Today I am starting with the clear warning that the Lord has given us in Dan 11:39: “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.” The Lord has told us that many who are not sincere will join us. So to pay the proper attention to the Lord’s warning, we must understand what insincerity is, in order that the enemy within us will not outwit us for we are not unaware of his scheme.
The Lord said in Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Soul and Mind is combined as understanding so it is also read as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all understanding and with all your strength”. He said that it is the most important command. Therefore, anyone who knowingly fails to love the Lord our God without all his heart, without all his soul, without all his mind and without all his strength, is not sincere towards loving the Lord. Why is it so important in the Lord’s eyes? Because love that comes from an insincere heart, to whatever degree and extent, is defiled and is not acceptable to be offered on the altar of God. And has not God the Father put up with enough insincere worship? Jesus said that Isaiah correctly prophesied, “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men.” So it is with all of our hearts that we honour and worship the Lord, not with rules and traditions, for they are not based on love, but they are based on works. We have seen that insincerity of heart has turned the Father’s house of prayer into a den of robbers.
And when you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you are giving Him the best of who you are and the best of what you can give. It is the purity of your love that the Lord seeks, one which comes from all of the 4. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He deserves the best from you.
The Lord Himself has given you and continues to gives you the best of Him.
From the beginning of creation, we were already given the best of God. From God’s own image, was men made. In His own very image and likeness, He made us.
And did God give the best to the Israelites when He brought them up out of Egypt? Yes, He did. He gave them the land of the Caananites, a land flowing with milk and honey. And with the Israelites’ own eyes they saw and testified in Numbers 13:27: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!” Not only that, the Lord’s presence traveled with them. In Exo 40, it says that “The cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in sight of the house of Israel during all their travels”.
What about for this generation. Did God give us the best of what He has? Yes, He did, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Heb13:8) AND He is not man that he should change His mind. The Lord says in Mal 3:6: “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” What is the best that God gave us so we are not destroyed?
God gave His best when He gave His One and Only Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is His Only Begotten Son Jesus whom He loves. The Son who God brought forth as the first of His works and appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. The Son who was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always at His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind. The only one who was pleasing to Him. This Jesus He gave to the world to lay down His life for, so that it would not perish but have eternal life. He gave His best to the world, and though the world was made through His Son, the world did not recognize nor receive His Son. But to those who did believe in Jesus, He gave the right to be children of God – children born of the will of God. Paul writes in Rom 8:17 that “if we are children, we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ”, for as Jesus says, a slave has no permanent place in the family but a son belongs to it forever. There is a place we will belong to forever, a house with many rooms which Jesus is preparing for us. Jesus is preparing for us another of the Father’s best. The Father’s house awaits us so that we can be where He is forever.
What else did God the Father give us? He gave us His Son, and after He gave His Son, He gave us His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth which comes from Him, He gave to live in us and to be in us so we can testify about Jesus together. The Spirit of God which was hovering above the waters before the Creation of the world, is the Spirit we share and fellowship with. The best, God has once again given us.
Now, the Lord has given us three of His best: His Son, His Spirit and His house. What have you given Him? Have you given Him your best? Have you given Him all your heart, soul mind and strength? And if and when you do, will it always look right to the world? Will you care that it doesn’t?
Look at Mary Magdalene, was she not one who did not look right to the world, but yet it was only she that the Lord gave the highest honour by tying His gospel with her, the one that He paid for in blood and life, when he said in Mark 14:9 & Matt 26:14: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” What was it that she had done? She came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, worth a year’s of wages, and poured it on Jesus. It was a beautiful thing for the Lord. She gave Jesus the perfume which was the best that she had and offered it tenderly to Him, and did not care about anything except to show love and appreciation for Him. What she did was so sincere and so touching to the Lord that He wanted what she had done to be told in memory of her. With all of Mary’s heart, understanding and strength, her simple yet powerful act awarded her the greatest honour the Lord had paid not even to His own disciples. It was love that she showed in sacrifice of her reputation and her image, she cared not what anyone else but only what the Lord thought and felt.
So, too if you are sincere about the Lord, you will love Him with all you heart, soul mind and strength. Whether or not it looks right to others is not relevant, because it is between you and the Lord. If you hold back on the Lord, there is room for insincerity but know the Lord is never insincere towards you. From the beginning, He loved the world and gave it His best, and since He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, He will give His best to the very end. Jesus loves the Father so much he laid down His life for us, He calls us His friends (Jn 15: 13) and He says that there is no greater form of love than this. Will you lay down your life for Jesus and express to Him your greater love? Or do you hold back on Him your heart, soul and mind and strength, reserving it for yourself and others? Are you one who stores up things for yourself but is not rich towards the Lord, when He had held nothing back from you and longs to bring you close to Him?
Purify yourself and you will know the truth is this: Jesus loves you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength.
Did not the one who laid down His life for you by coming down from heaven and going to the cross, love you with all his heart. Does he not give you the greater form of love? Therefore does not the one who shows you the greater form of love love you with all His heart?
And did not the one whose soul was overwhelmed to the point of death love you with all His soul when He went to the cross for you? The eve of His death, three times He prayed to the Father to take the cup away from Him, yet not as He will but as the Father will, but since it was not possible for the cup to be taken away unless He drank it, the Father’s will was done. Jesus was in so much anguish, his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Even before He was crucified, His blood had begun flowing to wash away your sins. With all His soul, He loves you.
And did not the one who had only in mind the things of God and not the things of men love you with all His mind? Jesus had only one thing in mind, for he came to seek not to please Himself but the Father who sent Him (Jn 5:30). He came to do the Father’s will and to finish His work. And the Father’s will is this: That everyone who looks to the Son Jesus and believes in Him shall have eternal life and He will raise them up on the last day (Jn 6:40). That is, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved in His name (Ro 10:9). It is only through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that you are saved. Salvation is not found in anyone else (Acts 4:12). Salvation is not found in any other name but the name of Jesus because it was Jesus alone who died for your sins. It was Jesus alone who finished the work of the Father by doing His will. It was Jesus alone the Father sent to die for you so that you will not be condemned but have eternal life. That’s why there is no other name under heaven given to us by which we are saved
And did not the one who went to the cross love you with all His strength? Did not the one who got insulted, flogged, spat on and killed, love you with all the sincere love in His strength? If Jesus was not sincere about dying for your sins, would He hang on the cross for 6 hours, bleeding to death from a crown of twisted thorn lodged on His head? Would one who was not sincere about dying for you, merely go through the motions and simply give up His spirit after half an hour? He hung on the cross for six hours, being six hours too long for a man who was not punished justly and got not what His deeds deserve, but bore the sins of you and the world on Him so that today you are with Him in paradise. Does He not love you with all his strength when He hung on until the moment He knew that all was completed that he breathed His last and said, “It is finished”.
So I ask you again, does not Jesus love you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength?
Yes, He does. He loves you today, tomorrow and forevermore.
You must know the magnitude and the power of the Lord’s love for you, because if you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will never know how much He loves the Father. He showed His greater love when He laid down His life for us, but what about His love for the Father? He showed His greatest love to His Father when He laid down His life for us.
Jesus said, “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me.”
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will not know how much He loves the Father because His love for the Father is the greatest love of all. You only have to look at how much He loves you with all His heart, mind soul and strength to realise how much more He loves His Father. And that is why, it is the most important command of all, for we must not only learn that Jesus loves the Father, we must also learn to love the Father like Jesus loves the Father. Since the greater things than Jesus we can do, then let us also do the greatest thing by showing the Father our greatest love. So that the world will know that not only Jesus loves the Father and does exactly what the Father commands, but we also love the Father and do exactly what the Father commands.
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, how will the world know how much He loves the Father, and how will His word be fulfilled?
Amen Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus for your grace and your patience. Lord, I have learnt my lesson Lord. Thank you love you. I love you and I love your Word, now and forever more.
