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What It Would Be Like To Love The Lord With All Your Heart

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• Open your Bibles, if you would please, to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. That is a text that we're going to read, and I'm going to show you that text several times in the New Testament as well. So Deuteronomy chapter 6, actually verses 4 and 5, verse 4 is known as the Shema Israel. Notice if you would Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4, the Bible says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." Verse 5, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Note if you would please verse 5 is based upon the fact that our Lord is one Lord.

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• That is He is the absolute Sovereign, the Supreme Ruler. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. So the title of the message today is simply this: what it would be like to love the Lord with all of your heart. So let me begin by asking a few questions. Have you ever really considered loving the Lord with all of your heart? Have you ever thought about the command that He has given us to love Him with all of our heart?

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• When we are commanded to do something and we fail to do it, that is called sin. So according to Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, we have a duty, we have an obligation, we have a responsibility to obey. And if we have been redeemed by God's grace, there should also be a natural desire to please our Heavenly Father. I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not, but I've thought about this many, many times.

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• I've even asked myself, what would it be like to actually love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart for even just one day? For even just one day. Can you imagine the change that would be in your life? And if you weren't able to do it one day, then you'd want to do it a week, then a month, then a year, then basically the rest of your life because obviously it would be wonderful. So our Lord takes Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 and reiterates it over and over in the New Testament. And He teaches us that Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 is the essence of obedience and reality; in reality it is the greatest commandment. Obviously if we loved Him with all of our heart, if we obeyed this commandment, we would not have any problem with any of His commandments. So, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew chapter 22.

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• And let me just show you several passages where Jesus Christ uses this and tells us. So, it's Matthew chapter 22. And notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 36. Matthew 22 verse 36: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" Verse 37, Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." If you would look now to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. And I want you to look, if you would please, Mark 12 and let's start there with verse 29. Because in verse 29 he quotes the Shema Israel, Deuteronomy 6 verse 4, and then he goes on to verse 5. So Mark chapter 12 verse 29, "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength."

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• This is the first commandment. And then if you would turn right over in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. And notice if you would please, in Luke 10 at verse 25. Luke 10 verse 25, "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou?"

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• And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. So our Lord now has this repeated at least three times in the New Testament. So here I think would be a couple of interesting questions for each of us to ponder. The first one is: what would happen to us if we actually loved the Lord with all of our heart? The second one would be this: how would our lives be changed if we actually obeyed this commandment?

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• I am sure there are a lot of answers that can be given. And I'm not going to be able to give you all of the answers. But I do want to today give you five things that would be absolutely specifically in your lives if each of us obeyed this commandment and loved the Lord with all of our hearts. The very first thing we would find is we would have an absolute revulsion to sin and wickedness. We would have an absolute revulsion to sin and wickedness. In Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 4 the Bible tells us God said, "Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate." And He of course is talking about sin. God hates sin. God hates all sin. And it does not really matter to God whether you and I would consider it a great sin, or a small sin, or even an insignificant sin, God hates sin.

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• It is all a holy revulsion to Him. You see the Bible says in the book of Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 13, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Now we know He sees iniquity because He judges it. Obviously He is going to bring judgment upon that which is evil. But when the Bible says, "Thou canst not look upon iniquity," what He is saying is you cannot look upon sin or iniquity condoningly or approvingly. Why? Because God is infinitely holy and all of that is unholy and ungodly. So sin is basically a holy revulsion to God.

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• The problem that we have today is this: unhappily most professing Christians, not just the world, but most professing Christians still find sin exciting, titillating, and desirable. The problem is this: we want sin, but not enough to be chastened for it. We want to indulge our flesh. We want to satisfy our desires. We want to delight our wills. We want to walk in pride. We want to experience what the world offers, what the flesh offers, what sin offers, but not enough to bring the judgment of God upon us. In other words we want to go this far but no further. And we tend to think that somehow little sins don't matter. Now I want you to stop and think about this. First of all the Bible says it's little foxes that spoil the vines. But if you are a real genuine Christian, the problem that you have in your life is the little sins, not the big sins.

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• I mean you're not a murderer, you're not a fornicator, you're not a thief. You understand what I'm saying. It's the little things that nail us specifically. So we do not really see or understand or comprehend sin for that which it really is. Because sin, according to the Bible, is devious, devastating, deadly, destructive, and damning. And we never really understood sin, at least from God's perspective. We have not really viewed sin, and when I say sin, I'm talking about each sin and every sin, no matter how small and no matter how seemingly insignificant it is, as an attempt to overthrow and dethrone God. And that is exactly what sin is. We've not understood that each sin and every sin is basically a rejection of God's sovereign rule over us.

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• It is a denial of His sovereignty, a denial of His Lordship, a denial of His Godhood. In essence each sin cries out, "We do not want God to rule over us." The truth of the matter is this: sin is even worse than that because usually implied in our sins is something like this: God cannot be as loving and kind and as great as He should be because if He was He would not have forbidden this little pleasure to me, you know. I want to enjoy this. So actually what we are doing when we sin we are dethroning God and enthroning ourselves and crowning ourselves as Lord of our lives by saying God's rules and God's commands do not matter in my life; what I want and what I will is really and truly what matters. So adding insult to insult, our sin also denies God's all-sufficiency.

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• Now in the scripture, God is known as the all-sufficient One. His name El Shaddai indicates His truth. But have you ever noticed the fact, and have you ever thought about this fact, that when we deny the all-sufficiency of God, we do so when we are sinning. And what we are saying is this: God is not sufficient to satisfy my needs, I need this sin. God is not sufficient to satisfy my desires, I need this desire. God is not sufficient, I need this pleasure. So actually our sins are not only an attempt to dethrone Himself, but it is a denial of God's all-sufficiency.

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• And every prodigal that leaves the father's house is confessing that the pigpen is more enjoyable than the father's house. So just think about this from God's perspective. Sin, then, is a disgrace, it's a dishonor, it's a despising and a detestation of God. So, if we really, genuinely and truly loved the Lord our God with all of our hearts, then you would have to ask yourself several questions.

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• How could we love that which He hates? How could we engage in that which He despises? How could we even entertain the thought of that which would be absolutely contrary to Him? Now, just to show you that sin is not necessarily the holy revulsion to us that it should be. If sin were truly a holy revulsion to each of us, if we loved Him with all of our hearts, then we would automatically defend our Lord and His Word.

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• For instance, in Psalm 94 and verse 16 God asks this question, "Who will rise up for me against the workers of iniquity? Who will stand for me against the evildoers?" So that's a question. God is looking for people who will rise up and who will stand for Him against the evildoers and against iniquity. So if you and I really and truly love the Lord with all of our heart and all of our soul, we would rise up and stand against anything and everything that was not only against God but contrary to Him. We would be on the battle lines against abortion, and sodomy, and corruption, and fraud.

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• In fact we would just simply fight against each and every wickedness that was a violation of His Law. In other words sin would actually be a holy revulsion to each of us. Do you realize that God commands us in Psalm 97 verse 10 He said this, "Ye that love the Lord hate evil." Wow! If you love the Lord, hate evil. In Amos 5 and verse 15, he said it like this, "Hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the gate." So, hate the evil, love the good.

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• Now, let me make a statement. It is impossible to love Jesus Christ and to love sin at the same time. It is impossible to love Jesus Christ a lot and sin a little. Our Lord kind of made it clear in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 30 when he said, "He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not scattereth abroad."

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• Now let me show you. I want you to turn to the book of Revelation chapter 3. You're familiar with this passage. This is in relationship to the Church of Laodicea. Look at what our Lord says. And by the way as you are turning there I want you to think about this. Our Lord had rather have us out and out for Him or out and out against Him. Revelation chapter 3, notice verse 14, "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."

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• "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." So what is our Lord saying? I'd rather you be out and out for me or out and out against me. Don't be wishy-washy. No, so if we loved Him as we should, if we loved Him as He commanded us, if we loved Him the way He deserves to be loved, if we loved Him the way we're obligated to love Him, there would be a holy revulsion to sin and wickedness. I love that term in the

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• book of Job when the Bible speaks about Job and says that he was an upright man and one that eschewed evil. You know what the word eschewed means? It means to spit out. It means you can't stomach it. You can't swallow it. You can't take it. I had a friend that visited me from Wisconsin recently. And we went under a persimmon tree and I looked at him and I said, "Andrew, have you ever tasted a green persimmon?" "No." "You need—you should."

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• I did this to Isaiah. He was from Kentucky. I said, "You should." He said, "Is it good?" I said, "No." Well, he said, "Why should I taste it?" "Because everybody needs to know what a green persimmon tastes like." Bite into it. And of course, once they bite into it, they immediately spit it out. They're chewing it. So, that's exactly what the Bible says that we need to do to sin and to wickedness. And if we loved our Lord, we would automatically spit it out. We couldn't stomach it. Okay? So, what would happen if we loved the Lord with all of our hearts? First of all there would be a holy revulsion to sin and wickedness.

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• Secondly, we would have a love for and a delight in the law of God. We would have a love for and a delight in the law of God. You remember David was classified as a man after God's own heart. He said in Psalm 119 verse 97, "Oh how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day." Now, wait a minute. Listen to what he said. "Oh, how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day."

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• You see, we tend to think that if we're going to meditate on something, that means we have to sit at the desk, bent over like this, looking at it, staring at it, and just sit there and do nothing else. David was a king. David was a warrior. I'm sure he may have had a desk. He was not sitting at it all the time. But what he is saying is no matter what he was doing he was still entertaining the law of God in his mind and thinking of the applications of the law. He said in Psalm 119 in verse 113, "I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love." So let me ask you another question, have you ever had a vain thought? If you say I don't have vain thoughts then all you are telling me is you've never prayed. Because when you start praying a lot of stupid thoughts just come into your mind in you. Where did that come from? I wasn't thinking of that. "I hate vain thoughts," said David, "but I delight in thy law." And then Psalm 119 verse 163 he said, "I hate and I abhor lying but thy law do I love." Now,

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• let me show you something. I told you if we really love the Lord with all of our heart, the very first thing that we would have is a holy revulsion to sin and wickedness. That's a negative. Here's the positive. If we really love the Lord with all of our heart, we would have a love for and a delight in His law. These two things go together. You cannot have one without the other. We don't even know what sin is apart from God's law. One of the reasons we do not hate sin sufficiently and one of the reasons it is not a holy revulsion to us is because we don't understand it according to God's law. I suppose that we could probably measure not only our spirituality, but we could actually measure our love for God by how greatly or insufficiently that we really hate sin. And on the other hand, there's a positive thing. We could also measure our love for Him and how greatly or insufficiently we hate sin by our delight in His law.

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• Because obviously it is the law that reveals to us what sin really is. That's why in Romans 3 and verse 20 the Apostle Paul said, "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." So you can't hate something if you don't know what it is. You have to understand what sin is. And the only way you can understand that is by God's Law. That's why in 1 John 3 and verse 4 He said, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." So you can't sin without violating God's Law. If you understood and delighted in God's Law at the same time you would hate everything that was contrary to God's law, you would hate every false way. David said it like this in Psalm 119 verse 128, "Therefore I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way."

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• So what did he say? "I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to be right." So God is right, man is wrong, and consequently he says, "I hate every false way."

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• Now, the more we read, the more we study, the more we delight in the Word of God, the more we understand what sin is. And the greater a holy hatred for sin we should possess, the greater revulsion towards sin we should possess. And on the positive side, the more that we read and study in the Word of God, the more that we should delight in the Word of God.

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• David said it like this in Psalm 40 verse 8, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." I delight to do thy will. Why? Because his law is in my heart. Psalm 119 verse 77 David said, "Let thy tender mercies come upon me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight." Hmm, you know, that's almost equivalent to what the Apostle Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." So if I'm going to live he said I want to live for Christ. David has said if I want to live, if you let me live, I want it to be because thy law is my delight. So let me ask you a question. Here it is. Do you really and truly love and delight in the law of God? That's a good question. So if you say, "Well, yes, I do. I read my Bible. I study my Bible. I try to apply the truths." Well, here's my next question.

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• How does your love and delight in the law of God compare to the lives of biblical characters who said they loved and delighted in the law of God? For instance, take Job. In Job 23 and verse 12, Job said, "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. So basically what Job is saying is I'd rather have the Word of God than a T-bone steak. The Scriptures he said are more necessary for me than food. Ha! Thinking about that in our day and age with all the sugar and all the food that is available. For someone to come along and say, "I esteem the words of thy lips more than my necessary food." David of course was ever a lover of God and he said it like this in Psalm 119 verse 103, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."

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• So would you classify your reading and study of the Scriptures sweeter than honey to your mouth? Everyone can quote Psalm 119 verse 105 where David said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." But then he said in Psalm 119 verse 130, "The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." One of my favorite passages, I used to quote it all the time when I was in college, Psalm 119 verse 99, "I have more understanding than all my teachers." They wouldn't appreciate that. But you know the truth of the matter is this: if someone actually knows the Word of God and is able to apply the Word of God, their understanding is far greater than many who have earned Ph.D.'s

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• regardless of the field. But I have known men who you and I would call great intellects, but they were absolutely ignorant concerning God and His Word and how to live. What good is a great intellect if you can't even live correctly? Well, Jeremiah said, Jeremiah was like Job, Jeremiah 15 verse 16 he said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts." So he said, "Thy words were found and I did eat them and they were the joy and the rejoicing of my heart." So if we actually loved the Lord with all of our hearts we would not only have a holy revulsion of sin but we would have an absolute love for and delight in the Word of God. There's a third thing. Listen carefully. If we love the Lord with all of our hearts, we would have an unfeigned and unpretended love for the brethren.

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• If we love the Lord with all of our hearts we would have an unfeigned and unpretended love for the brethren. Now the word unfeigned, which I'm going to show you in the Bible, it occurs a number of times. The word unfeigned literally means that which is not pretended or hypocritical. It literally means that which is real and genuine, sincere, and every time you find it in the Bible, that's exactly what it means.

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• I had a preacher friend. He's an old country preacher from Ohio. He's now dead. He confessed to me and he was laughing. He said he had preached a series of sermons on the unfringed faith. He got to talking about the fringes like a garment. Our garments unravel and all these fringes are hanging down and you have to take some scissors and cut them off and make the garment look smooth. He said he preached three or four messages on the unfringed faith until he discovered the word was unfeigned.

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• So, I guess it will work, but I do want you to see it in the Bible. So, if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and notice if you would please verse 6. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 6, and the Apostle Paul is saying in this verse talking about how ministers were approved, he said in verse 6, "By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned," or unhypocritical, or unpretended. That means love that is sincere and genuine. So if you will turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse 5. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5. Again, he says it like this: 1 Timothy 1 verse 5, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." So here is faith that is unfeigned or unhypocritical. So look in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5. So Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in

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• thee also." But notice it is called an unfeigned faith. Okay? A faith that is actually genuine and sincere. So one more, look in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22. 1 Peter 1 verse 22. And here it is, 1 Peter 1 verse 22, the Apostle says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." So if we really truly love the Lord with all of our hearts, we would love His people with an unfeigned love.

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• You remember in 1 John he said, "We know that we've passed from death unto life," why? "Because we love the brethren." One of the reasons that we know that we are genuinely saved is because we have a love for God's people. But if we had a real, genuine, unfeigned, sincere, and genuine love for the brethren, we would not be judging and condemning them. Instead, we would be patiently teaching them, instructing them, and helping them, and do as we have been commanded to do. We would not be doing all the fussing, fighting, and feuding that we are doing. You have to remember something. There are distinctions in the Christian faith. Not everybody's at the same spot. Not everybody's on the same level. I read in 1 John 2.

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• There are little babes in Christ, there are young men in Christ, and there are fathers in Christ. And obviously you're not going to expect a young babe to know what a young man would know, nor would you expect a young man to know what a father would know. So there are differences. And so instead of looking at someone and saying, "Well he's just stupid, he just doesn't know anything," well why don't we just help them? Why don't we teach them? Why don't we instruct them instead of criticizing and condemning?

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• In other words we want to make sure that we are helpers and not hinderers. And we want to make sure that we do not place a stumbling block in front of them. Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 14, Romans 14. You know, the problem is not only are Christians oftentimes notorious for criticizing and condemning each other, but pastors are even worse at times. And when we begin to criticize and condemn each other, the sad thing is most of us do not have the facts.

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• We don't understand what's going on. What was the old Indian proverb they used to say? They used to say never criticize a man till you've walked a mile in his moccasins. Well, you know, it's easier for me to criticize Gary if I don't even know what's going on in his life. I just know he did something that I don't agree with. So I can just say, "Hey, did you see what he just did?" And there could have been a very good reason why he did what he just did, why he said what he just said.

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• The problem is this: most Christians automatically walk around with a chip on their shoulders and they place their feelings before truth and they had much rather harbor ill will and unforgiving spirits and a lack of compassion toward their brethren than do what God commands them to do. Most people will put their feelings over truth anytime. "Well, you hurt my feelings." Really? Well, why did I hurt your feelings? You shouldn't have had your feelings out to begin with. Was it true or was it not true? Did God say this or did God not say this? Christians are getting as bad as the liberals wanting our little safe spaces. "You can't say this about me here now." That's absolutely ridiculous. But that's where we are.

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• So, look in Romans chapter 14. Notice where we would be getting there in verse 10. Watch carefully. Romans 14 verse 10: "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." In other words, God said, just make sure you live right. Make sure you help him. You don't do anything to cause him to fall or to stumble. Just do what needs to be done because we are all going to answer for ourselves.

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• So our lives should be a life of helping and not hindering. And if we love the Lord the way we should we would love the brethren the way we should. The Apostle Paul said it like this in Galatians 6 and verse 10, he said, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." So if I can help an unsaved man, wonderful, but if I can help a saved man I have a special duty to do that because he is of the household of faith.

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• So he said, that's what we should be doing. We would have an unfeigned love for the brethren. We would genuinely love each other and want to help each other if we love the Lord with all of our hearts. Fourthly, if we love the Lord with all of our hearts, we would be obedient, submissive, and rejoicing in our submission to the will of our Father in all things. One of the greatest problems in the Christian faith is that of submission to the will of God. We are recalcitrant, we are like those Israelites, we are stiff-necked. We want to have our way and we want to have our will.

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• And so many people come along and they'll use this lame excuse and they'll say, "Well it's very difficult to know the will of God." That's not true. God is more interested in you knowing and doing His will than you're interested in knowing and doing it yourself. But we also understand that God's will is revealed in His Word, the Bible. You remember what he said in Deuteronomy 29 verse 29, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." So the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which he revealed belong to us. You know it is amazing how easily distracted most Christians are. If you could put on a prophetic conference, "Come and let me tell you what the seven thunders said," you could pack a house. Well, let me tell you this little esoteric secret, you can pack a house. The secret things belong to

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• the Lord our God. There are some things that we do not know, we'll never know until they come to pass in time and in history. I'm not to concern myself with those secret things. My concern is with those things that He has revealed. That's what I'm responsible to do and accountable to do. And God's will is knowable and doable. If it wasn't, Paul would never have written Romans 12 verse 2.

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• "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." If it was not knowable, you couldn't prove it. If it was not doable, you could not prove it. So obviously it is knowable and it is doable.

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• Now you're going to say, "Well not everything is spelled out in the Bible." That's true. If everything was spelled out you couldn't carry your Bible around. But there are principles that will cover everything, every circumstance, every situation. You say, "Well how do we find out those principles?" And that is by studying, and by listening, and by learning. That is why Solomon in Proverbs 25 and verse 2 said, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Well did not our Lord make us kings and priests unto our God? Well it is our honor then to search out a matter. Now you have to understand this: that there are several things in the Bible you don't have to guess about the will of God. It's just there. For instance 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication."

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• How point blank could that be? That couldn't be any plainer. It's the will of God that I abstain from fornication. How about 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In everything give thanks. Sinus diarrhea? It's a stopping thing. In everything give thanks. You say, "How can I be so thankful if I'm sick on my stomach?" You can be thankful it's out of you and you can be thankful that God is healing you. And when it has healed you you'd say, "I'm thank God it's over." "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." So, there are some passages that you don't have to guess what the will of God is. You don't have to search it out. It's there in black and white.

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• You just must obey it. When we do obey the will of God, how do we obey it? And the answer is the way He commands us. Ephesians 6 and verse 6 He says, "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." So what is he telling us? I don't want any half-hearted service. I do not want any lazy, indolent, recalcitrant, unwilling obedience. When you obey me, I want it to be from the heart. We would not think of rebellion or we would not even think of half-heartedness in our service if we loved the Lord with all of our hearts.

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• We would understand that He deserves the absolute best. It's amazing. It is absolutely amazing how people treat God. I heard this from two missionaries. One is a man that we've supported for many years and I've known for many years. He had gotten a notice that there was a package for him that someone had sent from the States. So, when he went to get it, he had to pay 35 bucks duty to get his package. And when he opened the box, some sweet little lady had sent a box of used tea bags. Now we snickered at that. She had used the tea bags, then boxed them up and sent them to the missionary.

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• I mean, that's how we think. We try to give God the leftovers. We don't give Him our best. We have to understand submission to His will. And by the way, let me just point this out. The way things are going in this country, you better batten down the hatches because we are going to find out what submission to His will really is. And when you think about persecution, when you think about problems, usually the quickest way out of persecution and the quickest way out of a problem is by submitting yourself to God and doing that which He commands. And have you ever stopped to think we can give a willing submission or God can force us to submit. I don't know about you but I prefer the willing submission.

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• You remember that passage in Deuteronomy chapter 28? There he said, "You shall serve your enemies and they shall reign over you because you served not the Lord your God with all your heart." So there's a willing submission, there's a forced submission. Fifthly, we would have joy, gladness, and satisfaction in honoring and worshiping and adoring our Heavenly Father if we loved Him with all of our hearts. It would be the fullest delight for each one of us.

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• And David said in Psalm 16, verse 11, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." So think about this. Do you derive joy and pleasure in worshiping the Lord? Do you derive joy and pleasure in hearing his word? Do you derive joy and pleasure and just bow your head and say, "Lord, thank you for this day, and thank you for letting me live, and thank you for your creation. Thank you for sight. Thank you for hearing. Thank you for all of these multitudinous blessings that I take for granted." If you do not delight in worshiping, and honoring, and adoring God now in time and history, what makes you think you would enjoy eternity? Because in eternity we're saved.

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• That's what we will be doing. Worshipping and honoring and glorifying our Heavenly Father. Do you realize in John 4, our Lord was talking to the Samaritan woman and he says this, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

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• Now the point I want you to see is this: God has not changed. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. What God demands in the New Testament is exactly what God demanded in the Old Testament. If we love Him, we will worship Him. And we cannot worship Him apart from obedience. Our obedience is part and parcel of our worship. Let me show you. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10, and look if you would please there at verse 12. I'll show you several passages. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12. Look what it says. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." What does God require? Fear Him, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him. Notice how all these things are connected and how they literally relate to worship.

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• Look in chapter 11 in verse 1, "Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway." Wow! Look in Deuteronomy 19 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 19 and verse 9, this is where God is assigning the cities of refuge. He says this, "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 notice if you would loving Him and walking in His ways. Look in Deuteronomy 30 and verse 6. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 6. He says, "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Skip down to verse 16. Deuteronomy 30 verse 16: "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes

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• 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." Notice if you would verse 20 of the same chapter: "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." Wow.

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• One last passage, if you would turn over to the little book of Micah. Micah chapter 6. Minor prophet. Micah chapter 6. Right after the book of Jonah. Jonah, Micah. And right before Nahum, look in Micah chapter 6 and verse 8. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" You can take verse 8 and summarize it with these words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind." If we really loved the Lord with all of our heart, we would have a holy revulsion to sin. We would love His law and delight in His law. We would have a real genuine love for the brethren.

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• We would be willing to submit to Him in anything and everything because He is our Father, and we would want to worship Him and honor Him and glorify Him.

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• Now, let me try to pull this together and let me make a statement or two. I don't know about you, but I pretty much do, I'm pretty much sure I do know about you, but as for me, I do want to love the Lord and I do want to love Him with all of my heart. And I do want to honor Him, and I do want to worship Him. But when we talk about loving Him, you have to remember we can only love Him because He first loved us. And in one sense of the word, our love for Him is a reflection of His love in us. Secondly, I can only love Him because He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the propitiation for my sins. Had I not been redeemed, I could not love Him. Thirdly, when God commands me to love Him with all of my heart, I have to remember John chapter 15, where our Lord said, "Without me ye can do" how much? "Nothing." Is loving Him something? Yes.

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• Is loving Him with all of your heart something? Yes. That means we can't love Him the way we should without Him. We have to acknowledge and confess our own helplessness, our own weakness, our own inability. So when we cry to the Lord, we have to say, "Lord, you've commanded me to love you with all of my heart. But I can't in and of myself. You must help me. You must enable me. You must give me grace. You must give me mercy." If we love Him, we will discover the truth of Zephaniah 3 and verse 17, listen to this: "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." Did you hear that? He, God, will joy over thee with singing. If we love Him the way we should, it pleases Him. It gives Him joy. He rejoices in it.

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• So let me ask you a question. In fact, several. And I want you to think about this. First of all, we have been commanded to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, body, strength, and being. If we fail to do that, we're sinning. So we need to ask Him for grace to fulfill our responsibility. Not only is it our responsibility, it is a privilege. But here's the question. If you loved God with all of your heart, how would it change your life? How would it change your home? How would it change your relationship with your spouse or your children? How would it change your church? How would it change your community? How would it change your state? How would it change your nation?

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• There's no way in the world we could remain the same if we loved Him with all of our hearts. So I want to encourage you to do something. I want to encourage you to seek the Lord and say, "Lord, enable me to love you the way you have commanded me. Enable me to bring my life into greater conformity to your word. Enable me to do that which is pleasing in thy sight. Enable me to fulfill my responsibility in loving you." So that means you should begin each day at least saying, "Lord, I love thee. Help me to love thee more. Help me to have a greater quality in my love. And help me, at least just one day, to love thee with all of my heart."

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• And see what a difference it'll make. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee today. We thank you, Father, for your love, for your grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. We thank you for first loving us. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for sending your only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the propitiation for our sins. We ask your divine forgiveness for not loving thee the way we should. Lord, we failed miserably in so many ways and so many times, but we're so thankful that you're merciful and gracious. And we ask, Lord, that you would help us to love thee and help us to love thee the way you've commanded us, the way we want to, the way you deserve to be loved. We ask, Father, that you'd be pleased to shed the love of God abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. May we grow in love, in wisdom, and knowledge. In thy name we pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:04:30Z