Guilty of the Greatest Sin.

Opening:

Good morning again Connection Church! I am so happy that you have come and gathered together on the Lord’s Day to worship God. At any time of life, this is one of the most important things we can do. But in times of trouble in the world, we ought to be even more faithful to gather together.

During many of the great Roman persecutions of the first and second century, Christians would meet together at the grave sites of the recently martyred. The Roman government would not seek them there. So they would gather there and worship God. I have to wonder, do we find the worship of God so essential that we would hide among the dead in order to meet? Would we go to cold and smelly burial sites in order to worship God? Thankfully, we are greatly blessed. We can gather in a publicly advertised meeting place. Let us rejoice in this blessing and worship God boldly.

Introduction of the Text:

This morning we are continuing our study of the gospel account written by the apostle Matthew. We will be in Matthew 22:34-46 this morning. We have covered much of the gospel and now Jesus is mere days away from the cross. In the past several passages the religious leaders of the Jews have come to try and trap Jesus is difficult questions. Their folly is that they were trying to entrap the creator of the universe. Not a good plan. But this week, we come to the final of the three questions asked of Jesus.

With this in mind I would ask the congregation to stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Reading of the Text:

THE FOREMOST COMMANDMENT

34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.35 And one of them, a scholar of the Law, asked Him a question, testing Him,36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the great and foremost commandment.39 And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.”43 He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,44

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’?

45 Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

Behold, the World of God, let’s pray.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you this morning to speak to you through your Word. Life is filled with joys and pains. We need to hear from you. We know that you speak to us through your Word. So we come before you humbly and ask that you would speak to us. Humble us before your Word. May we see what you have written for us. May we bow before Christ and serve Him. Grow us in love and obedience to you. Grow us in our love and service to one another. We life your name high. We long for the day you will come again. We ask this prayer in Jesus name. Amen.

Transition:

As we open this text we see the third of the entrapping questions that were asked of Christ. The Pharisees failed in their first attempt, and they had just witnessed the failure of the Sadducees. So what do they do? They gather themselves together and the Pharisees send an expert in the Law.

The Pharisees Send An Expert in the Law.

Explanation:

This man was a Pharisee but also a Scribe. He was noted as being an expert in the Law. He was a highly skilled and trained man. To reach the rank he had, he must have studied the Law of God his entire life. In essence, this man was the pinch hitter of the Pharisees. They saw they were losing this encounter with Jesus, and they come together to figure out their next play. And honestly, it was a good play. If you are going to have someone come in to ask a borderline impossible question, you better bring in someone who knows what they are talking about.

And this man clearly knew his stuff. I mentioned last week that the Sadducees rejected most of Scripture while the Pharisees had a great regard for it. They were flawed in their adding to Scripture, but they did have a great regard for it. In fact, it was their knowledge of but their lack of reverence for Scripture that was really their downfall. They did not truly understand the nature of Scripture. If they had, they would have submitted to it rather than try to rule over it. But either way, they did have a great respect and love for Scripture. This was shown in their memorization of Scripture. Some have claimed that the Pharisees had to have the entire Old Testament memorized. I do not know of any historical evidence that this was the case. But they would have major portions memorized. This was especially true of the Scribes. The experts in the Law were known for knowing the Mosaic Law by heart. They were incredibly brilliant men.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

And yet, one can see the arrogance of this man. Clearly he did not know who he was approaching. But he was complicit in the act of coming to try to trap Jesus in this hard question. In fact, Matthew seems to indicate that this man takes the initiative. This was man was a willing participant. Keep that in mind. The Pharisees did not force this man to come and attack Christ with this question. He willingly participated in the plan of the Pharisees. He asked this question wilfully.

Transition:

And what was this question? This question is one of the greatest questions. It is the central matter. What is the greatest commandment in the Law?

What is the Greatest Commandment in the Law?

Explanation:

This is the central question isn’t it? I have often remarked that as humans, we have to wrestle with the reality of God. Since God made everything, He is owner of everything. He is the supreme ruler. He is THE sovereign. His opinion matters above all else, and His laws are supreme. Whatever He says, goes. So the single most important question that we can ask is “What does God require of me?” “What are His laws?” That is the most important thing. Well, God has given us his laws. We have them in sacred Scripture. We have THE Law. We would do well to study it closely. What are God’s commands.

And here is where we come to a difficulty. God has many many commands. Wise rabbi’s set out to number the laws of God. They came up with 613 laws. That is a lot of laws. And when you start reading those laws, you come to the quick understanding that there are different types of laws. There are laws regarding civic responsibility for the nation of Israel. There are laws regarding the priesthood. There are laws for married people. There are laws for single people. There are laws for parents and laws for children.

This really is a blessing. God spoke to so many different situations. We are not left in the dark. We will never encounter a situation where we cannot go to God’s Word for guidance. But as we read the Law, we begin to see a hierarchy of Laws. Some of them seem to be more weighty. It is not that they are more important. Everything God has said carries the weight of His command. But some appear to have a heavier weight. God’s command to not murder seems to carry more weight than His command to ensure that you have a parapet built around your roof. We cannot dismiss either Law. We have to view both as having been inspired by God. But you see the dilemma.

Are there laws that carry more weight? This is the question. Even the question carries this idea. The way the expert in the Law asks Jesus is “What is the greatest command?” That word “Greatest” means the foremost, the chief, the most weighty.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

And isn’t that a fantastic question? On one hand, we actually see a clever question being asked. The previous two questions were ridiculous. The Pharisees and Herodians trying to trap Jesus in a political dispute was foolish. The Sadducees topped this foolishness with their question. But here we must praise this Scribe. He asks a legitimate question. It is still ment to entrap Jesus, but we must first admit, this is a real question. This is a question that everyone asks. What does God demand first and foremost? What is the most weighty law? We are all going to fail in keeping God’s Law perfectly, but maybe we can keep the most important one. That has likely crossed the mind of everyone who has ever really studied the Law.

How will Jesus answer? This is not just a good question. It is a dangerous one. To arbitrarily place one Law of God over another is to become a judge of the Law of God. It would be to openly place yourself as lord of God’s Law. So you must answer carefully. Here is where many within the church would answer quite differently than Jesus. Some would try to get to the most fundamental sin. They may say that the greatest command would be to refrain from blasphemy. Others may say do not murder. They would be on the right track, but slightly off. Others would quote from James and say that the one who is guilty of breaking one Law is guilty of breaking the entire Law. This is also true, but is slightly missing the point James is making. James is not saying that breaking one law is the breaking of every individual Law. James is saying that guilty is guilty. Which is true. Breaking any Law of God is deserving of death.

But how is this question to be answered? And here we can feel the excitement. This Scribe asked a really good question of the one who really is Lord of the Law. Jesus gave the Law. Jesus is the perfect fulfilment of the Law. Jesus is the only person ever to be able to give a truly definitive answer to this question. Jesus is the only one who can answer this question that so many have wondered about. This is the perfect storm of intrigue. A great question asked of the only one who can answer it.

Transition:

So how does Jesus answer this? He quotes from Scripture! He says, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Love the Lord Your God.

Love the Lord Your God...

Explanation:

This really is the answer of all answers. Jesus points to a command, but not in the sense we would have expected. We would have expected perhaps one of the ten commandments. Those are the ten big ones. But Jesus instead quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 which says, “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This is where it gets beautiful. This is one of the most recognizable statements to every Jewish person in Jesus’ day. This is what is known as the “Shema.” Every devout Jew of the day had this memorized. As soon as you could talk, you would memorize this. It was in essence an answer that every man, woman, and child would have recognized and known.

But here we must answer a couple practical questions. Why is Jesus quoting it differently? The Shema says to love God with your heart, soul, and might. Matthew records Jesus as saying to love God with your heart, soul, and mind. This is somewhat confusing. However, this account is recorded in Mark as well. That account records it as heart, soul, mind, and strength. So why the difference? Here is how I understand it. There are some scholars who teach that in ancient Hebrew when heart and soul are used together, it naturally includes the mind. It is a form of subtext in the language. So the inclusion of mind makes perfect sense. This is why in Luke’s gospel, a lawyer comes to Christ and asks a similar question about the greatest commandment. Jesus turns the question back on the lawyer. The lawyer responds with the Shema and lists it as heart, soul, mind, and strength. So the question is not the inclusion of “mind.” The question is why doesn’t Matthew include strength? Honestly, I don’t know. And I have not found any really good answers. One possible answer is that Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience and knew they would recognize this command. Regardless, it is safe to include all four aspects of loving God in our study since the other gospels include all four.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

So what does it mean to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind, and strength? This is complete love. This love for Yahweh is to include every aspect of yourself. It is the totality of who you are. Everything about you is to love Yahweh. You are to love Him with all your heart.

With All Your Heart...

This is the emotional center of the person. You are commanded to give true emotional love to God. You are to love Him with your heart. You are to love Him with your emotional being. You are to dedicate your entire heart to Him and His will. It is interesting that the command starts with the heart. We do not view emotional love as something that can be just turned on and off. One cannot just muster up feelings of love for someone. And yet, we are commanded to. We are commanded to give all of our heart to God. God is to occupy our emotional love.

In a sense we have been too Disney-fied. We view emotional love as an involuntary reaction to the prince or princess sweeping us off our feet. In a sense, emotional love can be involuntary. But Scripture teaches us to have our hearts under control. Part of this is to give our hearts and emotional love over to Christ. The emotional, heart love is not to be involuntary. But we are flawed creatures. How do we accomplish this? That is the question.

Transition:

Next, we are to love Yahweh our God with all our soul.

With All Your Soul...

If you recall last Sunday I defined the soul as the essential youness of you. There is something essential to your being. This is why you are still you after you die. You are separate from your body, but you are still you. This is your soul. It is the you that you are. Your soul is the immaterial part of your being. It is not tangible. It cannot be touched. It is who you are. It is who God made you. An eternal soul that will go on to live forever either in eternal bliss or torment.

So you are to love the Lord your God with the essential part of who you are. Your very being is to be fully committed Him and His will. You are commanded to do this. This is not an emotional love. Remember, your emotions are to already be fully committed to God. Now, in a different way, your very soul must be fully committed to God. But how do you do this? How does one make their soul love God? That is the question.

Transition:

Next, we are to love God with all our mind.

With All Your Mind...

Your mind is the conscious, thoughtful part of yourself. It is the intellect. It is knowledge. We are to love God with all of our intellect and knowledge. We are to love God with all of our cognitive ability to reason. I think, in our day, this and the strength are the ones we do not like. Loving God with all our heart brings to mind moments of emotional assent. It conjures images of emotional bliss while singing passionate songs. We gravitate toward the emotional side of love because it can be easier. It is easy to say, “God has my whole heart. I love Him so much.” It may not be true, but it is easier to say. The emotions are more ethereal. So is the soul. You cannot point to the emotions and the soul. It is more out there. It is more viewed as reactionary rather than actionary. It is more responsive in nature.

I think we can see how bad this condition is within the church with two simple questions. How often do you think of loving God as dedicating your mind to studying theology? Compare that to this. How often do you think of loving God as more of a feeling you ought to have about God? If you have spent any time in church you know that one of those vastly outweighs the other. In fact, from personal experience, I can say that most people do not view the in depth study of theology as a form of love. They do not even associate the two.

Illustration:

I used to describe myself as a theologian in training. I rarely do anymore because of the overwhelming negative response I recieved to that. It is not a bad title. I think it is accurate. I think it ought to be viewed as accurate to every Christian. But inevitably, I would make a comment about being a theologian in training, or about studying theology, and someone would make the comment, “Don’t forget about love.” They would say that as if the two were separate. They viewed theology on one side and love on the other. Sure, theology can be a fun hobby. But it pails in comparison to love. That is the viewpoint of the vast majority of evangelicals.

Argumentation:

But this is utter foolishness. What is theology? Theology is the study of God. What does it mean to love God with all your mind? It means to love God with the entirety of your mental faculties. Or, in other words, it means to dedicate the entirety of your mind to the study of God. Loving God is to dedicate all of your mind to Him and His will. Loving God with all your mind is to be the perfect theologian. And this was R.C. Sproul’s intent behind his infamous statement “everyone’s a theologian.” You see, everyone is a theologian. Everyone has thoughts about God. Everyone believes something about God. This is especially true of Christians. Every Christian believes things about God. The question is not if you have a theology. The question is whether or not that theology is correct. You are a theologian. However, are you a good theologian or a terrible one?

How do you love God with all your mind? You dedicate your mental intellect to CORRECTLY understanding God. You submit your mind completely to God. This is love, to know God and to let God shape your knowledge of God through His Word. But how do you do this perfectly? How do you do this with ALL your mind? This is the question.

Transition:

Finally, we are to love Yahweh our God with all our strength.

With All Your Strength...

Here is the other hated one of the four. If people hate the idea of loving God with their mind, then they really hate the idea of loving God with all your strength. What does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means to dedicate your entire physical nature to Him and His will. How does this work? You physically obey Him. You are to obey God’s law. This is not a complicated command to understand. But it is so practical. It is measurable. God said to do this, so do it. That is what it means. This is why we hate it so much. It shows how fallen we are. Our mental failure is evident. But we can see our physical failure. And if we are truly honest, there are so many failures. So how do we love God with all our strength? That is the question.

Transition:

Jesus however, does not stop here. He gives the greatest command, but He also gives the second greatest command. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.

Explanation:

Again, we must see that this is not just an arbitrary statement. Jesus is again quoting from Scripture. Leviticus 19:18 says “18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the YAHWEH.”

This is God’s command to us. We are to love our neighbor as our self. What does this mean? It means we are not to count ourselves as superior to our neighbor. We are not to seek merely our own interest. We are to love our neighbors. We are to see them as valuable. How does this practically look? Jesus already answered this. Matthew 7:12 says this, “ 12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Argumentation:

This is what is known as the golden rule. So you see, Jesus was not saying that because we have a home, we must make sure every person has a home of the exact same square footage. If we eat a tuna sandwich, we must make sure that all our neighbors have a tuna sandwich. You may think I am being ridiculous, but I assure you, I am not. Many people have ripped this verse out of context in order to claim the Scriptures teach a form of socialism. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The claim is made that since we must love others as ourselves, we ought to share all our wealth. We ought not to have possessions. How can you own something if your neighbor does not? How can you own a car when other people, your neighbors, do not? These people heap up guilt on things that are not sinful. This is why it is so important for us to let Scripture explain itself. How do I know that this passage does not mean that private property should be abolished so that all people are on equal ground? I know this because Scripture teaches that it is a good thing to own property. It is even a good thing to be wise in your dealings so as to prosper and thrive.

We even see this in the new testament. In the early church in Acts, there were those who had great wealth and those who had nothing. The Apostles no where commanded the rich to sell everything so as to be on the same footing as the poor. Instead, what we see is a series of loving actions of the rich selling some of their property in order to aid their poor brothers. It is a voluntary action of love. What does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself? It means that in everything, you treat them justly. You treat them as you would want to be treated. Or, how about this novel idea. Want to know how to love your neighbor perfectly? How about treat them how God has commanded.

Transition:

And then Jesus makes quite the statement. He says the law hangs on these two commands.

The Law Hangs On These Two.

Explanation:

The central emphasis of this statement is found in that word “hang” or “depend.” The entirety of the Law and Prophets hangs on these two commands. They depend on them. These two are the preeminent commands. They are the first. They are the primary commands. And the entire law if found to be balanced on these two commands. What does this mean?

This means that Jesus has not just given the greatest commands, Jesus has summarized the entire Law and Prophets. Jesus’ answer is beyond incredible. Jesus has just given the central command of all of the Law and Prophets. Jesus, as God, gave the definitive word of authority. What is the Law of God? The Law of God is this, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Argumentation:

And here is where so many go wrong. They assume that Jesus is here doing away with the Law entirely. They assume this to be a dismissive statement. It is almost like people don’t pay attention to what Jesus has said. I honestly think that they read this passage like this.

The Pharisees ask Jesus what the greatest command is, and Jesus replies that the greatest command is love, not law. Just love God and love each other. In this statement the common evangelical response is to see Jesus as doing away with the law in favor of love. Or as one incredibly famous and popular heretic put it, “Jesus broke the law for love.” But make no mistake, to say Jesus did away with the Law in favor of love is heresy. Even worse, to say Jesus broke the law for love is even worse heresy. To claim Jesus did away with the Law is to say that the Law was sinful. This is to say that God’s commands were sinful. It is to indirectly claim God is a sinner. To say Jesus broke the law is to accuse Jesus of sin. This is completely evil and wicked.

Jesus did not do away with the Law. Remember Jesus’ own words in the sermon on the mount. “17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Jesus is not doing away with the Law. Jesus is perfectly summarizing the Law.

Transition:

Anyone who thinks our passage today is Jesus doing away with the Law in favor of love has not paid attention to the passage at all. This is not a hopeful passage. This is a damning passage. If you understand what Jesus is saying, you ought to feel absolutely filthy. You ought to feel hopeless.

Application:

Here is the reality, Jesus is saying all of the Law is built on these two commands. The greatest command in all of Scripture is to perfectly love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second greatest command is to perfectly love your neighbor as yourself. These are the greatest commands. And better men than I have made this connection, but if those are the greatest commands, it must logically follow that breaking them is the greatest of sin. The greatest sin we can commit is to break the greatest command. And here is the hopelessness. We are all guilty of the greatest sin.

We Are All Guilty of the Greatest Sin.

I think most people would become offended if you just walked up to them and accused them of committing the greatest sin. But follow the logic. Use your mind. If the greatest command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; then logically the greatest sin is breaking that.

Now ask yourself this, have you ever for even one moment perfectly loved God with all your heart? Have you ever perfectly given God all that He is due in your emotions? Obviously not.

Have you ever for even one moment, loved God perfectly with all your soul? Has your being ever given God all that He is due? Obviously not.

Have you ever, for even one moment, loved God perfectly with all your mind? Has your mind ever been perfectly devoted to God in all ways? Obviously not.

Have you ever, for even one moment, loved God with all your strength? Has your entire physical nature been completely dedicated to giving God what He is due? Obviously not.

No one has ever loved God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength for even one moment.

No One Has Ever Loved God With All Their Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength for even one moment.

Now the truth of our failure comes through. Our greatest failing is not that we break this command. Our greatest failing is that we have never kept it. We have never even once kept this command. We have never at any moment kept this command. We are not just lost, we are hopelessly lost.

This what I mean when I say that this passage ought to leave us feeling utterly hopeless. The central command in all of Scripture is one we will never keep at any moment of our lives. So what hope is there? Are the Nihilists really right after all? Ought we to give up all hope? Ought we to say, live today for tomorrow we die? By no means. The Law has perfectly accomplished it’s task. The Law is to do several things. It is to reveal the perfect character of God. Done. God is all together lovely and deserving of perfect love. The Law is to give us the perfect standard of righteousness. Done. It is righteous to perfectly love God and to love our neighbor as our self. The Law is also to show us our sinfulness. It is the mirror that reveals to us the truth. And no truth is revealed more clearly than how utterly sinful we are. We will never keep the law.

But there was one who did. I said that no one has ever loved God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength for even one moment. This is not strictly true. There is no mere man who ever did this. But there was one who perfectly did this. He did not just achieve this. He never broke this command. His entire life He kept it. He always loved God perfectly. He always loved His neighbor perfectly. He was Jesus, the Christ. Christ perfectly loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Christ Perfectly Loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Jesus never sinned. He was perfect. He was truly man, and yet He never sinned. He did not have the sin nature. He was perfect. He kept the Law perfectly. He was the very image of righteousness. How does this give us hope? It would not give us hope if He merely kept the law. He kept the Law of God for a reason. He kept the Law of God perfectly so that He might be the perfect sacrifice. He would atone for sin by being the perfect Sacrifice. You see, Christ is truly God, truly man. As man, He could suffer and die in our place; as God, He could make atonement for us.

Jesus died on the cross in our place. This is the beauty of the cross. On the cross, Jesus took all of the sin from all who would be saved. He took that as His own. And We, who are saved, have recieved the righteousness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says this, “21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This means that Christ took our sin as if it were His own. He gave us His righteousness as if it were our own.

This means that on the cross, Jesus took on Himself every time we have ever failed to love God perfectly. He took every time we have ever failed to love each other perfectly. He took that and legally claimed it as His own. He, who never sinned, looked at our sin and said, “that is mine.” He then looked at us who have never been righteous and legally claimed His own righteousness as ours. This is known as imputation. Imputation is something that is not yours being claimed as yours. We have Christ’s imputed righteousness, while Christ took on Him our sins.

This is beautiful! He became sin so we might become righteous. You see, when we are saved, we are not seen just a neutral. Our sin is not just washed away. That would be an incredible gift of grace. No, our sin is washed away and we are made righteous! We are made holy. Our record before God is not just blank. Our record is now filled with every righteous work of Christ. And yet, this is not the case for all. When Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, He did not declare the entire world to be righteous. There are many who are still lost. The benefit of salvation and righteousness is only for the saved.

So how is one saved? You have heard this from me more times than I know. Repent and believe. But let me explain this slightly differently this morning than I normally do. Let me give you an illustration.

Illustration: Christian under the burden of Sin.

Unarguably, one of the most important books in history is Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. It is one of my favorite books. It is one I return to again and again. Pilgrim’s Progress is the story of a man named Christian. It is an allegory of how Christian came to faith and how from salvation he came to heaven, or the Celestial City. The opening of this masterful classic shows Christian reading a book and weeping. Christian is pictured as having this massive burden tied to his back. You are likely familiar with this image. There are countless paintings of Christian with his burden.

Christian is weighed down by this terrible burden. His back is arched under the weight of this burden. What is this burden? It is sin. Christian is weighed down by sin. He is reading the Word of God and is weighed down by the weight of his sin. This is what the Law does. It shows us the truth of our sins. And our sins weigh us down like a burden on our back.

If you are not saved, then your sins are still on you. All people are commanded to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you are not currently trusting in Christ, then the weight of that standard ought to rightly weigh you down. You must repent.

Repent.

What does repentance mean? What did Christian do under the weight of his sins? the godly man Evangelist told him the good news that there was forgiveness. There is forgiveness found at the cross. Evangelist pointed the way to the cross and Christian ran. Christian ran away from his home, his family, his friends. He ran from his hometown in the city of Destruction. He ran to the cross. As people began to cry out for him to stay, this is what Bunyan writes, “but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, Life! Life! Eternal life!”

Repentance is to turn away from one thing and toward another. What does it mean to repent? Repentance means running from anything that keeps you from Christ. This means you turn away from your sins. You flee from your sins. You turn to Christ and you run as fast and as hard toward Him as you can. But it means more than this. You may think your life is filled with righteousness. But you must repent of your righteousness too.

Repent of your Righteousness.

Scripture makes it clear that our best deeds are as filthy rags before God. We have seen that even at our best moment we fail to keep the greatest command. This means we must repent of even the things we think we are righteous for. We must especially be willing to lay these aside. Why? Our tendency is to think we can somehow earn our own justification. We think we can be good enough for God to accept us. But that is the great lie.

The truth is that we can never be good enough to earn God’s favor. Our righteous deeds are not truly righteous. And they cannot bear the weight of our souls. We can try to live in the city of morality. We can try to just be good enough. But be warned, there is un-climbable mountain leading to the city of morality. You will try to climb along the path “good enough” and find it leads to ruin. You will never scale that mountain. You will never reach the standard of righteous through your own works.

You must repent. You must turn away from trying to earn your own way. Repent of what you think you are so righteous for. But where must you turn? You must turn to the splendid light. You must turn to the cross. You must turn to the one who kept the Law perfectly and died in your place, paying your debt. You must not just repent. You must believe.

Believe.

Run to the cross. Are there people trying to stop you? Stuff your fingers in your ears and cry out, “Life! Life! Eternal Life!” Christ bore the weight of your sins. You have never once kept the greatest commandment. But Christ will give you His righteousness if you only believe. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Are you burdened by the weight of your sin? Good. One cannot know the grace of God have they not known the weight of sin. As you approach the cross, your burden will snap from your back. It will roll away from you as far as the East is from the West. You will be free from your guilt. You will no longer be burdened by your failures. You will be lifted high and you will be clothed in white. The righteousness of Christ will enwrap you. You will be made new.

Made New.

You will have the Holy Spirit living within you. God Himself will begin to make you more and more like Christ. What does this mean? It means that you will begin to love God with more of your heart. Day by day, more of your heart will be drawn into love with God. You will begin to love God more and more with your Soul. Day by day, your soul will love God more and more. Day by day you will love God more and more with your mind. Day by day you will love God more with your strength. You want to know how to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? You cannot. But the Spirit of God that lives within every true Christian can. And He will conform you into who you have been made in Christ.

Christians, if you know of areas of your life where you are wilfully not loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, repent. Live like what you are. Live like blood bought children of God. And yes, we know we will still sin. We will struggle with sin until we die, but we obey God in response to what He has done. And day by day, week by week, we will become more and more like Christ.

One of the ways we grow to be more lie Christ is to remind ourselves of the grace of God. We remind ourselves of the grace of God through the means of grace. The means of Grace are not things that save us. They are things that remind us of the gospel and grow us closer to God. One of the primary means of Grace is the sacred institution of Communion. Christ commanded us to partake of the bread and the cup. What is so important about this? It is a physical reminder of the gospel. We are reminded of the gospel physically through baptism and communion. Baptism when as a one time reminder of the fact we are washed from our sins as a proclamation of our faith in Christ. Communion is to be our perpetual reminder of Christ’s broken body and shed blood in our place.

The bread is Christ’s body, broken for us. This reminds us that Jesus suffered in our place, paying for our sins. The cup is Christ’s blood, poured out for us. This reminds us that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice in our place, and that we are washed clean by His shed blood. When we take this, we are reminded that Jesus took our sin so that we might be given His righteousness.

The Lord’s table is open for all Christians. If it is your confession that you have placed your faith in Christ Jesus, you are welcome to come and take of the bread and the cup in memory of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Communion:

Prayer:

Closing Doxology: