Mark's Gospel, chapter 12 and
verse 28. And one of the scribes came,
and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that
he, that is Jesus, had answered them well, asked him, which is
the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first
of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord, and 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. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself, there is none other commandment greater than these.'
And the scribe said unto him, Well, master, thou hast said
the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other but he.
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding,
and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love
his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. And no man after that doth ask
him any question. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word also. We have over the past few weeks
already noted how patient the Lord Jesus Christ was with the
different groups and the sects of religious tradition that came
to him and obstructed him on this Tuesday prior to his death. Yet we've also noted that the
Lord did not miss an opportunity that was provided by these interruptions
to teach his disciples more about himself and more about the gospel. And of course, in teaching his
disciples, he was teaching us. Soon these men would be called
to carry this message to all the world. And here on this day,
as this constant train of opposition, these Jewish religious people
came to the Lord, they were in fact helping in the preparation
of these disciples. by providing the Lord with an
occasion to speak about these important matters. He spoke about
the power and divine authority which he had, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as our saviour. He showed his church and his
people, he showed the disciples, the apostles, that he, the Lord
Jesus Christ, Our saviour is the Lord Jehovah. He showed in
answering these questions that he is the chief cornerstone upon
whom his church, his gospel church, is built. He showed in answering
these questions the fact that there would be the imminent destruction
of Jerusalem and that the Jewish religion would be crushed. He
showed the necessity of faith and of rendering to God the things
that are God. He showed the importance of faith,
hope and love in our approach to God and our worship of God.
And he showed that a believer's resurrection hope And the glory
that we shall possess in these very bodies is the inheritance
of all those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we
will be raised from our graves. And so in so many ways the Lord
set forth the gospel in his answers to these men, which whether or
not they heard and believed and took note and understood even the things that
the Lord was saying, have been heard and recorded and received
by his church ever since. And now comes another one of
these pretenders, trying to make a name for himself at the expense
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he comes and he accosts the
Lord. It's just a single individual
this time. The groups appear to have come
and gone and now it's a single scribe. And he's also a Pharisee. Matthew tells us that he's a
Pharisee as well. And he comes to the Lord with
a question about the law. The law. Matthew tells us that
this man was a lawyer. And we need to remember that
that doesn't simply mean that he knew the Ten Commandments.
The whole of the Jewish religious system was built upon a legal
foundation. They had hundreds of laws. In
fact, somewhere between five and six hundred. Direct laws
were the things that fulfilled, or not fulfilled, but filled
the attention of these men and their religious thinking and
considerations and debating. So this man was a lawyer. He
was an expert in this body of law. So I suspect he felt that
he had some home advantage as he came to approach the Lord
with this question about the law, being himself a recognised
expert lawyer. Although in truth, if he had
but known As they stood there in the temple, the temple Jesus
has already told us was his father's house, so technically I think
that the Lord had the home advantage. But this man wanted to know what
the Lord's opinion was as to which is the greatest commandment
of all of these hundreds of commandments. And it was this scribe's plan
to mock the Lord Jesus by exposing Jesus' lack of legal knowledge
about the breadth of the law and the hundreds of years of
rabbinical writings explaining these laws and debating and dissecting
and coming to a settled opinion as to what these laws all meant. After all, here was a man who
had a lifetime's training in the law to become a scribe, and
the Lord Jesus Christ was merely a carpenter with no training
in the Jewish religious history. So that this lawyer no doubt
felt that even if the Lord Jesus Christ could provide an opinion
as to what he thought was the most important law, that the
lawyer would surely be able to beat him in any debate and to
make him look a bit silly in front of his followers. Of course,
the scribe had no idea who he was dealing with. Before I speak about the Lord's
answer to the scribe and the effect that it had I want to
make a little point about all of these questions that were
asked this day, this Tuesday in the temple to the Lord by
these people. And I want to make a little application
if I may. Because many people have religious
questions. Many people have religious questions. And many people are going to
hell asking questions about religious matters, just like these scribes
and Pharisees. I would suggest to you today
that it is one of Satan's most deceptive traps to instill a degree of religious
curiosity people's minds, whereby the souls of men and women are
blinded to the glory of Christ by all the unanswered questions
that they have concerning religion. The Sanhedrin asked, By what
authority do you do these things? The Herodians asked, is it lawful
to give tribute to Caesar? The Sadducees were curious about
the resurrection body. And here this scribe is asking,
which is the greatest commandment in the law? Let me just paraphrase
those four questions for you because I think we can put those
questions into words that people ask all the time. What changes
will I have to make in my everyday life if I become a Christian? What's going to happen when I
die? And what's heaven going to be like? What do I need to
do to please God? and invariably they'll come up
with the wrong answer. Here's the point that I'm making. Lots of people avoid the real
issues of the gospel by asking endless questions about religion. Questions like the Herodians
and the Sadducees and the Pharisees asked. And you can know lots
of stuff about religion and you can still be going to hell, like
the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the Scribes and the Herodians.
Because you miss the one issue that is important. You miss the
one question that is of eternal importance. What think ye of
Christ? What did you do with Jesus, which
is called Christ? That's the important question. Pilate, at Jesus' trial, asked
the question, What shall I do? He went to the crowd in the judgment
court, and he asked the question, what shall I do with Jesus, which
is called Christ? The question that he should have
asked was this, what is Jesus, who is called Christ, going to
do with me? Now I'm not trying to ban questions. Questions are important. But
let us be careful that we don't make questions about religious
things. The trees amongst which we hide,
like Adam and Eve hid amongst the trees in the Garden of Eden,
so that they didn't actually have to face God. The scribe asked, which is the
greatest law? That was his question. It was
a question that was devised for self-righteous pride. He wanted to better the Lord
by asking this question. However, as the Lord showed in
answering the other questions. He answered it with a lesson
upon gospel truth and spiritual life and true worship. And since gospel truth and spiritual
life and true worship is what is important to us, That is what
we are going to think about for the rest of the time that we
have together today. The Lord, in his answer, said
this. Here's my first point then. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. He was quoting from Deuteronomy. He was quoting from a passage
in the books of Moses. And Moses was calling attention
in this passage to the unity of God. And by restating this
phrase, this important commandment, the Lord Jesus Christ was re-emphasising
Moses' message. He was telling us that he thought
it was important as well. And the reference to hear, O
Israel, reminds us that hearing is necessary. If you haven't
heard the word of God, You can't believe it. If you've not heard the truth,
you can't believe the truth. If you've never heard the gospel, you can see where I'm going,
can't you? There are many people who believe that they've heard
the gospel. Many people imagine that they're
hearing the gospel every week because they're attending church
or they're reading the Bible or they're under a particular
ministry and they've never actually heard the gospel of free and
sovereign grace. They've never heard the true
Jesus Christ preached. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? Moses and the Lord Jesus are
both telling us about the unity of God. The Lord our God is one
Lord. And to believe this was the first
and the chief commandment of the Lord, according to the Lord
Jesus Christ, of the law, I'm sorry, according to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it is equally the principal
article of the Christian faith also. Namely, to believe that
there is one God in three persons, the covenant God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit united in one God, the Lord in the Godhead. Now throughout the Old Testament,
we find the covenant God revealing himself constantly in a plurality
of persons. We find the one God, the God
who met Moses on the mountain, in the burning bush, taking the
name Lord or Jehovah. And right from the very beginning,
from the creation, we discover that the Lord takes that name
in a plurality of persons. Here's what I mean by that. Don't
get distracted because that sounds too technical. In Genesis chapter
one, verse 26, we read these words. We listen carefully to
the word of God. Here's what it says. God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Now you see the person, you see
the fact that God doesn't say let me make man in my image,
but it is let us make man in our image, after our likeness. lightness. And when we look at
the scriptures, for example in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse
1, it speaks there of creator. But that creator is actually
creators. It's a plural word. And when
we see the same thing in Job chapter 35 verse 10, where it
speaks about maker, again the word maker is a plural number. meaning Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. When we encounter the Lord revealing
his covenant purpose, we discover that there are conversations
recorded in the Word of God. And in those covenant conversations
are revealed the separate persons of the Godhead discussing the
work of salvation and discussing the plan of salvation. So that
in, for example, Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, between God is speaking here to the serpent,
to Satan. But he says, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. So the Lord God there at that
moment was speaking about Christ coming as a man. That is a new
covenant revelation. speaking about the cross that
would come and the coming of the Son of God to die on the
cross to bruise the serpent's head. and to save his people
from their sins. In Zechariah chapter 2 verse
10, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and I
will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. So again, we
see here is the second person of the Godhead saying that he
is going to come and dwell amongst his people. This one who came
was the Lord Jehovah who spoke to his father in heaven, who
would send the comforter when he returned to his father. So this plurality of persons
is seen throughout the Old Testament scriptures. Jeremiah chapter
23, verse 6, in his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall
dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord Jehovah, our righteousness. Again, it's
reflecting this plurality of persons. Even the benediction
that I read often, when we come to the end of our service, Aaron's
blessing to the children of Israel is, in the Hebrew language, probably
more profound than we appreciate when we read it in our English
Bible. The accents are different in
each of the three references to the Lord. So that when Aaron
says, the Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make his
face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee peace. There is a difference
in each of those three references to the Lord, Jehovah. The first
being the elective work of the Father and his preservation of
his people. My Father keeps you in the palm
of my hand. The second being the redemptive
work and the reconciling work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the third being the comforting work and the helping work of
God the Holy Spirit. so that when we read the Old
Testament scriptures, we discover that the Lord has been pleased
to reveal himself with a great variety of parts and roles and
names in his three persons in his covenant offices. That's just a fact. And therefore, it is God's goodness
to us and his grace towards us in his revelation of himself
to his church and people, he does us a great mercy to remind
us that at the same time, there is this unity in the divine essence. One God. One God. The Lord our God is one God. and that faith was required of
believing Jews and that faith is required of believing Christians. One God in three persons accomplishing
his covenant purpose. The Lord continued, having told
the scribe that this was the great commandment. He continued,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. That's
my second point. And here we see that the Lord
is giving a proper response to the covenant God. This one God
in three persons engaged to work to save our souls. God the Father
chose a people in eternity before the world and he gave that people
that he chose into Christ's hands. God the Son agreed to redeem
that people, those same people that had been given to him after
the fall of Adam. and God the Holy Spirit undertook
to find those people, to quicken those people, to convert and
to comfort the same, so that the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit agreed together in that unity of the one God to accomplish
the salvation of His people. and these blessed and chosen
people would be brought into a special relationship with God
and we would be united to Him, God the Son, we would be united
to Him and we would share the same flesh with Him as He shared
with us and we would be united to Him in the marriage of the
bride. God's election of his people
was based on his everlasting love towards us. And that salvation
that he accomplished causes and produces and draws out from us
that love in response. The Lord said to Jeremiah, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. And John tells us, in turn,
we love him because he first loved us. So that what we as
rebels could never do because by nature we hated God, just
like Pharaoh did, he by grace has enabled us to do. And both
the Old Testament Jews and Moses under the law and New Testament
believers are enabled to look by faith to our God, our substitute,
and our surety, and rest in that perfect obedience and satisfaction
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us before the holy God as
our representative. It is true that our love for
God is weak and erratic and readily distracted. We find ourselves
loving the world and the things of the world more than we should
and more than we want to. But the Lord Jesus Christ loved
his Father with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his
mind and with all his being and in Our Lord Jesus Christ, as
his church and people, as his body and bride, we love God too,
just as surely as our Saviour did. Then the Lord Jesus Christ
continued, and this is my third point. We're moving on. Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This command comes from Leviticus
and it shows If nothing else, the Lord's familiarity with all
the scriptures, as of course we would expect. Probably surprised
the scribe, but there you go, he picked the wrong battle. The
Lord's reference in this verse, in this law that he quotes, to
the second being like the first, It shows us that the love that
we are called to have for our neighbours is to be as sincere
and extensive as our love for God. We are to love our neighbours,
heart, body, soul and strength. So the idea of do no harm is
only the beginning. We are also to care for them,
we are to provide for them, we are to honour them bodily, in
their families, in their goods and their possessions. We are
to honour them spiritually by our witness before them, by our
example to them, by our prayer on their behalf and the service
that we render. As we would, they might do for
us if roles were reversed and we or our families needed their
help. It is our honour and privilege
to serve the Lord. It is our honour and privilege
to do good to our brothers and sisters in Christ. And yet the
Lord would also have us look beyond the family of faith and
be a people known for our kindness and gentleness and consideration
of others, our love for our neighbour. Now the point about these two
commands being greater than all others is that they demonstrate
the spiritual meaning behind all the other commandments. they encompass worship and service
and commitment and honesty, sincerity and faithfulness, to the point
that the true meaning and the essence of the law is revealed
in these two commandments. They cut through any possibility
of merely following a ritual or participating unthinkingly
in a ceremony. A man could go to the temple
with a specific sacrifice on a certain day And a woman could
make sure that she didn't do anything that was prohibited
on a Sabbath day by Sabbath regulations. And both of them could read a
liturgy and sing the Psalms or praises, but without their heart
being in it. Without either soul drawing any
spiritual comfort from what they were doing. And it's the same
in the church today. And it is the same with all free
will and works religion. It is too easy to get involved
in a process, to get involved in a system, to get involved
in a ritual and a ceremony, to get involved in doing things. and fail to understand the essence
of our relationship with God. Outward religion does nothing
for a sinner except aggravate his sin. We sometimes say, well it's good
that he's going to church anyway. Outward religion does nothing
for a sinner but aggravate his sin. and it does nothing for
God but stir up his anger. These commands that the Lord
quoted cut through the facade of works religion and they focused
upon what God requires of us. Now of course there is an impossibility
in fulfilling them. We've come to realise that worshipping
the one true God by loving Him with all our heart, with all
our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength and loving
our neighbours as ourselves drives a sinner who is sensitive to
his unworthy state and condition. to seek God's righteousness,
to seek divine approval outside of his own abilities and at the
hand of a substitute. And that was the true and intended
purpose of the law. That's what the law was all about,
to drive us to Christ because we couldn't fulfil all the things
that it demanded of us. But if it was just what you did
on a Sunday, if it was just the animal on the day and in the
place that it was supposed to be, anybody could do that with
a degree of desire and motivation. But true
worship is spiritual worship built on knowledge of the gospel. and inspired by personal faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me finish by saying this. This scribe was obviously touched
by the Lord's words and he was undoubtedly affected by the wisdom
and the sincerity and the clarity with which the Saviour answered
his question. And his response to the Lord
was, well, master, good, good answer, good answer. Thou hast
said the truth. He revealed an approval of the
Savior that was rarely seen amongst the Pharisees. But let us beware. There are
many who admire Christ. There are many who revere his
teachings and try to emulate his example. But none of these things will
save a sinner. Only the blood of Jesus Christ
applied can cleanse a guilty soul. Only the righteousness
of God received can justify us before God. Only by faith in
Christ are these blessings to be had. The Lord said to this
scribe, they were not far from the kingdom of God. Now there's
a whole other sermon in that phrase alone. He wasn't far,
he was not far. I hope, I hope that that man
is in heaven today with the Lord Jesus Christ as a citizen of
the kingdom of God. He was close because in his head
he had begun to understand some of the great principles of gospel
truth. He was not, however, a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had the truth in his head
but he had no faith in his heart. Had he had faith in his heart,
he would have been in the kingdom of God. And on judgment day,
when the Lord separates the sheep and the goats, and the Lord declares,
come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. I hope that no one points out
that scribe and says, that's the scribe who wasn't far from
the kingdom. I say once again, true worship
is spiritual worship built on a knowledge of gospel truth and
inspired by personal faith in Jesus Christ. May none of us
be content merely to be near the kingdom of God. May we rather
be like those who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
unto all and upon all them that believe. Amen.