Matthew 22:37-40 CSB – He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
John 13:35 CSB – By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 14:15 CSB – “If you love me, you will keep my commands
Clearing Up Confusion about Love and Law
Matthew 24:10-12 CSB – Jesus predicted: Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold
Psalm 119:97 NIV – Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Psalm 40:8 NIV – I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 19:7 NIV – The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
Matthew 5:17, 19 CSB – “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Do the Commands Apply Today?
Love the Lord your God… Commands 1-4.
Love your neighbor as yourself… Commands 5-10.
The Law Does Not Save. It Shows Us Our Need for Jesus!
Romans 3:20 CSB – For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
1 Corinthians 15:22 CSB – For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
1 John 5:3 CSB – For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden
God-like Love Begins By Giving God His Rightful Place
- God’s Commands are Given Personally
Matthew 22:37-38 CSB – Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.
Exodus 19:16, 18 CSB – Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Matthew 28:18-20 CSB – “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples ofall nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observeeverything I have commanded you.
2 Peter 2:17-19 CSB – These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
Exodus 20:2-3 CSB – “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
Since the 10 Commandments are LOVING Boundaries Giving by A Compassionate God it means….
- Humility—God Deserves Supreme Authority
1 Peter 5:5-6 CSB – Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
Exodus 20:2-3 CSB – “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
John 14:6 CSB – Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Acts 4:12 CSB – Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Psalm 115:3-8 CSB –
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
False gods That Challenge Our Devotion to God Today
- The god of Pleasure
1 Timothy 6:17 says, “God has generously given us everything for our enjoyment.”
But, Romans 1:24-25 says that when people don’t honor God as God…God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
- The god of Safety
Matthew 25:26 CSB – ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have no scattered seed.
Matthew 25:28-30 CSB – So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Sir John Grubb, “THE FATE OF EMPIRES and SEARCH FOR SURVIVAL”
The stages of the rise and fall of great nations seem to be:
-
- The Age of Pioneers (outburst)
- The Age of Conquests
- The Age of Commerce
- The Age of Affluence
- The Age of Intellect
- The Age of Decadence.
Decadence is marked by:
- Defensiveness
- Pessimism
- Materialism
- Frivolity
- An influx of foreigners
- The Welfare State
- A weakening of religion.
Decadence is due to:
- Too long a period of wealth and power
- Selfishness
- Love of money
- The loss of a sense of duty.
3. The god of Materialism
Matthew 6:24 CSB – “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
1 Timothy 6:17 says, “God has generously given us everything for our enjoyment.”
1 Timothy 6:6-8 CSB – Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
Acts 3:19 CSB – Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Application: Seek First the Kingdom of God
Why?
Colossians 1:17-18 CSB –
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
Matthew 6:33 CSB – Jesus repeats the first commandment: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
What ACTIONS can you take to make Jesus First?
Your God is whatever you value, prioritize and sacrifice for.
- Give God The First Minutes of Every day
Psalm 59:16 CSB – But I will sing of your strength and will joyfully proclaim your faithful love in the morning.
- Give God the first day of the week
- Put God first in your finances—Give God the first part of your income
Deuteronomy 14:23 says that the purpose of tithing is so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God.
- Give God First Voice in your Thinking/Decisions
Romans 8:11 CSB – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
