May God bless us this morning
as we consider his word together. Let us turn to the Gospel of
Mark in chapter 12, and we'll read verse 34. The Gospel of
Mark, chapter 12, and reading verse 34. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. No man after that asked him any
question. The question that was put to
the Lord by the scribe was the last difficult question which
he'd been presented with on this occasion. And there had been
those two previous questions which he had answered very ably,
and now this third question he had also answered very ably.
And we should be thankful today that we have a record of such
questions and the answers, because otherwise we might well ourselves
ask questions and not have the answer. These people came and
they asked the questions, and we know of course the first was
a Pharisee, and then the Sadducees, and then the scribe. who was
also a Pharisee. And we're thankful that there
are, in the word of God, these very satisfactory answers and
the Lord's response to these people. Now, this account here
with regards to this scribe, it's also recorded in Matthew
where he's referred to as a lawyer. So he was obviously a very able
person, a scribe, in those days was an able person. There weren't
very many people who were scribes who were able to read or write
in these days. But here was a person that was
very able to read and write. He was a lawyer. And therefore
he came and he put this question to Jesus. He asked him this question
and he came and said, which is the first commandment of all. I suppose we might have a tendency
to ask the same kind of thing. Well, what's the most important
commandment? We know there are in the moral law those ten commandments,
and we might think, well, you know, which is the most important
one? Well, this scribe would have been very aware of what
the moral law set before them. He would also have been very
aware of what the ceremonial law set before them. And he now
asks this question, which is the first commandment of all? Well, Jesus answered him. Whether
he was surprised with the answer, we're not told. But the answer
was this. He said, the first of all the
commandments is, Hear O Israel. And that's important just to
consider that. It's something that Israel, the
church of God, are to hear. We're to hear what God says.
We're not to have a deaf ear and say, well, I'm not interested.
This was an important position that the Lord was going to set
before them. And therefore, he doesn't just say to this man,
give him the straight answer. He prefaces it with this statement,
Hear, O Israel. Not only that was appropriate
for the man who asked the question, it was appropriate for all of
the Israelites in that day and age in which they lived, and
also it is appropriate for all the Church of God down through
the ages. And so it is appropriate for
us today. And so this statement is given. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. The Lord our God is one Lord.
And that's an important position as well. Father, Son and Holy
Spirit join together as one Lord. 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." Well, it is a very comprehensive statement,
isn't it, that the Lord brings to this scribe in describing
how they should react, that they should love the Lord really with
heart and mind and soul and everything, everything we have, to love the
Lord. we might of course respond, well,
that is very difficult. Well, it is difficult. In fact,
we could say it was virtually impossible. And we know that
we will not have any love to the Lord, unless we know the
Lord has a love to us. That is an important consideration. The Lord has loved us. Then may
there be a response from our heart to the Lord, to love him. Especially as we think of what
the Lord has done for us. All that he endured so that we
might be blessed with the glorious gift of eternal life. And the Word of God tells us
this, here in his love, Not that he loved God, but that he loved
you. What a blessing it is then to
know that God has first loved us. And if he's first loved us,
then may our heart be drawn out to him in love and to thank him
for that love. We'll come back to this in a
moment. But it goes on to say then, the second is like it,
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." You
may remember there was another occasion when the Lord Jesus
gave this answer and the person asking it, he said, well, who
is my neighbour? Who is my neighbour? It may be
a question that we may ask. Well, who is our neighbour? Who should we consider as our
neighbour? I suppose today we think of the people that live
next door as our neighbour. And they're very close, but the
people that live a bit further away perhaps are just in a general
sense our neighbours. But the Lord Jesus gave, as you
may know, a very adequate answer to that question, who is my neighbour? And he spoke that parable which
we refer to as the Good Samaritan. There was that person travelling
down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among thieves who
stripped him and robbed him and left him half dead. And then
we're told he passed by a Pharisee, passed by a priest. These people, they didn't stop. They didn't want to get involved.
They were the religious people of the age. They didn't want
to get involved in attending to somebody who clearly required
something. They passed by on the other side.
They went out of their way to avoid being in contact. Avoid coming in contact with
the one described as the neighbour. And I think we ought to just
ponder that ourselves today, whether in our lives we perhaps
pass by people. We don't really want to get involved.
We think that may be just too difficult for me. I don't want
to get involved in that kind of situation. Well, we should
remember what occurred. Along came a Samaritan, a person
who wasn't recognised really to scoff and attend to people
like that. And he came and he did all that
he could. He was very generous. He scoffed,
he used up his time, he banned up his wounds, he poured in oil
and wine, he put the man on his ass, took him to an inn, paid
the price that was necessary, told the innkeeper, if there's
any more money needed when I come again, I'll pay it. Yes, he went
out of his way to do that which was right and good. Now, as we
may consider our example there, we know that the Samaritan also,
of course, represented the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a glorious
example we have in him. Our Saviour, what He did, what
He's done, He's gone out of His way and He's paid everything
needful. What a wonderful example we have
in the Saviour. So there we have then, this second
statement. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. Now then, this scribe then, he
responded. and he responded in this way,
well master thou has 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. Well he got it
right He'd answered correctly. And he was aware of the need
there was for offerings, burnt offerings and sacrifices, and
how necessary that was in the Jewish life, in the life of Israel,
to follow those ceremonies in the law which had been set forth
so clearly by Moses and recorded in great detail. And those things
were to be done. But here we have this scribe
who evidently understood that it was more important, therefore,
to love the Lord God with all their hearts, etc. and to love
their neighbour as thyself, than to carry out these ceremonies
which were very important. What does the Lord answer? Well,
the Lord answers him in this way. He said he saw that he answered
discreet, that means he answered carefully, and that he answered
well. And he said, Thou art not far
from the Kingdom of God. No man after that durst ask him
any questions. So his answer was, Thou art not
far from the Kingdom of God. Now, that means, very simply,
that although this man was able to answer adequately in response
to what the Lord Jesus Christ had said, it wasn't a qualification
that demonstrated that he was a true believer. The Lord answers in that way,
very clearly, from the Kingdom of God. The
important consideration is really this, that you and I do not want
to be found not far, but we want to be found in the Kingdom of
God. We want to be found part of the
Church of God. We don't want to have it said
of us, well, you're not far, We want to hear that we are in
the Church of God, we are part of the Church of God. And so the position really here
is that this man had a good understanding of the law, he had a good understanding
of that which was right, he had agreed with the words that Jesus
had spoken, but this knowledge and this reaction did not qualify
him for the blessing of eternal life in glory. He needed greater things than
these. And that's very relevant, isn't
it, to all of us as we examine our own Christian life. It's
not just an outward knowledge. It's not just a knowledge which
we've accumulated We've been able to get together through
reading, through studying. All these things are good and
right, but our religion cannot be confined and it cannot settle
down to just a logical reasoning of the truth of God's word. True religion is deeper than
that. Now we have no indication that
this man was a man of God. We have no indication that he
was not a man of God. But we have no indication that
he was a man of God. And as we ponder that, how it
may strike home to our own hearts, as we stand and consider ourselves,
as to our relationship with God? Is it just a personal relationship,
in an impersonal way, that we just have a knowledge that we
have acquired, have accumulated, and we are satisfied, and we
settle down in such an understanding? Or do we truly desire to know
the blessing of the Lord in our own the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge that the Lord Jesus
Christ has indeed died for us. Now, this scribe, he was able
to state the truth. He was able to state about the
love necessary. But we're not told that he had
this love. This of course really is the
great difference. There are many people today,
always have been, who have been able to answer adequately, been
able to debate the things of God, may have been pleased with
their answers, their answers may have appeared to be very
adequate, but that which was missing, that which was lacking,
was their love to God. Now, if God has given to us his
love, and if we know something of that love in our hearts, that
must influence the way that we think, and the things that we
do, and the attitude we have in doing things. And I believe
it will react like this. Because of what God has done
for us, which is so wonderful, and because of his amazing love
to us, which is so undeserved, our concern will be to honour
and glorify the Lord. To honour and glorify the Lord
in what he's done and in what he's doing for us. And so we have the statement,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. This is
the first commandment. And our desire will be to do
that. Our desire will be to do that.
We shan't be able to succeed if we would want to, because
we have a sinful nature. Our nature is not perfect, our
nature is very imperfect. But it would be a wonderful blessing
if the Lord gives us that true living desire to be found blessed
with this true love to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that it won't be a statement
which is left as it were hanging, thou not far from the Kingdom
of God. We will have the evidence in
our own heart that we are part of the family of God. because
of what the Lord has done for us, because of the affection
we feel for God. The Lord Jesus will mean something
to us. He won't be just a historical figure. It won't just be that
account that we're able to read about and we'll be thankful for
our natural knowledge. We will be thanking God for the
for the blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon us, given us
that realisation that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, and the apostles said, of whom I am chief, and
the blessing will be to know that the Lord Jesus came to save
my soul. My soul. A personal revelation. Well, first of all, of course,
we should have required that need to know that. that we have
a need of a saviour. We won't be able to be satisfied
then with just a knowledge, an outward knowledge of these things.
We should be concerned to know that the Lord Jesus Christ has
indeed died for us. We have this glorious Gospel,
don't we? We have a wonderful account set
forth in the Gospels of the death of the Lord Jesus. We also have
the prophecy in the Old Testament of the death of the Lord Jesus.
We also have the apostles' epistles referring to the death of the
Lord Jesus. Now, we are blessed greatly with
a record of all these things, but the vital thing is that we
don't just know these things in our head, but we know in our
heart that they were personally done so that we might possess
the gift of eternal life. And as the Spirit of God may
make this evident to our hearts that this is a real situation
which was done for us, then the blessing of this death of our
Saviour then becomes spiritually apparent. And it means something
to us. It's not just something we understand
in our minds. It affects our heart. It affects
our being. We are moved by the Spirit of
God. And therefore, then, as we read
about what the Saviour endured, when he passed through, We're
thankful for the Old Testament prophecy. We're thankful that
it's so clearly proved by the accounts in the New Testament.
But as we now read today, the glorious accounts of the Saviour
meditate upon his death. Because what that really means
is simply this, as we ponder, think and meditate upon his death,
his resurrection, his ascension and intercession, it will be
because we recognise that our spiritual life depends upon what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. Because what he was doing, on
our behalf, he was fulfilling the requirement of the law of
God. The law of God was holy, was
righteous. The law of God was perfect. But
we, as individuals, have offended God. We have sinned. We have
not obeyed the law of God. And indeed, as we know, if we
are guilty in one point, we are guilty in all. And therefore
we are guilty. And therefore we could not keep
God's holy law. And so what a wonderful consideration
it is to think that we have such a saviour. Now, as we are able
to meditate on the glory of this transaction between the Son of
God and God the Father, in the fact that the Son carried out
the demands of the law of God, and in so doing satisfied that
which his Father required, As you are not able to meditate
upon these things, this will be spiritual food for us at all. Because this will be something
which will strengthen us. This will be that which will
establish us in the truth of God. It's not just then a theoretical
thing. It is a theoretical thing, but
it is also a very true and a very practical outworking of it, and
we see it worked out in the life of the Saviour. And we observe
then that here was the holy, harmless Son of God, willingly
coming into this sinful world in order that he might save our
souls from eternal misery and hell. It was all done by the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was ordained by God. And it
was pleasing to the Father. And as we have several references,
when there was that statement, this is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased, hear Him. And my friends, today, what a
blessing it is when we can hear the Son of God speaking. The
Lord Jesus Christ speaking to our hearts and showing to us
the great need we have of a saviour and then realising that the Lord
Jesus Christ has performed all that was necessary. He's fulfilled
the law. Yes, he's brought in that righteousness
which we were not able to do. Oh, bless God today then for
these great truths. And then as we think of it, perhaps
in detail, the real cost to this real man, because the Lord Jesus
Christ was. He was the Son of God. He was
a real man. He had to be a real man, because
he had to take our place. He had to stand where we stand,
as we stood condemned before God's holy law, condemned by
that law to eternal death. To think that the Lord Jesus
Christ, he came as it were, and he took our place. when that
verdict was given, that we were guilty, and that we were condemned,
and there was a price to pay for our freedom. We were not
able to pay that price, to think the Lord Jesus Christ and He
stood in our place, as it were in that courtroom, as it were
in that dock, and that verdict was passed. And he paid the price
for our sin. Now that price, the price required,
was the price of blood. You may say, well why was that?
Well we have the evidence of that as being the price. Because the price of blood signifies
the death of the person. And it goes right back, doesn't
it, In Genesis, when the Lord God made clothes for Adam and
Eve out of animal skins, very clearly there was the death of
the animal and the blood had been shed. And that passes through,
doesn't it? We see then the very beautiful,
typical case of Abraham and Isaac, when Isaac was to be offered
up and Abraham took Isaac and then he was stopped from slaying
his son. Lord God said, now I know. He
knew that he was a faithful man. And he looked and he saw that
ram caught by its horns in a thicket. And he took the ram and offered
him up instead of Isaac. And there is that beautiful picture
of substitution. And that is what the Lord Jesus
Christ then did. He stood in our place as our
substitute. He bore the punishment instead. Did we say this morning, what
a saviour, what a saviour. This man, this real man, he bore
our punishment and he gave his life so that we might receive
life. And then of course, there were
the sacrifices, there was of course that Passover When Israel
was delivered from Egypt, he had to serve the Egyptians for
400 or so years. And now the day of deliverance
was to come. And what was the symbol? The
symbol was the shed blood. Where was the blood placed? From
that lamb, that perfect lamb, as near perfect as possible,
was taken and slain. The blood put upon the doorpost
and the lintels. Where was the safety? The only
safety was under the blood. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you." Yes, pass over. And then instituted, of course,
in the wilderness, all those sacrifices, all those ceremonies
which were to be carried out, which all pointed to Christ. Now, this is the reason why we
should love the Lord God with all our We shouldn't just be
able to give an adequate answer in a theoretical way. We should
desire that we may be able to give an answer as we know in
our own heart that the Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world
to save all his people, but also to save me in that personal way. See, real religion is personal.
It must be personal. It must be personal. It's you
and God. It's me and God. It's whether
my soul is saved. It's a line in the hymn, if ever
my poor soul be saved, tis Christ must be the way. Well, do we
rejoice this morning in what Christ has done? Do we bless
God this morning for what Christ has done? And then of course,
although there were all these ceremonies and typical pictures
set before us, they could not justify, they
could not bring about the forgiveness of sins. They were nothing perfect.
But the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and glory to
God, he lived a perfect life. He was tempted. He was tempted,
wasn't he? We have many evidence of it.
The devil tried to overthrow him. There are many questions
put before him. The questions in this chapter
we read, they tried to trip him up. The Lord Jesus so beautifully
and so adequately answered all the questions. Yes, no one was
able to overcome the Lord Jesus Christ. And then even when he
was faced, and don't forget, he faced death, he faced crucifixion
as a human person. Just like you and me. Just imagine
yourself there, knowing that you've got to endure a tremendous,
terrible death. Think of that in the Garden of
Gethsemane. What did the Saviour say? If
it be possible, Let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not
my will, but thine be done." And there we have a most glorious
example, don't we? A wonderful picture of the Saviour
doing the Father's will. The Father sent him to redeem
his church. Here he was, willing to suffer
so greatly, to do his Father's will, to redeem his church. He knew what was before him.
My friends, he didn't back away from it. He sweated as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground. Then in the judgment
hall, there he was accused of deeds which he hadn't done. Yes,
he was accused so that he was condemned, not for his sin, but
for our sin. Oh, the condemnation was placed
upon the Savior. And he bore it. And then he was
crucified and led out to Calvary's cross, there to endure that terrible
death, that sin-atoning death. And as I said sometimes, there
is no more painful death than crucifixion. The Saviour didn't
take the easy way out. No, he took the worst way out,
so that no one could say the Saviour didn't suffer enough. He suffered all the incarnate
God could bear with strength enough and none to spare. My friends, how does it affect
us this morning? Do we observe in our hearts Love
to this man, to this God, to this Saviour. Do we look forward
to the day when in glory we shall be able to sing His praises for
what He's done for us? Do we desire today to be able
to sing forth His praises for what He's done for us? Yes, for
all the agony and suffering and that great death upon Calvary's
cross in order to save our soul. Now the words of the Lord spoke
to this man, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. My friends,
if you and I are blessed with a realisation in our hearts that
what the Lord has done was done for us, we have the evidence
that we are in the kingdom of God. And that is an eternal blessing. That is something which will
never be taken away from us. Once in Him, in Him forever. Oh, this morning, are we in Christ?
Are we in Christ? As Christ died for our sins,
as He atoned for us, as He endured all the agony on our behalf, Do we know that he did it because
of his love toward us? And if so, may we desire, like
the hymn writer said in that 66th hymn, on such love. My soul still ponder, love so
great, so rich, so free, so he was lost in holy wonder. Why,
my God, such love to me? Hallelujah. Grace shall reign
eternally. And there will be that amazement
that God should have loved my soul. That God should have been
willing to die for me. If I look at myself, I'm not
worthy of such a saviour. But reflection, does it not move
our heart? Think of that love. the Lord
had to us, and is our love moved towards him. Now I believe if
we are blessed with this conscious realisation within our heart,
there will therefore be the outworking of this love within, and it will
show forth, perhaps in this way, in love to our neighbour, whoever
that is, there will be that desire to obey and follow the gracious
words of the Saviour, the gracious example of the Saviour, and then
have the evidence that we are those who are loved, an everlasting
love. Well, Jesus answered this man,
thou art not far from the Kingdom of God. Real religion is more
than notion. Something must be known and felt.
You and I need to know the truth of these things in our heart.
so that we know we have passed from death unto life, because
we love the brethren, they are our kindred, our best friends,
and that we are united with Christ. Well, today, may we be able to
find in our hearts the evidence that we do love God, because
He has loved us. Amen. Amen.