If you're able, remain standing with me as we turn to read God's word this morning. We resume our consideration of the gospel of Mark this morning in chapter 12, and we will be reading verse 28 through verse 24, or 34 rather. Verses 28 through 34 of Mark chapter 12. This is the word of our Lord, give your attention to it. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. And seeing that he answered them well, he 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 of 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 that there is no other beside him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbors as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. This is the word of our God. May he bless us this morning as we consider it together. You may be seated. Let us pray once again and ask his blessing upon the preaching of his word. Father, yet again we come before you with humble hearts, asking that you would show us your glory from your Word. Praying that you would open the eyes of our hearts, that you would unstop our ears, that you would give to our minds understanding so that we might behold and see here, in this passage as in every other, your grace, your mercy, your goodness towards sinners. We pray all of these things in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. A number of years ago, I was a part of an evangelistic Bible study. And one of the interesting things about this evangelistic Bible study, of course, was that you often had unbelievers at it. That's kind of the point of an evangelistic Bible study. But one of the interesting things about these unbelievers who would come to this study is that you would see the different kinds of people who are inquiring about the Christian faith. On the one hand, you would see those who came, and it was pretty clear that they came for one reason and one reason only, and that is because we served pizza at the Evangelistic Bible Study. They were simply there for a free meal and perhaps for a little bit of fellowship, and they enjoyed their time. They listened patiently to the Word of God being explained, and then they politely said, see you later, and they really didn't show any genuine interest. On the other hand, there were some, and in particular one man comes to my mind, who was regularly amazed by the Word of God. He would come and he would hear the scripture read and opened and he would become so intrigued by the message of the gospel. He would sit patiently through the instruction and he would be so incredibly impressed by the wisdom of the scripture. by the beauty of the Scripture, by the truth that it conveyed about God and about how to live before Him. He was really enraptured, in many ways, by the Word of God. And yet, nevertheless, this man, even though he would come and he would engage, and at times he would offer what seemed to be deeper spiritual insight into the passage than some of the believers who were there, yet nevertheless, he would never move past curiosity to commitment. He loved the Bible. He thought it was fascinating. He thought of Jesus as a great sage, but he could not conceive of him as a savior. Perhaps you've met someone like that. You actually don't have to look very far, perhaps even in our own day, you can look at some pop culture figures and you can see this same kind of interest in the Lord and in his word. One thinks perhaps of Jordan Peterson who has entire teaching series explaining the word of God from his particular psychological perspective and seeking to apply principles which he has rightly or wrongly abstracted from the text to young men and women who are desperately seeking for meaning in this secular age. You could think, for instance, of just a few weeks ago when the most popular podcaster in the entire world, Joe Rogan, had a Christian apologist to come on and speak to him about the truth claims of Christianity. These men are clearly curious about the Savior, but they are also clearly not people who have a serious commitment to Christianity. Again, they think of the Savior as a sage, but not as a Savior. We see this, of course, in our own age, but it's interesting that as we turn our attention this morning to Mark chapter 12, and we see yet another man coming to the Lord Jesus with a question, we find in him a man who in many ways bears many parallels to the figures that I've just described to you. As he comes unto Jesus, he does so clearly intrigued by what he has heard from Jesus thus far. He's been, it appears, eavesdropping in on the conversations, the interactions that Jesus has been having, and he's intrigued by what he hears. And so he comes, and he asks his question of Jesus, and he very patiently and appropriately, really, receives the instruction which Jesus seeks to give to him. And then, not only does he receive that instruction, he is impressed with the instruction that he has received. He says, truly, you've answered well. And yet, nevertheless, after being so intrigued by the Savior, after being so instructed by the Savior, after being so impressed by the Savior, this man ultimately is excluded by the Savior. from membership in the kingdom of God. It's a fascinating passage, isn't it? It's a remarkable thing to witness. A man who is willing to admire Jesus from a distance. A man who is willing to entertain with a great deal of curiosity the teaching of the Savior, but who is not willing to move from his curiosity, from his intrigue, to commitment, to devotion, to discipleship. That's what we see here in this passage before us. And as we come to it this morning, what I want us to think about as we study this passage and as we try to come to grips with some of the mysterious things contained within it, is simply the question, why? Why is this man, excluded from the kingdom. And we'll see it, I think, as we come particularly to the last verse. But before we get there, let us consider first how this man is so intrigued by the Lord Jesus as we turn our attention here to verse 28. Look at what happens here. Verse 28 tells us that one of the scribes came up and he heard them disputing with one another. Now, it's a little vague, you can tell from the text. When does this man come up? Does he come up perhaps at the beginning of Jesus's interaction with those who came to challenge his authority from the Sanhedrin? Perhaps. Does he come up at the point where Jesus is being confronted by the Herodians and the Pharisees? Perhaps. Does he simply come up at the very end and witness this interaction between the Sadducees and Jesus? Perhaps. We don't know. But what we do know is that at some point in this series of attacks that Jesus is suffering, as we've noticed before, from the kingdom of darkness. Wave after wave of onslaught that is being brought to Him, trying to ridicule Him, trying to tear Him down, trying to humiliate Him before the people of Jerusalem. At some point along the line, as Jesus is sparring with these intellectual foes and, quite frankly, destroying them, this man walks up. and he listens in to the interactions that are taking place. He hears them disputing with one another, and in the course of listening to this disputation, he becomes, it appears, rather intrigued with the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees, you see about halfway through the verse, that Jesus has answered these men well. He sees that as these men come up seeking to humiliate Christ, they leave with their tails tucked firmly between their legs. They have met with the master and they have found themselves being mastered. His wisdom, his spirituality, his authority is clear to this man. He's intrigued. And so out of his intrigue, he comes and he asks what appears to be a genuine question. I want you to notice that. This is the first genuine question, perhaps, that Jesus has gotten all day. He's had a lot of them in genuine questions, but here this man comes and he appears, from the text of Mark at least, to be someone who is genuinely interested. What does the Savior, what does this man, what does this great wise rabbi who is humiliating all of the religious elite of our day, what does he have to say to this question? And he comes and he lays this question before him. Which commandment is the most important of all? Well, let me say to you, friends, that that is a humdinger of a question. Now, it might not sound that interesting to you, but you're not a Jew living in the first century. But if you just cast your mind back to what it must have been like to be someone living under the Mosaic Law, you immediately realize why this is a very important thing to come to grips with. There were, according to the scribes of Jesus's day, and according to the rabbis of our own day, 613 separate commands contained in the law of God. Now, I don't have to tell you that, some of you, because Where are we at? We're entering into February, so you're not there yet, but it won't be long where some of you will begin to enter into that season of your yearly Bible reading plan where you are likely to quit. And the reason is, of course, that you will be entering into that section of the Old Testament which contains those 613 laws. And you know how easy it is to get bogged down in those portions of Scripture. There is so much detail, there is so much intricacy, there is so much demand placed upon the people of God. And it was clear to people living in Jesus' day, and it's clear to Jewish people living in our own day, that there must be some priority, because there is no physical way that you can really honestly seek to live consistently in accord with all of those laws. So there must be some sort of priority given. There must be. There must be some sort of hierarchy. And so he comes and he asks Jesus, what is the most important principle? Can you boil it down for me? And this was actually quite a common question in the days of Jesus. There's a very famous account of the rabbi Hillel who is asked by a Gentile, can you explain to me the law of God while I stand on one foot? And Hillel simply said to him, whatever is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That's a rough paraphrase. But you can see what Hillel is doing there. You can see the traditions of the rabbis. They are seeking on a regular basis to find a way to summarize the law, to boil it down to its essence. And it is this question that this man puts before Jesus, a standard question in some ways, but a very important question. Which commandment is the most important of all? And Jesus begins to answer him here in verse 29. And as He does so, He instructs not only this man, but He instructs us as well, of course. There's much that we can benefit from as we meditate upon what God has said here in His Word through the mouth of the Lord Jesus. Listen to what He says here. Jesus answered, the most important is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. It goes on, 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. Now let's just pause there at verse 30 for a second and note what Jesus has done so far. First, you notice the way he begins the answer at verse 29. He roots the commandment in a theological reality. Now notice that, that's very important. He actually roots it in the very beginning of the Shema. You may have heard that term before. It comes from that word hear, O Israel, which in Hebrew is Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. He says before you go anywhere else, before you begin to understand God's law, you first have to understand the unique character of the God of Israel. He is God and he is God alone. There is no one beside him. That is key. You must understand that if you are going to understand His law. And because He is who He is, we therefore as His creation and as His people who have been redeemed by Him, owe to Him unfailing devotion and loyalty. You notice that's what He says next. Beginning in verse 30, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength. Now, what does he mean by that? We can summarize it very simply. He means you owe devotion and affection to God with every fiber of your being. Internally, externally, You owe him your strength, physically. You owe him your mind, mentally. You owe him your heart and your soul, spiritually. Every fiber of your being is called to love God. Now I cannot help but read this passage and think about one of my favorite quotes from Augustine of Hippo. Augustine has many wonderful works. I would encourage you to read many of them. But probably the one that's easiest to start with and the most immediately beneficial would be his homilies on the epistle of 1 John. And in his homilies on the epistle of 1 John, he has this wonderful statement that I use on a regular basis. Some of you probably heard me say it before, so bear with me. But he says these words, he says, love and do whatever you will. Love, and do whatever you will. Basically, what Augustine is getting at is what Jesus is getting at. If you love God with every fiber of your being, if you love your neighbor, as Christ is going to say in just a second, with every fiber of your being, then you are free to do whatever you desire because you will not sin against God or against your neighbor because you love them. This is what Jesus is getting at here. Love is at the center. It is at the center. It is at the heart and soul of all true obedience to God. He goes on. You notice the man only ask him for the most important commandment, but Jesus decides to give him the first and the second most important. And of course he does so appropriately because they go together, don't they? Listen to what he says here. Love the Lord your God, 31. So the second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, before we hit the last section of verse 31, just notice this for a moment. Look at the way Jesus has progressed here. He begins with that theological truth. There is no other God except for the God of Israel. That is first and foremost. You have to understand that if you're gonna get anything right. Second, he goes on, you owe all of your being to the Lord. You must love him. And now he goes to the second, which is like unto it in this sense. You must not only love God with all of your being, but you must love those who have been created in the image of God. and you must love them," how? As you love yourself. You notice that. He says, the same affection that you rightly have for yourself. You notice, you are supposed to have affection for yourself. There is an appropriate sense in which we love ourself. We are to use that same affection to clarify, to teach ourselves, to love and to treat others the way we would like to be treated. This is the second great commandment which Jesus instructs this man in. And he closes out this section simply by saying there is no other commandment greater, or there is no other commandment greater than these. Another place the scripture would say that here in these commandments is contained all of the law and the prophets. This is the center. Love for God, love for neighbor, everything else flows out from that. Now before we move on, I think it is important for us to just stop and to ask ourselves, is this the way we think about God's law? Is this the way we seek to live our lives? Are we seeking conscientiously? to use every fiber of our being, to exert every fiber of our strength, to use every corner of our mind, every inch of our heart to love our God. Now, that's a vague question in a sense, isn't it? But I wanna just point out to you that when you love someone, you live in accordance with that love. So I would ask you this morning as we sit here and as we consider whether or not we are living in accordance with God's call on our life, as we consider whether or not we are living lives of godliness and worthiness for the calling which God has called us to, I would ask you, when you look at your life, when you see the things you do, when you see the priorities you have, are you living with one great goal in mind and that is the glory of God, the extension of His kingdom, the spreading abroad of the praise and the honor of His name. Is that what is the dominant feature of your existence? Or is there something else that you have placed in that position? Have we become subtly idolatrous? Is there something in our heart that we love more than our God? I think, just by way of observation, that one of the most frequent things that people get wrong about these two commandments is that they tend to set them against one another. They believe that they should set aside part of God's word They believe that they should not offend those around them by calling them to repentance, by calling them to consistency with the teaching of the scripture. And they believe that that's okay because they believe that by not doing that, they are loving them. And what are they doing, of course? They're setting aside the first of these commandments. They're splitting them apart. They're saying, well, I know my friend is living in sin, but I don't want to offend them. I want to be a loving friend. I want to be a gracious friend. So I'm not going to say anything about this sin that they're committing, about this habit that they've developed, about this tendency that they have to dismiss the things of God and to embrace worldliness or whatever it might be. They subtly set these commandments in opposition to one another, and by doing so, let me be clear with you here, by doing so, if that is your tendency, you are not living in accordance with either one of them. They have to be kept together. It is not loving for you to allow your neighbor to live in sin. and to potentially face the wrath and the judgment of God because you want to spare them the discomfort of calling them to repentance. What is loving, loving God and loving neighbor is being willing to have the hard conversations. It's being willing to bear the reproof, to bear the burden, to bear the loss perhaps of friendships even at times. Because we are committed to loving God and loving our neighbor. This is what Jesus is teaching us here. And of course, as we look at verse 32, this scribe is rather impressed with what Jesus has had to say. Look at what he says here in verse 32. You can almost hear him being excited as he interacts with Jesus here. Maybe that's just me, but. And the scribe said to him, you're right, teacher. You have truly said he is one. There is no other beside him. He affirms that theological presupposition that Jesus lays down there, part of the Shema that all Jews would have affirmed multiple times a day. You are right, he says, that it begins there. And then it goes on, verse 33, he says, and that we must, right, love him with all of our heart and with all of our understanding and with all of our strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. He says here, you have got it right, Jesus. And he actually takes it one step further, which by the way, confirms to us that he does indeed understand exactly what Jesus is saying. Listen to what he says here. He says that these things are much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now listen to the spiritual insight that this scribe has. It's rather impressive actually. He points out that the Old Testament, as Jesus has rightly exposited it for us here in this passage, teaches us very clearly one major, major principle in the law. The moral obligations of the law, the love of God and the love of neighbor trumps the ceremonial aspects of the law. It is very important that you understand that. It is very important that you understand that the whole burnt offerings and that the sacrifices, they were indeed very important, but they were not nearly as important as the love of God and the love of neighbor. And we can see that from a number of passages in the Old Testament, one of which we just covered not that long ago in our evening worship. You remember whenever we were preaching through the section of 1 Samuel 15. I did say it correctly that time and not 1 Corinthians 15. I'm very proud of myself. But as we were making our way through 1 Samuel 15, you'll remember what we encountered there. Remember Saul's pathetic excuse as he's standing there before Samuel. And he's saying, hey, we did everything that we were supposed to do. We went and we destroyed the Amalekites, and we devoted everything to destruction. And what did Samuel simply ask him? Well, hey, what is this bleeding of the sheep that I hear in my ear? What is this lowing of the cattle that I can hear coming from behind you? Obviously, Saul, you have not done what you were supposed to do. What did Saul say? Oh, well, we saved these animals so that we could sacrifice them. Well, what did Samuel say in response to that? He said, no, no, no, no, no. Obedience is better than a sacrifice. You've got it wrong, Saul. You've got it wrong. What God desired for you to do was to love him and to lovingly submit to him, to use the language of Jesus. He doesn't care about the sacrifices. He desired your obedience. It's a rather careful exegesis on the part of the scribe, isn't it? He understands what Jesus is trying to communicate. He affirms it. And at this point, perhaps we're thinking, wow, he's doing really well. And he is doing really well, isn't he? Jesus thought he was doing pretty well, too. You notice this as we move past verse 33 into verse 34. Listen to what Jesus says as he encounters the really impressive wisdom and insight of the scribe. Verse 34, Jesus saw that he answered wisely and he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. At first glance, there are two things that we should notice about this. First, it's a weird thing to say. The second thing is, is that this is quite a different response than some of the interactions, some of the responses that Jesus has had to others. It's fruitful to put this passage side by side with the passage where Jesus was encountering that rich young man. It's interesting, you know, he comes up to him, how can I have eternal life? He wants to be a member of the kingdom. Jesus interacts with him. He leaves with sadness. After Jesus confronts him and calls him to sell all of his goods and give it to the poor, we immediately see that this is a man who is not loving his neighbors as himself. Jesus sends him away, he is shameful, and Jesus says to his disciples, to their amazement, it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for this man, this rich man, to enter in to the kingdom of God. Now here we have a startlingly different statement from Jesus. He affirms that this man has a great deal of spiritual insight. He says he, on the other hand, is not far from the kingdom of God. He does not compare his entrance into the kingdom of God to being something that is completely impossible, like a camel passing through the eye of the needle. And yet, nevertheless, he is very clear that while he is not far from the kingdom, he is not in the kingdom. And that's really the startling realization that we should have here. So considering this verse this week, I could not escape the old saying, I think it might be a kind of a country folk saying, but maybe some of you have heard it before. I used to hear it a lot from my grandparents when I was a kid. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, they would say. Well, this is the spiritual equivalence to that. Jesus is saying, you're not far from the kingdom, you're not in the kingdom though. Now just think about that for a minute. Here's a man who has been intrigued by Jesus, who has been instructed by Jesus, who is impressed by Jesus. Think about how different he is to every other man, to every other group who has come and spoken to Jesus in Jerusalem thus far. Jesus has met with nothing but opposition. all the way through from the beginning to the end. The Sanhedrin oppose him, the Herodians oppose him, the Sadducees oppose him, the Pharisees oppose him. Every scribe, actually, that we've met in the entire book of Mark up to this point has been in opposition to Jesus, except for this one. And yet, still, he is completely crystal clear. This man, though he may be on the right track, is not yet in the kingdom of God. What are we to make of this? I think what we're to make of this is simply this. That this man certainly has an admiration for the Savior. He certainly has a curiosity about the teaching of the Savior. He is drawn to the magnetism of Jesus. He is interested to hear the teaching that comes from Jesus' lips. He thinks that Jesus is on to something. But even though he is intrigued and curious, willing to be instructed and even impress, he is not committed. He is not devoted. And he has not seen the one thing that every citizen of the kingdom must see. When he looks at Jesus, he sees a sage. But he does not see a savior. And it is for this reason that he is not a citizen of the kingdom of God. Now, we don't know what happens to this man. I would certainly like to believe that as he continued on the same path of being receptive to the preaching of God's word that was coming from the lips of Jesus, that perhaps he was converted. Perhaps he became one of those many priests, scribes, who we learn in the book of Acts became members of the church of Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that that didn't happen, be clear here. But what Jesus is adamant about here is that while this man admires the Savior, while he's impressed, intrigued, and instructed by the Savior, he is nevertheless not yet committed to coming to the Savior by faith and seeing Him as who He truly is. As Mark would phrase it, I think if he was standing before us, he does not yet see in this sage the king of glory who has become the suffering servant for the sake of God's people. And thus as we conclude this morning, I think it's appropriate for me to simply ask the question of you today. When you read of Jesus, when you study his word, when you come here to worship, how do you conceive of Jesus? Is he someone who can help you guide your life so that it's more pleasant? Is he someone who can give you some tips for efficient living? Is He someone who you admire for His moral character and for His biblical wisdom? Or do you see Him as your Savior? Because the difference between seeing Him as a sage and seeing Him as a Savior is the difference between spiritual death and spiritual life. It is the difference between being a member of the kingdom of darkness or a member of the kingdom of light. It is the difference between heaven and hell. It's really the most important decision, the most important question. we can ever ask or grapple with. What do we make of Jesus? Who is he to you? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness and grace and mercy and love towards us in the Savior. We thank you, oh Father, that you have shown us here in your word, not only the way that we can come to understand how to live a pleasant and enjoyable life in this world, but the way to eternal life and fellowship with you through the person of Jesus Christ. I pray this day that you would build us all up in faith. I pray for any who might be here this morning who think of Jesus as a great teacher and yet do not yet trust Him as the Savior. Father, we pray that You would break the rocky exterior of hard hearts and that You would pour into those hearts Your grace and that You would work in those hard hearts faith. Lord, for those of us who trust in the Savior, we pray that you would teach us to never let go, to never forget who he is and what he means for us. We pray that you would commune and fellowship with us in him, and we pray even now that as we go to the table, that you would remind us of what it cost you to bring us into fellowship and communion with yourself. Show us your love. Display to us your grace. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.