Open your Bibles to Mark 12 today as we begin our Summer Series entitled “Love God and Love your Neighbor”
We are going to examine the 10 Commandments while focusing on Jesus is summary of the commandments found in the Gospels. We will answer the questions: What role does the law play in the history of redemption? Understanding that we need a rescuer and we are unable to save ourselves by keeping the law. Why did God demand obedience to his law, if it could never serve to bring us to Him? We will learn that the law was given to us by God in the Old Testament to points us to what was to come. Jesus would fulfill the law not only my keeping it perfectly for us, but also by clearly defining it. Jesus not only obeyed the law perfectly, but the way Jesus lived and the things He said shines a new light on the law. It is through Jesus’ life we see the truest meaning and depth of the law.
We will begin in Mark 12 verse 28. Hear the word of the Lord.
READ FROM THE BIBLE
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 besides 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.
(Mark 12:28-34)
PRAY
The big truth is: Jesus is the one true God over all creation and He alone deserves our worship.
It is important to understand that the bible is several true stories telling one, over arching story.
Every good story begins with an Author. God is the Author of all scripture. Under the complete influence and direction of the Holy Spirit, God used man to communicate to us in a language we could understand. God uses Moses to write the first 5 books of the bible. God’s story begins in Genesis with the story of creation. How He spoke and created the earth, sky, sun and moon. He spoke and filled the earth with water and vegetation. God spoke and He created all the animals and live stock. Then the crown of His creation was man. Man was created differently then all the rest of creation. Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
When God was finished He said that His creation was good. Man’s purpose was to worship God and care for and have demotion over His creation. In Genesis 2 we read of God’s goodness and provision.
…out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
In the garden was also the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)
God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
And the He commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17).
God looks down at His creation and proclaims it is good with one exception. He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. So God created the woman, a perfect union, that beautifully completed and complemented the man perfectly. God saw everything that he had made, and declared it to be very good. (Genesis 1:31)
THE FALL
The next story God shares with us is the fall of man and the beginning of redemptive history. Every good story has a villain. Satan enters into the garden spreading lies and he successfully deceives Eve by getting her to doubt God’s goodness. Believing Satan and not trusting in God, Adam and Eve willing and directly disobey God’s command and they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The plot thickens as sin enters into God’s creation. God cursed Satan and being true to His word death becomes the consequence for sin. Everyone there after was born with sin as a part of there nature. Guilty of sin both by heritage and by choice. Sin and death would reek havoc on God's creation. But sin and death of God’s creation is not the end of God’s story.
REDEMPTION
In Genesis 3 God promises us a rescue and God’s story of redemption begins. God declared that through the offspring of this woman God would bring forth a a Son who would crush the head of Satan and it is there that the Hero of God’s story is announced. This Hero is the main charter that all of God’s scripture points to and this redemption of God’s people is the mega theme.
God continues this story and introduces us to some key characters. God would call men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We learn through their stories that God’s rescue is a sure thing. The Lord makes a covenant with His people that through these men our Hero, our promised Messiah, our Savior, Jesus Christ would come.
Please open your bibles to Exodus 20. As we come to the book of Exodus God tells us a story that depicts His plan of redemption.This story begins with several generations of God’s people in enslaved in Egypt by Pharaoh.
Egypt was one of the most polytheistic cultures ever. Polytheism is simply the worship of many gods. And Egypt took the prize home for the amount of gods they worshiped. They worshiped the gods of the fields and rivers, gods of the light and darkness, gods of the sun and weather. The Egyptians worshiped the goddesses of love and war and they bowed down to idols in the forms of men, animals and even bugs. Over the centuries of captivity, God’s people began to worship these gods too.
In Exodus 2 we see God redeemed his people because he remembered His covenant with them.
God used Moses to talk to Pharaoh demanding that he let God's people go.He refused to let them go so God sent 10 plagues down on Egypt, defeating the gods if they worshipped, proving He was the one true God of all creation. This rescue led to the release of God's people, the defeat of Pharaohs army, to the opening of the impassable sea—which is a depiction of our sin that stands between us and God—but by a miracle of God’s grace God makes a way to go through this ocean of sin and enter into the promise land. Before God’s people enter into the promise land we come to Exodus 20 where God gives us His law. These polytheistic worshipers needed some direction. So God meets with Moses on Mt. Sinai speaks is law and writes them in stone.
Exodus 20 verse 1
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:1-3)
God begins by reminding them of His identity and their His personal involvement in their rescue from slavery. I love the fact that God starts with the good news before He gives the law. Not only is He the One true God He is also their Redeemer. And because that is true, you shall have no other gods before me. God's showed His presence several times in the OT. But his appearances only foreshadow the ultimate presence of God as seen in Jesus. God's story of Jesus coming to earth is told this way in the gospel of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)
Jump down to verse 14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17)
It is in this moment of redemptive history that we see God enter in bringing grace and truth. Even John begins with the good news. Soon enough John and Jesus will call God’s people to repent, be baptized and follow Jesus because He is the fulfillment of God’s law and the Messiah promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the good news. In the first commandment God says because He is the One true God that has rescued them from Egypt they are to no longer worship other gods. They He alone is to be worshipped. Jesus makes a similar claim.
He says in John 14
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me… …I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
In the time of Moses in redemptive history people where saved by putting their faith in the One true God, Jesus who would come. Whereas in our time in redemptive history we are saved by putting our faith in the One True God, Jesus who has come. So where does the law fit in redemptive history? Jesus his interpretation of the law and his application of it in his own life as radical.The redefines what it means to love God with all his heart, mind, and soul by his willingness to be accursed by the father in order to carry out his father's plan of salvation of those whom the father is given to him.
Jesus redefines what it means to love our neighbor. His love for his neighbor—us in particular—go so deep that he is willing to give up his very life for us.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)
The Pharisees righteousness were based on their abilities to keep the law. Which would only prove to condemn them in the end because God demands the law to be kept perfectly. Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisee and be based not on our works but rather on Jesus works. Jesus is our Hero and He alone deserves our worship.
FAMILY COMMUNION
All of our troubles started at a choice. Adam and Eve had perfect communion with God. They worshipped, fellowshipped and communicated with God all the time. God gave them the freedom to make decisions and to govern the land with only one exception they could not eat of one tree in the mist of the garden, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, lest they die. Satan presented the lie putting into question God’s goodness saying
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)
Adam and Eve’s wanted more than what God had created them for them. Pride and self-worship led them to chose to disobey God and eat the fruit of that tree. Because of there choice to worship self the perfect relationship and communion they once shared with God broken. With their disobedience came a curse. The curse was separation from God, pain, and ultimately death. This curse would be passed down from generation to generation. God separated Himself from His creation leaving them with a promise. He promised He would rescue humanity from this curse.”
It was at a meal where Jesus proclaimed he was the fulfillment of that promise. The only thing that can tear our hearts away from all other affections is true love for God. And the only thing that can replace all the other things that we put our trust in. It is a total faith commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have the choice today to believe in the One True God Jesus Christ. Jesus sat at a table with his disciples and on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,
“This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Please take the bread). In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (Please take the cup). For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
If you have made a decision today to place your faith in Jesus, we want to know about it.
WORSHIP
Each week we respond to what we've just heard this is called “worship”.
We worship with our possessions as we give.
We worship with our hearts as we take communion.
We worship with our voices.
We worship with our lives as we leave here.
BENEDITION
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)
