Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Walking With God

How to Love The Lord With All Your Heart

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2012-08-12

Synopsis: John Weaver teaches that biblical love for God is not sentimentality or emotionalism but simple obedience to His commandments. Drawing from Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, and multiple Old and New Testament passages, he demonstrates that loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength means keeping His statutes and walking in His ways. Love is always demonstrative and evidenced by how we treat others—spouse, parents, brethren—and by hating evil. The standard for measuring love is conformity to God's Word.

[John Weaver] I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to Matthew chapter 22. And I want us to begin reading with verse 35, because I'm going to bring a message today which is very dear to my heart, and especially this morning and the one tonight as well, because to me this is very fundamental, very elementary, and yet at the same time something that most of us have never really grasped. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22. We're going to read verses 35 through 40. Keep your fingers flexible. We will be turning to a lot of scriptures today. But the title of the message is this. How to love the Lord with all of your heart. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22, verse 35.

[John Weaver] Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Now, our Lord is very clear in this commandment. He tells us that we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul. So since this commandment is exceedingly clear, there is no excuse for not doing so.

[John Weaver] I want you to note in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, our Lord repeats this, but I want you to note how he states it. Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, here the word of God just simply says this. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." This is the first commandment. Then if you would turn right over to the book of Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, once again you will see that he repeats this commandment. Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, the Word of God says,"...and he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, and we're going to be looking at verse 4 and verse 5, and I would ask you to mark this passage because we're going to come back to it just shortly.

[John Weaver] Notice Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. You have there what is known as the Shema Israel when he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God one Lord. The Shema Yisrael usually goes Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. But notice what follows. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

[John Weaver] Now, it doesn't really matter whether you look in the Old Testament or the New Testament, the command is the same. We've been commanded to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, souls. So, several questions automatically should come to your mind. First of all, how do we love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul?

[John Weaver] Another question is this, is there a standard of measurement? How can I know whether or not I genuinely am loving the Lord with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul? How can I know whether or not you are doing that? Is there some standard of measurement? Is there some way that we can know?

[John Weaver] Now, the honest truth is this. We are obligated to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body just simply because He commands it. He is the Creator. He is the Redeemer. He is the Lord. He is the Savior. And we are obligated to obey. And may I point out also that even the unconverted who do not have the ability to love Him with all of their heart and soul are still responsible to do so. Simply because man in his sin has lost his ability does not mean that God has lost His right to command. God is still sovereign and God is still in control. Now, let me again try to answer the question What does it mean, basically, to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and soul?

[John Weaver] You remember in Mark 12 and verse 30, in Luke 10 and verse 27, the word strength was added as well. And when you got to Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, the word might, M-I-G-H-T, was added.

[John Weaver] Now, there are some scholars that try to take these words and interpret them in a general sense. Let me give you one illustration. Here's one author who says, Thou shalt love him with all the faculties or all thy powers. Thou shalt love him supremely more than all other beings and things and with all ardor possible. To love him with all the heart is to fix the affections supremely upon him, more strongly than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at his command." Well, that's very general. Other authors and scholars will break this statement down and they'll say, well, the heart refers to the affections and the soul refers to our life and the mind refers to our intellect. Thus, when we set our affections upon him, We love him more than life, and when we think upon his thoughts, we are loving him also with our soul, and when we bring our lives into conformity to his word. There's one author and one scholar, Adam Clark. If you were to read what he said on what it means to love the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and it's about two pages long, when you get through reading that, you stop and you say, Has anybody ever loved the Lord like that?

[John Weaver] I mean, you begin to think, wait a minute, what he just said is absolutely impossible. In this life, not impossible in the next life. But let me ask this before we go any further, let me try to deal with this word strength and might, because we have been commanded to love the Lord with all of our strength as well as all of our might. When it comes to the word strength, I believe David has the answer to that in Psalm 103 and verse 1, where David said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

[John Weaver] And then he goes on and says, Forget not all of his benefits. But notice what he said. Bless the Lord, all my soul and all that is within me. In other words, the strength comes from the fact that we are indeed to give Him all the honor, all the praise, all the glory with everything that is within us. We do not hold back when we recognize everything we are and everything that we have is of Him and from Him, and we're to love Him in that regard.

[John Weaver] But what about the word might? You see, sometimes the word might and the word strength is used interchangeably, but not always. Because the word might in Scripture has another implication as well. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and let's begin reading with verse 1. Let me show you another understanding of the word might where he said in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. Look what David said beginning in 1 Chronicles chapter 29 in verse 1. The Bible says, furthermore, David, the king, said unto all the congregation, Solomon, my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great, for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. Now watch carefully.

[John Weaver] Now I have prepared with all my might For the house of my God, the gold for the things to be made of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and stones to be set, glistening stones that of diverse colors and of all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance, because, moreover, because I have set my faction to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over above all that I have prepared for the Holy House, even three thousand talents of gold, the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls therewithal." Now, he goes on down and explains it, but notice if you would, in verse two, he's not prepared with all of my might.

[John Weaver] Now, where to love the Lord with all of our might in this context, all of our might is all of our money. In other words, there are some people that say, well, I really love the Lord, but they'll never tithe, they'll never give, they'll never make offerings. And in that sense, if the word might in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 is to be interpreted by 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse 2, you'd have to say that some people who say they love the Lord really don't love the Lord because loving Him with all of your might would be loving Him with all of your money as well. Now, we understand that we're required to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, souls, strength, and might. But we also have to ask this question, what is it to love the Lord? Is love some warm, tingling feeling? Or is it goosebumps coming up on the back of my neck as I think of the Lord? Or is the hair on the back of my neck standing up?

[John Weaver] Or is it the fact that I get some kind of a crawling sensation on my skin and I get all teary eyed and sentimental. Is that loving the Lord? And the answer I'm going to show you is absolutely not. Is loving the Lord some type of asceticism? No. I want you to go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. I told you we'd be coming back there. I want you to look at the context in which he tells us that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. And I'm going to show you from the Bible.

[John Weaver] We'll be looking at a number of passages. How this is explained, notice beginning there with Deuteronomy chapter 6 and let's read the first nine verses. The scripture says, now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whether you go to possess it. that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, down thy son and thy sons' sons, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it might be well with thee, and that thou mightest increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children."

[John Weaver] And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them from a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates."

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note something. When you get to verse 5, when God tells you that you're to love the Lord with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your might, in the context It is right smack dab in the middle of all of these verses that talk about the commandments, the statutes, the judgments, and again in verse 2, keeping his statutes and keeping his commandments. And then when you get down to verse 6, and these words which I command thee shall be in your heart, and you shall talk about them as you lie down and as you're awake, and you're to put them as the front of your eyes and post them on the doors of your house. In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. Loving the Lord somehow, according to Deuteronomy chapter 6, is connected with His commandments, with His judgments, with His statutes. It's very plain in the context. Now, I want you to go to Mark chapter 12 and look, if you would please, at verse 29, because the interesting thing is this.

[John Weaver] Our Lord in Mark chapter 12 and verse 29 quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6. So Mark 12. Notice, if you would please, verse 29. Look at what Scripture says. Mark 12 verse 29. And Jesus answering him, the first of all commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, which is the first commandment. But notice, if you would, in verse 29, he begins by quoting the Shema Israel, which we read back in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. So why in the world is our Lord quoting Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 here in Mark 12 and verse 29? Here's the answer. First of all, our Lord is not only supporting the law as it has been given, but He is also telling us how we are to love Him.

[John Weaver] There is indeed a covenantal relationship that exists between God and His people, and the covenant that binds us to Him is in His Word, and it is His Word. Thus the reference then to the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 is teaching us basically that we have one Lord, one faith, one Word, and one baptism. In other words, we are united with Him.

[John Weaver] Now, what I want to do is this. I want to ask you some questions, and then I'm going to show you the answer. Have you ever wondered why David said, Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation day and night. Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah said, Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the rejoicing of my heart? Have you ever wondered why Job said, I steam thy words more than my necessary meat?

[John Weaver] Why did these people place the Word of God and such a place of preeminence in their lives. Well, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 30. We're going to be looking at a lot of passages, but I'm going to just try to show you what it is to love the Lord. I'm going to show it to you from the Old Testament. I'm going to show it to you from the New Testament. So look in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 16 to begin with. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 16. Look what the Word of God says, in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God. Are you watching?

[John Weaver] To walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments. that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. Now look at it, in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God." What is loving the Lord thy God? It's walking in His ways, it's keeping His commandments and His statutes and His judgments.

[John Weaver] Skip down to verse 20. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 20, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, And that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Now, he said in verse 20, that thou mayest love the Lord by God. What is loving the Lord by God? It's obeying His voice. It's cleaving unto Him. It's recognizing that He is indeed our life. Turn right over, if you would, please, to the book of Joshua, chapter 22, and look at verse 5. Joshua 22 in verse 5. Again, Joshua says this very plainly. Joshua 22, look at verse 5. He says, But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with

[John Weaver] all your soul. Now, I want you to note that Take diligent heed to do the commandment of the law which Moses the servant charged you to love the Lord." Wow. I hope you're beginning to see that there is a connection somehow between obeying the Lord and loving Him.

[John Weaver] Now, if you look in Joshua 23 and verse 11, he says it basically the same thing. Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God. But you'd have to look at it in the context and go back to verse 8. He says, but cleave unto the Lord your God as you have done this day. So there is a cleaving unto the Lord that is associated with loving him as well.

[John Weaver] Now, the New Testament is just as plain. Let me make a statement. I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible. Love is obedience. Love is not sentimentality. It is not emotionalism. It is not traditionalism. It is not anything else. Love is simple obedience. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. And look, if you would, exactly what is defined for us. Romans 13 and verse 10.

[John Weaver] And the Scripture says this. worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, what is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn to John 14. We're going to look at several verses right here. John 14. And notice, if you would please, keep in mind that love is the fulfilling of the law. John 14. Look, if you would please, at verse 15. Look what our Lord says. John 14, verse 15. If you love Me, Keep my commandments. Look at verse 21, our Lord said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. Wow. Skip down to verse 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we'll come unto him and make our abode with him." Now, he said, if a man loved me, he'll keep my words. The opposite is also true to those who do not love him. Look in verse 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.

[John Weaver] I don't know how really and truly anything could be any plainer. Our Lord just simply says, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you don't love me, you're not going to keep them. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn to First John, chapter five. If you haven't put two and two together, I trust this passage will do it for you. Look in First John, chapter five. And we're going to begin reading there with verse two, First John five and verse two. Our Lord says it like this. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So here's my question. How do I know that I love Brother Tim? How do I know that I love your pastor? How do I know that I love Jacob? How do I know that I love any of God's children? The answer is by this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. That simply means this. I treat Brother Tim and his wife the way God commands me to. I treat his property the way God commands me to.

[John Weaver] I don't steal from him. I don't covet what he has. I treat him the way that God commands me.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen. This is very, very simple. What we have done today, and I'm going to show you, we've tried to mix love with sentimentalism and emotionalism. So, for instance, if I went to Keith, and I fell on his shoulders and just started weeping and crying, and tears running down my cheek, and I'm slobbering all over him, and I say, Brother Keith, I love you, I love you, I love you. And everybody says, oh, look how Brother Weaver loves Brother Keith. Isn't that wonderful? Well, what you don't see is while I'm telling him I love him, I've got my hand in his pocket stealing a $100 bill from him. Emily says it's not there. She already has it. But you see what I'm saying? So I can tell him I love him.

[John Weaver] I can get all emotional and I can weep and cry all over him. But according to the Bible, do I love him if I'm stealing from him? No. Hereby we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Look at the next verse. If you really, truly, genuinely want to know what love is, here it is, plain and simple. Verse 3, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. What is the love of God? It's the keeping of his commandments.

[John Weaver] Now, go back, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And let's look, first of all, at verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse 3. Here's what the Scripture says, and hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. How do I know that I really, genuinely know the Lord Jesus? How do I know that I'm really, genuinely converted?

[John Weaver] And the answer is very simple. Because by His grace and by His power, He is enabling me to be obedient to His Word. That's what the Scripture says there. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. That's verse 3. But watch verse 4. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

[John Weaver] I wonder where that leaves an awful lot of church members. People who say they love the Lord, and yet they are immoral, wicked, ungodly, liars, thieves, covetous, adulterers, fornicators. What did he say? He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar in the truth that is not in him. In other words, when God saves us, He enables us to be obedient.

[John Weaver] Now, that doesn't mean that we are absolutely perfect. No, it does not mean that at all. But it does mean that our lives, generally speaking, are lives of obedience. Did you know the Bible says in 2 John 1, verse 6, now listen, and this is love that we walk after His commandments. This is love that we walk after His commandments. Now, let me show you something about biblical love. Biblical love is always demonstrative. It is always manifested. It is always evidence. Since you're in 1 John, go to 1 John 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 16.

[John Weaver] I want you to look at the first two words. Hereby perceive. Look at the phrase, Hereby perceive we the love of God. Now the word perceive means to understand. It means to comprehend. It means to see. It means to lay hold upon. So he says, Hereby perceive or understand or comprehend we the love of God.

[John Weaver] Now, don't let me misread this. Watch this. Hereby perceive we the love of God because He told us He loved us. Is that what the Scripture says? No. Now, if God told us He loved us, certainly that would be true, because God does not lie. But look what the Scripture says. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. In other words, here love, real genuine love, is always demonstrative. How do we know that God loved us? Not just that He told us, but He demonstrated it. He manifested it. He evidenced it. He laid down His life for us. And then He goes on to say we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, watch verse 17.

[John Weaver] But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." Now he said, but whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him.

[John Weaver] So that simply means this. Brother Ernie comes up to me and says, Brother Weaver, I've been out of a job for two months. I'm hungry. My wife is hungry. My children are hungry. Is there anything you can do for us? And I've got a pantry full of food. And I say, yes, my brother, there's something I can do for you. I'm going to pray that the Lord will supply your need. Let's bow in prayer. What?

[John Weaver] What good is praying for him and with him when I have the wherewithal to feed his family? So he says then, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So if I genuinely love him, I'm going to be willing to share with him whatever I have. In other words, real, genuine love is always demonstrable. It's evidenced. It's manifested.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm still trying to answer this question for us. How do we love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and being? Since love is obedience, and the Bible made that clear, and since obedience is demanded to God's law word, And since love is always active and demonstrable, it really should not be too difficult to figure out how to love the Lord. Obviously, loving the Lord is not what most people think it is. Most people have been filled with so much religious bunk. It is unbelievable. I get questions all the time by people.

[John Weaver] They'll say, oh, Brother Weaver, did you see Preacher So-and-so on TV? My answer is no. I didn't see him. Well, did you hear him on the radio? The answer is no. Unless I know somebody, I'm not listening to them. I'm really not. I couldn't see him on TV anyhow. We don't even have TV. But I'm just simply saying, I'm not listening to a bunch of stuff from people who spout their ideas and never ever teach the Word of God. You see, what we've done today, we have associated love with feelings. We've associated love with emotions.

[John Weaver] And so you can ask yourself this question. Well, if I come to church and I say that I'm loving the Lord, can I cuddle up to the Lord? Can I get all warm and fuzzy with him? Can I get all teary eyed and sentimental? Can I get an emotional high? Can I jump and shout and have an experience and say that, boy, I love the Lord? Well, you can say that and you might get some of that, but that doesn't mean that you love the Lord, because that is not biblical love. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6, and I want to ask you a question just in light of what I've just said. You say, Brother Weaver, what I want to do is I just want to get so close to the Lord I can just touch him. And I understand that kind of phraseology, but look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning of verse 15. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show that we're talking about Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] that thou keep'st this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." Well, there goes your cuddling and your warm fuzzies, because no man can approach unto Him physically like that, no.

[John Weaver] You may weep and you may cry and you may wail and you may scream that you love him, but that does not necessarily mean that you do. Because in the Bible, love is obedience.

[John Weaver] Now, let me take it a step further. Go in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 6. Let me show you another verse that may have escaped your attention In light of this, look in Hebrews 6, verse 10. Notice what the Bible says. Hebrews 6, verse 10. The Word of God says, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And think about that. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you've showed toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Let me ask you. Think about this.

[John Weaver] What can you give the Lord that he actually really needs? What's the answer? Nothing. Everything you are, He made. Everything you have, He gave you. Everything that's in the world, He created. It's kind of like the scientists, you know, that got so arrogant thinking they can create life and do everything. They told about the one scientist who had a conversation with God and said, God, we're now as big as you. He said, we can create life too. And God said, is that right? He said, yes.

[John Weaver] He said, let me show you. Let me take this handful of dirt. God said, no, you go get your own dirt. Everything we are, everything we have is his. So how can we minister to God? By ministering to the saints, by ministering to each other. Do you remember what he said in Matthew 25 in verse 40? And the king shall answer and say to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. The only way we can minister to God is by ministering to each other. Since love is the fulfilling of the law and the way that we're to love God is with all of our hearts, all of our minds, soul, strength and might. It is therefore loving God is to keep God's law toward others and toward each other.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to put this down in a very practical manner. Love is the fulfilling of the law. How can I minister to God? How can I love God with all of my heart? Is there a standard of measurement? Is there some way I can know whether or not I love God? Is there some way that I can know that Brother Mack loves God? How can I measure that? What would be the standard that I could measure by?

[John Weaver] Well, let's think about this. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Let me just take where God says, thou shalt not commit adultery. Do you realize when I love my wife the way God commanded me to love her, and when I understand the Lord forbids adultery and fornication and all uncleanness, Yet on the other hand, I can read in Scripture where my Heavenly Father says in Proverbs 5 in verse 18, let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. What does that mean? It means if I'm going to love God, I have to love my wife the way God commands me to love my wife. And it means that when I find my joy and my fulfillment and my satisfaction in the wife that God has given me, And I love her the way Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, then I'm loving God. Because that is exactly what he commands. When I love her with a biblical love, I'm demonstrating that I love the Lord. My love is demonstrated by my biblical love to my wife.

[John Weaver] On the other hand, What my wife then submits to me and loves me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, she is expressing her love to Christ. Do you not remember there in Ephesians chapter 5, the wives were to be in submission to the husbands. Why? That like as the church is submission into Christ, so the wife is to be in subjection to her husband in everything. In other words, her life is to picture the submission of the church to Jesus Christ. Therefore, when my wife loves me and submits to me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, what is she doing? She's expressing her love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because love is the fulfilling of the law.

[John Weaver] This thing is really so simple. And yet, at the same time, we have lost Fact of the idea that love is obedience, and it is obedience to God. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. If we love Him, we will obey Him.

[John Weaver] Now, let me go a little step further. You do know the fifth commandment, Exodus 20, verse 12, that we're to honor our father and our mother. Do you realize when we honor our parents in the way that God has commanded, And if we're children, if we submit to them and obey them and honor them and esteem them very highly in the Lord, we're expressing our love to the Lord when we do that, because he is the one that has said, honor thy father and thy mother. Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize honoring your father and mother means more than saying, yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am, and yes, sir, and no, sir? If you were to read, and we're not going to turn there, but if you were to read Matthew 15 in Mark chapter 7, you would find that honoring your father and mother means that you take care of them in their old age when they cannot take care of themselves. And if you were to read in 1 Timothy, you would find out that that is indeed honoring the Lord.

[John Weaver] He said, Let the children and the nephews requite their parents. You know what the word requite means? It means to pay back. Do you realize your parents took care of you when you could not take care of yourselves? They fed you. They clothed you. They nursed you. They educated you. They did everything for you. And now when your parents get elderly and they can't take care of themselves, God says it's time for you to requite them. You take care of them. You support them. You sustain them. That's biblical.

[John Weaver] Let me go ahead and say this. And I want the married young men and women to understand this. Obedience in one sense of the word may cease when you have your own home, but honor never ceases. And I made this a principle in my life. When I went back to see my father, I remembered when I was in his house, I was still his son and he was still my father.

[John Weaver] And whatever he asked me to do, I would do. I may have been 40 and had four kids, but that was immaterial. I may have been 50 and had grandkids, but that was immaterial. When he asked me to do something, I was in his house. I did it. All I'm saying is this. God requires us to honor our parents. When I honor my parents the way God commands me to, I'm expressing my love to the Lord. I'm loving him with all of my heart, with all of my soul, because love is the fulfilling of the law.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 26. I want you to see this. Deuteronomy 26. And notice, if you would please, verse 17. Deuteronomy 26 and verse 20 and verse 17. This is this chapter. I wish I could read all of it. This chapter deals with tithing. I want you to look in verse 17 after they had tithed. In verse 17, he says this, Thou hast to vouch the Lord this day to be thy God.

[John Weaver] and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice." Now watch, after all Israel had tithed unto the Lord, he says, Thou hast vouched this day that the Lord this day is your God. You know what the word of vouched means? It literally means to say in one's heart. And then he goes on to say that you're to keep his commandments and his judgments and you're to hearken to his voice.

[John Weaver] In other words, when I tithe and when I give offerings unto him, what am I doing? I'm saying, Lord, I am yours and you are mine, and I'm recognizing your sovereignty. I'm recognizing the fact that you own everything. I'm recognizing the fact, Lord, that everything I have, you gave to me. And Lord, I'm giving this back to you, and as I'm doing that, I'm avouching this day that you are my God." Now watch verse 18. After that happens,"...and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he promised thee." And Lord, God says, when you avouch me and you do what I command, I'm avouching you that you're mine. You're my peculiar people.

[John Weaver] Love is the fulfilling of the law. How do I love God with all my heart? When I refuse to steal and defraud and cheat and swindle and lie, it's evidence that I love the Lord. When I give lovingly and generously and cheerfully to the Lord and to His work, it's evidence that I love the Lord. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, Says thou shalt not steal. Do you know what the positive side of thou shalt not steal is? You'll find it in Ephesians 4 in verse 28.

[John Weaver] Let me just quote it. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands a thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. What? So the opposite of thou shalt not steal is laboring with your hands, working that which is good, that you may have to give to him that needeth. In other words, you're not a covetous individual. You're a generous, loving, cheerful individual.

[John Weaver] That's why 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7 says this. Every man, according as he purported his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. In other words, when I refuse to do those things that God forbids me to do, and I do what He commands me to do, I'm saying, Lord, I love Thee. I'm loving You with all of my heart, with all of my mind, with all of my strength, with all of my being. When I minister to You the way God commands me to, I'm loving the Lord. If you will turn in your Bibles to First John, Chapter three, just showing you what it means to love the Lord. Look in First John, Chapter three and verse 14. How do we know we love the Lord? We know we love the Lord when we love his children. Notice First John, Chapter three and verse 14. He says this. We know that we pass from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abided in death.

[John Weaver] Wow. Now, let me tell you something. Just because I love the brethren does not mean that I like all of them. No, listen carefully. Do you realize there are some people that are brethren that can irritate you to death? And they have idiosyncrasies that you don't like. That doesn't matter. You are still required to love them if they're brethren. How do I know that I've passed from death into life? Because I love the brethren.

[John Weaver] I remember I had one dear friend. He was a preacher. He's now dead, but his voice was so high pitched. I couldn't I could not stand to talk to him. His voice hurt my ears. And probably about 30 minutes would be about all I could take. But I would spend those 30 minutes with him. And then I'd find some reason to have a break. And then I'd come back and spend 30 more minutes with him. But he couldn't change his voice. It wasn't his problem.

[John Weaver] That's the way God created him. And he may have hurt my ears, but he was still my brother, and I still was required to love him and to fellowship with him. Look in 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. He says it like this, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And if you'll skip down to verse 20, 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21, he says this, If a man say, I love God and hated his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loved God love his brother also."

[John Weaver] Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. As Christians, we must love our husbands, we must love our wives, we must love our neighbors, we must love our brethren, as Christ commanded us. For love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is obedience. If we do not keep His commandments, if we do not do as He commands, then we do not love Him. Let me go just a little bit further. When I hate sin and wickedness and disobedience and rebellion, and when I refuse to participate in such things, I love the Lord. Why? Because He has commanded me in Psalm 97 and verse 10, Ye that love the Lord hate evil. And then he's also said in Amos 5 and verse 15, hate the evil and love the good.

[John Weaver] Do you realize you cannot possibly love God without at the same time hating everything that's contrary to God? It's impossible. You remember Jehoshaphat got in trouble for loving the Lord's enemies. David said, Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. And then after he said that, he said, Search me, O God, and try my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. Evidently, it's not wicked to hate those who hate God.

[John Weaver] The point I'm trying to make is this. If we love him, we're going to honor him and obey him. If there is no obedience, there is no love and there is no honor.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to follow me. I'm fixing to tie everything together for you. But I want you to turn back to Exodus chapter 20. And I want you to look, if you would please, at verse 6. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 6. All I'm showing you is what love is from the Bible and showing you how to love the Lord with all your heart. Look in Exodus 20 and verse 6. He says,"...and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." Who are those that love Him? Those that keep His commandments. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 10.

[John Weaver] You'll see exactly the same truth. Deuteronomy 5 and verse 10. He says this,"...and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep my commandments. Who is it that loves him? Those that keep his commandments. Turn right over to Deuteronomy chapter 19 and look at verse 9. Deuteronomy 19 and verse 9. If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, And to walk ever in his ways, then shalt thou add three cities more for thee beside these three. But note what he said, If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do, then which I commanded this day, to love the Lord thy God. What is loving the Lord thy God? It's keeping his commandments. Then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles chapter 34. 2 Chronicles 34. Here's good King Josiah. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. And I want you to note concerning the covenant that is made between the king and the people and the Lord. Notice 2 Chronicles 34 and verse 31.

[John Weaver] The Bible says this, and the king stood in his place. That's King Josiah. and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. What was he doing? He was saying, I'm going to love the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul. How was he going to do it? by keeping all the commandments and all the statutes. Loving the Lord with all of our hearts and souls is evidence by obedience.

[John Weaver] Now, that means there is a measuring stick. How can I know whether Brother Mack loves the Lord with all of his heart? It's very simple. I examine his life in light of the Word of God. If he's obedient to God's Word, yes, he's loving the Lord. If he's disobedient, he's not loving the Lord. There is a measuring stick. I want you to understand that talk is worthless. Emotions are fickle. Sentimentality is useless. The only thing that genuinely evidences our love for the Lord is our obedience.

[John Weaver] He said in John 14 and verse 21, which I've already quoted, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." One last verse. Let me quote it. Galatians 6 and verse 16. Paul the Apostle writes, As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. as many as walk according to this rule. Peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. Do you know the word rule in Galatians 6 and verse 16 is the word cannon?

[John Weaver] C-A-N-N-O-N. Cannon is our English word. Not C-A-N-N-O-N. That's the kind that shoots. But we talk about the canon of Scripture. The Old Testament canon. The New Testament canon. Here's what the Apostle Paul said, as many as walk according to this measuring stick, to this standard, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. Is there a way for us to measure whether or not we love the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind? The answer is yes. And here it is. The question has to be asked, are our lives in conformity to the Word of God to the extent that we know the truth of God, which God has revealed?

[John Weaver] It's true that none of us are perfect. None of us know everything. But the Word of God says it very plainly. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So the question is not, do I know everything? No. The question is, am I obedient to that which I do know? And is my life being measured by my obedience to the totality of the Word of God? As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. Help us, Lord, to understand what it really truly means to love You with all of our heart, souls, mind, and being. Help us, Lord, to understand how simple it is, and yet, Lord, how desperately we need to bring our lives in conformity to Your Word. Enable us to be obedient. Enable us to be more obedient, more godly, more holy. Enable us, Father, to worship Thee and honor Thee. And when we get through with a day and we look back and, Lord, we've obeyed Thee in every area that we can, we can truthfully and honestly say, Father, I've loved Thee this day through the Lord Jesus Christ in Thy Word. Oh, make us more obedient. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.

How to Love The Lord With All Your Heart

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	812121528287
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Walking With God
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-08-12
Dictation Name
Book	Book 134: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 1 — Chapter 11
Source Timed Segments	79

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Great Commandment

Reading of Matthew 22:35-40 and parallel passages, establishing the command to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to Matthew chapter 22. And I want us to begin reading with verse 35, because I'm going to bring a message today which is very dear to my heart, and especially this morning and the one tonight as well, because to me this is very fundamental, very elementary, and yet at the same time something that most of us have never really grasped. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22. We're going to read verses 35 through 40. Keep your fingers flexible. We will be turning to a lot of scriptures today. But the title of the message is this: How to love the Lord with all of your heart. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22, verse 35.

"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Now, our Lord is very clear in this commandment. He tells us that we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul. So since this commandment is exceedingly clear, there is no excuse for not doing so.

I want you to note in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, our Lord repeats this, but I want you to note how he states it. Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, here the word of God just simply says this:

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:30

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment."

Then if you would turn right over to the book of Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, once again you will see that he repeats this commandment. Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:30

"...and he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."

Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, and we're going to be looking at verse 4 and verse 5, and I would ask you to mark this passage because we're going to come back to it just shortly.

Notice Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. You have there what is known as the Shema Israel when he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."

The Shema Yisrael usually goes "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."

But notice what follows:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

The Obligation to Love God

We are obligated to love God because He commands it as Creator and Redeemer; even the unconverted are responsible.

Now, the honest truth is this. We are obligated to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body just simply because He commands it. He is the Creator. He is the Redeemer. He is the Lord. He is the Savior. And we are obligated to obey. And may I point out also that even the unconverted who do not have the ability to love Him with all of their heart and soul are still responsible to do so. Simply because man in his sin has lost his ability does not mean that God has lost His right to command. God is still sovereign and God is still in control. Now, let me again try to answer the question: What does it mean, basically, to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and soul?

You remember in Mark 12 and verse 30, in Luke 10 and verse 27, the word "strength" was added as well. And when you got to Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, the word "might," M-I-G-H-T, was added.

Common Interpretations of Loving God

Scholars interpret loving God as fixing affections supremely on Him, but such definitions seem impossible in this life.

Now, there are some scholars that try to take these words and interpret them in a general sense. Let me give you one illustration. Here's one author who says, "Thou shalt love him with all the faculties or all thy powers. Thou shalt love him supremely more than all other beings and things and with all ardor possible. To love him with all the heart is to fix the affections supremely upon him, more strongly than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at his command." Well, that's very general. Other authors and scholars will break this statement down and they'll say, well, the heart refers to the affections and the soul refers to our life and the mind refers to our intellect. Thus, when we set our affections upon him, we love him more than life, and when we think upon his thoughts, we are loving him also with our soul, and when we bring our lives into conformity to his word. There's one author and one scholar, Adam Clarke. If you were to read what he said on what it means to love the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and it's about two pages long, when you get through reading that, you stop and you say, "Has anybody ever loved the Lord like that?"

I mean, you begin to think, wait a minute, what he just said is absolutely impossible. In this life, not impossible in the next life. But let me ask this before we go any further, let me try to deal with this word "strength" and "might," because we have been commanded to love the Lord with all of our strength as well as all of our might. When it comes to the word "strength," I believe David has the answer to that in Psalm 103 and verse 1, where David said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul."

Strength and Might in Loving God

Loving with all strength means honoring God with everything within us (Psalm 103:1); might can refer to money (1 Chronicles 29:2).

And then he goes on and says, "Forget not all of his benefits." But notice what he said. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me." In other words, the strength comes from the fact that we are indeed to give Him all the honor, all the praise, all the glory with everything that is within us. We do not hold back when we recognize everything we are and everything that we have is of Him and from Him, and we're to love Him in that regard. But what about the word "might"? You see, sometimes the word "might" and the word "strength" is used interchangeably, but not always. Because the word "might" in Scripture has another implication as well. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and let's begin reading with verse 1. Let me show you another understanding of the word "might" where he said in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. Look what David said beginning in 1 Chronicles chapter 29 in verse 1. The Bible says, "Furthermore, David, the king, said unto all the congregation, Solomon, my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great, for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God." Now watch carefully.

"Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for the things to be made of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and stones to be set, glistening stones that of diverse colors and of all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance, because, moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over above all that I have prepared for the Holy House, even three thousand talents of gold, the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls therewithal." Now, he goes on down and explains it, but notice if you would, in verse two, he's not prepared with all of my might.

Now, where to love the Lord with all of our might in this context, all of our might is all of our money. In other words, there are some people that say, "Well, I really love the Lord," but they'll never tithe, they'll never give, they'll never make offerings. And in that sense, if the word "might" in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 is to be interpreted by 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse 2, you'd have to say that some people who say they love the Lord really don't love the Lord because loving Him with all of your might would be loving Him with all of your money as well. Now, we understand that we're required to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, souls, strength, and might. But we also have to ask this question: what is it to love the Lord? Is love some warm, tingling feeling? Or is it goosebumps coming up on the back of my neck as I think of the Lord? Or is the hair on the back of my neck standing up?

Love Is Not Sentimentality

Love is not warm feelings, goosebumps, or emotional highs; it is defined by Scripture.

Or is it the fact that I get some kind of a crawling sensation on my skin and I get all teary eyed and sentimental. Is that loving the Lord? And the answer I'm going to show you is absolutely not. Is loving the Lord some type of asceticism? No. I want you to go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. I told you we'd be coming back there. I want you to look at the context in which he tells us that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. And I'm going to show you from the Bible.

Love Connected to Commandments in Deuteronomy 6

The command to love God is embedded in a context of keeping commandments, statutes, and judgments.

We'll be looking at a number of passages. How this is explained, notice beginning there with Deuteronomy chapter 6 and let's read the first nine verses. The scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:1-9

"Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy sons' sons, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it might be well with thee, and that thou mightest increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children." "And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates."

Now, I want you to note something. When you get to verse 5, when God tells you that you're to love the Lord with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your might, in the context it is right smack dab in the middle of all of these verses that talk about the commandments, the statutes, the judgments, and again in verse 2, keeping his statutes and keeping his commandments. And then when you get down to verse 6,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:1-9

"and these words which I command thee shall be in your heart, and you shall talk about them as you lie down and as you're awake, and you're to put them as the front of your eyes and post them on the doors of your house."

In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. Loving the Lord somehow, according to Deuteronomy chapter 6, is connected with His commandments, with His judgments, with His statutes. It's very plain in the context. Now, I want you to go to Mark chapter 12 and look, if you would please, at verse 29, because the interesting thing is this.

Jesus Quotes the Shema in Mark 12

Jesus supports the law and shows the covenantal relationship; loving God is tied to His Word.

Our Lord in Mark chapter 12 and verse 29 quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6. So Mark 12. Notice, if you would please, verse 29. Look at what Scripture says. Mark 12 verse 29.

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:29

"And Jesus answering him, the first of all commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, which is the first commandment."

But notice, if you would, in verse 29, he begins by quoting the Shema Israel, which we read back in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. So why in the world is our Lord quoting Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 here in Mark 12 and verse 29? Here's the answer. First of all, our Lord is not only supporting the law as it has been given, but He is also telling us how we are to love Him.

There is indeed a covenantal relationship that exists between God and His people, and the covenant that binds us to Him is in His Word, and it is His Word. Thus the reference then to the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 is teaching us basically that we have one Lord, one faith, one Word, and one baptism. In other words, we are united with Him. Now, what I want to do is this. I want to ask you some questions, and then I'm going to show you the answer. Have you ever wondered why David said, "Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation day and night." Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the rejoicing of my heart"? Have you ever wondered why Job said, "I esteem thy words more than my necessary meat"?

Old Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience

Deuteronomy 30:16,20; Joshua 22:5; 23:11 equate loving God with walking in His ways and keeping commandments.

Why did these people place the Word of God in such a place of preeminence in their lives? Well, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 30. We're going to be looking at a lot of passages, but I'm going to just try to show you what it is to love the Lord. I'm going to show it to you from the Old Testament. I'm going to show it to you from the New Testament. So look in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 16 to begin with. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 16. Look what the Word of God says, "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God." Are you watching?

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"To walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

Now look at it,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God."

What is loving the Lord thy God? It's walking in His ways, it's keeping His commandments and His statutes and His judgments. Skip down to verse 20. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 20,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Now, he said in verse 20,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"that thou mayest love the Lord thy God."

What is loving the Lord thy God? It's obeying His voice. It's cleaving unto Him. It's recognizing that He is indeed our life. Turn right over, if you would, please, to the book of Joshua, chapter 22, and look at verse 5. Joshua 22 in verse 5. Again, Joshua says this very plainly. Joshua 22, look at verse 5. He says, "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Now, I want you to note that

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"Take diligent heed to do the commandment of the law which Moses the servant charged you to love the Lord."

Wow. I hope you're beginning to see that there is a connection somehow between obeying the Lord and loving Him. Now, if you look in Joshua 23 and verse 11, he says it basically the same thing.

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God."

But you'd have to look at it in the context and go back to verse 8. He says,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"but cleave unto the Lord your God as you have done this day."

So there is a cleaving unto the Lord that is associated with loving him as well.

Now, the New Testament is just as plain. Let me make a statement. I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible. Love is obedience. Love is not sentimentality. It is not emotionalism. It is not traditionalism. It is not anything else. Love is simple obedience. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. And look, if you would, exactly what is defined for us. Romans 13 and verse 10.

And the Scripture says this: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Now, what is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law.

New Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience

Romans 13:10, John 14:15,21,23-24, 1 John 5:2-3, 2:3-4, 2 John 1:6 define love as keeping commandments.

And the Scripture says this: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Now, what is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, I want you to turn to John 14. We're going to look at several verses right here. John 14. And notice, if you would please, keep in mind that love is the fulfilling of the law. John 14. Look, if you would please, at verse 15. Look what our Lord says. John 14, verse 15.

Scripture Reading — John 14:15,21,23-24

"If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Look at verse 21, our Lord said, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Wow. Skip down to verse 23. "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we'll come unto him and make our abode with him." Now, he said, "if a man love me, he'll keep my words." The opposite is also true to those who do not love him. Look in verse 24. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings."

I don't know how really and truly anything could be any plainer. Our Lord just simply says, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you don't love me, you're not going to keep them. It's just that simple.

Now, I want you to turn to First John, chapter five. If you haven't put two and two together, I trust this passage will do it for you. Look in First John, chapter five. And we're going to begin reading there with verse two, First John five and verse two. Our Lord says it like this. "By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments." By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So here's my question. How do I know that I love Brother Tim? How do I know that I love your pastor? How do I know that I love Jacob? How do I know that I love any of God's children? The answer is by this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. That simply means this. I treat Brother Tim and his wife the way God commands me to. I treat his property the way God commands me to.

I don't steal from him. I don't covet what he has. I treat him the way that God commands me. Now, I want you to listen. This is very, very simple. What we have done today, and I'm going to show you, we've tried to mix love with sentimentalism and emotionalism. So, for instance, if I went to Keith, and I fell on his shoulders and just started weeping and crying, and tears running down my cheek, and I'm slobbering all over him, and I say, "Brother Keith, I love you, I love you, I love you." And everybody says, "Oh, look how Brother Weaver loves Brother Keith. Isn't that wonderful?" Well, what you don't see is while I'm telling him I love him, I've got my hand in his pocket stealing a $100 bill from him. Emily says it's not there. She already has it. But you see what I'm saying? So I can tell him I love him.

I can get all emotional and I can weep and cry all over him. But according to the Bible, do I love him if I'm stealing from him? No. Hereby we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Look at the next verse. If you really, truly, genuinely want to know what love is, here it is, plain and simple. Verse 3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." What is the love of God? It's the keeping of his commandments.

Now, go back, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And let's look, first of all, at verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse 3. Here's what the Scripture says,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments."

How do I know that I really, genuinely know the Lord Jesus? How do I know that I'm really, genuinely converted? And the answer is very simple. Because by His grace and by His power, He is enabling me to be obedient to His Word. That's what the Scripture says there.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments."

That's verse 3. But watch verse 4.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

I wonder where that leaves an awful lot of church members. People who say they love the Lord, and yet they are immoral, wicked, ungodly, liars, thieves, covetous, adulterers, fornicators. What did he say? "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him." In other words, when God saves us, He enables us to be obedient.

Now, that doesn't mean that we are absolutely perfect. No, it does not mean that at all. But it does mean that our lives, generally speaking, are lives of obedience. Did you know the Bible says in 2 John 1, verse 6, now listen,

Scripture Reading — 2 John 1:6

"And this is love that we walk after His commandments."

This is love that we walk after His commandments. Now, let me show you something about biblical love. Biblical love is always demonstrative. It is always manifested. It is always evidenced. Since you're in 1 John, go to 1 John 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 16.

I want you to look at the first two words. "Hereby perceive." Look at the phrase, "Hereby perceive we the love of God." Now the word "perceive" means to understand. It means to comprehend. It means to see. It means to lay hold upon. So he says, "Hereby perceive" or understand or comprehend we the love of God.

Love Is Demonstrative and Evidenced

1 John 3:16-18 shows love is demonstrated in deed and truth, not just words; we minister to God by ministering to others.

Scripture Reading — 2 John 1:6

"And this is love that we walk after His commandments."

Now, don't let me misread this. Watch this. "Hereby perceive we the love of God because He told us He loved us." Is that what the Scripture says? No. Now, if God told us He loved us, certainly that would be true, because God does not lie. But look what the Scripture says. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." In other words, here love, real genuine love, is always demonstrative. How do we know that God loved us? Not just that He told us, but He demonstrated it. He manifested it. He evidenced it. He laid down His life for us. And then He goes on to say we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, watch verse 17.

"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." Now he said, "but whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." So that simply means this. Brother Ernie comes up to me and says, "Brother Weaver, I've been out of a job for two months. I'm hungry. My wife is hungry. My children are hungry. Is there anything you can do for us?" And I've got a pantry full of food. And I say, "Yes, my brother, there's something I can do for you. I'm going to pray that the Lord will supply your need. Let's bow in prayer." What?

What good is praying for him and with him when I have the wherewithal to feed his family? So he says then, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." So if I genuinely love him, I'm going to be willing to share with him whatever I have. In other words, real, genuine love is always demonstrable. It's evidenced. It's manifested.

Now, I'm still trying to answer this question for us. How do we love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and being? Since love is obedience, and the Bible made that clear, and since obedience is demanded to God's law word, and since love is always active and demonstrable, it really should not be too difficult to figure out how to love the Lord. Obviously, loving the Lord is not what most people think it is. Most people have been filled with so much religious bunk. It is unbelievable. I get questions all the time by people.

They'll say, "Oh, Brother Weaver, did you see Preacher So-and-so on TV?" My answer is no. I didn't see him. "Well, did you hear him on the radio?" The answer is no. Unless I know somebody, I'm not listening to them. I'm really not. I couldn't see him on TV anyhow. We don't even have TV. But I'm just simply saying, I'm not listening to a bunch of stuff from people who spout their ideas and never ever teach the Word of God. You see, what we've done today, we have associated love with feelings. We've associated love with emotions.

And so you can ask yourself this question. Well, if I come to church and I say that I'm loving the Lord, can I cuddle up to the Lord? Can I get all warm and fuzzy with him? Can I get all teary eyed and sentimental? Can I get an emotional high? Can I jump and shout and have an experience and say that, boy, I love the Lord? Well, you can say that and you might get some of that, but that doesn't mean that you love the Lord, because that is not biblical love. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6, and I want to ask you a question just in light of what I've just said. You say, "Brother Weaver, what I want to do is I just want to get so close to the Lord I can just touch him." And I understand that kind of phraseology, but look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning of verse 15. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show that we're talking about Jesus Christ.

"That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." Well, there goes your cuddling and your warm fuzzies, because no man can approach unto Him physically like that, no. You may weep and you may cry and you may wail and you may scream that you love him, but that does not necessarily mean that you do. Because in the Bible, love is obedience.

Now, let me take it a step further. Go in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 6. Let me show you another verse that may have escaped your attention in light of this, look in Hebrews 6, verse 10. Notice what the Bible says. Hebrews 6, verse 10. The Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 6:10

"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister."

And think about that. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you've showed toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Let me ask you. Think about this.

What can you give the Lord that he actually really needs? What's the answer? Nothing. Everything you are, He made. Everything you have, He gave you. Everything that's in the world, He created. It's kind of like the scientists, you know, that got so arrogant thinking they can create life and do everything. They told about the one scientist who had a conversation with God and said, "God, we're now as big as you." He said, "We can create life too." And God said, "Is that right?" He said, "Yes."

Practical Applications of Loving God

Loving spouse biblically, honoring parents, tithing, refusing to steal, and loving brethren are all expressions of loving God.

Well, let's think about this. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Let me just take where God says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Do you realize when I love my wife the way God commanded me to love her, and when I understand the Lord forbids adultery and fornication and all uncleanness, yet on the other hand, I can read in Scripture where my Heavenly Father says in Proverbs 5 in verse 18, "Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth." What does that mean? It means if I'm going to love God, I have to love my wife the way God commands me to love my wife. And it means that when I find my joy and my fulfillment and my satisfaction in the wife that God has given me, and I love her the way Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, then I'm loving God. Because that is exactly what he commands. When I love her with a biblical love, I'm demonstrating that I love the Lord. My love is demonstrated by my biblical love to my wife.

On the other hand, when my wife then submits to me and loves me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, she is expressing her love to Christ. Do you not remember there in Ephesians chapter 5, the wives were to be in submission to the husbands. Why? That like as the church is in submission unto Christ, so the wife is to be in subjection to her husband in everything. In other words, her life is to picture the submission of the church to Jesus Christ. Therefore, when my wife loves me and submits to me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, what is she doing? She's expressing her love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because love is the fulfilling of the law.

This thing is really so simple. And yet, at the same time, we have lost fact of the idea that love is obedience, and it is obedience to God. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. If we love Him, we will obey Him.

Now, let me go a little step further. You do know the fifth commandment, Exodus 20, verse 12, that we're to honor our father and our mother. Do you realize when we honor our parents in the way that God has commanded, and if we're children, if we submit to them and obey them and honor them and esteem them very highly in the Lord, we're expressing our love to the Lord when we do that, because he is the one that has said, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize honoring your father and mother means more than saying, "Yes, ma'am," and "No, ma'am," and "Yes, sir," and "No, sir"? If you were to read, and we're not going to turn there, but if you were to read Matthew 15 and Mark chapter 7, you would find that honoring your father and mother means that you take care of them in their old age when they cannot take care of themselves. And if you were to read in 1 Timothy, you would find out that that is indeed honoring the Lord.

He said, "Let the children and the nephews requite their parents." You know what the word "requite" means? It means to pay back. Do you realize your parents took care of you when you could not take care of yourselves? They fed you. They clothed you. They nursed you. They educated you. They did everything for you. And now when your parents get elderly and they can't take care of themselves, God says it's time for you to requite them. You take care of them. You support them. You sustain them. That's biblical.

Let me go ahead and say this. And I want the married young men and women to understand this. Obedience in one sense of the word may cease when you have your own home, but honor never ceases. And I made this a principle in my life. When I went back to see my father, I remembered when I was in his house, I was still his son and he was still my father. And whatever he asked me to do, I would do. I may have been 40 and had four kids, but that was immaterial. I may have been 50 and had grandkids, but that was immaterial. When he asked me to do something, I was in his house. I did it. All I'm saying is this. God requires us to honor our parents. When I honor my parents the way God commands me to, I'm expressing my love to the Lord. I'm loving him with all of my heart, with all of my soul, because love is the fulfilling of the law.

I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 26. I want you to see this. Deuteronomy 26. And notice, if you would please, verse 17. Deuteronomy 26 and verse 17. This is this chapter. I wish I could read all of it. This chapter deals with tithing. I want you to look in verse 17 after they had tithed. In verse 17, he says this, "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God."

"And to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice." Now watch, after all Israel had tithed unto the Lord, he says, "Thou hast avouched this day that the Lord this day is your God." You know what the word "avouched" means? It literally means to say in one's heart. And then he goes on to say that you're to keep his commandments and his judgments and you're to hearken to his voice. In other words, when I tithe and when I give offerings unto him, what am I doing? I'm saying, "Lord, I am yours and you are mine, and I'm recognizing your sovereignty. I'm recognizing the fact that you own everything. I'm recognizing the fact, Lord, that everything I have, you gave to me. And Lord, I'm giving this back to you, and as I'm doing that, I'm avouching this day that you are my God." Now watch verse 18. After that happens, "...and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he promised thee." And Lord, God says, when you avouch me and you do what I command, I'm avouching you that you're mine. You're my peculiar people.

Love is the fulfilling of the law. How do I love God with all my heart? When I refuse to steal and defraud and cheat and swindle and lie, it's evidence that I love the Lord. When I give lovingly and generously and cheerfully to the Lord and to His work, it's evidence that I love the Lord. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, says "Thou shalt not steal." Do you know what the positive side of "thou shalt not steal" is? You'll find it in Ephesians 4 in verse 28. Let me just quote it. "Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands a thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth." What? So the opposite of "thou shalt not steal" is laboring with your hands, working that which is good, that you may have to give to him that needeth. In other words, you're not a covetous individual. You're a generous, loving, cheerful individual.

That's why 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7 says this. "Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." In other words, when I refuse to do those things that God forbids me to do, and I do what He commands me to do, I'm saying, "Lord, I love Thee. I'm loving You with all of my heart, with all of my mind, with all of my strength, with all of my being." When I minister to You the way God commands me to, I'm loving the Lord. If you will turn in your Bibles to First John, Chapter three, just showing you what it means to love the Lord. Look in First John, Chapter three and verse 14. How do we know we love the Lord? We know we love the Lord when we love his children. Notice First John, Chapter three and verse 14. He says this. "We know that we pass from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."

Wow. Now, let me tell you something. Just because I love the brethren does not mean that I like all of them. No, listen carefully. Do you realize there are some people that are brethren that can irritate you to death? And they have idiosyncrasies that you don't like. That doesn't matter. You are still required to love them if they're brethren. How do I know that I've passed from death into life? Because I love the brethren.

I remember I had one dear friend. He was a preacher. He's now dead, but his voice was so high pitched. I couldn't—I could not stand to talk to him. His voice hurt my ears. And probably about 30 minutes would be about all I could take. But I would spend those 30 minutes with him. And then I'd find some reason to have a break. And then I'd come back and spend 30 more minutes with him. But he couldn't change his voice. It wasn't his problem.

That's the way God created him. And he may have hurt my ears, but he was still my brother, and I still was required to love him and to fellowship with him. Look in 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. He says it like this, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." And if you'll skip down to verse 20, 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21, he says this, "If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."

Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. As Christians, we must love our husbands, we must love our wives, we must love our neighbors, we must love our brethren, as Christ commanded us. For love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is obedience. If we do not keep His commandments, if we do not do as He commands, then we do not love Him. Let me go just a little bit further. When I hate sin and wickedness and disobedience and rebellion, and when I refuse to participate in such things, I love the Lord. Why? Because He has commanded me in Psalm 97 and verse 10, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil." And then he's also said in Amos 5 and verse 15, "Hate the evil and love the good."

Conclusion: The Measuring Stick of Obedience

Obedience to God's Word is the standard for measuring love; talk and emotions are worthless without conformity to His commandments.

Now, that means there is a measuring stick. How can I know whether Brother Mack loves the Lord with all of his heart? It's very simple. I examine his life in light of the Word of God. If he's obedient to God's Word, yes, he's loving the Lord. If he's disobedient, he's not loving the Lord. There is a measuring stick. I want you to understand that talk is worthless. Emotions are fickle. Sentimentality is useless. The only thing that genuinely evidences our love for the Lord is our obedience.

He said in John 14 and verse 21, which I've already quoted, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." One last verse. Let me quote it. Galatians 6 and verse 16. Paul the Apostle writes,

Scripture Reading — Galatians 6:16

"As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God."

As many as walk according to this rule. Peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. Do you know the word "rule" in Galatians 6 and verse 16 is the word "canon"? C-A-N-O-N. Canon is our English word. Not C-A-N-N-O-N. That's the kind that shoots. But we talk about the canon of Scripture. The Old Testament canon. The New Testament canon. Here's what the Apostle Paul said, "As many as walk according to this measuring stick, to this standard, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God." Is there a way for us to measure whether or not we love the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind? The answer is yes. And here it is. The question has to be asked, are our lives in conformity to the Word of God to the extent that we know the truth of God, which God has revealed?

It's true that none of us are perfect. None of us know everything. But the Word of God says it very plainly. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So the question is not, do I know everything? No. The question is, am I obedient to that which I do know? And is my life being measured by my obedience to the totality of the Word of God? As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. Help us, Lord, to understand what it really truly means to love You with all of our heart, souls, mind, and being. Help us, Lord, to understand how simple it is, and yet, Lord, how desperately we need to bring our lives in conformity to Your Word. Enable us to be obedient. Enable us to be more obedient, more godly, more holy. Enable us, Father, to worship Thee and honor Thee. And when we get through with a day and we look back and, Lord, we've obeyed Thee in every area that we can, we can truthfully and honestly say, "Father, I've loved Thee this day through the Lord Jesus Christ in Thy Word." Oh, make us more obedient. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Love as Obedience

Summary: Biblical love for God is defined as keeping His commandments, not emotional feelings.

Evidence: John 14:15 'If you love Me, keep My commandments'; 1 John 5:3 'For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments'.

The Shema and Covenant Context

Summary: The command to love God in Deuteronomy 6 is surrounded by statutes and judgments, linking love to covenantal obedience.

Evidence: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 places the love command amid commandments and statutes.

Love Is Demonstrative

Summary: True love is evidenced by actions, not words; God demonstrated His love by laying down His life.

Evidence: 1 John 3:16-18 'let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth'.

Loving God by Loving Others

Summary: We love God by obeying His commands toward others—spouse, parents, brethren—and by ministering to them.

Evidence: Hebrews 6:10 ministering to saints shows love toward God's name; Matthew 25:40 doing to least of brethren is doing to Christ.

The Measuring Stick of Obedience

Summary: Obedience to God's Word is the standard by which love for God is measured; talk and emotions are insufficient.

Evidence: Galatians 6:16 'as many as walk according to this rule'; John 14:21 'he that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me'.

Hatred of Evil as Part of Loving God

Summary: Loving God necessarily involves hating what is contrary to Him, as commanded in Psalm 97:10.

Evidence: Psalm 97:10 'Ye that love the Lord hate evil'; Amos 5:15 'Hate the evil and love the good'.

Key Arguments

Love is not sentimentality

Summary: Weaver argues that modern Christianity has wrongly equated love with feelings, but Scripture defines love as obedience.

Evidence: He contrasts emotional displays with biblical love, citing 1 John 5:2-3 and John 14:15.

The law defines love

Summary: Love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10); therefore, loving God means obeying His commandments.

Evidence: Romans 13:10 'love is the fulfilling of the law'; multiple OT/NT passages equate love with commandment-keeping.

Obedience is the evidence of love

Summary: A person's claim to love God is validated or invalidated by their obedience to His Word.

Evidence: 1 John 2:3-4 'he that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar'.

Love must be demonstrated toward others

Summary: Since we cannot directly minister to God, we show love to Him by obeying His commands regarding others.

Evidence: Hebrews 6:10; Matthew 25:40; 1 John 3:17-18.

There is a measurable standard for love

Summary: The 'canon' or rule of Scripture provides a measuring stick to evaluate whether one loves God.

Evidence: Galatians 6:16 'as many as walk according to this rule'; the word 'rule' is 'canon'.

Scripture References

Matthew 22:35-40

Context: The great commandment: love God with all heart, soul, mind; and love neighbor as self.

Mark 12:30

Context: Repeats the command adding 'with all thy strength'.

Luke 10:27

Context: Repeats the command with heart, soul, strength, mind.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Context: The Shema: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; love Him with all heart, soul, might.

Psalm 103:1

Context: Bless the Lord with all that is within me, illustrating loving with all strength.

1 Chronicles 29:1-2

Context: David prepared with all his might (money) for the temple, showing might can refer to wealth.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Context: The love command is embedded in a context of commandments, statutes, and judgments.

Mark 12:29

Context: Jesus quotes the Shema, linking love to the covenantal law.

Deuteronomy 30:16

Context: Loving God is defined as walking in His ways and keeping His commandments.

Deuteronomy 30:20

Context: Loving God is obeying His voice and cleaving to Him.

Joshua 22:5

Context: Take diligent heed to do the commandment to love the Lord by keeping His commandments.

Romans 13:10

Context: Love is the fulfilling of the law.

John 14:15,21,23-24

Context: If you love Me, keep My commandments; he that has and keeps them loves Me.

1 John 5:2-3

Context: We know we love God's children when we love God and keep His commandments; this is the love of God.

1 John 2:3-4

Context: We know we know Him if we keep His commandments; whoever says 'I know Him' and doesn't keep them is a liar.

2 John 1:6

Context: This is love, that we walk after His commandments.

1 John 3:16-18

Context: Love is demonstrated by laying down lives; not loving in word but in deed and truth.

Hebrews 6:10

Context: God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love shown by ministering to the saints.

Matthew 25:40

Context: Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.

Galatians 6:16

Context: As many as walk according to this rule (canon), peace and mercy be upon them.

Historical References

Adam Clarke

Context: A scholar whose lengthy description of loving God with all heart seems impossible in this life.

Important Quotes

Love is obedience. Love is not sentimentality. It is not emotionalism. It is not traditionalism. It is not anything else. Love is simple obedience.

Significance: Core thesis of the sermon, defining biblical love in contrast to common misconceptions.

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Significance: Direct quote of Jesus used as foundational proof that love equals obedience.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.

Significance: 1 John 5:3 quoted to define the love of God explicitly.

He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Significance: 1 John 2:4 used to show that profession without obedience is false.

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Significance: 1 John 3:18 emphasizing that love must be demonstrated, not just spoken.

As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God.

Significance: Galatians 6:16 used to show the canon of Scripture as the measuring stick for love.

Discussion Questions

How does defining love as obedience challenge common cultural or church ideas about loving God?

Context: Weaver contrasts biblical love with sentimentalism and emotionalism.

In what practical ways can we demonstrate love for God through our relationships with family and fellow believers?

Context: Weaver gives examples of loving spouse, honoring parents, and ministering to brethren.

Why is it important that love be 'demonstrative' and not just verbal?

Context: 1 John 3:16-18 is used to show love must be in deed and truth.

How does the concept of 'might' including money affect our understanding of loving God with all our resources?

Context: 1 Chronicles 29:2 is used to interpret 'might' as money.

What is the 'measuring stick' for love, and how can we use it to examine our own lives?

Context: Galatians 6:16 and the canon of Scripture are presented as the standard.

How does hating evil relate to loving God, and what might that look like in daily life?

Context: Psalm 97:10 and Amos 5:15 are cited to show love includes hating evil.

Applications

Examine your obedience as evidence of love

Summary: Evaluate whether your life conforms to God's commandments as the true measure of your love for Him.

Evidence: 1 John 2:3-4; Galatians 6:16.

Love your spouse biblically

Summary: Husbands love wives as Christ loved the church; wives submit to husbands as the church submits to Christ, thereby expressing love to God.

Evidence: Ephesians 5; Proverbs 5:18.

Honor and care for parents

Summary: Obey and honor parents, including financial care in their old age, as an expression of love to God.

Evidence: Exodus 20:12; Matthew 15; 1 Timothy 5.

Give tithes and offerings cheerfully

Summary: Tithing and generous giving avouch God as your God and demonstrate love through obedience.

Evidence: Deuteronomy 26:17-18; 2 Corinthians 9:7.

Love the brethren, even when difficult

Summary: Love fellow believers in deed and truth, even if you don't like all of them, as evidence of passing from death to life.

Evidence: 1 John 3:14; 4:7-8,20-21.

Hate evil and refuse participation in sin

Summary: Actively hate what is contrary to God and refuse to participate in wickedness as part of loving Him.

Evidence: Psalm 97:10; Amos 5:15.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:22:51Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:24:57Z

Clean Transcript

How to Love The Lord With All Your Heart

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to Matthew chapter 22. And I want us to begin reading with verse 35, because I'm going to bring a message today which is very dear to my heart, and especially this morning and the one tonight as well, because to me this is very fundamental, very elementary, and yet at the same time something that most of us have never really grasped. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22. We're going to read verses 35 through 40. Keep your fingers flexible. We will be turning to a lot of scriptures today. But the title of the message is this: How to love the Lord with all of your heart. Notice, if you would, Matthew 22, verse 35.
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"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Now, our Lord is very clear in this commandment. He tells us that we are to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul. So since this commandment is exceedingly clear, there is no excuse for not doing so.
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I want you to note in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, our Lord repeats this, but I want you to note how he states it. Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, here the word of God just simply says this: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment." Then if you would turn right over to the book of Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, once again you will see that he repeats this commandment. Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, the Word of God says, "...and he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, and we're going to be looking at verse 4 and verse 5, and I would ask you to mark this passage because we're going to come back to it just shortly.
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Notice Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. You have there what is known as the Shema Israel when he says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." The Shema Yisrael usually goes "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad." "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." But notice what follows: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
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Now, it doesn't really matter whether you look in the Old Testament or the New Testament, the command is the same. We've been commanded to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, souls. So, several questions automatically should come to your mind. First of all, how do we love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul?
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Another question is this: is there a standard of measurement? How can I know whether or not I genuinely am loving the Lord with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul? How can I know whether or not you are doing that? Is there some standard of measurement? Is there some way that we can know?
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Now, the honest truth is this. We are obligated to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body just simply because He commands it. He is the Creator. He is the Redeemer. He is the Lord. He is the Savior. And we are obligated to obey. And may I point out also that even the unconverted who do not have the ability to love Him with all of their heart and soul are still responsible to do so. Simply because man in his sin has lost his ability does not mean that God has lost His right to command. God is still sovereign and God is still in control. Now, let me again try to answer the question: What does it mean, basically, to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and soul?
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You remember in Mark 12 and verse 30, in Luke 10 and verse 27, the word "strength" was added as well. And when you got to Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, the word "might," M-I-G-H-T, was added.
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Now, there are some scholars that try to take these words and interpret them in a general sense. Let me give you one illustration. Here's one author who says, "Thou shalt love him with all the faculties or all thy powers. Thou shalt love him supremely more than all other beings and things and with all ardor possible. To love him with all the heart is to fix the affections supremely upon him, more strongly than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at his command." Well, that's very general. Other authors and scholars will break this statement down and they'll say, well, the heart refers to the affections and the soul refers to our life and the mind refers to our intellect. Thus, when we set our affections upon him, we love him more than life, and when we think upon his thoughts, we are loving him also with our soul, and when we bring our lives into conformity to his word. There's one author and one scholar, Adam Clarke. If you were to read what he said on what it means to love the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and it's about two pages long, when you get through reading that, you stop and you say, "Has anybody ever loved the Lord like that?"
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I mean, you begin to think, wait a minute, what he just said is absolutely impossible. In this life, not impossible in the next life. But let me ask this before we go any further, let me try to deal with this word "strength" and "might," because we have been commanded to love the Lord with all of our strength as well as all of our might. When it comes to the word "strength," I believe David has the answer to that in Psalm 103 and verse 1, where David said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul."
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And then he goes on and says, "Forget not all of his benefits." But notice what he said. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me." In other words, the strength comes from the fact that we are indeed to give Him all the honor, all the praise, all the glory with everything that is within us. We do not hold back when we recognize everything we are and everything that we have is of Him and from Him, and we're to love Him in that regard.
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But what about the word "might"? You see, sometimes the word "might" and the word "strength" is used interchangeably, but not always. Because the word "might" in Scripture has another implication as well. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and let's begin reading with verse 1. Let me show you another understanding of the word "might" where he said in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. Look what David said beginning in 1 Chronicles chapter 29 in verse 1. The Bible says, "Furthermore, David, the king, said unto all the congregation, Solomon, my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great, for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God." Now watch carefully.
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"Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for the things to be made of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and stones to be set, glistening stones that of diverse colors and of all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance, because, moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over above all that I have prepared for the Holy House, even three thousand talents of gold, the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls therewithal." Now, he goes on down and explains it, but notice if you would, in verse two, he's not prepared with all of my might.
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Now, where to love the Lord with all of our might in this context, all of our might is all of our money. In other words, there are some people that say, "Well, I really love the Lord," but they'll never tithe, they'll never give, they'll never make offerings. And in that sense, if the word "might" in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 is to be interpreted by 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse 2, you'd have to say that some people who say they love the Lord really don't love the Lord because loving Him with all of your might would be loving Him with all of your money as well. Now, we understand that we're required to love the Lord with all of our hearts, minds, souls, strength, and might. But we also have to ask this question: what is it to love the Lord? Is love some warm, tingling feeling? Or is it goosebumps coming up on the back of my neck as I think of the Lord? Or is the hair on the back of my neck standing up?
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Or is it the fact that I get some kind of a crawling sensation on my skin and I get all teary eyed and sentimental. Is that loving the Lord? And the answer I'm going to show you is absolutely not. Is loving the Lord some type of asceticism? No. I want you to go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. I told you we'd be coming back there. I want you to look at the context in which he tells us that we're to love the Lord with all of our might. And I'm going to show you from the Bible.
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We'll be looking at a number of passages. How this is explained, notice beginning there with Deuteronomy chapter 6 and let's read the first nine verses. The scripture says, "Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy sons' sons, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it might be well with thee, and that thou mightest increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children."
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"And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates."
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Now, I want you to note something. When you get to verse 5, when God tells you that you're to love the Lord with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your might, in the context it is right smack dab in the middle of all of these verses that talk about the commandments, the statutes, the judgments, and again in verse 2, keeping his statutes and keeping his commandments. And then when you get down to verse 6, "and these words which I command thee shall be in your heart, and you shall talk about them as you lie down and as you're awake, and you're to put them as the front of your eyes and post them on the doors of your house." In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. Loving the Lord somehow, according to Deuteronomy chapter 6, is connected with His commandments, with His judgments, with His statutes. It's very plain in the context. Now, I want you to go to Mark chapter 12 and look, if you would please, at verse 29, because the interesting thing is this.
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Our Lord in Mark chapter 12 and verse 29 quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6. So Mark 12. Notice, if you would please, verse 29. Look at what Scripture says. Mark 12 verse 29. "And Jesus answering him, the first of all commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, which is the first commandment." But notice, if you would, in verse 29, he begins by quoting the Shema Israel, which we read back in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. So why in the world is our Lord quoting Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 here in Mark 12 and verse 29? Here's the answer. First of all, our Lord is not only supporting the law as it has been given, but He is also telling us how we are to love Him.
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There is indeed a covenantal relationship that exists between God and His people, and the covenant that binds us to Him is in His Word, and it is His Word. Thus the reference then to the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 is teaching us basically that we have one Lord, one faith, one Word, and one baptism. In other words, we are united with Him.
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Now, what I want to do is this. I want to ask you some questions, and then I'm going to show you the answer. Have you ever wondered why David said, "Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation day and night." Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they were the rejoicing of my heart"? Have you ever wondered why Job said, "I esteem thy words more than my necessary meat"?
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Why did these people place the Word of God in such a place of preeminence in their lives? Well, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 30. We're going to be looking at a lot of passages, but I'm going to just try to show you what it is to love the Lord. I'm going to show it to you from the Old Testament. I'm going to show it to you from the New Testament. So look in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 16 to begin with. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 16. Look what the Word of God says, "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God." Are you watching?
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"To walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it." Now look at it, "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God." What is loving the Lord thy God? It's walking in His ways, it's keeping His commandments and His statutes and His judgments.
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Skip down to verse 20. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 20, "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Now, he said in verse 20, "that thou mayest love the Lord thy God." What is loving the Lord thy God? It's obeying His voice. It's cleaving unto Him. It's recognizing that He is indeed our life. Turn right over, if you would, please, to the book of Joshua, chapter 22, and look at verse 5. Joshua 22 in verse 5. Again, Joshua says this very plainly. Joshua 22, look at verse 5. He says, "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."
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Now, I want you to note that "Take diligent heed to do the commandment of the law which Moses the servant charged you to love the Lord." Wow. I hope you're beginning to see that there is a connection somehow between obeying the Lord and loving Him.
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Now, if you look in Joshua 23 and verse 11, he says it basically the same thing. "Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God." But you'd have to look at it in the context and go back to verse 8. He says, "but cleave unto the Lord your God as you have done this day." So there is a cleaving unto the Lord that is associated with loving him as well.
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Now, the New Testament is just as plain. Let me make a statement. I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible. Love is obedience. Love is not sentimentality. It is not emotionalism. It is not traditionalism. It is not anything else. Love is simple obedience. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. Romans chapter 13 and verse 10. And look, if you would, exactly what is defined for us. Romans 13 and verse 10.
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And the Scripture says this: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Now, what is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law.
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Now, I want you to turn to John 14. We're going to look at several verses right here. John 14. And notice, if you would please, keep in mind that love is the fulfilling of the law. John 14. Look, if you would please, at verse 15. Look what our Lord says. John 14, verse 15. "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Look at verse 21, our Lord said, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Wow. Skip down to verse 23. "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we'll come unto him and make our abode with him." Now, he said, "if a man love me, he'll keep my words." The opposite is also true to those who do not love him. Look in verse 24. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings."
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I don't know how really and truly anything could be any plainer. Our Lord just simply says, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you don't love me, you're not going to keep them. It's just that simple.
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Now, I want you to turn to First John, chapter five. If you haven't put two and two together, I trust this passage will do it for you. Look in First John, chapter five. And we're going to begin reading there with verse two, First John five and verse two. Our Lord says it like this. "By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments." By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So here's my question. How do I know that I love Brother Tim? How do I know that I love your pastor? How do I know that I love Jacob? How do I know that I love any of God's children? The answer is by this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. That simply means this. I treat Brother Tim and his wife the way God commands me to. I treat his property the way God commands me to.
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I don't steal from him. I don't covet what he has. I treat him the way that God commands me.
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Now, I want you to listen. This is very, very simple. What we have done today, and I'm going to show you, we've tried to mix love with sentimentalism and emotionalism. So, for instance, if I went to Keith, and I fell on his shoulders and just started weeping and crying, and tears running down my cheek, and I'm slobbering all over him, and I say, "Brother Keith, I love you, I love you, I love you." And everybody says, "Oh, look how Brother Weaver loves Brother Keith. Isn't that wonderful?" Well, what you don't see is while I'm telling him I love him, I've got my hand in his pocket stealing a $100 bill from him. Emily says it's not there. She already has it. But you see what I'm saying? So I can tell him I love him.
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I can get all emotional and I can weep and cry all over him. But according to the Bible, do I love him if I'm stealing from him? No. Hereby we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Look at the next verse. If you really, truly, genuinely want to know what love is, here it is, plain and simple. Verse 3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." What is the love of God? It's the keeping of his commandments.
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Now, go back, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And let's look, first of all, at verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse 3. Here's what the Scripture says, "And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." How do I know that I really, genuinely know the Lord Jesus? How do I know that I'm really, genuinely converted?
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And the answer is very simple. Because by His grace and by His power, He is enabling me to be obedient to His Word. That's what the Scripture says there. "Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments." That's verse 3. But watch verse 4. "He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
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I wonder where that leaves an awful lot of church members. People who say they love the Lord, and yet they are immoral, wicked, ungodly, liars, thieves, covetous, adulterers, fornicators. What did he say? "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him." In other words, when God saves us, He enables us to be obedient.
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Now, that doesn't mean that we are absolutely perfect. No, it does not mean that at all. But it does mean that our lives, generally speaking, are lives of obedience. Did you know the Bible says in 2 John 1, verse 6, now listen, "And this is love that we walk after His commandments." This is love that we walk after His commandments. Now, let me show you something about biblical love. Biblical love is always demonstrative. It is always manifested. It is always evidenced. Since you're in 1 John, go to 1 John 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 16.
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I want you to look at the first two words. "Hereby perceive." Look at the phrase, "Hereby perceive we the love of God." Now the word "perceive" means to understand. It means to comprehend. It means to see. It means to lay hold upon. So he says, "Hereby perceive" or understand or comprehend we the love of God.
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Now, don't let me misread this. Watch this. "Hereby perceive we the love of God because He told us He loved us." Is that what the Scripture says? No. Now, if God told us He loved us, certainly that would be true, because God does not lie. But look what the Scripture says. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." In other words, here love, real genuine love, is always demonstrative. How do we know that God loved us? Not just that He told us, but He demonstrated it. He manifested it. He evidenced it. He laid down His life for us. And then He goes on to say we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, watch verse 17.
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"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." Now he said, "but whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him."
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So that simply means this. Brother Ernie comes up to me and says, "Brother Weaver, I've been out of a job for two months. I'm hungry. My wife is hungry. My children are hungry. Is there anything you can do for us?" And I've got a pantry full of food. And I say, "Yes, my brother, there's something I can do for you. I'm going to pray that the Lord will supply your need. Let's bow in prayer." What?
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What good is praying for him and with him when I have the wherewithal to feed his family? So he says then, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." So if I genuinely love him, I'm going to be willing to share with him whatever I have. In other words, real, genuine love is always demonstrable. It's evidenced. It's manifested.
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Now, I'm still trying to answer this question for us. How do we love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and being? Since love is obedience, and the Bible made that clear, and since obedience is demanded to God's law word, and since love is always active and demonstrable, it really should not be too difficult to figure out how to love the Lord. Obviously, loving the Lord is not what most people think it is. Most people have been filled with so much religious bunk. It is unbelievable. I get questions all the time by people.
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They'll say, "Oh, Brother Weaver, did you see Preacher So-and-so on TV?" My answer is no. I didn't see him. "Well, did you hear him on the radio?" The answer is no. Unless I know somebody, I'm not listening to them. I'm really not. I couldn't see him on TV anyhow. We don't even have TV. But I'm just simply saying, I'm not listening to a bunch of stuff from people who spout their ideas and never ever teach the Word of God. You see, what we've done today, we have associated love with feelings. We've associated love with emotions.
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And so you can ask yourself this question. Well, if I come to church and I say that I'm loving the Lord, can I cuddle up to the Lord? Can I get all warm and fuzzy with him? Can I get all teary eyed and sentimental? Can I get an emotional high? Can I jump and shout and have an experience and say that, boy, I love the Lord? Well, you can say that and you might get some of that, but that doesn't mean that you love the Lord, because that is not biblical love. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6, and I want to ask you a question just in light of what I've just said. You say, "Brother Weaver, what I want to do is I just want to get so close to the Lord I can just touch him." And I understand that kind of phraseology, but look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning of verse 15. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show that we're talking about Jesus Christ.
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"That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." Well, there goes your cuddling and your warm fuzzies, because no man can approach unto Him physically like that, no.
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You may weep and you may cry and you may wail and you may scream that you love him, but that does not necessarily mean that you do. Because in the Bible, love is obedience.
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Now, let me take it a step further. Go in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 6. Let me show you another verse that may have escaped your attention in light of this, look in Hebrews 6, verse 10. Notice what the Bible says. Hebrews 6, verse 10. The Word of God says, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister." And think about that. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you've showed toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Let me ask you. Think about this.
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What can you give the Lord that he actually really needs? What's the answer? Nothing. Everything you are, He made. Everything you have, He gave you. Everything that's in the world, He created. It's kind of like the scientists, you know, that got so arrogant thinking they can create life and do everything. They told about the one scientist who had a conversation with God and said, "God, we're now as big as you." He said, "We can create life too." And God said, "Is that right?" He said, "Yes."
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He said, "Let me show you. Let me take this handful of dirt." God said, "No, you go get your own dirt." Everything we are, everything we have is his. So how can we minister to God? By ministering to the saints, by ministering to each other. Do you remember what he said in Matthew 25 in verse 40? "And the king shall answer and say to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me." The only way we can minister to God is by ministering to each other. Since love is the fulfilling of the law and the way that we're to love God is with all of our hearts, all of our minds, soul, strength and might. It is therefore loving God is to keep God's law toward others and toward each other.
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Now, let me try to put this down in a very practical manner. Love is the fulfilling of the law. How can I minister to God? How can I love God with all of my heart? Is there a standard of measurement? Is there some way I can know whether or not I love God? Is there some way that I can know that Brother Mack loves God? How can I measure that? What would be the standard that I could measure by?
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Well, let's think about this. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Let me just take where God says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Do you realize when I love my wife the way God commanded me to love her, and when I understand the Lord forbids adultery and fornication and all uncleanness, yet on the other hand, I can read in Scripture where my Heavenly Father says in Proverbs 5 in verse 18, "Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth." What does that mean? It means if I'm going to love God, I have to love my wife the way God commands me to love my wife. And it means that when I find my joy and my fulfillment and my satisfaction in the wife that God has given me, and I love her the way Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, then I'm loving God. Because that is exactly what he commands. When I love her with a biblical love, I'm demonstrating that I love the Lord. My love is demonstrated by my biblical love to my wife.
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On the other hand, when my wife then submits to me and loves me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, she is expressing her love to Christ. Do you not remember there in Ephesians chapter 5, the wives were to be in submission to the husbands. Why? That like as the church is in submission unto Christ, so the wife is to be in subjection to her husband in everything. In other words, her life is to picture the submission of the church to Jesus Christ. Therefore, when my wife loves me and submits to me and helps me in the way that God has ordained, what is she doing? She's expressing her love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because love is the fulfilling of the law.
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This thing is really so simple. And yet, at the same time, we have lost fact of the idea that love is obedience, and it is obedience to God. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. If we love Him, we will obey Him.
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Now, let me go a little step further. You do know the fifth commandment, Exodus 20, verse 12, that we're to honor our father and our mother. Do you realize when we honor our parents in the way that God has commanded, and if we're children, if we submit to them and obey them and honor them and esteem them very highly in the Lord, we're expressing our love to the Lord when we do that, because he is the one that has said, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize honoring your father and mother means more than saying, "Yes, ma'am," and "No, ma'am," and "Yes, sir," and "No, sir"? If you were to read, and we're not going to turn there, but if you were to read Matthew 15 and Mark chapter 7, you would find that honoring your father and mother means that you take care of them in their old age when they cannot take care of themselves. And if you were to read in 1 Timothy, you would find out that that is indeed honoring the Lord.
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He said, "Let the children and the nephews requite their parents." You know what the word "requite" means? It means to pay back. Do you realize your parents took care of you when you could not take care of yourselves? They fed you. They clothed you. They nursed you. They educated you. They did everything for you. And now when your parents get elderly and they can't take care of themselves, God says it's time for you to requite them. You take care of them. You support them. You sustain them. That's biblical.
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Let me go ahead and say this. And I want the married young men and women to understand this. Obedience in one sense of the word may cease when you have your own home, but honor never ceases. And I made this a principle in my life. When I went back to see my father, I remembered when I was in his house, I was still his son and he was still my father.
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And whatever he asked me to do, I would do. I may have been 40 and had four kids, but that was immaterial. I may have been 50 and had grandkids, but that was immaterial. When he asked me to do something, I was in his house. I did it. All I'm saying is this. God requires us to honor our parents. When I honor my parents the way God commands me to, I'm expressing my love to the Lord. I'm loving him with all of my heart, with all of my soul, because love is the fulfilling of the law.
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I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 26. I want you to see this. Deuteronomy 26. And notice, if you would please, verse 17. Deuteronomy 26 and verse 17. This is this chapter. I wish I could read all of it. This chapter deals with tithing. I want you to look in verse 17 after they had tithed. In verse 17, he says this, "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God."
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"And to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice." Now watch, after all Israel had tithed unto the Lord, he says, "Thou hast avouched this day that the Lord this day is your God." You know what the word "avouched" means? It literally means to say in one's heart. And then he goes on to say that you're to keep his commandments and his judgments and you're to hearken to his voice.
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In other words, when I tithe and when I give offerings unto him, what am I doing? I'm saying, "Lord, I am yours and you are mine, and I'm recognizing your sovereignty. I'm recognizing the fact that you own everything. I'm recognizing the fact, Lord, that everything I have, you gave to me. And Lord, I'm giving this back to you, and as I'm doing that, I'm avouching this day that you are my God." Now watch verse 18. After that happens, "...and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he promised thee." And Lord, God says, when you avouch me and you do what I command, I'm avouching you that you're mine. You're my peculiar people.
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Love is the fulfilling of the law. How do I love God with all my heart? When I refuse to steal and defraud and cheat and swindle and lie, it's evidence that I love the Lord. When I give lovingly and generously and cheerfully to the Lord and to His work, it's evidence that I love the Lord. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, says "Thou shalt not steal." Do you know what the positive side of "thou shalt not steal" is? You'll find it in Ephesians 4 in verse 28.
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Let me just quote it. "Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands a thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth." What? So the opposite of "thou shalt not steal" is laboring with your hands, working that which is good, that you may have to give to him that needeth. In other words, you're not a covetous individual. You're a generous, loving, cheerful individual.
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That's why 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7 says this. "Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." In other words, when I refuse to do those things that God forbids me to do, and I do what He commands me to do, I'm saying, "Lord, I love Thee. I'm loving You with all of my heart, with all of my mind, with all of my strength, with all of my being." When I minister to You the way God commands me to, I'm loving the Lord. If you will turn in your Bibles to First John, Chapter three, just showing you what it means to love the Lord. Look in First John, Chapter three and verse 14. How do we know we love the Lord? We know we love the Lord when we love his children. Notice First John, Chapter three and verse 14. He says this. "We know that we pass from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
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Wow. Now, let me tell you something. Just because I love the brethren does not mean that I like all of them. No, listen carefully. Do you realize there are some people that are brethren that can irritate you to death? And they have idiosyncrasies that you don't like. That doesn't matter. You are still required to love them if they're brethren. How do I know that I've passed from death into life? Because I love the brethren.
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I remember I had one dear friend. He was a preacher. He's now dead, but his voice was so high pitched. I couldn't—I could not stand to talk to him. His voice hurt my ears. And probably about 30 minutes would be about all I could take. But I would spend those 30 minutes with him. And then I'd find some reason to have a break. And then I'd come back and spend 30 more minutes with him. But he couldn't change his voice. It wasn't his problem.
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That's the way God created him. And he may have hurt my ears, but he was still my brother, and I still was required to love him and to fellowship with him. Look in 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. He says it like this, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." And if you'll skip down to verse 20, 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21, he says this, "If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."
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Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. As Christians, we must love our husbands, we must love our wives, we must love our neighbors, we must love our brethren, as Christ commanded us. For love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is obedience. If we do not keep His commandments, if we do not do as He commands, then we do not love Him. Let me go just a little bit further. When I hate sin and wickedness and disobedience and rebellion, and when I refuse to participate in such things, I love the Lord. Why? Because He has commanded me in Psalm 97 and verse 10, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil." And then he's also said in Amos 5 and verse 15, "Hate the evil and love the good."
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Do you realize you cannot possibly love God without at the same time hating everything that's contrary to God? It's impossible. You remember Jehoshaphat got in trouble for loving the Lord's enemies. David said, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies." And then after he said that, he said, "Search me, O God, and try my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me." Evidently, it's not wicked to hate those who hate God.
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The point I'm trying to make is this. If we love him, we're going to honor him and obey him. If there is no obedience, there is no love and there is no honor.
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Now, I want you to follow me. I'm fixing to tie everything together for you. But I want you to turn back to Exodus chapter 20. And I want you to look, if you would please, at verse 6. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 6. All I'm showing you is what love is from the Bible and showing you how to love the Lord with all your heart. Look in Exodus 20 and verse 6. He says, "...and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments." Who are those that love Him? Those that keep His commandments. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 10.
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You'll see exactly the same truth. Deuteronomy 5 and verse 10. He says this, "...and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep my commandments." Who is it that loves him? Those that keep his commandments. Turn right over to Deuteronomy chapter 19 and look at verse 9. Deuteronomy 19 and verse 9. "If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways, then shalt thou add three cities more for thee beside these three." But note what he said, "If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God." What is loving the Lord thy God? It's keeping his commandments. Then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles chapter 34. 2 Chronicles 34. Here's good King Josiah. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. And I want you to note concerning the covenant that is made between the king and the people and the Lord. Notice 2 Chronicles 34 and verse 31.
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The Bible says this, "And the king stood in his place." That's King Josiah. "And made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book." What was he doing? He was saying, "I'm going to love the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul." How was he going to do it? By keeping all the commandments and all the statutes. Loving the Lord with all of our hearts and souls is evidenced by obedience.
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Now, that means there is a measuring stick. How can I know whether Brother Mack loves the Lord with all of his heart? It's very simple. I examine his life in light of the Word of God. If he's obedient to God's Word, yes, he's loving the Lord. If he's disobedient, he's not loving the Lord. There is a measuring stick. I want you to understand that talk is worthless. Emotions are fickle. Sentimentality is useless. The only thing that genuinely evidences our love for the Lord is our obedience.
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He said in John 14 and verse 21, which I've already quoted, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." One last verse. Let me quote it. Galatians 6 and verse 16. Paul the Apostle writes, "As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God." As many as walk according to this rule. Peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. Do you know the word "rule" in Galatians 6 and verse 16 is the word "canon"?
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C-A-N-O-N. Canon is our English word. Not C-A-N-N-O-N. That's the kind that shoots. But we talk about the canon of Scripture. The Old Testament canon. The New Testament canon. Here's what the Apostle Paul said, "As many as walk according to this measuring stick, to this standard, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God." Is there a way for us to measure whether or not we love the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind? The answer is yes. And here it is. The question has to be asked, are our lives in conformity to the Word of God to the extent that we know the truth of God, which God has revealed?
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It's true that none of us are perfect. None of us know everything. But the Word of God says it very plainly. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So the question is not, do I know everything? No. The question is, am I obedient to that which I do know? And is my life being measured by my obedience to the totality of the Word of God? As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. Help us, Lord, to understand what it really truly means to love You with all of our heart, souls, mind, and being. Help us, Lord, to understand how simple it is, and yet, Lord, how desperately we need to bring our lives in conformity to Your Word. Enable us to be obedient. Enable us to be more obedient, more godly, more holy. Enable us, Father, to worship Thee and honor Thee. And when we get through with a day and we look back and, Lord, we've obeyed Thee in every area that we can, we can truthfully and honestly say, "Father, I've loved Thee this day through the Lord Jesus Christ in Thy Word." Oh, make us more obedient. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:22:51Z

How to Love The Lord With All Your Heart

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver teaches that biblical love for God is not sentimentality or emotionalism but simple obedience to His commandments. Drawing from Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, and multiple Old and New Testament passages, he demonstrates that loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength means keeping His statutes and walking in His ways. Love is always demonstrative and evidenced by how we treat others—spouse, parents, brethren—and by hating evil. The standard for measuring love is conformity to God's Word.

Introduction: The Great Commandment

Reading of Matthew 22:35-40 and parallel passages, establishing the command to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I want you to note in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, our Lord repeats this, but I want you to note how he states it. Mark chapter 12 and verse 30, here the word of God just simply says this:

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:30

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment."

Then if you would turn right over to the book of Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, once again you will see that he repeats this commandment. Luke chapter 10 and verse 27, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:30

"...and he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."

Notice Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. You have there what is known as the Shema Israel when he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."

The Shema Yisrael usually goes "Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."

But notice what follows:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

The Obligation to Love God

We are obligated to love God because He commands it as Creator and Redeemer; even the unconverted are responsible.

You remember in Mark 12 and verse 30, in Luke 10 and verse 27, the word "strength" was added as well. And when you got to Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, the word "might," M-I-G-H-T, was added.

Common Interpretations of Loving God

Scholars interpret loving God as fixing affections supremely on Him, but such definitions seem impossible in this life.

Strength and Might in Loving God

Loving with all strength means honoring God with everything within us (Psalm 103:1); might can refer to money (1 Chronicles 29:2).

Love Is Not Sentimentality

Love is not warm feelings, goosebumps, or emotional highs; it is defined by Scripture.

Love Connected to Commandments in Deuteronomy 6

The command to love God is embedded in a context of keeping commandments, statutes, and judgments.

We'll be looking at a number of passages. How this is explained, notice beginning there with Deuteronomy chapter 6 and let's read the first nine verses. The scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:1-9

"Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy sons' sons, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it might be well with thee, and that thou mightest increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children." "And thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:1-9

"and these words which I command thee shall be in your heart, and you shall talk about them as you lie down and as you're awake, and you're to put them as the front of your eyes and post them on the doors of your house."

Jesus Quotes the Shema in Mark 12

Jesus supports the law and shows the covenantal relationship; loving God is tied to His Word.

Our Lord in Mark chapter 12 and verse 29 quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6. So Mark 12. Notice, if you would please, verse 29. Look at what Scripture says. Mark 12 verse 29.

Scripture Reading — Mark 12:29

"And Jesus answering him, the first of all commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, which is the first commandment."

Old Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience

Deuteronomy 30:16,20; Joshua 22:5; 23:11 equate loving God with walking in His ways and keeping commandments.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"To walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

Now look at it,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God."

What is loving the Lord thy God? It's walking in His ways, it's keeping His commandments and His statutes and His judgments. Skip down to verse 20. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 20,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Now, he said in verse 20,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:20

"that thou mayest love the Lord thy God."

Now, I want you to note that

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"Take diligent heed to do the commandment of the law which Moses the servant charged you to love the Lord."

Wow. I hope you're beginning to see that there is a connection somehow between obeying the Lord and loving Him. Now, if you look in Joshua 23 and verse 11, he says it basically the same thing.

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that you love the Lord your God."

But you'd have to look at it in the context and go back to verse 8. He says,

Scripture Reading — Joshua 22:5

"but cleave unto the Lord your God as you have done this day."

So there is a cleaving unto the Lord that is associated with loving him as well.

And the Scripture says this: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Now, what is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law.

New Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience

Romans 13:10, John 14:15,21,23-24, 1 John 5:2-3, 2:3-4, 2 John 1:6 define love as keeping commandments.

Scripture Reading — John 14:15,21,23-24

"If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Now, go back, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And let's look, first of all, at verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse 3. Here's what the Scripture says,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments."

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments."

That's verse 3. But watch verse 4.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-4

"He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Scripture Reading — 2 John 1:6

"And this is love that we walk after His commandments."

Love Is Demonstrative and Evidenced

1 John 3:16-18 shows love is demonstrated in deed and truth, not just words; we minister to God by ministering to others.

Scripture Reading — 2 John 1:6

"And this is love that we walk after His commandments."

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 6:10

"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister."

Practical Applications of Loving God

Loving spouse biblically, honoring parents, tithing, refusing to steal, and loving brethren are all expressions of loving God.

Conclusion: The Measuring Stick of Obedience

Obedience to God's Word is the standard for measuring love; talk and emotions are worthless without conformity to His commandments.

Scripture Reading — Galatians 6:16

"As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God."

How to Love The Lord With All Your Heart

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	812121528287
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Walking With God
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-08-12
Dictation Name
Book	Book 134: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 1 — Chapter 11
Source Timed Segments	79

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Great Commandment: Reading of Matthew 22:35-40 and parallel passages, establishing the command to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The Obligation to Love God: We are obligated to love God because He commands it as Creator and Redeemer; even the unconverted are responsible.
Common Interpretations of Loving God: Scholars interpret loving God as fixing affections supremely on Him, but such definitions seem impossible in this life.
Strength and Might in Loving God: Loving with all strength means honoring God with everything within us (Psalm 103:1); might can refer to money (1 Chronicles 29:2).
Love Is Not Sentimentality: Love is not warm feelings, goosebumps, or emotional highs; it is defined by Scripture.
Love Connected to Commandments in Deuteronomy 6: The command to love God is embedded in a context of keeping commandments, statutes, and judgments.
Jesus Quotes the Shema in Mark 12: Jesus supports the law and shows the covenantal relationship; loving God is tied to His Word.
Old Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience: Deuteronomy 30:16,20; Joshua 22:5; 23:11 equate loving God with walking in His ways and keeping commandments.
New Testament Evidence: Love Is Obedience: Romans 13:10, John 14:15,21,23-24, 1 John 5:2-3, 2:3-4, 2 John 1:6 define love as keeping commandments.
Love Is Demonstrative and Evidenced: 1 John 3:16-18 shows love is demonstrated in deed and truth, not just words; we minister to God by ministering to others.
Practical Applications of Loving God: Loving spouse biblically, honoring parents, tithing, refusing to steal, and loving brethren are all expressions of loving God.
Conclusion: The Measuring Stick of Obedience: Obedience to God's Word is the standard for measuring love; talk and emotions are worthless without conformity to His commandments.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Love is not sentimentality

Weaver argues that modern Christianity has wrongly equated love with feelings, but Scripture defines love as obedience.

He contrasts emotional displays with biblical love, citing 1 John 5:2-3 and John 14:15.

The law defines love

Love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10); therefore, loving God means obeying His commandments.

Romans 13:10 'love is the fulfilling of the law'; multiple OT/NT passages equate love with commandment-keeping.

Obedience is the evidence of love

A person's claim to love God is validated or invalidated by their obedience to His Word.

1 John 2:3-4 'he that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar'.

Love must be demonstrated toward others

Since we cannot directly minister to God, we show love to Him by obeying His commands regarding others.

Hebrews 6:10; Matthew 25:40; 1 John 3:17-18.

There is a measurable standard for love

The 'canon' or rule of Scripture provides a measuring stick to evaluate whether one loves God.

Galatians 6:16 'as many as walk according to this rule'; the word 'rule' is 'canon'.

Scripture References

Matthew 22:35-40: The great commandment: love God with all heart, soul, mind; and love neighbor as self.
Mark 12:30: Repeats the command adding 'with all thy strength'.
Luke 10:27: Repeats the command with heart, soul, strength, mind.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5: The Shema: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; love Him with all heart, soul, might.
Psalm 103:1: Bless the Lord with all that is within me, illustrating loving with all strength.
1 Chronicles 29:1-2: David prepared with all his might (money) for the temple, showing might can refer to wealth.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9: The love command is embedded in a context of commandments, statutes, and judgments.
Mark 12:29: Jesus quotes the Shema, linking love to the covenantal law.
Deuteronomy 30:16: Loving God is defined as walking in His ways and keeping His commandments.
Deuteronomy 30:20: Loving God is obeying His voice and cleaving to Him.
Joshua 22:5: Take diligent heed to do the commandment to love the Lord by keeping His commandments.
Romans 13:10: Love is the fulfilling of the law.
John 14:15,21,23-24: If you love Me, keep My commandments; he that has and keeps them loves Me.
1 John 5:2-3: We know we love God's children when we love God and keep His commandments; this is the love of God.
1 John 2:3-4: We know we know Him if we keep His commandments; whoever says 'I know Him' and doesn't keep them is a liar.
2 John 1:6: This is love, that we walk after His commandments.
1 John 3:16-18: Love is demonstrated by laying down lives; not loving in word but in deed and truth.
Hebrews 6:10: God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love shown by ministering to the saints.
Matthew 25:40: Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.
Galatians 6:16: As many as walk according to this rule (canon), peace and mercy be upon them.

Historical References

Adam Clarke: A scholar whose lengthy description of loving God with all heart seems impossible in this life.

Important Quotes

Love is obedience. Love is not sentimentality. It is not emotionalism. It is not traditionalism. It is not anything else. Love is simple obedience.

Core thesis of the sermon, defining biblical love in contrast to common misconceptions.

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Direct quote of Jesus used as foundational proof that love equals obedience.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:3 quoted to define the love of God explicitly.

He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 2:4 used to show that profession without obedience is false.

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18 emphasizing that love must be demonstrated, not just spoken.

As many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God.

Galatians 6:16 used to show the canon of Scripture as the measuring stick for love.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does defining love as obedience challenge common cultural or church ideas about loving God?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts biblical love with sentimentalism and emotionalism.

[Question]

In what practical ways can we demonstrate love for God through our relationships with family and fellow believers?

[Context]

Weaver gives examples of loving spouse, honoring parents, and ministering to brethren.

[Question]

Why is it important that love be 'demonstrative' and not just verbal?

[Context]

1 John 3:16-18 is used to show love must be in deed and truth.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'might' including money affect our understanding of loving God with all our resources?

[Context]

1 Chronicles 29:2 is used to interpret 'might' as money.

[Question]

What is the 'measuring stick' for love, and how can we use it to examine our own lives?

[Context]

Galatians 6:16 and the canon of Scripture are presented as the standard.

[Question]

How does hating evil relate to loving God, and what might that look like in daily life?

[Context]

Psalm 97:10 and Amos 5:15 are cited to show love includes hating evil.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:24:57Z