1. Outside the camp
1.1. Eden is a story of being outside the camp. There but guarded.
1.2. Israels camp - dan, benjamin .. but whose are these tents over there? The lepers!
1.3. Heaven -
1.3.1. Re 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Re 22:15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
2. The question - Mk 12:28 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?”
2.1. Not the first time a lawyer asked Jesus this
2.1.1. Lk 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Lk 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Lk 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Lk 10:28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” Lk 10:29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
2.2. a Test
2.2.1. Mt 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Mt 22:35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Mt 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
2.3. Such fine spliting common
2.3.1. 8day circumcions... but on sabbath? one was greater than other
3. The answer Mk 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Mk 12:30 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.’ Mk 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
3.1. Self love taught?
3.1.1. Unpacking the meaning of the verse yields the following expanded translation: “You shall love your neighbor as you already do love yourself.” Thus, self-love is assumed in this text, not commanded
3.1.1.1. Daniel wallace https://bible.org/article/self-love-biblical-matthew-2239
3.2. Two answers
3.2.1. NOTE" The most important" and then vs 31 - the second
3.2.1.1. The answer Mk 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Mk 12:30 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.’ Mk 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
3.2.2. Why give a second answer?
3.2.2.1. Because the first is inseperable to the second
3.2.2.2. First, Jesus summarized the entire Ten Commandments; the first four have to do with the love of God (Exod. 20:2-11) and the last six with loving one's neighbor (Exod. 20:12-17).
3.2.2.3. 40. "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
3.3. shemah
3.3.1. a creed
3.3.2. Deut 6
3.3.2.1. Shema is the first Hebrew word in this passage, and it means "Hear."
3.3.3. that great, profound statement of monotheism that was at the heart of Judaism: the unity of God and the oneness of God
3.3.4. Jewish practice
3.3.4.1. Every Jew knew the shemah of Israel, Deuteronomy 6. Some Jews every time they prayed would have the shemah on a leather kind of wallet that would wrap around their arms, and wrap around their foreheads — phylacteries. Some would have a copy of the shemah on a tiny, tiny piece of parchment in a little box on the lentil of the doorposts of their homes, a mezuzah. They knew it well, and Jesus draws two texts, one from Deuteronomy 6 and one from Leviticus 19
3.3.4.2. he Jews repeated twice daily
3.4. Jesus unites this for the first time that we know
3.5. One God
3.5.1. Many of Mark's original readers had formerly been polytheists.
3.5.2. Each god had a certain domain ... could not give all alliance to any one god
3.5.3. But God is one!
3.5.4. He is not a God over a small domain so he demans all of us
3.6. All
3.6.1. A reseponse
3.6.1.1. "God is to be loved completely and totally (Mark 12:30) because he, and he alone, is God and because he has made a covenant of love with his people. In the covenant God gives himself totally in love to his people; therefore he expects his people to give themselves totally ('soul,' 'mind,' and 'strength') in love to him." [Note: Wessel, p. 737.]
3.6.2. ALL OUR HEART
3.6.2.1. The Scriptures are clear that the heart is central in loving God; we are to “keep [our] heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). Those who are good are those who have good stored up in their hearts (Luke 6:45). Purity of heart is required for those who love God and wish to worship Him (Ps. 24:4). Indeed, only those with pure hearts will see God (Matt. 5:8), whether in this life by faith or in the life to come by sight (1 John 3:2–3).
3.6.2.2. I. By loving God with all our heart we mean the placing of our affections upon Him. By the heart we mean love, emotion, the vitality of the tender, responsive, emotional side of our being. But you say, "How can I love God, for I have never seen Him?" A mother who had lost an only child in her brooding grief adopted an unknown child in a foreign mission school. The Arab boy was at first an unknown quantity to her. She assumed that the child was and the child became in time real to her. Not her reason but her affections were set upon the child who took the place of her own lost one. She loved him with all her poor broken heart, and by-and-by they met, each having saved the other. In the same way, dear friends, you must assume that God is, until He becomes real to you. You must love Him who is unknown, in the light of all His righteousness, until He becomes known to you. Your affections must grow towards God; they must lead the way to Him, for the rest of our nature always follows the leading of the heart.
3.6.2.3. He says "all the heart" which is the hub of the wheel of man's existence, the mainspring of all his thoughts, words, and deeds (Prov. 4:23).
3.6.2.4. love pasionately, strength o emotiosn.. i love you with all my heart .... heart = seed of emotion. but in bible, closer to mind ... but not mind totally, it's about core of us.
3.6.2.4.1. FEEL LUKE!!!
3.6.3. ALL OUR SOUL
3.6.3.1. with all our soul (synonymous with “spirit”). In our devotion to God, our soul is responsible for our highest spiritual exercises; it is the seat of our emotional activity. Christ’s obedience was nowhere more tested than in the garden of Gethsemane, where His soul was “very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt. 26:38). The soul expresses the sorrow and joy that inevitably accompany the life of faith (Ps. 42; 32:2). Thus, without wishing to press the distinction too far, it would seem that the “heart” relates to the will and the “soul” to the emotions.
3.6.3.2. II. By loving God with all the soul we mean giving to God and His service that which is the very essence of a being, the internal, animating principle of our lives. What we mean by soul is that essence or spirit within us which is regardless of matter. The power of the soul is a very different quality from the power of the heart. We may defend a cause or a person, or throw our lives into a certain current, because the soul compels us to that course of action, regardless of the heart. The power of the heart is in idealising another. The power of the soul is in idealising some hidden strength within ourselves. You love your darling child with all your heart. You love the cause you have at heart with all your soul. This is what is meant by soul—it is the rising above all the hindrances and limitations of our physical and material nature. Brethren, that is the kind of strength in us which God wants. It is that which we ought to give to Him, and which is always a great and commanding power when we find it ruling a strong character in the religious life.
3.6.4. ALL OUR MIND
3.6.4.1. To love God with our whole mind involves the seat of our intellectual life. However, to love God with our mind is also to love Him with the right dispositions and attitudes, those that place our intellect in strict subordination to God’s revelation of Himself, not only by thinking about Him, but by submitting our thinking to His revelation. Because of our finiteness, we will never get to a point where we have no need of learning more about God. We read in Isaiah 50:4 that God had given the “servant” (that is, Jesus) “the tongue of those who are taught,” and that “morning by morning” the servant was awakened by God to be taught. Christ’s love for God meant He applied not only His heart and soul, but also His mind. If it was necessary for Jesus to be taught so that He could love God with His mind, how much more is it necessary for His people?
3.6.4.2. III. By loving God with all the mind we mean putting into exercise our reasoning faculties with regard to Him. God can never be real to you unless you have real and definite thoughts with reference to Him. Begin with the fact of Jesus Christ, study out the meaning of the Christian Church, take in the grasp of the religious instincts and the moral faculties, study out God in history, believe in a definite Holy Ghost, and you will find that the mind will grow by what it feeds on, and that God will be a reality to your mind, when your mind has a real grasp upon God.
3.6.4.3. t is important to note that in the original Hebrew (and Greek in the Septuagint, LXX) of Deuteronomy 6:5 the reading is "heart, soul, and might (or power)."
3.6.4.4. Mark Knoll - the scandal of the veangelical mind is that it does not have!
3.6.5. ALL OUR STRENGTH
3.6.5.1. To love God with all our “strength” brings together all the various elements that have been discussed so far. Our heart, soul, and mind are distinguished in the words of Christ, but they should not be thought of as three distinct and separable pieces of our natures. Just as God’s attributes cannot be divided, so these elements of our being cannot be divided. In other words, just as God’s power is His love is His wisdom is His eternality is His knowledge, and so on, our “heart” is our “soul” is our “mind” is our “strength.” To love God with all of our strength, then, is to love God with all our being, which involves the whole man, both body and soul. That explains why the word all is repeated four times by Christ (Mark 12:30). Moreover, all four commandments are prefaced by the Greek preposition ex, thus highlighting that we love God not only with our whole heart but from our whole heart.
3.6.5.2. IV. By loving God with all our strength is meant the co-ordination of our powers and faculties in such a way as to shew the force of our character, the energy of our entire nature, the putting of our energies into exercise, and the command of our own personality over our mere circumstances and surroundings. We mean by the exercise of all our powers, through the unit of the individual will, what Frederick the Great meant when speaking of William Pitt. He said, "England has been a long time in labour, but she has at last brought forth a man." In the same way heart and soul and mind, when they become united with a definite will and purpose, produce that strength which shews itself in action—that belief which becomes a living force when it is translated into a life! How is it, then, that this wholeness of service ensures us against restlessness and unbelief and sin? The answer is very plain. Do you not see that if you have this much of the bulk of your nature on the side of the service of God, if God is real enough to you to claim a real and honest portion of your nature in every department—in heart, in soul, in mind, and in strength—there will be no trouble either in your belief in Him or in your service for Him? You will have exalted the spiritual side of your nature over the tyrannous rule of the body with its material demands, and you will be living upward to God instead of downward towards self; and the Being who had claimed and has received your affection, your soul, your mind, and your concentrated force of living will give you as a reward those returns of a spiritual life which grow to great results in cur life in exact proportion to our daily practice.—W. W. Newton.
3.6.5.3. So tehre is to be a force, a will, a moving forward - not just a waiting for something to happen
3.6.5.4. "A comparison of the order-heart, soul, mind (Matthew); heart, soul, mind, strength (Mark); heart, soul, strength, mind (Luke); heart, soul, strength (the Masoretic Text); and mind, soul, strength (the Septuagint)-among the various lists suggests that Mark and Luke added 'mind' to the Hebrew/Septuagintal formula whereas Matthew substituted 'mind' for 'strength.'" [Note: Eugene H. Merrill, "Deuteronomy, New Testament Faith, and the Christian Life," in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands, p. 26.]
3.6.5.5. That is to say, intensity is to be thrown into our love to God. We are to serve Him with all our might and throw all our energy into His worship! Thus he gives us, under four heads, a description of the kind of love which the Law of God requires of us—sincere—“with all your heart.” Intelligent—“with all your understanding.” Emotional—“with all your soul.” Intense and energetic—“with all your strength.”
3.6.6. Piper - "Love God with all your heart" means: Find in God a satisfaction so profound that it fills up all your heart. "Love God with all your soul" means: Find in God a meaning so rich and so deep that it fills up all the aching corners of your soul. "Love God with all your mind" means: Find in God the riches of knowledge and insight and wisdom that guide and satisfy all that the human mind was meant to be.
3.6.7. What does this mean? (carson)
3.6.7.1. Not just about volition -- committed. I hate them but I will love
3.6.7.1.1. 1 Cor 13 - does not work!!! Give all these thigns but have not will
3.6.7.1.2. The determintation to seek good
3.6.7.2. But can't be reduced to mere emtoion
3.6.7.2.1. emtoions in the bowels, guts .. kidneys.. I love you with all my bowels. "Bowels of compassion" --- that is the deep groanings of my life
3.6.7.2.2. Deut 6 -
3.6.7.2.3. bound up with fearing and obey god and passing it onto the next generation
3.6.7.2.4. makes sense if he is the one - created, freed, fear him, jealous God
3.6.8. Totality of our love is required
3.6.8.1. All of teh law is needed, not jus stome
3.6.8.2. Impossible!
3.6.8.3. "The measure of our love to God is to love Him without measure."
3.6.8.4. True religion engages the whole man, mind and soul and affections, while the strength and power to carry out its behests are not wanting. The intellect and the emotions, the spiritual nature, and the will and force to make the Spirit effective are all drawn upon.
3.6.9. NOT JUST WITH, but from
3.6.9.1. That explains why the word all is repeated four times by Christ (Mark 12:30). Moreover, all four commandments are prefaced by the Greek preposition ex, thus highlighting that we love God not only with our whole heart but from our whole heart.
3.7. Love others
3.7.1. Le 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
3.7.1.1. NOTE: I am the LORD - this anchors so man commands
3.7.1.2. The cardinal offense is not horizontal, but vertical. Every social offense is a
3.7.1.2.1. Degodding of God
3.7.1.2.2. Robbing God of his majestyr, his glory, his right
3.7.1.3. A chapter full of commands that govern social relationships
3.7.2. To do this we must get the first
3.7.3. NOTE THe question is what singular command, And jesus brings forth 2. Why? Because the second is inserparable from teh first
3.7.3.1. Ref: 1 john
3.7.3.2. REF: Matt - if you did it to one of these
3.7.4. Philanthropy is not religion; but there can be no true religion without philanthropy. We love God whom we have not seen because we have learned to love our fellow-men whom we have seen, and our love to our fellow-men is intense and pure and active in proportion to the strength of our devotion to the Lord our God.
3.7.5. Why answer this?
3.7.5.1. First, consider the sheer fact that Jesus said this. He didn't have to say it. The Pharisee didn't ask this. Jesus went beyond what he asked and said more. He seems to want to push the importance and centrality of these commandments as much as he can. He has said that the commandment to love God is great and foremost. He has said the commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself is "like it." Verse 39: "The second is like it . . . " That's enough to raise the stakes here almost as high as they can be raised. We have the greatest commandment in all the revelation of God to humanity (Love God); and we have the second greatest, which is like the greatest (Love your neighbor).
3.7.6. Look at Romans 13:8–10. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
3.7.7. Matthew 7:12 he says, Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
3.7.8. Matt 22:40 - 0 On these two commandments depend
3.7.8.1. Prophets depend (literally: "hang," like a stone around the neck, or a snake on the hand, or a man on a cross) on love
3.7.9. "AS"
3.7.9.1. As you long for food when you are hungry, so long to feed your neighbor when he is hungry. As you long for nice clothes for yourself, so long for nice clothes for your neighbor. As you work for a comfortable place to live, so desire a comfortable place to live for your neighbor. As you seek to be safe and secure from calamity and violence, so seek comfort and security for your neighbor. As you seek friends for yourself, so be a friend to your neighbor. As you want your life to count and be significant, so desire that same significance for your neighbor. As you work to make good grades yourself, so work to help your neighbor make good grades. As you like to be welcomed into strange company, so welcome your neighbor into strange company. As you would that men would do to you, do so to them.In other words make your self-seeking the measure of your self-giving. When Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself," the word "as" is very radical: "Love your neighbor as yourself." That's a BIG word: "As!" It means: If you are energetic in pursing your own happiness, be energetic in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. If you are creative in pursuing your own happiness, be creative in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. If you are persevering in pursuing your own happiness, be persevering in pursuing the happiness of your neighbor. In other words, Jesus is not just saying: seek for your neighbor the same things you seek for yourself, but also seek them in the same way—the same zeal and energy and creativity and perseverance. The same life and death commitment when you are in danger. Make your own self-seeking the measure of your self-giving. Measure your pursuit of the happiness of others, and what it should be, by the pursuit of your own. How do you pursue your own well-being? Pursue your neighbor's well-being that way too. - PIPER
3.7.9.2. *** piper - Now this is very threatening and almost overwhelming. Because we feel immediately that if we take Jesus seriously, we will not just have to love others "as we love ourselves," but we will have to love them "instead of loving ourselves."
3.7.10. *** how to do this?
3.7.10.1. Love God - taht is how I love myself. I want forgiveness, I want hope, I want life. I do these thigns because I care about myself. So I go to God out of self love. I seek him. I give up all for him.
3.7.10.2. And so I love God's creation. God's image
3.7.10.2.1. ILL: Somethign about my wife that she loves, she does - it becomes enduring to me
3.7.10.2.2. ILL: Father - hosanna.. crazy drawing.. but she loves it! So I love it becasue I love her. In artiist world, not much. But its an expression of rthat which I love
3.7.10.2.3. james 3:9-10
3.8. you see - love is what the law is after!!!
3.8.1. note lev 19
3.8.2. note deut 6
3.8.3. note this mans response later ... better than sacrifcies
3.8.4. what he is saying is love defines what it means to live lawfully. Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
3.8.4.1. Do not commit adultery
3.8.4.1.1. Why? Cause you love yoru neightbor, you wont' steal their wife or their husband
3.8.4.1.2. Do not steal -
3.8.5. Jesus says, “Therefore, if you say you are living lawfully and you’re a harsh person, an ungenerous person, a cold person, an unapproachable person, you’re not. You don’t even know what it’s after. It’s after love. All of these things boil down to love.” It’s saying, first of all, love defines what it means to live lawfully, but this is just as incredible. It also means the law defines what it means to live lovingly. Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
3.8.6. *** But at the same time, love is not independent of the law etierh - you just cant say "i'm a loving pereson" but have no law. It undermines God
3.8.7. The law is to help us express love, not get love
3.8.7.1. You don't get love from teh law. If you do that it will hurt you, bind you, master you.
3.8.7.2. In turn you will use it to treat others the same cause that's how you view life, the law. Want me to love you. Perform
3.8.7.3. So you hid, you want other sto hide. Your ashamed. YOu shame others. You're condemned. You condemn others.
3.8.7.4. That's the natural self. But jesus comes to fullfill the law and it's demands to bring us back to the orignal purpose hf the law - to help me express love
3.8.7.4.1. Love to God
3.8.7.4.2. Love to others
3.9. PRINCIPLE
3.9.1. Love for God flows out of knowledge of God
3.9.1.1. he is one
3.9.1.2. Love all because tehre's none like him. So all the love you have, all the resevoir of your devotions belongs to him because to whom else will you give it?
3.9.2. Love for man grows out of love for God
3.9.3. Love for God grows out of knowledge of God
3.9.4. All these are inserpable
4. The Man's followup Mk 12:32 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. Mk 12:33 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.”
4.1. Mk 12:32 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. Mk 12:33 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.”
4.2. is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
4.2.1. Now, this is a Jew speaking — at Passover! In the temple precincts he's saying this, that he's seen through to the spirituality of the Law
4.2.2. ". . . the 'friendly scribe' himself puts his finger on the fundamental difference separating Jesus and the religious authorities in terms of what it is to do the will of God: Whereas the essential matter for Jesus is loving God and neighbor, for the authorities it is strict adherence to law and tradition as they define this. ". . . Mark is in effect using the friendly scribe to identify the two contrasting positions of Jesus and the authorities on doing the will of God." [Note: Kingsbury, pp. 17, 124.]
4.2.3. He gets it! end of temple
4.2.4. TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN TO SACRIFICE!
4.3. "is much more" = exceeds
4.4. mans qualities
4.4.1. He was teachable to learn - note he tested but now he says "you are right" ...
4.4.1.1. sincere? Sure. No other comments
4.4.2. recognzies jesus as teacher
4.4.3. He is spiritual
4.4.3.1. he knows the law
4.4.3.2. he knows the truth when he hears it
4.4.4. He cares about God in some sense
4.4.5. He is smart
4.4.5.1. He knows those thigns are better than the law
4.4.6. IN certain respects, all men are alike—alike fallen and alike needing the Savior. Hence we have not 20 gospels, but only one—and we have not the Gospel graduated to scale to suit different classes of society, or different conditions of morality. We have the same Christ to set before sinners of every sort as their only hope—and the same message to proclaim to everyone of them, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” At the same time, we would make a very great mistake if we dealt with everybody in precisely the same way, for all human beings are not exactly alike and our Savior, Himself, drew distinctions concerning those who came to Him while He was upon the earth. He uttered very strong language to some of the scribes, but He used a very different tone in addressing the particular scribe to whom He said, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” There is no doubt that there are some sinners who are very far from the Kingdom of God—by their wicked works, they have gone away even further than they were by nature. They have added to the original sin which was theirs by birth, all the corruptions which have come of evil habits and, with their backs to the Light of God, they have gone further and further into the darkness of the night of sin. There are others, who through the restraining Grace of God, have never done this. They are fallen creatures, it is true, but still, there are many beautiful points in their character. Indeed, they are so amiable that even Jesus, when looking upon one such young man, loved him, though He had to say even to him—“One thing you lack.” - spurgeon
5. Illustrations
5.1. 9Marks @9Marks Feb 19 “What you win them with is what you win them to.”
6. Intro
6.1. John Wesley was born in 1703. He was the fifteenth son of Samuel Wesley, the rector of Epworth, and his wife Susanna. John Wesley attended Lincoln College in Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1728. He was 25 years old. He would go back to Oxford and join a group of undergraduate students. Among them, and the leader of this group, was Charles Wesley, John's brother, and in the company of this group was also George Whitefield — somewhat unknown, of course, at this point in time, but all three of them would become greatly known within the space of about a dozen years. And they joined what was called the Holy Club. They would meet together to study the Bible. They engaged in covenanted forms of spirituality, including fasting twice a week and engaging in set times of prayer every day, and attending communion once a week. John Wesley, of course, even though he was an ordained priest of the Church of England, was not converted. In 1735, and he was just over 30 years of age at this point...he was 32, I think He accepted this invitation by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to become a missionary to Indians in Georgia...in the state of Georgia. It was a disaster. It was a fiasco! And he says, “I went to America to convert Indians, but, oh! who shall convert me?” On his way back, on board ship he encounters some Moravian missionaries and was greatly influenced by them; and then, when he gets to London, seeks out the fellowship of the Moravians. And then on the morning of May 24, 1738, he opened his Bible, apparently at random, and his eyes fell on the text Mark 12:34: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
6.2. Haiti - comign back from the airport ... crwoded ... holding us up... running...almos there .. soem got on, some did not
6.3. From there - john's life was in a tizzy?
6.4. It's easy to read the word of God and miss the flow of the text. As we have found that the issue is not the question, but the point
6.4.1. Authoity?
6.4.2. marriage and divorce?
7. The Danger of this Man's condition Mk 12:34 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.
7.1. "kingdom of God"
7.1.1. There is a kingdom!!
7.1.1.1. The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in the gospels are “The kingdom of God is near; repent and believe the gospel.” Later in one of the other gospels Jesus says that the purpose of His coming is this: “That I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for this is why I have come.” At the very pinnacle of the Sermon on the Mount He says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness that belongs to it.”
7.1.1.2. Of course the idea of the kingdom of God is everywhere in the Old Testament. It's on every page of the Old Testament that God is king, that God rules and reigns, that God exercises authority and sovereignty. The opening page of the Bible and the story of creation, of God speaking and acting and making, and supremely sovereign...and He makes man to rule over the world
7.2. Spurgeon- The great danger of it is that though you are not far from the Kingdom, you are not in it
7.2.1. He almost leaped into the lifeboat, but just missed it and was drowned. The manslayer was fighting for his life and the avenger of blood was close behind him. He had almost reached the City of Refuge, but he was overtaken by his adversary just outside the gate—and so was slain. Almost saved is altogether lost! There are many in Hell who once were almost saved, but who are now altogether damned. Think of that, you who are not far from the Kingdom. It is being in the Kingdom that saves the soul, not being near the Kingdom. If you are just upon the border, yet if you have not actually entered, you are not secure. Those five foolish virgins were almost in the banqueting hall—there was only the thickness of a door between them and the wedding feast—but they only heard the awful sentence, “Too late! Too late! You cannot enter now.” Your great danger is that you will get to be content with being near the Kingdom, although not actually in it.
7.2.2. Thsii s the great sorrow of hell. that many will say they were so close, but they were still lost.
7.3. NOT FAR
7.3.1. Much like the rich man, so close
7.3.1.1. The man was to some extent intellectually qualified for the Kingdom; certainly he had grasped one of its fundamental principles. It would be interesting to work out a comparison between this scribe and the ruler of Mark 10:17. In both cases something was wanting to convert admiration into discipleship. If wealth was the bar in one case, pride of intellect may have been fatal in the other. The mental acumen which detects and approves spiritual truth may, in the tragedy of human life, keep its possessor from entering the Kingdom of God.1 [Note: H. B. Swete.]
7.3.1.2. The greatest tears shed for all of eternity may not be those that wre most adamantely against Christ, but those that were so near yet so far.
7.3.2. NOT - keep trying... get it.. go! Key --- obeying them and you will get in! Not saying that....
7.3.2.1. He's saying entrance into the kingdom is bound up in loving God as such ... and other .. must demonstrate this!
7.3.2.2. You cannot be saved by grace and hate your neighbor
7.3.2.3. TO come to terms with the first 2 commandments is to come to terms that we live in a God centered universe - Carson
7.3.3. The kingdom is near us all
7.3.3.1. JESUS - talks about the kgnodm being near
7.3.3.2. LUKE 10 = even those reject - the kigndom has come
7.3.4. Summation
7.3.4.1. Being impressed with Jesus does not make a you a follower of Jesus.
7.3.4.1.1. And it so impressed this man...it so impressed this man, and so he asked a question of his own
7.3.4.1.2. According to Cranfield, verse 32 should be rendered, “The response of the scribe, ‘Beautifully said, Teacher, what a beautiful answer.’
7.3.4.2. Examples
7.3.4.2.1. Balaam
7.3.4.2.2. Nation of Israel in the wilderness
7.3.4.2.3. Simon in acts who wanted to buy the power
7.3.4.2.4. Rich young ruler
7.3.4.2.5. those that practice unrighesouness --- did we not do this or that...
7.3.4.2.6. ("One thing you lack . . ."; Mark 10:21) and Nicodemus (John 3:1 ff). In each case the need of new birth into eternal life was evident. (see below). Here Jesus had in mind the fully consummated Kingdom that will be enjoyed only by the redeemed on the basis of the death and resurrection of the Son of Man (John 3:3, 14-15). According to Acts 6:7, many teachers of the law inherited the Kingdom after Pentecost.
7.3.4.3. Understanding the law of God is not enough. Knowing theology is not enough. Understanding God's word is not enough.
7.3.4.3.1. Let us beware of resting our hopes of salvation on mere intellectual knowledge. We live in days when there is great danger of doing so. Education makes children acquainted with many things in religion, of which their parents were once utterly ignorant. But education alone will never make a Christian in the sight of God. We must not only know the leading doctrines of the Gospel with our heads, but receive them into our hearts, and be guided by them in our lives. May we never rest until we are inside the kingdom of God, until we have truly repented, really believed, and have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus. If we rest satisfied with being "not far from the kingdom," we shall find at last that we are shut out for evermore. - JC Ryle
7.3.4.4. This passage reminds us (JC RYLE) "how far a man may go in religion and yet not be a true disciple of Christ
7.3.4.5. A moral life
7.3.4.6. An interest in religion
7.3.4.6.1. FJC - guy - atheist - likes to talk about relligion
7.3.4.7. A man is not necessarily in the kingdom of God because an intelligent inquirer
7.3.4.8. A man is not necessarily in the kingdom of God because he knows truth when he hears it
7.3.4.9. not far but not in = even if we come and tempt and now become friendly -
7.3.4.9.1. At first ( matt - to temp)
7.3.4.9.2. Here - commending jesus - You have rightly said
7.3.4.10. A man is not necessarily in the kingdom of God because he can answer questions bearing upon Christianity.
7.3.4.11. OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO LOVE GOD
7.3.4.11.1. He first loved us - Man's responsibility is to respond to God's love, which is reaching out to us on every side -- reaching out in nature, reaching out in the supply of all that is being given to us day by day. We are never to forget that the things we enjoy -- the food, the air, the sunshine, the shelter -- all these material things of life that we need -- come from the hand of God. It is God who gives them. It is God's goodness protecting us, sheltering us, and watching over us that keeps us from being ravished and destroyed by the forces that are at work for evil in our lives. God's sheltering hand is protecting us. So when you think about the love of God, and especially the love that redeems us, the proper and only response of the heart is to love God back with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
7.3.5. ILL:
7.3.5.1. Dante, in speaking of those who lived in dead indifference, without either “infamy or praise,” says that he saw in the other world the shade of him who “with ignoble spirit refused the great offer.” It has been a disputed question who was in the poet’s eye, enduring the eternal shame of declining to take one noble step. Those surely are in the right who find him in that young man who turned away sorrowful when the Lord said, “Come, follow me”; for, as has been observed, nothing that ever happened in the world could be so justly called, as Dante calls it, “the great refusal.” If anything can fill the future world of sin and loss with tormenting regret, it must be that the Kingdom of God was so near, the call to it so free, and that the opportunity was fatally and totally lost. How sadly does the wise man say, “for man knoweth not his time,” and what a sorrow was in the heart of Christ when He said, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace.” Not far from the Kingdom of God, and yet this not far may lose it all!1 [Note: John Ker.]
7.3.5.2. Elizabeth Browning - Oh the little more, and how much it is! And the little less and what worlds away!
7.4. no one answered him
7.4.1. Shows Jesus victory
7.4.2. Shows their hard hearts
7.4.2.1. We know they did not resign - "Jesus won". They simpy were going to take another path. No more verbal discussions.
7.5. The warning
7.5.1. ILL - “So near to the Kingdom! Yet what do you lack? So near to the Kingdom! What keeps you back? Denounce every idol, though dear it may be, And come to the Savior now pleading with thee! So near, that you hear the songs that resound From those who believing, a pardon have found! So near, yet unwilling to give up your sin When Jesus is waiting to welcome you in! To die with no hope! Have you counted the cost?— To die out of Christ and your soul to be lost? So near to the Kingdom! Oh come, we implore! While Jesus is pleading, come enter the door!”
7.6. The encouragement
7.6.1. think how much God has already done for you.
7.6.1.1. Think of yoru life and what has brought you so near?
7.6.2. as He has done so much for you, should not this encourage you to ask Him for still more?
7.6.2.1. Ask for new birth. Make me born again. Make alive my soul - for you are dead in your sin. And waht that means is that you are severed from life --- Jesus, God. That is death, and eternal death is eternally seprated from God. ALive!
7.6.2.2. Now, was there ever a more Divine message than this? God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. He took upon Himself the sin of guilty man. He suffered in the place of the guilty and He bids us now proclaim this Gospel of free, Sovereign Grace, that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
7.6.2.3. but is it not very clear to you that you need something more than you can find in yourself? You have come as far as you can, yet, as far as that is compared with where others are, how little it really is! I said that you had begun to pray, but what sort of prayer is yours? I said that you were an attentive hearer of the Word—so you are—yet how small a thing will take you off from the pursuit of the blessed realities of Grace! You know that although you are somewhat softened, your heart is still hard. There is still much unbelief in your soul, though there is a gleam of what looks like faith now and then. In fact, to put the matter very plainly, you are in such a condition that you will be in Hell unless the mercy of God shall prevent it, for you are certainly not yet saved! Do you know that it is so? Do you really feel this? Then, can you not, (may God help you to do it), by one desperate effort of faith, throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and say to Him, “Never will I go from You, O You blessed Savior, till You pronounce me clean! I now put out the tip of my finger, feeble and weak as my faith is, and I touch You. If You can save a sinner, Jesus, save me! I trust You to do so!” Friend, you are saved! That simple touch of the finger has brought virtue out of Christ unto you and He has bid you go in peace!
7.6.3. *** HE MOVED ... he moved closer. He understood somethign --- that this temple sytsem.. this thing of live and fail and sacrifice... this routine we go through ... it's broken. It's wrong. It misses the greatest point. To help us love God!
7.6.3.1. Jonathan Edwards says the difference between a religious person and a Christian is religious people obey the law out of an empty heart, using God to try to fill it with blessings. A real Christian is someone who obeys God out of a full heart just simply trying to delight God and the people around us with who he is in himself. Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
7.7. dare
7.7.1. People are petrified - not just cozy love :)