A Priority Question

Thank you for that. This morning, go ahead and take your Bible sermon to Mark chapter 12 this morning.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 12. As we continue to look into the Word of God here this morning

Mark 12 · chapter mention

and looking for what God would have for us.

I trust you've come prepared this morning to hear from the Lord,

not just the words the preacher speaks, but hear from the Word of God

and what God would have for you this morning. And so as we

continue on in our series here in Mark chapter 12, we come to a

Mark 12 · chapter mention

priority question that's been asked. And you know, Jesus

here, since He's been in the temple, has been asked many questions.

Many came and were asking Him different things about His authority

and using that to catch Him in His Word

that they might cause a hindrance or to downplay

who He is or even their ultimate goal was to remove Him

from the scene. And we find here that He had just dealt with them on some errors

from the Word of God and concerning two specific areas. One of those was the resurrection.

And the second one was marriage. But He made an important statement at the end of that,

that the reality that He's not the God of the dead, but He's the God of the living.

You know, that we are alive in Christ.

And, but while all this was taking place, we find something that often happens in life.

Because when things are taking place, you have multiple things happening.

If you're having a discussion with somebody, or you're talking to somebody,

you know what's often happened? Somebody else is in the corner listening.

You know, and when you're witnessing

or talking about the Lord, it's amazing how many people's ears

tune in

to what's going on, to start paying attention.

And even try to

surmise, okay, who are you?

And what are you saying?

And, you know, whenever I hear somebody mention God

or Jesus, it's some of the things that does perk your ear just to say,

what are they saying?

You know, is it accurate?

Is it what it ought to be?

Is it opinion?

Is it based in Scripture?

You know, because people say a lot of things.

And this morning we're going to see an individual who was there

when all this was happening,

but he was paying attention

to what was being said

by both sides

and was trying to discern

some things about Jesus.

Because, you know, oftentimes people learn

from conversation.

They learn from those things.

And here we find an individual who was there.

He was part of the...

His peers had been ones making the inquiry.

You know, the account this morning

reminds us of just that.

You know, the reality is, as a believer,

people are watching you.

People are listening to you.

People are paying attention to details

that are going on.

Just as this man was paying attention to Jesus.

Because he made a note of how Jesus answered.

But also what Jesus answered.

He was trying to discern

some things about Jesus

and who He is

and, you know, how He responded.

You know, remember these people came

with hostility in their heart towards Jesus.

And He was paying attention.

How did Jesus reply?

How did Jesus hold up

when He was provoked?

You know, they were trying to provoke Him

and prod Him into something.

And we're going to find here

that the answer that He gives

is something we need to keep in mind also.

because when Jesus answered,

it was done in the right spirit,

the right attitude,

with the truth attached to it.

And to understand the importance of that

is critical for us today.

And just even answering in that right tone.

Have you ever noticed that tone

gets you in trouble sometimes?

You can say the right thing at the right time

in the wrong tone and get in trouble.

You know?

This man was observing

all those things about Jesus.

And we're going to look here this morning

about what His observations were

because Jesus here describes

what was happening around Him.

And we're going to see here

this man here this morning.

And so if you found Mark chapter 12,

Mark 12 · chapter mention

let's go ahead and stand this morning

in honor of reading of the Word of God.

And we'll pick up here in verse 28 this morning.

You want to follow along in your Bible?

We find here,

and it says,

And one of the scribes came,

and having heard them reasoning together,

and perceived that he 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,

with all thy soul,

with all thy mind,

with all thy strength.

This is the first commandment.

And the second is like,

namely this,

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

There is none other commandment greater than these.

And the scribes said unto him,

Master, 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 neighbor 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 durst asked him any question.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

as we come before you this morning,

Lord, we're just thankful for your word.

And Lord, we're thankful for earnest and sincere ability to know you,

Lord,

just as this man this morning came,

with an earnest and sincere desire to know.

And Lord,

the importance of that.

But Lord,

also the necessity of knowing you,

not just in a book,

or just knowing you on the surface,

but Lord,

having that relationship with you,

Lord,

being your child.

And Lord,

what that means,

that we might not be just outside the kingdom.

Lord,

we pray,

just have your hand upon each heart,

each life here today,

as we look at this,

here,

this,

here,

we might ask earnestly,

for loving you with all our heart,

with all our soul,

with all our mind,

and with all our strength.

And Lord,

we just ask all these things in your precious name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

You know,

as we look here this morning,

we see here that this man had been monitoring what was going on.

As one of the scribes in the other text,

it talks about him being a lawyer and a Pharisee.

In other words,

we're going to look at all those things played into this man's response,

here,

and he had been monitoring these interactions in the temple,

and sought an honest answer from Jesus.

You know,

as we've looked before,

you can ask questions for a couple of different reasons.

You know,

so have you ever noticed that some people come and ask questions just to stir the pot?

And then you have people who come with sincere questions.

And their desire is to say,

I want to learn something,

or to understand something,

or to affirm something in this.

And this man here came sincerely seeking,

because he wanted to know who Jesus is.

Jesus had intrigued him with his answer,

because as we see this individual,

he had been hearing Jesus,

been hearing the answers,

and wanted to know,

Jesus,

what do you think on this?

Because this was an important question of the day.

You know,

which commandment is the greatest?

Which commandment is the greatest?

And in Jesus' day,

they were debating that,

because, you know,

which one gives the greatest?

This word greatest means priority.

And whatever has the highest priority,

what we're going to see here today,

is the fact that that priority

puts everything else in its proper place.

Jesus says that on this hangs all the law

and the prophets upon these two things.

In other words,

to organize those things correctly

and keep them in the right priority,

because priority is important.

You say,

preacher,

why is priority important?

Because when you look at all the commands of God,

and this individual here

was looking at 613 commands

that God had given to them

through the Old Testament.

And he's looking at them,

trying to balance them,

because have you ever noticed

that sometimes things we're supposed to do,

things that are good,

things that are right,

sometimes come in conflict with one another?

Because you can have a choice

between two good things,

two right things,

and the question is,

how do you prioritize those things?

That's important to understand.

What's the one that supersedes the other?

Because you have all these commands

from the sacrifices

to the things,

the rituals they were supposed to do

within the temple.

There was a lot of commands,

a lot of detail.

And this man was asking Jesus,

what is the highest priority item?

Which is the ones that guide

everything else that we do?

What are those things

that we're supposed to put under other things?

If there's a conflict,

what takes precedence over it?

And so we see here this question

of priority,

you know,

which is the first commandment of all?

You know,

we realize he's not asking

which was given first.

You know,

the first command that God gave

was to Adam and Eve

not to eat of the tree.

He didn't ask which one was first given.

He's asking which one is first in priority.

How do I organize this?

How do I live the way I ought to live

and putting those things in the right place?

You know,

we find here that just like today,

the religious leaders would question

and consider among themselves

which command is more important.

You know,

we do the same thing today

because people will prioritize things

to say this is the utmost dynamic

that you have.

I mean,

they'll try to measure things

in wrong ways.

You know,

and we measure people

all the time in wrong ways.

You say,

well,

how do I do that?

Have you ever looked at somebody

and just made a measurement of them?

Have you asked,

how are you measuring that?

What's your basis of that?

Why do you think like that

about just that

when maybe you're not even

having talked to them

or spoken to them?

That you make assessments.

You know how you make assessments

of the things that you see as priority

and how do they fall under

your priority list?

You know,

that can come into

many different areas of life,

but when we understand

that sometimes we can get things

out of order

just like they did

in the Old Testament.

You know,

and in the New Testament

where Jesus is,

Mark chapter 7

Mark 7 · chapter mention

is a great example of this.

You had a group of people

that said,

well,

we're going to declare

this stuff we have

as Corban.

Now,

that's a word we don't use,

but simply it's this.

When they declared something Corban,

it meant that it was

dedicated to God

and couldn't be used

for anything else.

And Jesus called them out.

He said,

you hypocrites.

You declare this Corban,

but you don't take care.

You don't honor your parents

the way you ought to honor them.

You know what God's saying?

You had,

you guys are,

there's nothing wrong

with dedicating something to God,

but there is

when you put it

in the wrong priority.

Because to honor

your mother and father

holds a pretty high priority.

And those priorities

make a difference

on how we order

those things.

And we think about it

just the different things

that people do.

Oftentimes,

people will change

priority of things

to make it okay

to do what they want to do.

You know?

They'll downplay

one command

that God gives

and puts up

something else

or the absence

of a command,

of a direct command,

and say that,

well now,

see,

God doesn't forbid me

to do it,

so therefore I can do it.

Now I'm going to throw

one out here today

just for you to contemplate.

One of the things

we see in today's culture

is you have a lot of Christians

think they can just go drinking.

They make excuses.

Well,

God doesn't explicitly say

I can't take a drink of alcohol.

Thing is,

if you read through the scripture,

you'll find out

he has nothing good to say

about drinking.

Alcohol has a purpose.

There's a lot of things in life

that have a purpose

and are good

when used in the right context.

And for the right reason.

Social drinking

is not a right reason

to implement alcohol.

Look at the scripture.

Everything about

the consumption of alcohol

leads to destruction.

You'll not find

a positive phrase

mentioned about it.

And people will say,

well God didn't directly

forbid me from doing that.

I want you to understand

that there's other commands

and other principles

that God's given

that says,

hey,

we can make good judgment

and sound judgment

because the priority is

that ought to be filled

with the spirit of God

and not with the spirit

of alcohol.

The Bible does tell us

that pretty clearly.

All sorts of things

people will let

and allow

when they make excuses.

We need to understand

priority.

What's the priority item

that we have?

And this man arrived

at a conclusion

from his own study

of scripture.

This man came

knowing what answer

he was looking for.

And Jesus even commends

this man

for knowing

the right answer.

He came to see

what Jesus' answer

is going to be.

Did Jesus,

from his understanding

of scripture,

how did it fit

in these things,

in this priority

of things?

And this man

arrived at a conclusion

from his own study

and we know

he studied the scripture

because he was a Pharisee.

The Pharisees

were very religious.

He was a lawyer

and he was a scribe.

That's how the Bible

describes him

in the passages

where it's referenced.

In other words,

we know he was religious.

He went through

the ritual.

Pharisees were very ritualistic.

So he understood

the ritual.

We know that this man

was a lawyer.

In other words,

he was one who said,

I want to understand

how do I practically

use what God says

in day-to-day life?

You know,

how does the law

implement?

And then a scribe.

In other words,

he was one who would

take notes

or even copy scripture.

In other words,

he was very familiar

with all these things.

And so he comes

and asks Jesus,

which is the first

commandment of all?

So Jesus says,

okay,

I'm going to give you

the answer.

The answer

of the priority,

the answer begins

with Jesus

quoting scripture.

Jesus goes back

to Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 6

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

is a portion of scripture

that Jews would repeat

all the time.

This portion of scripture

is called the Shema,

which was quoted

every morning and evening

by the religious Jews,

even still today.

The reality of what it says,

it would be written down

and worn upon the body

in what they call phylacteries.

And these are little boxes

and they place these boxes,

you know,

even on their doorposts.

And so Jesus reveals

that it's nothing new

or earth shattering

to the crowd.

In other words,

he didn't break this guy out

with some new information.

He said,

let's go back

to the basics.

Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Look over there

in verse 4 and 5

because this is where

Jesus is quoting.

Deuteronomy chapter 6

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

in verses 4 and 5,

he says this.

He says,

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord our God

is one Lord.

And thou shalt love

the Lord thy God

with all thy heart,

with all thy soul,

and with all thy might.

You know,

something important

happens here

that I want you

to take note of

because when Jesus

responds to this man,

he didn't respond

in a generic.

He responds personally

to his question.

The Bible says

that Jesus answered him.

In other words,

with all the crowd around,

with a public question,

Jesus looked at him

and spoke directly

and he said

very clearly

something important

to him

to understand

that these words

were not just words

but they were a command

that needed to impact him.

Deuteronomy chapter 6

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

and verse 6

goes on

and says,

and these words

which I command thee

this day

shall be in thine heart.

Because there's a difference

between knowing something

and having impact

and application

of something.

The impact

and application

is its purpose.

When we just know something,

that's just information.

We need to have those things

that are application.

That they apply

in principle

to our life.

And so you see

Jesus here

is revealing

that from the start

that these were not

just superficial declarations

but were to be

applied internally

and in our life.

The first part of this

establishes something

very important though

because notice here

where it says,

Hear O Israel,

the Lord our God

is what?

One Lord.

Jesus is reminding

this man

of something very important

because remember

even in his day

there was a pluralistic

idea of gods.

You know today

we still live

in a pluralistic idea

of different gods.

People worship

all sorts of different things

and they're multifaceted

of their priority

instead of the priority

of God's command

it's the priority

of my God.

And what Jesus is saying

he says,

spells it very clearly

he says,

the priority

is the Lord God,

the creator.

the one that is above all

and stands alone.

The Lord our God

is one Lord.

That word one

is that same idea

of priority.

Prominence.

That there is no other.

When we understand

that Jesus is God

and that God is the one

and if we're going to

worship God,

if we're going to have

a right relationship

with God,

the first thing

we need to understand

is you need to realize

there is a God.

Oftentimes people

will give lip service

to God.

Oh thank God

that happened.

Sometimes people

will curse God

but we need to understand

that God is not

just something we say

but God is.

Look over to

Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

for a moment.

Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

we see this over here

we say,

but without faith

it is impossible

to please him.

For he that cometh

to God must what?

believe that he

is.

That he is.

The Lord our God

is one Lord.

To hear it,

understand it,

to understand

that if you're going

to come to God

you need to believe

that he is

and he's the rewarder

of them

that diligently seek him.

Jesus had 613 commands

that he could have pointed to

and he says,

hey,

I want you to understand

this one

is the one

that is the highest

priority you can give.

That's the focus

upon the Lord

himself.

When we see here

this morning,

take a look down here

in verse 31

because notice

what Jesus says here

at the end of verse 31.

he says,

there is none other

commandment

greater than

these.

None other

commandment.

Matthew chapter 22

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

in verse 40

tells us this,

and on these

two commandments

hang all the law

and the prophets.

In other words,

Jesus said,

well,

I'm going to tell you here

the first one

is God has priority.

To love God

with all your heart,

with all your mind,

with all your soul,

with all your strength.

Basically,

it sums up this way

with everything

that you are,

everything that you think,

everything that you process,

your priorities,

all the effort

you put forth

needs to be contained

in that

so that

these guiding commands

are there.

He says,

look in verse 30,

he says,

and thou shalt love

the Lord thy God.

Thou shalt love

love.

Now,

this is a very

specific love

because love

is another word today

that gets a lot of

traction with people.

You know?

But love comes,

presents itself differently

depending on how

and what definition

you're using.

That's one of the things

that's always important

is define your terms.

Because today,

love is gushy

and mushy.

You know,

I don't want to dare,

you know,

upset anybody.

That's how I love them

is I never make them upset.

You know what?

Sometimes if you love somebody,

there's going to be

some conflict.

I can't imagine

trying to parent

and say,

well,

I don't want to upset

my children.

You know,

as a parent,

sometimes you're going

to upset your children.

Not because you're being mean,

but because you love them.

And you say,

hey,

if they do this,

they're going to be in trouble.

You know,

it's going to cause harm.

It's going to cause damage.

I love them,

so therefore,

I'm going to put

some restriction.

I'm going to guide them.

I'm going to draw them.

Sometimes they're not always happy.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable.

But he says,

thou shalt love.

This type of love

we're talking about here

is an intelligent,

purposeful,

and committed love.

You know,

oftentimes today,

our philosophy of love is,

well,

if they love me,

I'll love them.

That's the matrix

with which we often

filter things through.

The love that's being

spoken of here

is a love

that is intelligent.

It's thinking.

It's purposeful.

It's committed.

And it's not built upon

emotion or affection.

You say,

how do you separate love

from emotion

or affection?

I want you to understand

that when you love this way,

emotion and affection

are attached to it,

but they're not driven by it.

Because to love God

is not cold.

It has a power

that impacts us.

Because it gives warmth

in our life

because of who God is.

This love is unconditional,

unselfing,

changeless.

It's the eternal love

that gives itself

without expectations

in return.

You know,

this is a genuine love

that says,

I'm choosing to love you

no matter what.

Whether what you are

or who you are

benefits me or not,

I'm choosing to do it.

And nothing you can do

can change my mind.

This love is unchanged

by circumstances

or situations.

Have you ever noticed

that over the years

I've seen many people,

oh, I love God

and something happens

in their life

and suddenly they don't

love God anymore.

When Jesus said

to love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart,

with all thy soul,

with all thy mind,

with all thy strength,

he said no matter what,

stick with God

to stay there

considers the same love

that God gives towards us.

Romans chapter 5

Romans 5 · chapter mention

and verse 8 says,

but God commendeth

his love toward us

and while we were yet sinners

Christ died for us.

The Bible says

we were his enemy

and he loved us enough

to say,

I don't care how you're acting

or what you're doing,

out of love

I'm going to give you

what you need.

I'm going to provide

what is needed.

You know,

oftentimes we get the idea

that we can just,

our love to God

just flows out from us,

but think about what

1 John chapter 4 tells us.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

1 John 4, 19 says,

we love him because what?

He first loved us.

We simply cannot do this

unless we understand

his love for us first,

which is to know

that he is,

and when we acknowledge him

as our God,

it's an invitation

to know him personally

as your Savior,

surrendering to him

and believing the gospel,

the truth of how one is saved.

You know,

this love is to be

with your whole heart,

impacting all that you do,

all that you say,

the places that you go.

It involves your heart.

You know,

your heart here

is the center of who you are,

the reality of who you are,

the soul.

That's your being.

It's what makes you you.

The Bible says

that Jesus,

or that creation,

God breathed into man

the breath of life.

He became a living soul.

That soul is who you are.

A soul is eternal.

Contrary to some people

that don't understand,

the reality is

a soul doesn't just dissipate.

A soul is eternal.

And that soul

will spend eternity someplace.

And there's only two choices.

The Bible says

the soul's going to either

have eternity in damnation

or eternity in heaven.

There's no middle ground.

There's no in between.

There's no in between.

Your mind.

That's your thinking

and your thoughts.

If you love God,

it's going to impact

how you think.

It's going to impact

how you process things

that take place.

Your strength.

That means your energy

and your efforts

that you put forth.

It guides those things.

It prioritizes them.

Prioritizes those things.

Simply,

it is a love

that affects

everything about you.

Now,

I want to put it to you this way.

What Jesus starts out with here

is very simply

is a vertical love.

In other words,

it's a spiritual vertical

between you and God.

It says to love

the Lord thy God.

Now,

I want to point something out here

because it's the Lord thy God.

That term is personal.

It's not mama's God

or daddy's God.

It's not the preacher's God.

It's not the God

that I heard about.

It's thy God.

Let me put this another way.

It ought to be

my God.

That means it's to be

your God.

The term here is personal.

It's not generic.

It's not just a big picture of God.

It's a personal dynamic with God.

That vertical spiritual relationship

with God.

And Jesus here in verse 31,

he says,

and the second is like.

In other words,

he says,

the second one

falls under the priority

of the first one,

but the second one

gives you

the other dynamic

that happens in life

and that's what happens

with interactions with people.

Because let's face it,

we all understand

we have two things going on.

We have a spiritual dynamic

that's taking place

and we have a people dynamic,

physical dynamic

that's taking place.

That's reality.

Those things are happening

and he says,

I want you to be right with God

to recognize him,

but he says,

if you're right with God,

the next priority

that supersedes

and helps guide everything else

is to have a right relationship

with other people.

Because see here what he says,

these horizontal relationships.

Now as he tells them this,

he says this,

he says,

thou shalt love thy neighbor

as thyself.

He draws this

from Leviticus chapter 19.

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

Leviticus chapter 19

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

and verse 18.

And that's another

good passage

to study sometime

if you want to study something

because notice

how the verse starts.

It says,

thou shalt not avenge

nor bear any grudge

against the children

of thy people.

In other words,

those around you,

those that you deal with,

they have the right attitude

and spirit about them,

but thou shalt love

thy neighbor

as thyself.

I am the Lord.

In other words,

he says,

I'm commanding you

to seek and desire

to have a right relationship.

Now this love he's talking about

is the exact same love

from the first verse.

That unconditional,

not loving somebody

because of what they could do for you.

When we understand,

it ties to the first one

because the Lord

is over everything already.

This is the same love,

that unconditional love,

and it's described to us

in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

You know,

if you want to know

what this love looks like,

go read 1 Corinthians 13.

It describes

what it looks like.

What is its characteristics?

How does it play out?

Because it's a love

that puts others first

even if they don't respond in kind.

It's a love that looks out

for the best interests of others.

It's an enduring love

never being cast off.

You know,

you can stop

and read through those things.

I encourage you to go

and to think about that

even this afternoon

a little bit

and consider

am I loving God

as God loves me?

Because 1 Corinthians 13

describes how God loves you.

How God loves you.

Jesus here brings forth

these things

to this man.

He says,

hey,

you want to know

what the most important commandments are?

Here's the two

that guide everything else.

Now Jesus,

we're going to see here

an application

of that priority.

How is this to be applied?

How is this to be used

in our life?

Look at the scribe's response

there in verse 32.

Notice what the scribe said.

He said this,

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,

with all the soul

and with all the strength.

And to love his neighbor

as himself.

Now notice this last phrase here

that the scribe adds.

This tells you his understanding

of what Jesus is talking about.

He says,

is more than all

whole burnt offerings

and sacrifices.

Now that's a statement

that we can expound on here

in a moment.

Here's this scribe came

and he had an understanding

from his study

of the word of God

and he said,

you know what?

I've come to understand

that my priority

is to love the Lord

with all my heart,

with all the soul,

with all my mind,

to love my neighbors,

myself,

because all the rituals

that I do

are not going to make me

right with God.

Now I want you to see

he didn't say

those rituals,

those sacrifices

that God commanded

didn't serve a purpose

because there's a purpose

in them.

God didn't give them

to them

just to be ritualistic,

just to have a process.

Our life as a believer

is not a process.

It's a relationship

that grows and matures.

And he says here

that these burnt offerings

and sacrifices

that your participation

in them

didn't put you

in a right relationship

with God.

You know,

there's many people today

that show up

and go through ritual

thinking the ritual

makes them right with God.

There's people

who get themselves wet

in all sorts of forms

and say,

now I'm right with God.

Being baptized

doesn't make you

right with God.

Now I want you to understand

to be properly baptized

is important

because God commands it

but it's not what makes

you right with God.

You have people

who do rituals.

Even very,

just today,

you'll have people

that are participating

participating in a ritual

to them

because they will take

a piece of wafer

and some juice

or some wine

and they'll say,

by doing this

I make myself

right with God.

If I symbolize

the ritual

of the sacrifice,

I'm right with God

therefore I'm okay.

This man declares

something very important.

He says,

Jesus,

I know you've spoken

the truth

because when I read

the scripture

I understand

the reality

that I can do

all the right things

outside

but what's inside

is what makes

the difference.

That transformation

that needs to take place

he understood

what Paul later describes

in Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 3

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

in verse 24

he says,

wherefore the law

was our schoolmaster

to bring us unto Christ

that we might be

justified by faith.

In other words,

the rituals pointed out

that we're a sinful people

and that sin has a price.

The wages of sin

is death.

You know,

it's amazing

that this man,

this scribe

understood something

that many around him

that day missed.

He understood something

he knew

he needed to know

the Lord

and not just perform

for the Lord.

Knowing God

is not a performance.

This is where

we get confused

because sometimes

we get confused

about this

because if you love

the Lord

with all your heart,

with all your mind,

with all your strength,

with all your soul,

it's going to result

in certain actions.

But those actions

of themselves

don't matter

as much

as the relationship

that's there.

Think about

Romans chapter 3

Romans 3 · chapter mention

in verse 20

where it says this,

therefore,

by the deeds

of the law

shall no flesh

be justified

in his sight

for by the law

is the knowledge

of sin.

I want you to understand

this man understood

that all these

other commandments,

these other 613 commandments

giving all these

other details,

especially the ones

about the sacrifice

and what offerings

you're supposed to bring

and the time

you're supposed to bring

and how you're supposed

to do them,

those did not save him,

those did not build

a relationship

with God,

but were given

to draw us

to God,

to understand

our need for God.

This religious man

had come to the conclusion

that the purpose

of the sacrifices

and offerings

was not to make you

right with God

just because you

went through the ritual.

He understood

that relationship

is far more important

than religion.

He knew that he could

not keep all the law

and offer all the sacrifices

and still not be right

with God.

He said,

I can do all the things

I'm supposed to do

on paper

and still miss the point.

He said,

I need to love God.

It's a truth

that we need

to understand today

because all over the world

people go to church

and go through

their rituals

thinking they're

in a saving relationship

with God

and in truth

they're lost

and on their way

to hell.

Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

tells us this,

it says,

for the law

having a shadow

of good things to come

and not the very image

of those things

can never with

those sacrifices

which they offered

year by year

continually

make the comers

thereunto

perfect.

Consider

what it's revealing

to us,

it says,

for then

would they have ceased

to be offered

because that the worshipers

once purged

would have had

no more conscience

of sin

but in those sacrifices

is a remembrance

again made

of sin

every year.

In other words,

we see here

that they did those things.

God set that up

to remind them

that they're a sinner

that needs to be saved

by grace.

A sinner

that needs the Lord.

Verse 4 says,

for it's not possible

that the blood

of bulls and goats

should take away sins.

Now I want you to see

something important here

as Jesus responds

to this man.

This man tells Jesus,

he says,

Jesus,

I know you've spoken

the truth.

He says,

I know there's something

different about you

because you've given

an accurate description

of the word of God.

He's making a note here

about Jesus

and I want you to see

Jesus' response to him.

Look down in verse 34.

And when Jesus saw

that he answered discreetly,

he said unto him,

thou art not far

from the kingdom of God.

Notice that Jesus

acknowledged

where this man stood.

That's an interesting statement

that Jesus makes

in that assessment,

isn't it?

This man says,

I understand I need

to love the Lord thy God

with all my heart,

with all my soul.

That relationship is important.

That's a right priority.

He recognized

who God is.

He recognized

that those other sacrifices

were not going to save him.

That there needed

to be something more

than those sacrifices.

And Jesus looked at him

and said,

thou art not far

from the kingdom of God.

You might ask,

why did Jesus say that?

Because here's a sincere man,

sincerely seeking,

sincerely desiring

to be right with God

and the one that was

going to make him right

standing right in front of him.

Because Jesus is the one

here in just a few hours

from this point

before the weekends

will be the sacrifice for sin.

He looks at him and says,

thou art not far

from the kingdom of God.

He still lacks something.

Because Jesus was right there.

He was standing before him,

the one that could save him.

Jesus was speaking

to a decent man,

a religious man,

a humanly speaking

would be a good man.

This man that Jesus

was speaking to,

everybody on the outside

would say,

this guy has it together.

This guy's right with God.

And Jesus looks at him

and says,

you're almost there.

Almost.

You know what this reveals to us?

You can do all those things

and come up short.

Oftentimes we try to measure

by those things,

but we come up short.

Because what we're short of

is the Savior.

We need to rely upon the Savior,

failing to trust in Christ alone

and not works.

You know,

Titus 3.5 tells us this,

not by works of righteousness,

which we have done,

but according to his mercy,

he saved us

by the washing of regeneration,

the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Ephesians 2 tells us,

for by grace are you saved

through faith

and not of yourselves

as a gift of God,

not of works,

lest any man should boast.

You know,

the sad thing is,

is oftentimes you'll have people

that'll be in church

their whole life.

They can hear the truth,

they can know the truth,

but they've never called upon

the Savior.

When they appear before the Lord,

he says,

depart from me,

I never knew you.

Because there was no relationship.

You know,

the sad thing is,

it's possible to go to hell

from the church view.

It's possible to know

all the right answers.

It just puts you

not far from eternal life.

One cannot rest

upon our own good works,

our own goodness,

but we need to rest

upon the Savior.

You know,

this morning,

where this man was

is important to realize

that there could be many.

There may be one here today

that knows all the right answers,

but is that close.

Because they've never called

upon the Savior.

What a sad place to be,

to be not far

from the kingdom of God.

You know,

this morning,

maybe the Lord

is speaking to you,

maybe you've never trusted Christ

as your Savior.

He's the one to save your soul

and you need to come to Him

by faith today.

You need to turn from,

repent from your sin

and believe the gospel

to be born again.

Because nothing would be

of greater shame

than to go to hell

from a church view.

To have the truth

and do nothing with it.

This morning,

how about you, Christian?

How is your relationship with God?

If Jesus says,

on all these things,

hang all the other aspects of life,

all the law and the prophets,

how's your love for God

and how are you loving others?

This morning,

the Savior awaits your response.

As heads are bowed

and eyes are closed,

I want you to consider

between you and the Lord today,

not the assessment on the outside,

but the assessment from your heart.

Where are you with God?

If you're here today

and you're not sure,

if it's not soundly set

that you understand

the reality

that I've called upon Him,

I've recognized Him as Savior,

I've asked Him to save me,

I've turned from my sin

to Him knowing

He took all my sin for me.

If you've never done that,

I encourage you to come.

We have somebody show you

from God's Word

how you can know.

Have that settled.

But maybe you're here today, Christian,

and there's some things

that your love is waning.

Other things have taken priority.

That love that we ought

to have for God.

The same love He has for you.

We love Him

because He first loved us.

Fathers, we just come to You

this morning, Lord.

We just thank You for Your Word.

Lord, You know each heart,

each life here today.

Lord, we may hide from one another,

but we cannot hide from You.

Lord, we pray just have Your hand

upon each one.

Lord, we may not depart from here

and walk out those doors

the same way as we came in,

but Lord, that we might evaluate

our love for You,

where we are with You.

We might love You

with our whole heart,

our whole soul,

our whole mind,

and all the strength,

all that we do.

Lord, as we give an opportunity

to respond today,

Lord, You might work upon

each heart,

each life here today.

Lord, we just turn the invitation

to You

and give You all the praise

in Jesus' name.

As the piano plays,

what about you?