The First and the Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

When asked which was the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus Christ replied it is this: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and all thy mind", and he explained that it was not only the greatest commandment, but it was also the first. Let us explain how it is both the first and the greatest.

THE FIRST

It is the 'first' for it was the first command that God ever gave any Creature. Before God made any thing, spiritual or natural, there was love. There was love between God and his Son, and that love was manifest through the Spirit. There was no command to love, for the Father and Son naturally loved, for it was and is their nature to love. But when God through his Son brought forth the angels from the womb of nothingness, there went forth a command, "Love the Lord thy God". When Gabriel was birthed, the command was upon him. When Michael was constituted the command was upon him. The command came to every winged cherubim and seraphim. It was upon all the angels, "Love the Lord thy God".

Then when Adam was formed of the dust and quickened by the breath of life, and he opened his eyes for the first time, the command came to him "Love the Lord thy God". When Eve was formed from the rib of man, and awakened in life, the command fell upon her, "Love the Lord thy God".

And every child of Adam that comes into the world is lightened with the command from heaven, "Love the Lord thy God". It is the first command that eternity knew, it is the first command that man was given and it is the first command every child of Adam is given when it comes into the world.

THE GREATEST.

But not only is it the first, but it is the greatest commandment. Why?

First, It is the creature's duty. Notice the Word says to "Love the Lord THY God". It is the duty of the creature to love its Creator. And Jehovah is the Creator of every living thing. As he brought forth Adam, he also brought you forth from your mother's womb, he stitched you together, he gave you strength and energy. You live and move and have your being in him. All Good things come from the Father above. All that you have, all that are you, is because of GOD. You see, it is the duty of the creature to love its Creator, and it is a black sin, the blackest of all sins not to love such a one as Jehovah God. It is the duty of every creature to love and to serve its Maker.

But not only is it the Greatest because of duty, but because it is the all compassing commandment. It is the Commandment that fulfills all the other commandments. Listen to the words of John:

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. – 1 John 5:3, 2nd John 1:6

And as Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words"– John 14:23

This one command if fulfilled will cause all the commandments to be fulfilled. Yet if this commandment is not obeyed, no amount of obedience will be accepted by God, it shall be accounted as filthy rags. You see, this is the make all or the break all commandment! It is the first and it is the greatest.

HOW SHALL WE LOVE GOD?

Now we shall see how we are commanded to love our Creator, for we not only are told to love him, but we are commanded how we shall love him. And as God he has the right to command such.

First our Scriptures tell us: To love the Lord thy God with: "All thy heart", That is he is to have your supreme affection. You are to love GOD more than any person or anything. Jesus actually said this:

" If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." – Luke 14:26

What do these words mean? That we must love all these LESS than Christ; and we are to be willing to turn away from them if they stand in our way of honoring Christ.

Secondly Christ said we must "Love the Lord thy God with: "All thy soul", Here the word 'soul' represents our life. We are to love God so much, that we would be willing to die for his Honor. Jesus said the following:

Luke 9:24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

History is littered with stories of men and women who gave their life for Jesus Christ. During the reign of the Caesars thousands died rather than to burn incense to a false god. In Daniel we are told of the three Hebrew children who were willing to be cast into the fiery furnace rather than to bow to the image of the King. Daniel himself was thrown to the lions because he would not sin by ceasing to pray to his God. All of the Apostles, with the possible exception of John, sealed their testimony with their own blood. We are called my friends, to love God more than our own lives.

Thirdly, we are commanded to "Love the Lord thy God with" : All thy Mind, that is with all our powers of intellect. I think this means first to love him so much that we submit our intellect to his will. And we are to love his Word and his Gospel and we are to base the decisions of our life upon these. If we love him with all of our minds we are willing to submit all our faculties to his teaching and guidance. Not only this but we are to devote to him all our intellectual powers, and all of our intellectual attainments should be to his glory.

Finally, in Luke 10:27 it is added: "love the Lord thy God with" – "All thy Strength". With all our strength, that is with our physical powers. I am to put my life, my strength and all my resources into the service of God. As the Bible says,

"Offer up your body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service". A love that does not produce action is not true.

DO WE LOVE GOD LIKE THIS?

Now that we have quickly summarized this Commandment and explained the Love that God commands us to have. Let me ask you: Do you love God in this way? How do you know? Does everyone who says they love God truly love God?

Jesus said this about the Pharisees: "they say, and do not". He called them hypocrites and he said to them, "I know the love of God is not in you". How did he know? How can we know? Christ said, "You will know them by their fruits".

I have witnessed to men who are open sinners, drunkards, drug addicts, harlots and thieves and they have told me that they 'love' Jesus. Should I believe them? Should I believe that a person who walks willingly in sin, loves the Lord Jesus Christ? Of course not. The Bible says, "If you love me, Keep my commandments"... "He that keepeth not my words, loveth me not".

THE NEED FOR THE NEW BIRTH

No sinner loves God, and it is not possible for a sinner to love God, until he is regenerated. "We love God because he first loved us". Until we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have that heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh we cannot even begin to love GOD.

When Christ saves us, and indwells our heart he brings the pure, sweet love of God into us, for God is love, and he causes us to love in sincerity. And our greatest love is directed toward God. I did not know what love was until I was born again.

Once I was saved and the Agape [Love of God] came into my life, my greatest desire became to love and to please my God. It became my desire to obey him and to separate from that which displeases him. 1st John 5:3 became real to my soul, "This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous".

Am I saying I'm not tempted with evil? NO. The flesh is still the fallen flesh. It still lusts against the Spirit. But my spirit now desires to please God, and by the empowering of the Holy Spirit I can do that. If I walk in the Spirit I will not fulfill the Lusts of the flesh. And sin cannot have dominion over me.

LOVE OF MANY SHALL WAX COLD

Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Now we must consider this warning of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Matthew, speaking of the latter days Jesus said: "The love of many shall wax cold". Here he is clearly speaking of the Love of God, Agape love. Not brotherly love, not the love of friends, not the love a man and woman shares, but the love of God, it shall wax cold in the hearts of many. Who are the 'many'? The professors of religion who had at one time a burning love for God, but who let iniquity quench the fire in their heart.

They are they "which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away" – Luke 8:13

They only "Endure for a time" – Mark 4:17

And what becomes of that which does not endure? It is lost.

"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." – Matthew 24:13

FROM HOT TO LUKE WARM

With this it is easy to connect these verses to the imagery of Revelation chapter three, where Christ spoke to the Laodecian Church. When he spoke to this Church he said that he wished they were cold or hot, but because they were lukewarm they would be spued out of his mouth.

At one time, when the Church was first established it was on fire for the Lord, like all the other churches, but now Christ looks at it and declares it to be lukewarm. The love had waxed cold, their relationship had been severed [Christ was outside knocking], now they were merely religious people, religious but lost.

And Christ says to such, "I'll spue you out of my mouth". The word 'spue' means to vomit up. If you can imagine taking up a cup of juice that you think is sweet, and putting it to your lips, and then finding it filled with rotteness; and the stench is so strong that it causes a gag reaction. This is what Christ experiences with this Church.

WHAT CAUSES GOD TO SPUE?

Isaiah 1:12-16 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil!

Here is what makes the God of the Universe 'spue'. It is people who pretend to love him, who pretend to worship him, who go through the ceremonies; but who have willful sin in their life and of course the sin is present because their love for God has waxed cold, or they never really had it. And here we see that GOD teaches us that He would much rather for people to never tread his courts, than to come and to pretend, "I wish you were hot or cold".

COMPARING HOT AND LUKE WARM

As we have seen you can't judge by what they 'say'. For they say they are one thing, when they are not. You must judge them by their fruits. As Jesus scolded the Church of Laodecia he said, "You say you are this.... But you are really this". Right now we shall examine the fruit of those who are not ready to meet God.

1st Corinthians 6:9-10 ¶ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatian 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance [fighting with words], emulations [to rage when someone else is honored], wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,* and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The word "Revellings" means of course to "party", which parties may include eating, drinking, dancing, and singing all done in wantonness. But I want to pay careful attention to the Syriac version, which renders the word: "lascivious singing"; and the Arabic version has for it the word "songs" which are a part of the nightly revels. Those who walk in the SPIRIT do not LISTEN to the songs the world listens to. They do not listen to Rock n Roll, they do not listen Country, or any other form of worldly, flesh edifying music.

Ephesians 5:1-6 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Here Paul considers people who talk filthy, foolish or Jest in an non-convenient manner, unclean. And notice again that covetousness is mentioned. Covetousness, Jealousy, Greed and Emulations can all be classed in the super heading SELFISHNESS. And it is absolutely impossible to be in LOVE with GOD with these things in your life. The love of GOD will make you admit, "it is better to give than to receive".

DON'T PARTAKE IN OTHER MEN'S SIN

Ephesians 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Here Church we are commanded not to be partakers with those who do these things. And as a Church if we do not rebuke these who do these things, while claiming to be Christian, then we are actually supporting them in their sins. We are commanded to purge out the old leaven from our Church that we might be a new lump. If men are not willing to give up their sins, then they should lose their membership.

1st Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

CONCLUSION.

Isaiah 33:14-17 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. – Psalms 91:8

Fearfulness shall soon fall upon both the Sinners and Hypocrites; for the devouring everlasting fires of hell shall soon come upon them. Yet there remains hope. For Today is the day of salvation, right now is the accepted time. Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the days of provocation.

Oh flee to Christ, confessing and forsaking your sins, trusting in his blood for your pardon, asking him to give you a new heart, and to put in you the true love of GOD. Oh come why there is time. Here is the Word of God to you:

"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes not shall be damned" – Mark 16:16.

Flee to Calvary! For the wrath cometh.