Love Thy God
Mathew 22:36-40
Radio Message May2003
Introduction:
What is the greatest and most important commandment? Jesus was asked this question by the Pharisees who wished for nothing more than to find something to accuse Jesus of. Our Savior responded with wisdom and authority. The most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind. By obeying this commandment and loving your neighbor, you have accomplished the spirit upon which all of the other commandments rest.
Today many people are seeking some kind of spirituality. They wish to know and love God, but it is hard for some to figure out exactly how to love God. One cannot see or touch God, how can one love Him? The answer to that very practical question comes from our text. One loves God with his heart, his soul, and his mind.
I. Love God with your heart = inner man
A. Guard your heart = keep and protect it.
Proverbs 4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
B. Seek God with your whole heart.
Deuteronomy 4:29
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
C. Serve God with your whole heart.
Deuteronomy 10:12
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,
Psalm 119:10
10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
D. Praise God with your whole heart.
Psalm 9:1
1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
Psalm 111:1
Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
E. Repent with your whole heart.
Jeremiah 24:7
7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
II. Love God with all your soul = Breath, the very essence of physical life.
A. More than any fleshly drive that resides in our carnal bodies.
1 John 2:16-17
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
B. More than life itself.
Luke 14:26
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
III. Love God with all of your mind.
A. Get to know, and understand God’s love.
Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
B. Keep your mind clean.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 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.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
