supposed to be so evidence that you're preaching Christ at all times and when necessary, you actually use words. The manner in which you live is the testimony of his grace. Not just the things that you say, but the way that you are. Not just the things that we say during certain periods or seasons. We just this last Wednesday, some of you are aware of this. There's a tradition in the church, not only the Catholic church, but also other denominations, Protestants for many years, have had the practice of putting cross across with ash. It was Ash Wednesday. How many of you remember that or know that? I just need to know if I'm talking to people who know. Okay, those of you who don't know, you're all pagans. No, it was Ash Wednesday. And my mom, I was raised in the Catholic church. I don't know what you were raised in. I was raised in the Catholic church and we would go during the Lenten season. We would have ashes. That was just part of our tradition. That's what we did. I did it from the time I was seven years old for many years. And so my mom wanted to be a good devout Catholic, but I'll tell you about my mom. She forgot to go to get her ashes on Ash Wednesday one time. And yet she had ashes on her forehead. And I asked her, where'd you get those? Cause I knew she didn't go to church. I knew she hadn't gone. You know who she got those ashes from? Cigarettes. In fact, I'm not kidding. That was my mom. That was my mom. Well, you got your ashes, but I don't think that's what Jesus meant. You got your outer appearance, but I don't think that's what the Bible is teaching us. And I was seven, eight years old. I was in church and I had a friend of mine who was seated next to me in a church service. And some kids were in front of us, three or four of our kids we knew, were in front of us. And they were talking during the service. And so my friend turns to me and he says, actually, he turns to me and says something. And one of the kids who is doing so much talking turns and says to him, be quiet, we're in church. And my friend said something, I was seven, eight years old. I've never forgotten. He looks at him and he says to him, why don't you practice what you preach? And I thought, oh, that's good. I'd never heard that before. I mean, I'd never heard that phrase. Why don't you practice what you preach? And I thought, oh, that's so good. Now years later, I still remember that. Practice what you preach because many of us do not practice what we preach. We say you shouldn't do this, but we do it ourselves. You know, you teach your kids, don't lie, don't lie. And then a phone call comes in and the kid answers the phone and you say, tell them I'm not here. You know, don't be smoking marijuana while we're drinking our bourbon. And the kids look at them and they say, there's something here that's a disconnect between what you're telling me and what you're doing. Don't do as I do. Do as I say is so common today, isn't it? It really is. Well, you shouldn't do that, but why do you? Why do you think it's okay? And that's what Jesus is confronting. Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Hero Israel, the Lord thy God, he is one. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Jesus gives them what they already know, but the sad thing is is they're just not doing it. In 1 John chapter one verse six, it says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. That's why in third John verse four, he said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Their habit of life is to obey and see so. Again, let us be very careful. Let us be careful that we actually intend to obey what God teaches us in his word. And no, not a single one of us in this room is 100% obedient all the time, starting with this man here. I'm not putting myself in any plane above anybody in this room. We all fail, all of us do. Not a single one of us is perfect in word thought or deed. We know that, but that's not an excuse to continue in sin. What we should have is a holy desire to be pleasing to God, to know his word in such a way that it transforms our lives. And that's what Jesus is speaking about. So when you study a scripture, when you really want to know the meaning of it, make up your mind that you're gonna obey it. You'll discover what the meaning of that scripture is through obedience. You see, the Bible teaches us that these people were aware of Bible passages. They just didn't know the author of the Bible. True story about an actor who was asked at a particular event to speak to a group of people and they asked him to read his favorite Psalm. So this very well-known actor walked up and he began to read Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And as he begins to quote that, he does it with the eloquence that a trained public speaker would be able to speak with. This is a great talent and a great polished craft. And the people gave him a thunderous applause. They were really, really moved by his reading, but it just so happened, there was an older man, an older gentleman in the same place, and they said, could you please come and give to us your favorite Psalm? And the older man stood up and he said, well, he said, I'm a bit embarrassed, but my favorite Psalm is the same that you just heard. He said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And as he began to speak, he went through it in such a beautiful way that the actor was heard to say, I know the Psalm, he knows the shepherd. There's a difference between being able to quote a scripture and to know the author of that scripture, to be able to present something and to know why you're presenting it. And that comes through fellowship with God. And the Pharisees, they had their phylacteries, they had their Mizzuzas, they recited, they knew it all, but when asked, what is the great commandment, it's a simple one. It's something you recite every day. Love the Lord thy God with all of your heart. You see, it's not knowing the scripture alone, but surrendering to God's word that really matters. To know a passage is much more than simply having head knowledge, to know a passage is a full surrender to it. And so the question is being asked, what is the essence of all of God's commands? And it comes down to love. It comes down to loving God and loving others. In 1 John 3.16, it says, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Love is something that provokes activity. So Jesus is saying, you are to love God completely. You're to love God with all that is within you. Somebody says, well, why would I do that? Why should I love God with everything within me? Why should I love God completely? Well, the reason that we ought to love God completely is because that is how deeply he has loved us. In John 3.16, very famous scripture, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Romans 5.8, God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. John 15.13, great of love has no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friends. Why am I to love God with all of my heart and everything within me? Why am I to love God completely because God loved us completely? So the greatest command is to love God entirely with the complete person, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. When he speaks concerning loving with all of your heart, we Americans have confused that word. We use the word heart like, I love you with all my heart as an emotion. That's how we use it. We say, well, I really love you with all my heart. And so that's an emotional way of thinking. But in fact, the Bible doesn't teach that the heart is the center of emotion. It's interesting, but the word heart when used in the Bible is describing the inner being. The heart is the origin of all thoughts, all words and all activities. That's why Proverbs 4.23 would say, above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. So when he says, love God with all of your heart, love God with the origin of your thoughts, words and activities with your essence. When he says, love God with all of your soul, the soul is the seed of emotional activity. In Matthew 26.38, Jesus said, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. And so the soul is the center of activity, of your emotions. Now the mind, the mind is not speaking simply of our intellectual life. It speaks of our disposition. It speaks of our attitude, attitude. Love God with your dispositions and your attitudes. Now here's an important thing, practical expression of it. We make excuses for our dispositions. We do. We'll say things like, well yeah, I got mad, but I can't help it. It's just part of who I am. I'm Latino. Or somebody may be Irish and they say, oh yeah, I like my bourbon, but then again it's a cultural thing. I'm Irish. Now you're a drunk. Oh I like, we have a tendency of doing that. We have a tendency of taking our dispositions and justifying them as saying as part of just the natural way of expressing our cultural differences. And the fact of the matter is, is you can't make excuses for your activity based on your ethnicity. Because the bottom line is, is these things that I do, if I wanna go out and get drunk, if I wanna go out and get loaded, if I'm gonna go sleep around, if I'm gonna be getting anger, whatever those things, those are called activities or works of the flesh. Those are from my nature. So I'm gonna find a way of expressing these things, not because I come from a certain community, but because my nature provokes me to those things and in certain communities, it's an activity that is acceptable to the majority of them. That's how that works. In the old community, in the community I came out of, the Hispanic community, men were not supposed to cry. Men can't cry. It's something that we, my dad, I only, I saw my dad cry for the first time. I'm trying to remember. He never told me I love you until I was 17. He didn't show affection. I think I saw him cry when I was in my late 20s. He didn't cry. My dad didn't show emotion. It's part of his community. But the only time a man in my community was able to cry is if he was drunk. There were two things that you could do when you were drunk. You could be angry or you could cry. And then you later on just say, I was a little drunk. How many of you know what I just said? Do you understand what I just said? Yeah. You men know that, don't you? You know that, don't you? So you're drinking and you tell the girl you're with, I love you, man. I really love you. I really love you. But if you ever go out, I'll kill you. I mean, you could, that's acceptable. Why am I telling you this? It's because I just, I feel like it. Because I'm drunk. No, why am I? And I hate you all. Why? Because we take sins and we make them acceptable by various worldly standards. Do you want to be different? Get into the word of God. Get into the word of God. Let the word of God direct your footsteps. And you will stop making excuses. You will stop making excuses for sinful behavior. You will stop saying, well, I got mad because. Or I did this because. Or that's how it was always. No, you'll stop doing that. And you'll start saying, no, wait a minute. When I read the word of God, the word of God says that God can cleanse my mind and can give to me information with the power of this Holy Spirit to actually be transformed. Isn't it what we were looking at the other day where Jesus said you greatly err, you're greatly mistaken, neither knowing the Scripture nor the power of God. There's no excuse for me to continue in my old life when I get saved. No excuse at all. The Bible doesn't excuse it. It doesn't say it's okay, it's okay. And it doesn't say this is confess and repent, confess for sake, repent, confess. And that's what it teaches me to turn away from these things. Don't be embracing them and saying these are natural for me because that's how I was raised and I've had all these disadvantages. No. It says you can be a new creation in Christ Jesus. Behold, things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. The Bible teaches me that with the power of God and the word of God, I can be a new creation in Christ Jesus and that's the gospel. That's good news. And so it's not just knowing things, it's putting those things into practice. Love God with all of your mind. In Ephesians 4, 22 and 23, it says you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds. Romans 12, 1 and 2, therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, is good, pleasing and perfect will. Be ye not conformed, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. That comes through the power of the word. So this love is worked out in a desire to obey him, not in our being forced to do so. So love is demonstrated through the voluntary yielding of our lives to the Lord. Now Mark adds in chapter 12, verse 30, love God with all your strength. That speaks of your service to God. In 1 Corinthians 10, 31, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So he begins by saying, what is the great commandment? Love God completely. But he goes on to say, and there is a second like unto it, ye shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now I want to look at that with you for a moment. This is not an inference, nor a command for me to love myself. Notice with me, Jesus specifically said the second is like it. And he did not suggest that there was a third command. He didn't say the first command is love God, the second command is love your neighbor, and the third command would be and love yourself. He didn't say that. He said the first is love God, the second is love your neighbor as yourself. What we have done in our time, and this has been going on for quite some time now, is we have taken the two commands and we have made them into three. This is where the church has entered into an error that has created tremendous problems. Again, we're not commanded to love ourselves. We have been commanded to die to self. Keep that in mind, because what I'm saying right now, some people are just sitting there squirming right now, thinking, I don't believe that, that's not true. I'm supposed to love myself. How can I love others if I don't first and foremost love myself? Well, Jesus would debate with you on that one. And he would say, problem is you already do love yourself. No, I don't. I hate myself. Do you really? Yes, I hate myself. Why do you hate yourself? Because I'm fat, and I'm stupid, and I'm ugly. Well, that's true, but why would you know? Why do you hate yourself? Well, I hate myself because of that. Really? Now listen, if you had somebody that you didn't like, and that person was fat, stupid, and ugly, would you be glad or sad that they're fat, stupid, and ugly? Well, I actually would be kind of glad because I don't like them. Okay, but you're telling me that you hate yourself because you're fat, stupid, and ugly. If you hated yourself, you'd be glad that you're fat, stupid, and ugly. So that tells me that you don't hate yourself. That tells me that you love yourself so much that you're mad because you're not everything you want to be. Now where did you get the idea? You're supposed to be these other things. Did you get that from Jesus? Did Jesus say, oh, I'd love to love you, but you're too fat, stupid, and ugly? No, then where did you get that idea from, and why is that so important to you? Because listen, though your friends may reject you, your God never does. Your God doesn't judge on outer appearance. He looks at the heart. And when your heart is turned to Jesus Christ, you're beautiful. And he's creating you into his own image. So it's not the outer appearance at all that matters, is it? It's the matter of the heart. And when your heart is turned over to the Lord, God has pleasure in that. And as God has made that be so, then even your enemies could be made to live at peace with you and your ways please him. So the thing I'm supposed to do is concentrate on following him and to stop being so self-interested that I get concerned about all these outer things that are not even important at all. You see, the real bottom line is, is that you can actually, you can actually be transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. And the problem is, is we are so self-centered and desirous of attention that if things don't go our way and they're not done the way we like things, then we break fellowship with people. We just do that all the time. Listen, the Bible says it like this, Ephesians 5.29, after all, no one ever hated his own body. But he feeds and cares for it just as Christ does the church. How many friendships have been shattered because the friends were too sacrificial towards one another? How many churches have been divided because the church loved each other too much? And how many marriages have been shattered by divorce because two people were wanting to die to self? No, the reason you have the divorces, Jesus said it's the hardening of your heart. The reason you have church division is because people are biting and devouring one another. The reason that you have broken friendships is because one person thought they expected and demanded more in the relationship than the other was willing to give. It's because of self, that's the problem. And so it's self that I have to die to. That's not a popular message today. That Jesus said, if you're gonna be as disciple, he said pick up your cross daily, die to yourself, follow me. And that's Christianity. Now of course it's not wrong to take care of yourself, to feed yourself, to protect yourself. But the point is, is we already do these things and we do them instinctively. But genuine faith is when you value others and love others. That's genuine faith. Genuine faith is desiring the best for other people and living to be a blessing to other people. It's dying to self. In Philippians two verses three and four, it reads, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. The Christian faith is other centered because it is first and foremost Jesus centered. And Jesus revealed love by laying down his life. And that's why we live sacrificially. In Galatians five, 14 and 15, it says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you abide and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. How is service to God worked out by loving people? And the Pharisees did not genuinely love God and they did not genuinely love people. They genuinely love their traditions and their regulations. But genuine faith will always be revealed by actions towards others. And love for God will always be revealed by love for those whom God loves. In first John 420, if someone says I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? I had somebody very dear to me who said, I really love ministry. I really love ministry. It's people I can't stand. I said, you know, you realize, of course, that people are, that is your ministry, people. I love ministry. It's just the people I can't stand. People are your ministry. But they really meant that. In Romans 13, eight through 10, oh, no one anything except a love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet. You shall not go on Facebook. No, I'm sorry. I added that. And if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then he goes on to say, love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. What does the love of God and love for others look like? Well, 1 Corinthians 13 says in verses four through eight, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Love in action. Love is expressed in various ways, it's long suffering, meaning it's patient with others, especially in the midst of conflicts. Love is kind, it doesn't envy. In other words, a person who is walking in the love of God is gentle, even wants other people to succeed. Love doesn't parade itself, love is not proud, so we don't push ourselves ahead. It's not rude, love practices courtesy. And sometimes it can be seen just by the basic things like listening to somebody else when they speak. It's not easily provoked, meaning it restrains itself from retaliation, it doesn't keep a list of wrongs. A love doesn't want others to fail. Love thinks the best, thinks what is true. Love is protective, love is trusting, love is hoping, love is persevering, and love never gives up. And that's the mark of a mature believer who has a relationship with the Lord. You see, the whole duty of man is summed up in one word, and that word is love. Loving God and others is the foundation of all activities in life. It informs our responses to people, it directs our actions, even when we're hurt by them. I was speaking to somebody a while back now and they were saying to me that they don't go to church anymore, go to church services anymore. I said, really, why is that? Because I was hurt in the church. How many of you have been hurt in church? How many of you have been hurt by Christians? All of us? Anybody here not been hurt by a Christian? You must not be safe. No, we've all been hurt. We've all been hurt. Who here lives in a perfect world and who here goes to a perfect church? We've all been hurt, every one of us. And when they said that to me, they said, well, I've been hurt. They said, so who hasn't? Who hasn't? Who hasn't had somebody who is unkind? Who hasn't had somebody be rude? Who hasn't had somebody gossip about? Who hasn't? We all have. This is a very, very imperfect community that we live in but love never fails. We don't give up on one another. We hold fast to what God wants to do. You don't abandon a brother, you pick them up and you help them and you pray for them. That's love. That's how it works. We go back for the wounded. We don't shoot them. There was a soldier, World War I. In the midst of battle, one of his friends got wounded and was a distance away and was crying out for his friend. The wounded one was calling out for the friend who was in a trench. And the friend, here in the voice of his friend who was wounded, started to clamber out of the trench to crawl across to drag him back. But he was given an order, stay in this trench, don't go out, stay in the trench. And the man whose friend was crying out, disobey that order. And he climbed out of the trench and crawled under fire till he grabbed hold of the guy and dragged him back and dropped his body into the trench. And the man he went to save had died. And he's dead. And the officer who had given the command to him not to go out under fire like that said, he's dead. He's dead. What good did it do you to go to try and get him? He's dead. He says, are you satisfied that you went out there? Are you happy that you went out there under such conditions? And the man who had dragged his dead body back, his friend back said, yes, I am satisfied. Because when I arrived to him, he looked at me in the eye and his final words were, I knew you'd come for me. Some of us have friends who've been wounded under fire, crawl out, grab them and bring them back. See what the Lord will do in something like that. Don't shoot the wounded, pray for them, love them, encourage them and watch what God will do in them because love is demonstrated like Jesus said, that when you love God and you love your neighbor as yourself, do unto them as you would have others do unto you. And if you're lonely and lost in hurting, it's a blessing when someone loves you enough to call you and say, just thinking of you, just praying for you, wanting the best for you, come home, come home. So Jesus is speaking and he's speaking concerning this and he's making it very clear what love actually is. Love, the great commandment, love God, love your neighbor as yourself. But the question has to be asked, who has ever succeeded in doing that? When you look at the Old Testament filled with heroes of the faith, men like Abraham and Isaac, men like Jacob and Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, you see the apostles, you see Paul himself, who has ever loved God with everything within them and who has ever really loved a neighbor like they loved themselves. Again, we all fail. No excuse, just reality. So the fact is no one ever has loved God and man completely except for Jesus. Jesus did. It's interesting how he puts it, I want you to see this and we're gonna roll to a conclusion in verse 40 where it says on these two commandments, notice how he says it, on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. That's an interesting word, hang. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets when he was hanged on that cross. No human being ever has loved like Jesus. His relationship with his father and his love for us. And the prophets and the law were all met in the death of Christ on that cross. According to Romans 10-4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. When it says Christ is the end of the law, it means that the law is consummated in Jesus. He fulfilled it all. It's like what he said in Matthew 5, 17 and 18, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything's accomplished. When Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself the fulfillment of the things that the law demanded and the prophets prophesied. He said on these commandments, the one who loved God and loved man, Jesus Christ, that's where they're fulfilled. And Mark says in chapter 12 verses 32 through 34 that the young man said to him, well said teacher, you are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God and from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. You're not far from the kingdom. You've understood that simple observation of law will not save you, but you need to take the next step. You haven't entered in, but you are at the door. You see these things to be so. You have said that my response was right. It was well said, excellent, beautiful. Love for God, love for man is greater than anything that one could make or do, but you haven't entered in. You're standing at the door and you need to enter in. The Lord would have us today to realize none of us love God with all of our heart and none of us love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But there's one that we can turn to who gives us the strength to be different and enables us to love, to grow deeper in love with the Lord and to learn to love one another. I've been a Christian for a long time now. Over two thirds of my life, I followed Jesus and I'm just now learning to love the Lord more just now. Still can't stand my neighbor, but I'm loving the Lord. And I'm learning that loving the invisible God is often demonstrated by my treatment of somebody I see. Being gentle and being compassionate, being caring and being prayerful, being patient, holding on. Those are all things that you can look at Jesus and say he was faithful in all of that. And that's why we need him. And I am so grateful that he doesn't give up on us. Are you grateful he hasn't given up on you? I am so grateful he hasn't given up on us. Because he looks at you as an artist looks at a blank canvas. He already knows what he's going to do, but it takes some time just to finish that product. And that's what he's doing with you. Don't lose heart. Don't feel bad because you're not perfect. Allow the Holy Spirit to convict you in areas that you need conviction. Confess and say, God, be merciful to me. I desire to be pleasing to you. God forgives sin. He empowers us to be obedient. And over time our lives produce fruit that represents the transformation that comes through knowing him. Be careful that you don't preach what you don't practice. But be careful not to cease doing things based on the fact that you don't feel sincere when you do them. Learn to yield those things to the Lord. Learn to ask the Lord, God, here are the activities. Now give me the emotions. I'm doing the right thing, though I may not feel at this moment so satisfying. But Lord, I'm doing it out of obedience to you because I know that this is what you've called me to do. So Lord, would you change my heart so that I understand a little better what it means to simply obey for obedience sake? And then would you show me what it means to really love? Because I have a feeling that when Jesus died on the cross, the greatest demonstration of love, that it wasn't fun. But it was proper and important and necessary and it was done obediently and the result was salvation for us. So God, help me. Help me to learn to love you and to love others so that I might really understand what a commandment actually is.