Love: The Foundation of Christian Commandments

The thing to notice here is that this man came in a cell or Jesus what is the great commandment and he could have easily said the great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and just stop there but if he had done that we would have the idea maybe all right here's the great commandment number one love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and then would have number two and number three and number four and so on on down the line he didn't ask Jesus what was the Second Great Commandment he just asked what was the greatest and he he could have answered that but instead what he did he volunteered something he volunteered what the Second Great Commandment was he says the first commandment is love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and the second is like it how does it like it anybody has to do with love the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself so the first commandment vertical second commandment horizontal now why does the Lord Jesus volunteer what the second commandment was well because he wants to lay the foundation for a very basic far-reaching teaching and that is he says on these two Commandments depend or literally the word is hang on these two Commandments hang the whole law and the prophets every other commandment hangs on the love Commandments so the reason he volunteers these two is he wants to give us the heart and essence of everything and he wants to explain that every other commandment hangs on those two so if you want to talk we I think brother Tim talked about the more a law in this terminology the moral law if you want to talk about the moral law here it is these two because everything else hangs on those two and so what this means is love is the big thing with God and if we could just get this and whenever somebody asked me to sign my book I put this verse god is love and it's amazing many times I felt like that is a weak verse well it's not a weak verse it's a glorious beyond imagination glorious verse but we have had such watered-down ideas of what love is that it has become almost meaningless in our society but when you understand what love is and when you begin to comprehend the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done and his demonstration of what real love is then it is overwhelming and amazing that God is love that is incredible god is love so the Lord says that all the other Commandments and he says this in another place he says whatever you want those to do to use you do to them for this is the law and the prophets he's saying the whole thing take the whole thing sum it up in that Paul says something similar in Romans 13 he says if there be any other commandment it is summed up in this statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself this you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you so not love does no wrong to a neighbor so love is the fulfillment of the law says that in Galatians to the entire law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself and so what does it mean that all the commandments hang on these two well let me just say it this way and this you've got to listen to this carefully in one sense stealing is not a big thing to God murder is not a big thing to God adultery is not a big thing to God except that it breaks the love commandment now let me say it a different way around murder is a very big thing to God because it is a great transgression of love stealing is a great transgression of love adultery that's a big thing to go because it is going directly against the love commandment you see this idolatry why is idolatry such a big thing to go because it is a slap in the face of God and it goes directly against loving God the greatest commandment there is well what's the big deal if I go out here in the woods nobody sees me and I make a little mud idol and I bow down to what's the big deal about that what's that hurting anybody it is a direct violation of the greatest commandment that there possibly is loving God and so what we see is love is the big thing with God and the reason that it is is because God is love the Bible says that God is just but it never says God is justice it says that he's merciful but it never says that God is mercy but it does say that god is love incredible statement so second thing and we could I'm just giving very skimming over the surface here but the second thing to realize is this every sin is a lack of love it's a violation of love now this is just the other way of looking at what I just said but every sin is a violation of love you just think of your sins out the day maybe you don't have any desire to spend time in the word or you you read the Bible and it's dull your hearts dull and cold what is that it's a lack of love to God you get out in traffic and somebody blocks you off and you have impatience rise up what's that a lack of love you see somebody that's dressed in modestly and and you feel lust toward them it's a lack of love if your heart is filled with love you have a totally different attitude now what what it amounts to you throughout the day you just look my failings as a pastor my failings as a father they all relate to lack of love our impatience with one another our willingness to believe some slander against a brother or sister that relates to a lack of love and you go through your whole life you can look at the every marriage problem every one of them relates to a lack of love somehow in some way and you when you start seeing this he love is not some mushy feeling it has to do with laying down your life for someone and you know when you start having children you start finding out how much selfishness there still is and how much more you need to love and then of it's the most costly thing imaginable to love the way the Bible talks about what love is and so we're not talking about some vague empty feeling we're talking about the very life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ which involves dying for others and laying down your life for them so every sin is a lack of love and whenever the Holy Spirit fills your life the first thing that comes out is love this is the third point if you love if you truly love you will automatically fulfill every moral commandment of God just by loving now that ought to cause red flags to pop up if you've heard very much of anything but let me prove it to you you remember the Lord Jesus had a man come to him and he said what must I do to have eternal life and he said what does it say in the law how does it read to you he said well and this guy must have been a pretty amazing Bible scholar he said well this is what you need to do you need to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and you need to love your neighbor as yourself he mentioned the two great Commandments what must I do if you want to do something if you want to fulfill the law perfectly in order to have eternal life by doing what must you do love God he said you got to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength you've got to love your neighbor as yourself Jesus could have said all know there's a whole lot more than that you've got to keep this got to do that you've got to do such-and-such he didn't say that did he he said you have answered correctly you do those two things and you will live do this and you will live if you do those two things there will not be any other commandment of God that you won't be fulfilling by doing those two things and the problem is none of us have ever done it for five minutes but the Lord Jesus did it didn't he he loved God perfectly all the time and he loved his fellow men perfectly all the time but if you love you will fulfill every moral commandment of God just by loving so the question comes up what is love and we said earlier there's all kinds of mushy ideas you know 22 college students living together or we love one another here's a guy that doing abortions he says well that's the only loving thing to do well how do we have how do we know what love is love is defined for us in Scripture we know love by this and we look at the Lord Jesus Christ and that's how we know what true love is but the fact is love just by itself now a lot a lot of you're familiar with reformed theology and a lot of reform men are so afraid of this they say love may want to do what's right but it doesn't have any idea what to do unless it has these concrete specific Commandments and so the emphasis ends up turning around they say love motivates me to keep the commandments properly but love itself is just kind of a feeling well that's not what the Bible says the Bible says love is patient you don't need a commandment to tell it to be patient love is patient you're full of love for somebody you don't rejoice in iniquity you don't want evil things you want good for them love is kind you doesn't have to have a commandment to tell it to be kind it just is and if I love you think of those those specific laws all those lists of laws in the Old Testament love tells me not to put a stumbling block in front of a blind man here's a blind man walking along you say let's have some fun with this guy will stick you know rock out there in front of them so if love tells you not to do that love tells you not to curse a blind man love for God tells you not to worship an idol or take God's name in vain it just happens automatically you think of it if you want to take this to its logical conclusion think about heaven when you're in heaven do you think you need to have mammut written up there you shall love the Lord your God you already know you already do like you're full of love for it that's just there because of what God has put within you so love itself tells us the right path now we could go on and on in that things in the Old Testament where they gave specific laws God said if you have a high deck or something you need to have a railing around that he said if you've got an open pit you need to cover that so nobody will fall in if you have a dangerous animal you need to confine them so nobody will get gored all of that is part of love you know that automatically and so love itself it and that's what Paul says indignant he says love is the fulfilling of the law and it's incredible because he's writing to the Galatians for example who are Gentiles who don't know all that Old Testament stuff they had never been taught any of that and he writes to them and he says love one another love the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself and beloved you get down to what's really the big problems the big problem in your life and the big problem in any Church and the big problem in any marriage is lack of love it's either lack of love for God or its lack of love for one another in some way or another and so it's not this idea oh yeah well love that's there you know we need to get on to the deep stuff no this is the deep stuff there's nothing any harder than this there's nothing any deeper than this to love one another why do we need Commandments at all well we need Commandments because we still have the world the flesh and the devil to contend with and you had let me give you an example here's a newly converted Christian and Paul writes and he says let him there steal steal no more but rather let him work with his hands that he might be able to give to other people okay why does he need that commandment love tells you not to steal but you know because of the state we're in because of the world the flesh and the devil it takes some time to sort all these things out and I think a guy thats that's been a thief all his life I think eventually it would dawn on him you know what I shouldn't steal that brothers whatever it is that I'm still if eventually it would dawn on it and if he had stolen something from somebody else eventually the Holy Spirit teaches you and says you need to go back and get that made right but the commandments are there to clarify things to help us to see to have our senses exercised to discern good and evil and how we thank God for every specific commandment of the New Testament it's not in any way shape or form and the whole Bible really it's not in any way shape or form saying oh I don't need those Commandments that's not it but we got we have got to get centered in our hearts and minds a thing that the Bible puts in the center and that is love not commandment keeping and some of the Reform men godly good men John Murray is one that he's a wonderful theologian but he said this he said even before the fall Adam needed to have a commandment be fruitful and multiply now beloved that's a different mindset you go back there and read that what was that God putting his blessing on mankind he's not saying you know don't you think at adam says you mean I got an embrace this woman and have children and it's like a that look that wasn't it it's like God blesses them he says be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth that's a blessing in other words just I mean I can picture Adam thinking praise God life is good you know this is a totally different mindset and as we begin to realize that Christians as Christians God's not centering us on keep this let's do this do this do this could you imagine I come home from a trip overseas or somewhere and my wife greets me at the door she has a list in her hand you know greet husband kiss husband hug husband that doesn't honor you it insults you and I found when I was writing that book on the law Christ I had to be reminded of it every day because here I am writing this and if I looked at how did i do today did I read my Bible did I pray did it oh I'm not doing too bad then I think have I loved as Christ loved you know the you know how the plane goes down at Flav's that's the way it was when you when you judge yourself by that standard loving as he loved it's a totally different thing but yet somehow it's so liberating so wonderful and so life-giving because we're not dealing with impersonal rules we're dealing with a person and a love relationship with a person and it's a totally different world and we don't have to create love for one another you remember God said I'll write my laws on their hearts that was a promise of the new covenant I'll write my law in their heart well let me ask you when you first became a Christian you get up in the morning you just automatically don't want to touch a lizard carcass you know because you might be defiled or you automatically don't want to start a fire and your dwelling from six o'clock Friday night to six o'clock Saturday night that's not what's written on your heart but as soon as you become a Christian you have loved to God that's how Paul describes believers he says all things work together for good to those who love god that's definition of a Christian If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed so all Christians love God and all Christians love their fellow man he says we know that we've passed from death to life because we love the Brethren and he says concerning love for the Brethren you have no need that anyone teach you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another you know the idea I've heard preachers get up in the pulpit say when I we Christians ought not to hate each other the way we do well if you hate other Christians you're lost a church full of people it isn't loving to one another is a church full of lost people and so it's just there isn't it I mean we experience that there at the men's retreat or camp or whatever you just meet a new a new brother in Christ immediately you have love we're not talking about something you have to create it's already put in your heart when you become a Christian but what's he say maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace you've got to maintain it you got don't let things come up that would become barriers in areas that are already there stuff that God has already put on your heart make sure because the devil is going to constantly be slandering you to one another trying to divide you trying to put thoughts in your mind about this brother of that brother and you've got to be wise to these slanders but love is already there I had a sister one time in our church I was taking pictures of families after the meeting and our kids got sick we had to leave early and a little bit later I got a call from her she said did you leave just to keep me from taking your picture and I said no the reason we left our kids were sick but you see what happens she had enough wisdom to know that she needed to talk to me about that Lester barrier come up because the slander is constantly to divide us from one another and to put thoughts in our minds about one another that are not true and if she hadn't called me and gotten that cleared up and the next Sunday I come in and I see her and I I look over at somebody else and greet them and I forget to greet her or whatever happened then whole yeah that is why he did that and after about a month or two you've got this wall built up and all kinds of lies and the devil is trying to cut you out and destroy you separate you divide that's what he does all these things have to do with love you want to ask some questions now I've got to keep on going but I think maybe that will prime the pump anybody have questions about this whole thing something that's bothering you about this or anything all right [00:02:10]