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Colin Smith: Of all the commandments this man asks Jesus, what is the most important? That is a good question to be asking, isn't it? Of everything that's in the Bible, of all that God asks of me, asks of you, what is the most important? What is the core? What is it that God really wants of me?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're with us today. Colin, I guess that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? What does God want with me?

Colin Smith: Yes, and to answer that in one word: love. Love God with all your heart, says Jesus, and love your neighbor as yourself. So, that's very clear. The question is how we are to do that. Does that leave us simply trying to scrape out of our inner being some kind of affection for God? How am I to come and love God? That seems to me to be the heart of the question here.

And you know, even in the Old Testament, let alone in the New, what's made very clear is that those who love God are those who have experienced His grace. Even when you get to the Ten Commandments, what does it say? "I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt." It's by being redeemed that you will come to love the Lord. It is in seeing what He has done for you in Jesus Christ. I hope that you'll get hold of that in the message today. This is for Christian believers. If you're in Christ, see what the Lord has done for you, see what you are to Him and who He is to you, and you're going to find that there's a love that flames up in your heart. It's not some great effort that you have to produce what's not there. This is the response to grace, and the knowledge of God's grace is the source of the love for Christ that's in the heart of a Christian believer.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to look at this all the way back in the Old Testament. We're in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6. So, join us there as we begin the message, Love God with All Your Heart. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Last week we looked at how we need to cultivate the right kind of fear of God. There is a fear that love brings, as well as a fear that love removes. We saw that a lightweight God will not break the patterns of past behavior, nor will He enable us to overcome fears for the future. And how important it was that God's people learn to fear Him. They saw the holy fire that came down on the mountain of Sinai, and they felt the terror of the Lord.

Now, last week we saw that the right kind of fear and love are inseparable friends. They're not alternatives; they are friends and they belong together. We're learning from the scriptures in both the Old Testament and the New that we are to fear God as we love Him, and we are to love God as we fear Him. So, today we're coming to this great theme of loving God, and I want to focus today on what must be the best-known verses in all of Deuteronomy, that is verse 4 and verse 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

Now, just so we notice this, and I love to keep picking this up and drawing it to your attention: if you had the idea that the Old Testament is all about external rights and rules, then take this in. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. And these commandments, verse 6, are to be upon your hearts. We're talking about a personal spiritual relationship that is forged by faith, that is characterized by love, and it's right here in the Old Testament. So, we're trying to get away from the idea that there are two different stories. There is one story of God's redeeming grace, and here He is reaching out and enveloping these people in it.

Now, the gospels remind us of the central importance of these words in the whole of the scripture. Because as you read these words from Deuteronomy, you may remember that there was an occasion when a teacher of the law, someone who was a great expert in Deuteronomy, came to Jesus and asked this question: Of all the commandments, this man asked Jesus, what is the most important? And that is a good question to be asked, isn't it? Of everything that's in the Bible, of all that God asks of me, asks of you, what is the most important? What is the core? What is it that God really wants of me?

And Jesus answered that question with these words from Deuteronomy. He said to the man who asked him this question, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." And here's what's most important, Jesus was saying, quoting direct from Deuteronomy, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." And then Jesus said, that's the first commandment, and the second one is like it: it is to love your neighbor as yourself.

And then Matthew records that Jesus added these words. He said, "All the law and the prophets, everything in the Old Testament, the whole scripture, hangs on these two commandments." This sums it all up: Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. All of the commandments, everything in the scriptures, the whole of Deuteronomy, the rest of the Old Testament, all hangs on this.

Now, if you think about the Ten Commandments, you'll quickly realize that indeed the first four commandments are telling us what it means to love God. What are the first four commandments? They're right there in chapter 5, just before our reading today. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make an idol. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. And remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. These are commandments that frame what loving God looks like.

And then the last six commandments really frame for us what it means to love your neighbor. What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Well, it will look like this: Honor your father and your mother. Don't murder. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't bear false witness. And don't covet what God has distinctly given to your neighbor and not to you.

So, the Ten Commandments there are really giving us an exposition of what it means to live a life of love. The New Testament says live a life of love, and we're left asking the question, well, what does that mean? And the Ten Commandments are giving to us an explanation of what it means to live a life of love, to love God and to love one another. This is laid out for us, and Jesus says this is the core of what it's all about. And all the commandments, all the law, and all the prophets hang on these two things.

Now, I mentioned this to you. It might be helpful for you to have a sense as to how Deuteronomy divides itself up. Martin Luther gives this analysis of Deuteronomy. He says, really, the whole of Deuteronomy is an exposition of the Ten Commandments. So that after in the first chapters Moses explains to God's people in the new young generation how is it we got here, in chapter 5 he gives the Ten Commandments. Then, Luther says, chapters 6 through 18 are really all an application of the first four commandments, the first table of the law, what it means to love God with all your heart. And that is why you will find much in these chapters that relates to worshipping God and not turning to idols. It's an explanation or an application of the first four commandments.

Then, says Luther, when you get to chapter 19 through to chapter 26, you'll find that it relates in large measure to the last six commandments. It's telling us in particular instances for Israel what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. So, you find Moses there speaking about unsolved murders. You find Moses there speaking about violations of marriage. You find Moses there speaking about weights and measures that are being used in the marketplace, and so forth.

And then chapter 27 to the end of the book of Deuteronomy really sets out a series of blessings that will follow those who walk on the path of obedience, and God gives to Israel a series of cursings that will follow the path of disobedience. So, you could say then that the whole book is an exposition of love. God is love, and those who are His people are called to a life of love. And we therefore need to know what a life of love looks like, and Jesus says it's in two parts: it's loving God and it's loving others. And what does it mean to love God and to love others? The Ten Commandments lay that out for us, and the book of Deuteronomy gives a particular application of that to God's people, Israel, as we're going to see as we follow through the book. That is why in the New Testament we read in Romans chapter 13 and verse 10 that love is the fulfillment of the law. Why is love the fulfillment of the law? Because the law is the explanation of love. You see, it works in both directions.

So, if you love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, you are doing everything that God asks of you.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Love God with All Your Heart. We have to pause here, but we'll get back to this message in just a moment, so I hope you'll stay with us. Our message is part of a larger series called Take Two: The Power of a Fresh Start. And if you miss any broadcast in the series, come and listen online at openthebible.org or through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store.

But whether you listen to Open the Bible Weekend online, on the radio, or through the app, it's all made possible because of your generosity. So, thank you for giving to and supporting this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new 30-day devotional book called Grow in Hope. This book is going to show you that hope comes from God, is found in Christ, and is yours through grace. It examines the promises of God that bring hope both now and for the future. And again, we'd love to send you a copy of this book, Grow in Hope, as our way of saying thank you for your support. You can find out more or give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: So, I want us to pause here because it's so important in not only in Deuteronomy but in the whole of the Bible, just to reflect on three angles from these verses of scripture. First, I want us to think about the people, verse 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Now, it's very obvious then that Moses is speaking to Israel and that he describes the Lord as our God. These words then are words that are distinctly spoken to God's people.

And they are God's people, first, because God chose them. You see that in chapter 7 and verse 6. They're not God's people because somehow they had the idea that they could connect with God and make Him theirs. No, they are God's people because God has reached to them and made them His. Nations choose their gods, but God has chosen this nation. The Lord your God, Deuteronomy 7:6, has chosen you out of all the peoples of the earth to be His people and to be His treasured possession.

They're God's people not only because He chose them but because He redeemed them. Deuteronomy chapter 4, we looked at this last week in verse 34: Has any god ever taken for himself from one nation out of another in the way that the Lord your God did for you? And this runs throughout Deuteronomy. Look at what God has done for you. He has brought you out of slavery that you were in in Egypt. That's chapter 6 and verse 12. Don't forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of slavery. Or verse 21, when your son asks, tell him we were slaves in Egypt but the Lord brought us out. Chapter 7 and verse 8: It was because the Lord loved you that He redeemed you from the land of slavery.

So, God set His love on you. God has redeemed you. He's brought you out of the slavery that you were in in Egypt. And then you were God's people, thirdly, because He's made a covenant with you. Chapter 5 and verse 2 again, we saw this earlier: The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. God had bonded these people to Himself with irrevocable promises. There was a unique covenant that could never be turned back. It goes back all the way to God's promises to Abraham, where God said to him, "I will make you into a great nation, and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."

Now, this is very important. This word is given to God's people, those who are chosen by God, redeemed by God, those in with whom God has forged this marvelous and irrevocable covenant. What that means is that the words that we are looking at today, this command to love God with all your heart, is not being given here to God's enemies, but to His friends. It is being given to the people God has chosen, the people God has redeemed, the people God has pledged His promises to, the people He is leading into the promised land. That's very important as to how we apply these words today.

God does not call His enemies to love Him for the simple reason that they can't. They don't have the love of God in them. God calls His enemies to do what? To repent and to believe the gospel. God calls His enemies to be reconciled to Him. It is to His redeemed people that He says, "Love the Lord your God."

This is very important. The message for your unbelieving friends, the message for your rebellious children, is not love the Lord your God with all your heart. You're simply telling them something they cannot do. You're asking of them something that is not within them. The message to your unbelieving friends, the message to your rebellious children, is to say repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ.

But to those who do repent, to those who do believe, God says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and with all your strength." So, is it very clear? We must have this in our mind. This message today is for Christians. It's not for everybody. But if you are in Jesus Christ, it is for you. If God has distinctly laid His hand upon your life, if He has redeemed you by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have embraced the Savior with faith, this message is for you. And I want to call you today, if that describes you, I want to call you today to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And the Holy Spirit will bear witness to you with regards to this because you are Christ's. Never think of the Old Testament commandments as a ladder for unsaved people to work their way nearer to God. It was never intended that way. God speaks to His redeemed people: I've chosen you, I've redeemed you, I've vested these promises in you. Now, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Now, here's the second thing that I want us to observe here today. We've spoken about the people; I want us to ponder the name of the Lord. Do you notice there that the word "Lord" is in four capital letters, as it is so frequently throughout the Old Testament? Wherever you see the word "Lord" in the English Bible in the Old Testament printed with four capital letters, it is because the divine name that was first given to Moses is being used.

You remember the story: when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, Moses asked a question: What is your name? And God said, "Yahweh. Yahweh. I am. I am." Now, the name Yahweh, which was never actually pronounced by the Jews, was normally written simply with vowels: Y-H-W-H. When that was anglicized, it came over in the form J-H-V-H, and if you put vowels into that, what are you going to get? Jehovah, you see. It is generally, however, agreed that the name that Moses heard from God was not Jehovah, but with the Y-H-W-H, Yahweh.

Now, this personal name that God gave to Moses is what is being used here. And it's very important, and that's why I want us to take a moment on it. You are to love Yahweh, your God. Now, folks, that is so important for us because in a pluralistic society, loving God becomes for many people simply loving God as I conceive Him to be. You're familiar with this because it's all around us. When we say, when you say to someone who is not yet a believer, "Well, you know, love God," people feel free to fill that word "God" with their own content.

But God is not whoever you want Him to be. God is who He is. That's the whole point of the divine name. And so this verse says distinctively, "Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. Love Yahweh your God with all your heart." Yahweh is not whoever you want Him to be, some great unknowable sort of force in the cloud. No, He is who He is. And here's who He is: He is the one who made promises to Abraham, the one who appeared to Moses. He is the one who brought Israel out of Egypt. He is the one who came down to Sinai in the fire. He is the one who cut a covenant with these people, Israel, to make them His own. He is the one who spoke through the prophets and, supremely, He is the one who has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ. And to know Him is to love Him.

Now, God's name is of great importance, especially as we are living increasingly in a pluralistic culture. Because pluralism wants a nameless God. See, the kind of religion that is becoming more and more prominent in our country and in the West generally these days is a religion that is marked by vagueness in which God becomes nameless and people talk like this: "Well, it's so important to have a faith, but of course you must choose what you have your faith in, you see. And it's good to love God, but of course we all have our own understanding of the God that we love," and so forth and so on.

Pluralism thrives on the assumption that all names of God are simply human constructions, human stories, merely human ways of expressing what is ultimately unknowable. And our culture is very fast moving from a consensus that there is one God who has revealed Himself in the Old and New Testament scriptures, the Judeo-Christian view of God. Our culture is moving very fast from that consensus to a new consensus that not that there's one God, but that everything is one. And folks, there's all the difference in the world between these two things.

Steve Hiller: And that is where we have to pause today's message. You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Love God with All Your Heart. It's part of our series Take Two: The Power of a Fresh Start, taking a look at the book of Deuteronomy. And if you ever miss a broadcast in our series, come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org. You can also get the entire series on CD. Ask about Take Two when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org.

Well, we're able to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching because of your financial generosity. We really are a listener-supported ministry, and as you give a gift of any amount this month, we'd love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new 30-day devotional. It's called Grow in Hope, and Colin, why did you write this book?

Colin Smith: Well, Grow in Hope is the second of three books that we are putting out from Open the Bible this year: Grow in Faith, Grow in Hope, and Grow in Love. And the reason for all three is that as Paul says in 1 Corinthians in chapter 13, everything else will pass away. I mean, that's quite a statement, isn't it? Everything else will pass away, but these things will remain: faith, hope, and love. So, these are things of supreme importance. I'm absolutely persuaded that our greatest need is to have a stronger faith, to have a more certain hope, and to be renewed in a resilient kind of love. You know, if that happens in the lives of Christian believers, some very, very good things will follow.

Steve Hiller: Well, we'd love to send you a copy of this book. Again, it's called Grow in Hope, and it's our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give at our website, openthebible.org, or when you call 1-877-673-6365. That's 1-877-OPEN-365. And again, the website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.