Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 22. Matthew 22, as we read together verses 23 through 40, the text being verses 37 through 39. A familiar couple of verses, which we know as the summary of the law of God. And as you turn there too, I'll just draw your attention to Lord's Day 34. At the end of Lord's Day 33, we consider what do we do that is good? Only that which arises out of true faith conforms to God's law and is done for His glory, and not that which is based on what we think is right or on established human tradition. And then the Catechism goes right into a consideration of the law of God. What does the Lord say in His law? And then we have an exposition there of the Ten Commandments as we heard them this morning. And the end of the Lord's Day, questions and answers 94 and 95 deal with the first commandment. But question 93, and just allow me to read it for you, question and answer, says this, asks and says, How are these commandments divided into two tables? The first has four commandments teaching us what our relation to God should be. And the second has six commandments teaching us what we owe our neighbor. With that in mind, we give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. Matthew 22, beginning at verse 23. That same day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. Teacher, they said, Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now, there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her? Jesus replied, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, rules are made to be broken. You can already hear the boys and girls, Mom, Dad, did you hear what the preacher said? Rules are made to be broken. And I say that as a statement. But now I ask you, do you believe that? Do you live like that? Is that what your life is like? As if rules are made to be broken. Because you know, many do. Many do believe that. Many find rules and laws to be restrictive and binding and oppressive. They find rules to keep them from enjoying the freedom that they think that they would be able to enjoy and deserve without those rules. Boys and girls and young people are subject to household rules. Maybe there's a curfew or take your shoes off at the door or there are bedtime rules or rules regarding chores and you find those rules to be restrictive and oppressive and they bind you and they keep you from doing the things that you want to do. We are subject to traffic laws, especially speed limits. We often find the speed limit to be something that restricts us and binds us from getting to where we want to be a little bit quicker. If you're in the building industry, you have to fuss with building codes and maybe environmental laws. They didn't say that some weren't a nuisance. But they bind us. They cramp our style in a sense. And so many think that rules are meant to be broken and they want to ask, well, what's the big deal if I come home an hour late? What's the big deal if I go a little bit over the speed limit? What's the big deal if I get a little bit of help from my neighbor for my Bible test in the classroom? Rules are meant to be broken. Optional. And you know, many treat the law of God the very same way. For so many, the law of God is simply a list of do's and don'ts that enslaves me and it cuts off my freedom and I can have no fun if I'm going to obey the law of God. And in a sense, the religious leaders of Jesus' day actually did make the law that way. They distorted God's law. They expanded it to a list of 613 commands. 248 do's. Do this. Do that. Do the other thing. And 365 don't. Don't do this. Don't do that. And then they got together and they debated which command was lesser and which command was greater, which one was more important, which one was less important. Because you see for these religious leaders, salvation and being right with God depended upon obedience to the commandments. In fact, their view with regard to the law of God was the motivation for the Pharisees' question to Jesus' teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law. But of course, we know their purpose already back in verse 15. It says, Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap Him in His words. And then there are three attempts in this chapter, ours being the third, we read the second one, three attempts to trap Jesus using the law of God. But in His response, notice that Jesus points back to the Ten Commandments. In speaking of God and our neighbor, He points back to the two tables of the law. How are these commandments divided into two tables? The first has four commandments teaching us what our relation to God should be. The second has six commandments teaching us what we owe our neighbor. He points back to those two tables. And there are ten commandments, not 613. And indeed, those ten commandments are comprehensive in nature. And they are explained throughout the rest of Scripture. Those ten commandments cover the whole of the believer's life and walk. And in Jesus' response, He also teaches these Pharisees that their focus was off base. It's not the commands themselves, the individual commands themselves, first of all, that they were to be concerned with, but the reason for the commands. And what obedience to those commands responds to and what benefit it brings. And he reminds the Pharisees in his response that the law of God is the delight of the saved, by which the saved show gratitude to God. And that law is not the burden by which to get saved. And that delight, you see, is evident in the command to love. Love, by its very nature, is a delight. And it is a delight to please God and to show charity to our neighbor. Beloved, we know that the law of God reflects His holy character. And with His law, God tells us exactly what it is that pleases Him. And therefore, before we consider what Scripture teaches of each of the Ten Commandments as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism in the Lord's days to follow us, tonight we consider our Lord's summary of the law and the truth that living the law of love demonstrates gratitude. Living the law of love demonstrates gratitude. and it demonstrates it with wholehearted love for God and with self-like love for neighbor. First of all, with wholehearted love for God. Now as I see it, this question by the Pharisees was a foolish question. We could say all their questions to Jesus were foolish. We know that. But in a particular way, this was a foolish question. And Jesus quotes their great teacher. They often went straight to Moses. So what does Jesus do? He quotes Moses. In Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, Moses says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And in Leviticus 19, verse 18, Moses says, Love your neighbor as yourself. He quotes their great teacher. You see, they had the law of God. They had that law, which clearly pointed to what the believer's relationship is to be with God, first of all, and secondly, with our neighbor. And here Jesus challenges their meritorious view of the law. They thought that they could earn something, merit something, by their obedience to the law of God. And He challenges their meritorious view to the law with the proper spirit of the law. That proper spirit that gives value to all of God's commands. And that spirit is love. And this is really ironic because they hated Him. They hated Him. They wanted Him out of the picture and therefore in their hatred, they try to trap Him with the law. And Jesus says, the law is about love. In essence, something you guys don't have. You see, it's not the individual commands by themselves, first of all, but it's how the commandments are to be carried out. And love here is not just an emotion or a feeling, as many in the world make it out to be, But this love here is an active response. An active response that flows from knowing God in all of His greatness and in all of His grace. And that love then turns to Him with all of our being. Showing gratitude to God with wholehearted love because of who He is. Jesus is love, the Lord, your God. You see, He is God. Almighty. All-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign, and supreme above all. He is the one and only God. And boys and girls, as God, He is the Creator and the Preserver of the world. The One who takes care of His creation, of the things and the people in His world. He is the One before whom, as Isaiah 40 says, the nations are like a drop in the bucket. They are as dust on the scales. They are as nothing. He is the one before whom the people of the earth are like grasshoppers. As Isaiah also says, He is the one upon whom all people depend. Whether they confess it or not, all people depend for their very life and their existence. He is God. But for His people, He is even more than that. He is covenant God. Love the Lord your God. He is the personal God of His people. He is the one who promised on oath, I will be your God. And you shall be My people. You see, beloved, He's not only our Creator, but He is also our Owner, our Ruler, our Protector. As the Lord says in Isaiah chapter 43, I have redeemed you. And therefore, you are Mine. You belong to Me. And therefore, I will be with you. And of course, that points to the fact that He is also Redeemer, Father through Jesus Christ. And as our Father, He knows the very hairs on our head. We sang that in our confession of faith. He knows our very hairs. He cares for His children. He cares for the sparrow. And even more so, He cares for His children. And therefore, we are called to love Him for who He is, but also because of what He has done. He is our Redeemer in Christ Jesus. And we understand redemption. Redemption has the idea of rescue from bondage. It has that idea of deliverance and being given freedom. To redeem something means to purchase it and make it your very own. God's law has been rightly called the law of perfect freedom. And that's because it's been given to a redeemed people. And in that vein, we think first of all of the redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage. In the preamble, in the introduction to the Ten Commandments, As we heard this morning from Exodus 20, the Lord says, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. He doesn't say, I will bring you out or I might bring you out or I'm thinking about it, but I haven't made up my mind yet. He says, I have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. That was the context in which God gave His law at Mount Sinai. Not that the Israelites might then go out and free themselves. But because God had already freed them. And we know our Old Testament history. We know that that was an amazing rescue. If you think about it, it was a rescue against all odds. You had the slaves on the one side and an earthly superpower on the other side. Hardly fair. But then we have the superest of powers on the side of the slaves. And it's an amazing rescue. Boys and girls, as you think about the plagues, the signs and wonders that God did, things that just amaze us, even the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud and parting the Red Sea, we can barely imagine it. Imagine having been there. But through all of that, Israel, you see, was given the greatest gift. They were given freedom. They were given freedom to live. They were given freedom to serve God according to His Word. To have God as their only Lord and King. And to live in His covenant. Under His care and His protection. Not under the oppressive rule of the Egyptians. But under the loving kindness and tender mercy of God. And God gave Israel His law for Israel's good. And to preserve their very life. We know that because of what Moses says in Deuteronomy 6. In Deuteronomy 6, early on, we know that Moses gives the summary of the law, but a little bit later. He tells the fathers what to say to the sons when the sons say, well, what's with all these commands and stipulations? What's all that about anyway? And in chapter 6, verse 24, Moses says, tell your sons of your redemption. Tell your sons about how God delivered us from the bondage to Egypt. Then he goes on, tell them that the Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God so that we might prosper and be kept alive as is the case today. For their good. God did not give Israel His law to enslave them once again. He did not give them His law to complicate their lives and to restrict them and to bind them once again. But He gave His law to a people that had already been set free to preserve them, to keep them from becoming slaves again. His commands were given to them to keep them from trouble, to keep them from danger, in order to promote their very life. Because to forsake God and to forsake His law leads once again to bondage as Israel found out with captivity many years later. And of course, we know that the analogy of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt points to a greater redemption and that is redemption in Jesus Christ. Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, taking our sin upon Himself. Redeeming us from bondage to sin and from the wrath of God by becoming our righteousness and by keeping perfectly that very same law that we could not keep. The law which only served to condemn us. He rescued us from Satan's grip and Satan's claim upon us because of our sin. And as a redeemed people, that law of God is a law of love. by which we respond to God's love poured out generously upon us in Jesus Christ by demonstrating our love and our gratitude to God through obedience to His commands. Again, it's so simple. He tells us exactly what it is that pleases Him. And that is to be our desire. And He keeps us through His law of love from once again becoming slaves to sin and children of His wrath, He keeps us free in Christ Jesus. And who God is and what He has done then also points to what He deserves. As Jesus replied in verse 37, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And we can't help but notice the necessity of love. Jesus, quoting Moses, in answer to their question, does not say worship God, as we might expect. That would be high on the top of the list, don't you think? He doesn't say honor God. We might expect that too. And he also doesn't say obey God. None of those things that we think would be on top of the list. But he says love God. Love Him. That love, as we just said, that recognizes who He is and what He has done, that love cannot help but to respond. Because there is no worship of God without love for God. And without love for God, one will not honor Him. They might submit to Him in fear and trembling, out of terror, but they won't honor Him. And obedience without love is worthless. It's meaningless. Now, brothers and sisters, we know that there are many people in this world who outright hate God. They outright despise Him. And they do whatever they can to willfully disobey Him. And there are many others who we might describe as simply being ignorant. They simply neglect Him. They give no thought to Him. Many of them give civil obedience. And there are many who keep the law of nature, as Paul talked about it in Romans 1, that we are created with. They know that there's right and wrong. And therefore, they do not steal. They do not murder. They do not commit adultery. They do not speak badly about someone else. But they don't love God. And therefore, it's not pleasing to God. It's not good in His sight. It's not the good that He will accept, as we considered last week. It's simply done from selfish motives. It's simply done to protect themselves, to keep themselves out of trouble. And sadly, we know that there are even some in the church who know their Bible cover to cover, who understand Reformed doctrine and all of its beauty, and they attend to Bible studies and maybe even teach Sunday school or catechism or serve as elders and deacons at times. They're involved in the church in numerous ways. They're busy beavers in the church. But without love, it means nothing. And some don't truly love God. And their motivation is not God, it's not what He has done, but again, itself. Well, it makes me look good in front of the others. And in the end, it certainly can't hurt me. But true love for God understands that He deserves my all. And that's what Jesus said to give. Notice the depth of love that Jesus talks about. Heart, soul, and mind. And Moses, we saw, substituted strength for mind. And Mark, in his parallel account, he adds strength to the other three. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. And what does Jesus say about these things? He says all of it. Every bit of it. Not just part of it. It's not to be half-hearted. It's not to be divided up and shared among many others. But this love for God is to be wholehearted with every fiber, every ounce of my being. My thoughts and words and motives and desires and understanding and intellect and will and affections and actions. We could take the time to take these three or four and put them in nice, tidy little groups, but it simply means everything. Everything. We have a song in our Psalter hymnal, a hymn that we sing once in a while that I believe summarizes this. Take my life, my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. And then throughout the stanzas of the song, it splits that life up. Take my moments and my days and my hands and my feet and my voice and my lips and my silver and my gold. It is to all be offered to God. And then there's a summary line in there that says, it is to be ever, only, all for thee. Ever, means all the time, only all for God. No one else, just God. And that means, beloved, that wholehearted love for God is to be ready to give up life and liberty and earthly loves for God. And that means that no one is to be loved more than God. Not our spouse, not our children, not our parents, not our job, not our anything. And sometimes we have difficulty with that, don't we? Because we love our spouse so much. How can I love God more? I think I told you the story about a gentleman in my previous congregation. He's gone to be with the Lord now, but his son told me the story that this man was born and raised in the church, but it wasn't until he was in his 30s and one Sunday evening went to church, his wife stayed home, she wasn't feeling well, and it was that evening that the Lord touched him in a particular way. And when he came home that night, his wife said, well, how was it? He said, honey, you now have second place in my life. She didn't like that very much. She was not happy. She was offended. Until he explained to her, no, listen. God is number one in my life. And now with God as number one in my life, your second place is higher than the first place you had before. The psalmist in Psalm 103, verse 1 says, Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being. Praise His holy name. And this wholehearted love for God, you see then, it results in willing worship and honor and obedience to God. These things flow willingly, naturally from that. Without this love, God's commands are a burden. They weigh us down. They are hopeless to us. But with this wholehearted love, God's commands are a delight because this love recognizes what we have received from Him in Christ Jesus and desires, it delights to give back to Him. And this wholehearted love for God that is expressed in having no other gods before Him, in not worshiping Him in the form of images, in not taking His name in vain, and in keeping the Sabbath day holy, And Jesus also points to the nature of this command. He says it's the first and it's the greatest. He's not talking simply about an individual commandment to love the Lord your God with all your... But this wholehearted love gives value. It gives meaning. It gives sincerity to all of our obedience. It makes it real. It makes it pleasing. And this wholehearted love for God is the foundation from which all other commandments and obedience flows. Beloved, living the law of love demonstrates gratitude with wholehearted love for God, but also then in the second place. We have to quickly get to the second place because it's exciting. With self-like love for neighbor. Jesus said in verse 39, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. Very plainly, this self-like love for neighbor depends, as we just said, on love for God above all. Jesus then speaks of the second, which is like it, like the first. Just as love is the foundation of and is to characterize our relationship of obedience to God, in the very same way, love is the foundation of and is to characterize our relationship to and our charity toward our neighbor. John in 1 John 4 says, We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Without love for God above all, there will be no love for our neighbor. But with love for God above all, that love for neighbor automatically flows. And that self-like love for neighbor also reflects an understanding of the image of God. That my neighbor, just like me, is an image-bearer of God. We need to see them that way. And that means that he has a soul created by God. And that means that he has a need to be redeemed by God. Just like me. Because he's hopelessly lost in sin. And that means that he has been placed before me by God so that I might demonstrate the love and the mercy of God. Just like the Good Samaritan. John Calvin in his Harmony of the Gospels, as he considers this particular text and Mark's Gospel account of it, alongside of it he puts Luke's Gospel account of the Good Samaritan. He sees that parable of the Good Samaritan as an expression of this wholehearted love for God and for neighbor. For our neighbor as ourselves. You see, self-like love for our neighbor also demonstrates an understanding of God's grace for me. Love your neighbor as yourself. Now, understand that this is not a command. Jesus is not commanding us to love ourselves. It's probably not hard to imagine that some take it that way. That Jesus is saying, you ought to love yourself. You ought to have a high self-esteem. You ought to think a lot of yourself. It's no surprise, is it, that we don't need to be told that. It comes quite naturally for us. It's a part of our selfish nature. We are devoted to ourselves. We care for ourselves. We're devoted to our protection, to our provision. Very simply, no one takes care of me like me. And we are to be no less devoted to our neighbor, those whom God places in our path. See, wholehearted, that self-like love for neighbor recognizes God's mercy poured out on me in Jesus Christ. It recognizes His gracious provision for me for this life And in response, that self-like love shows mercy to my neighbor. And I demonstrate love for my neighbor as myself by honoring my father and mother. By not killing. By not committing adultery. By not stealing. By not bearing false witness. By not coveting. By not wronging or injuring my neighbor in any way. And instead, honoring my neighbor, desiring their good and promoting their welfare and their reputation, desiring what's best for them, loving their soul. Desiring their salvation. What better way to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ? Paul says in Romans 13, verse 10, Love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Love promotes my neighbor. Beloved, living the law of love for God above all and neighbor as self is to characterize our lives. It is to characterize our obedience to God. It is to be a demonstration of our gratitude to God, understanding what it is that we have from Him. But now the difficulty is we can't begin to fulfill this perfectly. By nature, we hate. Just like the Pharisees. That was their whole motive. Hatred. We can't begin to fulfill this perfectly. And it's not enough simply to do our best. Jesus said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. He didn't give a whole lot of flexibility in there. That's His command. But we fail daily. We fail miserably. And if you think about it, it's amazing then that God keeps us, that God preserves us when we refuse to love Him. As Spurgeon said with regard to this, you would not keep a horse that would not work for you. To put it in our day, you would not keep an automobile or a special tool that did not work for you. We don't like to be compared to horses and automobiles and tools, but I trust you get the point. We don't keep those things that don't benefit us, that don't please us. And it's amazing that God preserves us when we refuse to love Him. But our only comfort, as we have sung already tonight, is redeemed by Jesus. We are His. Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness. He gave perfect love to God for His people. He loved God perfectly above all and His neighbor as Himself. And He pours out His perfect love on us. And God accepted His work on our behalf when He raised Him from the dead and He has given to us freely that perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. That's why God keeps us. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in response to that, we are called to strive to love God above all and our neighbor as ourself comforted that our lack and that our failure to love is forgiven for Jesus. and that our love is being made more faithful daily by the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit. Beloved, living the law of love identifies us as recipients of God's love to us in Jesus Christ. Is that what identifies you? Is that the identification mark on you that you are a recipient of the love of God and therefore you demonstrate that love? Boys and girls' rules are not made to be broken. God's law is not made to be broken. Because just like the rules that our parents set for us, God's law is for our good. It's for our delight. And God's commands clothed in Christ-like love is the fruit of true faith and obedience to those commands glorifies God. It blesses our neighbor and reminds us of the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. And therefore, every Lord's Day morning when we hear the law of God, may it be that we would not simply tune it out because we know it so well. But when we hear the law of God, may we rejoice as we are reminded of our sin and misery. Because at the very same time, we are reminded of the only Savior from our sin and misery. And may we rejoice in the freedom that we have been given in this only Savior. And finally, as we hear that law of God, may we rejoice in this law of perfect freedom by which God directs us in His way and shows us how to please Him. Not in order to get saved, but because He has already saved us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray together. O Lord God, as we bow before You at the close of this sermon, we rejoice, O Lord, once again that You give to us exactly what it is we need. You give to us Your law by which to guide us, to protect us, to lead us in Your way, that we too might reflect a bit of Your holiness as we keep the law of God out of gratitude for all that You have done for us. We must confess, though, that at times we still kick and scream against Your law. At times we still want to ask, what's the big deal if? But Father, we pray that more and more You would bind that law on our consciences. That it might be a delight for us, pointing us to the only Savior, Jesus Christ. That it might be our delight with which to give You praise and honor and glory, because indeed You are God. You are our God. For Jesus' sake. We pray too, Father, that You would help us. Sometimes it's easy to think that we love You above all, whom we do not see with our eye, but yet we have a hard time loving our neighbor, whom You place right before us. Give us a selfless love for our neighbor, a self-like love. And may it be, O Lord, that through that, through a demonstration of that love, You would draw many to Yourself. Hear us, we pray, for Jesus' sake and in His name alone. Amen.