Today we are going to finish up our study on Love, and the greatest two commandments. We have already talked about what it means to Love the Lord your God, it is loving God with all of your everything, total and complete commitment. Then we talked about loving our neighbor as ourselves. The world we live in desperately needs to see God’s love, and that is done through us His church. We love God with all of our everything, and we love the world around us with the love that He has shown us through His Son. Now today we are going to finish this section up going over verses 32 - 34.

Mark 12:32 ESV

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.

Here we see the conversation continue between the scribe and Jesus. The scribe was astonished at Jesus answer to his question. Remember no one had ever taken these two commandments and put them together as Christ did. He then affirms Jesus’s statements about there being no division in God and that there is no other God.

Mark 12:33 ESV

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.”

The scribe understood that loving God with all of our everything was much more important than the entire ceremonial system. It is not about the works, but about the love, our love for God and our love for others. This scribe had an understanding of what it took to be a part of the kingdom yet he was still on the outside looking in. He acknowledged it, but had not yet commited to it.

Mark 12:34 ESV

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.

Here we see Jesus acknowledge his wisdom and that he was not to far off. But if someone is an inch away they might as well be a mile away. Close doesn’t cut it, we have to be all in. He had the head knowledge but was still lacking the heart knowledge. It is not about how much we know, but who we know, I mean truly know, to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Ahavah III

What can we learn from all of this?

It is possible to grow up in church to have godly parents and never come to the saving knowledge of Christ.

It is possible to study theology, to know the Scriptures and still be unregenerate.

It is possible to have heard the grace of Christ preached your entire life and still be resting on your own goodness.

It is possible to become gospel-hardened and to seal your damnation even in church.

It is possible to be within an inch of the Kingdom.

The truth of the matter is that convictions not acted on die, truths not followed fade, and lingering can become a habit, and we can either go in or go further away. Are you far away from the Kingdom or just inches. It takes total and complete commitment to God. Loving Him with all of our everything, and then love others as we love ourselves. You can boil it down to these two things Love God and love others. Sounds simple right, but are we just playing or are we all in.