Mark 12:28-34

Mark chapter 12 will begin in verse 28.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another,

! And seeing that he answered them well, asked him,

! Which commandment is the most important of all?

Jesus answered, The most important is,

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The second is this,

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.

And the scribe said to him,

You are right, teacher.

You have truly said that he is one,

and there is no other beside him.

And to love him with all the heart,

and with all the understanding,

and with all the strength,

and to love one's neighbor as oneself

is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely,

he said to him,

You are not far from the kingdom of God.

And after that,

no one dared to ask him any more questions.

This is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it

in order to believe its promises

and obey its commands.

Let's pray together.

Father, we would ask for your namesake

that you would bless the preaching of your word.

Lord, we all need you in this time.

I need you to help me speak with clarity,

with a compassion,

and a conviction for the truth.

And we all need you to rightly apply these words to our hearts.

Change us from one degree of glory to another.

Father, to the praise of Jesus.

We pray this in his name.

Amen.

When we continue, if you're a guest with us,

we've been working through the Gospel of Mark,

verse by verse,

and we've come now here to Mark 12.

This is during the historical event of Passion Week.

Jesus has come into Jerusalem on Monday.

You can read about that at the beginning of chapter 11.

On Monday, on Tuesday,

he comes and he cleanses the temple.

He goes in and he runs out the money changers,

the people who were doing business in the temple court,

the court of the Gentiles.

He had, in fact, done so three years prior to this.

We can read about this in the second chapter of John,

that at the very beginning of his ministry,

he went and did this very same thing,

disrupted the temple practice of the day,

the apostate worship that was going on,

and he's now back.

And he's in this final week,

and we've come to Wednesday of this week.

Jesus will be crucified on Friday.

But here we find him having kind of dominated,

having set up camp and taken over in the temple,

having driven out those who were exchanging money

and extorting the people,

who were leading them astray,

and he is set up, presumably, teaching.

And as we see at the end of chapter 11

and then into the beginning of chapter 12,

we see a number of confrontations.

12.12, we see that as he indicts

these apostate religious leaders,

the text says,

And they were seeking to arrest him,

but feared the people,

for they perceived that he had told the parable against them.

So they left him and went away.

So he's disrupting this temple worship that's going on

and the power of these men.

He's becoming more popular than them.

And he's delivering indictments to them

that's going to disrupt this place of power

and influence and money that they're in.

And so they're seeking to destroy him.

This is absolutely what they're bent upon.

But their concern is

that the people have his...

Or he has the people's ear.

That he's found favor with the people.

And so they're trying now

to find ways to discredit him.

And so we see in chapter 12,

leading up to our text,

they send a faction of Pharisees

along with some Herodians,

which was a political group,

trying to trap him theologically and politically.

They try to put him in a tough spot.

And under inspiration from the Father,

he makes fools of them.

They then send to him a faction of Sadducees,

another group of religious elite individuals

with a theological trap.

And once again, he makes fools of them.

So rather than him being discredited,

they are discredited.

And in our text today,

they send a scribe.

Now, when we look at Mark 12, 28,

the record is,

and one of the scribes came up.

And the scribes were kind of the

religious scholars of the day.

They were the learned,

those who really poured over

and really studied the Scriptures.

In fact, you'll see them in places

referred to as lawyers,

not in that they defended it judicially,

but that they were experts on the law.

In the parallel text in Matthew 22,

Matthew 22:34

verse 34 and 35, it says,

but when the Pharisees heard

that he had silenced the Sadducees,

they gathered together.

So there's this meeting of the Pharisees

and the Sadducees,

these groups that very rarely agreed

on much of anything at all,

but they gather together.

And then verse 35 says,

and one of them, a lawyer or scribe,

asked him a question to test him.

So we get a little bit more

as we look at the parallel text

about why it was that this particular man came.

So he heard them disputing,

and he saw that he answered them well,

and he said,

but I've got a question.

I've got a question for him

that will stump him,

that will discredit him.

At the outset of this interaction,

the scribe is not on Jesus' team,

although it seems to shift

as we go through our text today.

Now, as I said,

the Pharisees and the Sadducees

didn't agree about much,

but they did both esteem the law very highly.

Both held a high degree of respect

for the law.

And there was a common debate amongst them

about which law was the greatest law.

This very question that the scribe

is going to come and ask to Jesus.

There was much debate about this.

These men had little else to do

than to sit around,

collect people's money,

and debate theology together.

Shame on them and shame on us

when we do the same.

Rabbinical tradition holds

that they considered there to be

613 separate commandments

in the Old Testament,

many of which were hedge laws

or those traditional things

added to the law

to help the Jews

from breaking any of the laws,

hedge laws,

but 613 separate commandments.

And you may ask,

how exactly did they arrive at this

even as they were adding

their tradition to it?

And the foolish thing is

that they arrived at 613

because there are 613 letters

in the Hebrew of the Ten Commandments.

Isn't that ridiculous?

So they took the Ten Commandments,

they counted up the number of letters,

there are 613,

and then they came up with 613 laws

that they said the Scriptures taught.

Some were, of course,

some were not.

248 affirmatives,

things that should be done,

and 365 negatives,

one for every day of the year.

It was rather ridiculous and foolish

the way they had gathered

these laws together.

And so as I said,

they debated often

about the greatest law

because they knew

they couldn't keep the whole thing,

right?

Not all 613.

They knew they were capable

of doing this,

of amassing enough good work

to credit them before God.

They knew their own frailty,

but if they could just

keep a couple of them,

right?

If we could reduce it

to just a couple

that are the most important,

then maybe we can tip the scale

in our favor.

Maybe we can set off

against all the other laws

that we break.

If we can get the couple

that we think are most important

right and set those

on the good side of our scale,

we'll find favor before God.

This effort exists today

in great degree,

does it not?

People running around

trying to weigh out

what is most important

to live in society.

And you'll hear people

say things like,

well, yeah,

I think I'm a good person

because,

and I'll list off

some major things,

and they neglect

other parts

of God's standard.

These people recognized

that God had a standard,

but they wanted to

redefine the standard

in a way

that they could keep.

But all of us,

every single one of us,

the great metanarrative

of humanity

is that we have failed

to keep God's standard.

In fact,

we are incapable

of our own power

to do so.

You know this to be true

of yourself.

If you are honest

with yourself,

you know that you cannot

be a good person.

You know how much

bad you do.

Even in the things

that the world thinks

are good,

you know the motivation

behind it is so often

bad.

If you're honest

with yourself,

if you're not,

I suggest that you get

honest with yourself.

If you can't do that,

if your conscience

doesn't bear witness

against you,

your wife or your husband

know how bad you are,

how much you fail

at holding to the standard

of God.

Your kids know.

Young people,

your parents,

ask them,

am I a good person?

They will tell you

the truth.

Your roommate,

your employer.

We are all very aware

of this reality.

We are deluded

and deceiving ourselves

and others

if we think

that we're not.

We think that we're

good enough.

And this is what

they were about doing

as they debated this

and they had this

conversation,

this question.

Jesus delivers

an indictment to them

in Mark 7,

Mark 7:6–8

verses 6-8.

Mark records,

and he said to them,

Well, did Isaiah

prophesy of you hypocrites?

As it is written,

This people honors me

with their lips,

but their heart

is far from me.

In vain do they

worship me,

teaching as doctrines

the commandments

of men.

You leave the commandment

of God and hold

to the traditions

of men.

So these people

had elevated

their own idea

of what it meant

to follow God.

They were worshiping

the right God,

but they were

worshiping him

wrongly.

And this is a serious

matter.

This is a serious

issue.

It would seem

that they were

so close.

They were Jews.

They were descendants

of Abraham.

And yet,

they had totally

become apostate.

They had totally

wandered away

from the faith

of Abraham,

that saving

faith.

And so this was

a trap,

this question

was.

Because the Sadducees

and the Pharisees

elevated,

believed in,

esteemed the law,

although it was a

very distorted

misunderstanding of it.

And they held a

particular person

in very high regard.

They agreed

that Moses

was to be held

in high esteem.

There was no one

greater than Moses.

Moses,

the one who was

given the Ten

Commandments

on the mountain,

who met with God

face to face,

whose face

shone with the glory

of God.

You remember

these stories,

right?

Moses had a close

encounter with God.

They esteemed him

very highly.

And so,

when the scribe

comes to ask Jesus

this question,

he's setting him up

to have authority

over Moses

and therefore

discredit himself.

Therefore,

have the people

not follow him

any longer.

Now,

of course,

our Lord

perfectly

articulates

a response.

And he does so

by quoting

from the Old Testament,

from Deuteronomy

and from Leviticus.

This scribe

was sent on behalf

of the Pharisees

and the Sadducees.

The Sadducees

relegated.

They didn't care

too much

about the prophets.

They cared primarily

about the first

five books

of the Bible.

So he quotes

from there.

He gives them

an answer

that they would

have been very,

very familiar

with.

From Deuteronomy

6,

4 and 5,

which reads,

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord our God,

the Lord is one.

This is a

restatement

of the law.

Just as the people

are about to go

and take the land

that God had promised

to them.

This is a restatement

here.

Verse 5,

You shall love

the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your might.

And then Leviticus

19,

18 says,

But you shall love

your neighbor

as yourself.

And these sum up

the rest of the law.

We'll look at that a bit

in just a minute.

But these are the

great commandment

that Jesus speaks of

here.

And we could spend

months

unpacking

and trying to understand

all the implications

of this command.

In fact,

we will spend our lives

endeavoring to do so.

To see what it means

to love God

and to love people

in this way

is the great endeavor

of the Christian life.

I hope we'll get

enough of it

this morning

to set us on

the right trajectory.

That we'll have in mind

what this looks like

so that we can continue

to do this

in our life.

And we'll continue on

next week

in Mark.

The greatest commandment

is a commandment

to love.

Verse 31b.

A commandment.

Jesus says

there is no other

commandment.

Singular.

It's singular in the original.

There is no other commandment

greater than

these.

So the great commandment

is a commandment

to love.

To love vertically

God

and to have that

spill over

into a horizontal love

for others.

Vertical and horizontal

love.

Because you see,

beloved,

what we love

directs

how we act.

The affections

of your heart

deem

how you'll respond

in any given

circumstance.

For example,

if you love

Georgia football,

you're going to

tend to do

certain things.

Are you not?

I think we all

either are

or know

Georgia football

fans.

You'll probably

wear something

red and black.

I know

that you're going

to put things

on Facebook

regarding the game.

Why do you

live tweet

and Facebook

post a game?

If somebody

cares about it,

they're watching it.

I don't need

to know the

play-by-play.

I know

what you're

going to be doing

on the times

when Georgia's

playing,

unless somebody

plans a wedding.

How dare you?

During Georgia

football season.

It's going to

dictate certain

things.

It's what you're

going to talk

about.

People are

very aware

of those who

love Georgia

football.

The same thing

is true of our

children,

isn't it?

I've got friends

that vented

about how moms

always put stuff

on Facebook

about their

children.

I can't believe

clogging up my

feed with all

these pictures

of your babies

and now they do

it.

It's just so

wonderful.

It's so

ironic and

apropos that

they're now

doing it as

well and it's

because they

love their

kids and they

want to share

their kids

with the

world.

I don't fault

them or the

Georgia football

fans for doing

so.

What we love

directs how we

act, how we

respond.

If we love

God properly,

we will love

people properly

and we will

keep the

commandments.

we read

beyond Jesus'

quote in

Deuteronomy.

So he quotes

from Deuteronomy

6, 4 and

5.

Deuteronomy

6, 6

says,

and these

words that I

command you

today shall

be on your

heart and it

can also be

very readily

translated,

shall be in

your heart,

planted in

your heart.

speaks of a

change in

our hearts

themselves.

Not merely

some mental

cognition to

the law of

God, but

that the law

of God is

within us and

therefore we

respond as

we should.

It's an

internal issue,

not merely an

external issue,

it's an

internal issue.

Jesus says it

this way,

stated in the

negative,

Mark 7,

20-23,

and he said,

what comes

out of a

person is

what defiles

him.

From within,

out of the

heart of man

come evil

thoughts,

sexual immorality,

theft,

murder,

adultery,

coveting,

wickedness,

deceit,

sensuality,

envy,

slander,

pride,

foolishness.

He covers

all the things

that would

transgress the

law.

All these

evil things

come from

within and

they defile

a person.

It's the

matter of

somebody's

heart that

makes them

wrong before

God,

that makes

them not

able to

stand in

God's

presence,

that costs

them,

that gives

to them

eternal

destruction.

And so

therefore it

has to be

in the

positive that

the other

is true,

that it

comes from

our heart,

the good

things that

God requires

of us.

Because Jesus

is stating it

here in

the positive.

Elsewhere

in the

scriptures,

John 14,

John 14:21

verse 21,

Jesus says,

whoever has

my commandments

and keeps

them,

he it is

who loves

me.

And he

who loves

me will

be loved

by my

Father,

and I

will love

him and

manifest

myself to

them.

1 John 2.15,

John writes

again,

do not love

the world

or the things

in the world.

If anyone

loves the

world,

the love

of the

Father is

not in

him.

And so

the adverse

is true.

If the love

of the

Father is

in you,

then you

will not

love

the world.

And this

is at the

very center

of all

of our

experience

and how

it is

we're trying

to work

out Christian

living.

It is a

matter of

our affection.

What do

we love?

Those of us

who have been

redeemed,

who have been

set free

from the

bondage of

sin,

the great

travesty

of our

sin is

that we've

been freed

from it.

We no

longer have

to.

We've been

freed to

love God,

but when we

sin,

it proves

that in

that moment

we love

the sin

more than

we love

God.

It's a

tragedy.

We do

it all

the time.

We spit

back in

the face

of the

Father

and praise

God

because of

His goodness

to us

in Christ.

He's

forbearing

and His

love is

never-ending.

Now,

the commandment

in Deuteronomy

6.5

says that

we're to

love the

Lord our

God with

all our

heart,

with all

our soul,

with all

our might.

And so

it's worth

us talking

about this.

Jesus

adds to

that with

our minds.

So in

brief,

your heart

is the

core of

who you

are.

From it

emanates

all of your

thoughts,

your words,

your actions.

It is the

very core

of your

identity.

Proverbs 4.23

says,

keep your

heart

with all

vigilance

for from

it flow

the springs

of life.

It is the

very essence

of who

you are.

Your soul

is the

seat of

your

emotions.

Matthew

26.38

Jesus says

to them,

my soul

is very

sorrowful

even to

death.

And then

He asks

them to

remain with

Him

in the

garden

to pray.

My soul

is the

place from

which emanates

our

emotions.

Our

mind,

again,

Jesus'

addition here

to the

commandment

in Deuteronomy,

our intellect,

our power

of reason,

our intention,

our purpose.

1 Kings 4.29

records that

God gave

Solomon wisdom

and understanding

beyond measure

and breadth

of mind

like the

sand on

the seashore.

He made

him able

to understand,

able to

comprehend,

able to

hold out

cognition

and logic

and to

be wise

in his

judgment

over Israel.

And then

our strength

which speaks

to our

physical

energy.

In Deuteronomy

it's translated

our might.

That physical

energy that we

have,

the way in

which we

get up

and the

way that

we act,

the way

that we

carry out.

It's

every bit

of us.

These are

all the

components

that make

up a

human being.

Our heart,

our soul,

our mind.

our strength.

And before

each one of

these in

the original

language,

we see the

little phrase

all of

your,

all of

your heart

and all

of your

soul

and all

of your

mind

and all

of your

strength.

And the

original

doesn't say

with all

of your

heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength.

It puts

the emphasis

and puts

it before

the phrase

before each

one of

these

nouns

to say

every

single

bit.

All of

your heart,

all of

your soul,

all of

your mind,

all of

your strength.

We're not

to be

divided

in any

way,

but we're

to be

completely

devoted

in our

affection

to the

Lord.

John

MacArthur

said it

this way,

so the

intellectual,

emotional,

volitional,

and physical

elements of

personhood all

combine to

love the

one true

God.

It is an

intelligent

love.

It is an

emotional

love.

It is a

willing love.

And it is an

active love.

It is an

all-consuming

love.

This is the

way we are

to love

the Father.

Part of

the greatest

commandment.

How do

we do

that?

How is

this

possible?

Those of

us who

were once

enemies of

God have

now been

made His

friends by

the power

of the

gospel.

Our

hearts

have been

made new.

He is

redeeming

our

emotions

and our

mind.

We are

now capable

of being

set free

from sin

to live

to Him,

to live

to righteousness

by our

strength.

The natural

response of

the redeemed

soul is to

love the

one that

redeemed

Him.

So we

love God

because of

the gospel.

Verse 31,

the second

is this.

That was the

vertical element

of this

love,

affection set

on God.

The second

is this.

You shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

You shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

It shall

flow out

for your

love for

God to

other people

as well.

And your

neighbor is

anybody that

you encounter.

So don't

think we're

just merely

talking about

the person

who shares

a property

line or

a wall in

your dorm

or apartment.

This is

anybody that

you encounter.

It's those

people that

you work

with.

It's those

people that

ring you up

at the

places that

you buy

your groceries.

It's the

server,

server that

serves you,

that you

tip so

poorly.

Love these

people.

Love these

people.

Romans 13,

8 and

10,

Paul writes,

O no one

anything except

to love each

other.

For the one

who loves

another has

fulfilled the

law.

Isn't that

interesting?

Paul understood

the greatest

command.

For the one

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 covet,

and any

other

commandment

are summed

up in

this word.

You shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

The last

four of the

ten commandments

he says are

summed up by

this and

any other

commandment,

any other

commandment

that is about

us relating

to one

another are

summed up

in the word.

You shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

Verse 10,

love does

no wrong

to a

neighbor,

therefore love

is the

fulfilling of

the law.

Paul wrote

again in

Galatians 5

14,

for the

whole law

is fulfilled

in one

word,

you shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

And then

James writes

in chapter 2

verse 8,

the book of

James,

if you really

fulfill the

royal law

according to

the scripture,

you shall

love your

neighbor as

yourself.

You are

doing well.

How do we

love our

neighbor?

We love

our neighbors

sacrificially,

in practical

ways.

We empty

ourselves of

our self

determination,

our own

self glorification.

If we properly

love God,

if we are

humble before

Him,

we recognize

that this is

not a proper

thing for the

one who

worships God

to do,

and we serve

our neighbor

sacrificially.

We find

ways in

which we

can serve

them that

no one

else would

do.

We lay

down our

lives for

the sake

of their

lives.

And we

do this so

that we

can preach

the gospel

to them.

So that we

can give

them the

great solution

to their

major problem.

Remember

meta-narrative

problem.

We come

and we

fix the

little

problems.

We're

there as

a shoulder

to cry

on,

but then

we need

to give

them

Jesus.

So the

greatest

way that

you can

love

anybody,

fill their

belly,

and then fill

their soul.

Matthew 22,

40,

Jesus says,

on these

two commandments,

this is the

parallel text,

depend all

the law

and the

prophets.

It's

fulfilled in

all of

this,

this vertical

access of

affection towards

God and

the horal

access of

it as

well.

And then

verse 32

of chapter

12 of

Mark.

The

scribe seems

to be a

bit open-minded

as he comes

to him,

to test

him,

is very

pleased with

his answer

because he

repeats it

back.

The

scribe said

to him,

you are

right,

teacher,

you have

truly said

that he

is one.

We know

we're

worshiping

the right

God

together,

this God

that is

one.

There is

no other

besides

him.

And to

love him

with all

the heart,

with all

the understanding,

and with all

the strength,

and to love

one's neighbor

as oneself

is much

more than

all whole

burnt

offerings

and sacrifices,

he understands

that this

commandment is

greater than

all of the

temple worship

that was

going on

in this

day,

all of the

religious

practice

that was

happening.

And then

Jesus'

response,

when Jesus

saw that

he answered

wisely,

said to

him,

you are

not far

from the

kingdom of

God.

And then

Mark records

for us

that they

stop asking

questions,

and Jesus

spends the

rest of

Wednesday

teaching,

telling them

rather than

being on

the defense,

he's now

on the

offense in

the rest of

this chapter

and a bit

beyond that.

But he

says to

this scribe,

you are

not far

from the

kingdom of

God.

And this

gives me

some encouragement

for this

scribe's soul.

We don't get

a record of

what happens

to him.

He's nameless

in our text,

and he is in

all the parallel

texts as well.

I hope that

he got it.

I hope that

he witnessed

the crucifixion,

that he heard

of the

resurrection,

and he placed

believing faith

in Jesus

Christ,

but we

don't know.

But we

can say

this from

our text,

that not

far is

not good

enough.

Not far

from the

kingdom is

not in

the kingdom.

It wasn't

good enough

at this

point in

our text.

My dad,

all of my

life growing

up,

would say,

close only

counts in

horseshoes

and hand

grenades.

It's a

familiar phrase

to some of

you, I

can tell.

Close only

counts in

horseshoes,

hand

grenades.

It doesn't

count in

the kingdom

of God.

There's not

a measure.

We don't

vary in

degree.

We're good

enough to

get into

the kingdom

of God.

You either

are in

the kingdom

of God

or you

are not

in the

kingdom

of God.

You

either are

under God's

rule over

your life

because of

what Christ

has done on

your behalf.

God has

worked a

faith in

you that

you would

believe in

him and

he has

changed

you.

He's made

you a new

creation.

You are now

a citizen of

his kingdom,

no longer

his enemy,

but his

friend,

adopted as

a son,

redeemed,

you've been

bought with

a price.

That's either

true of

you or

it's not.

And at

this point,

this is the

case for

this man.

He had

the wisdom

to give a

wise answer,

but that

wasn't enough.

It wasn't

enough for

him just to

know the

truth and

give some

assent to

it in

his mind.

He had

to give

all of

himself,

pick up

his cross,

and follow

Jesus

Christ.

I hope

he did.

And I

hope that

all of

us in

this room

today are

doing the

same.

We must

enter the

kingdom of

God by

faith in

the completed

work of

Christ on

our behalf.

This man

recognizes that

it's an

internal issue.

That's to

his credit.

He gets

that it's an

internal issue

with his

mind.

He's yet to

be changed

internally.

We have

much to

praise God

for if

this is

true of

us.

Of all

the men

of Israel,

these scribes

should have

most understood,

most gotten

the scriptures.

They were

much smarter

than any

of us

in this

room.

But yet,

the truth

of God

had not

been revealed

to them.

Praise God

that he's

revealed his

truth to

simple minds

like mine.

That he

has rent

my heart.

He has

changed it.

From an

old heart.

A stony

heart.

A heart

that was

bent against

him and

set it in

his direction.

We have

much to

praise him

for.

If you

are not

found in

Christ,

if you

find yourself

relating to

these Pharisees

and Sadducees,

to these

scribes,

trying to

figure out

what are

the weightier

matters,

what things

must I

make sure

I'm doing

well to

earn favor

with God,

then I

would ask

that you

recognize

that nothing,

nothing earns

you favor

with God

except the

completed work

of Christ

on your

behalf.

He took

your place

on the

cross.

The song

Mercy that

Wes sang

was about

that.

He hung

on your

tree,

on your

behalf,

took the

wrath of

God for

your sin.

Those things

you've done,

those things

you're doing

even now,

and those

things you

will do,

this completed

work,

it is

finished.

If you

would just

believe in

Him.

Let's pray

together.