THE TEMPLE WAR: The Great Commandment – part 2

Sep 20, 2026 • Rory Mosley

073 THE TEMPLE WAR: The Great Commandment – part 2

Mark 12:28-34 (30-34)

September 20, 2026

We started this text this morning, and we want to jump back into it tonight.

After watching Jesus masterfully handle the Sadducees

One scribe was rightly impressed.

And it inspired him to ask Jesus a question.

#1 THE QUESTION

Mark 12:28

“recognizing that He had answered well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

We noted that the word “what” indicated

“of what nature”

They used the same word previously on this same day:

Mark 11:28 “and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”

What type of authority is this?

The same can be said of the Scribes question.

What type of command is the foremost?

What matters most to God?

And Jesus answered:

#2 THE ANSWER

Mark 12:29-31

We noted that Jesus quoted the Shema

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

And we discussed a little what it meant that

“The LORD our God is one LORD;”

In one sense, He is the only God; there is none besides Him.

In another sense, we can speak of the unity of the trinity.

· While God is one God in essence, He is three in person.

· All three persons are distinct

· All three persons are equal

· And all three of those persons are one.

· They are perfectly unified without any tension.

God is One

Here we are listening as the second person in the Godhead

Answers the question regarding what is the foremost command.

And as we saw this morning

IT IS LOVE

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

In a general sense it simply speaks of an all-encompassing total love for God.

In a specific sense we would say that the command is to love God

· With all your emotions – “heart”

· With all your existence – “soul”

· With all your estimations – “mind”

· With all your effort – “strength”

· Our desire should be for God.

· Our devotion should be for God.

· Our decisions should be for God.

· Our drive should be for God.

WE DIDN’T HAVE TIME THIS MORNING

To look at many other scriptures that relate to this,

But I want to look at few tonight.

Consider loving God with “all your HEART”.

2 Chronicles 25:1-2 “Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart.”

What did the writer mean?

2 Chronicles 25:14-16 “Now after Amaziah came from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down before them and burned incense to them. Then the anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people from your hand?” As he was talking with him, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has planned to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

Amaziah sought other gods.

· He didn’t trust God alone.

· He didn’t serve God alone.

· He didn’t love God alone.

He also gave himself to other gods.

Like that weedy soil we mentioned that sought to shelter two crops.

Jeremiah 4:1-4 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the Lord, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, And you will swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”

The call of God was that Judah would “circumcise themselves…and remove the foreskins of your heart”

· That is to say, remove the idols.

· Give your heart solely to me.

WE UNDERSTAND THAT.

If you tell your wife, “My heart is yours” that certainly better mean

That you don’t have a girlfriend somewhere else.

God wants your heart.

Your whole heart.

All your affections, all your trust, all your desire.

And as we pointed out also this morning,

This is clearly an area where we can all “excel still more”.

Devote the passions of your life to God.

Love Him with all your heart.

We also heard to love God “with all your SOUL”

And again, the “soul” represents life.

Luke 21:19 “By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

Acts 20:10 “But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.”

It is your very being.

It is your very essence.

God made you a human and breathed life into you.

That life is meant to be devoted totally to Him.

Romans 14:7-9 “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

· I take my days for the service of God.

· I take my talents for the service of God.

· I take my opportunities for the service of God.

It is to give Him your whole life.

Not just your weekends, not just your teenage years,

Not just your retirement, not just your surplus.

To love Him with all your life.

We are called to love God “with all your MIND”

Paul said:

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

It is the devotion of your mind to God.

· What is your study life like?

· What do you ponder on?

· What do you meditate on?

We think of things we devote our minds to,

In entertainment, even in music, or movies, or other things.

Do we give our minds to the knowledge of God?

Do we give our minds to comprehending truth?

Have you ever read Psalms 119?

David says it over and over how his mind is devoted to God.

Psalms 119:15-16 “I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.”

Psalms 119:29-31 “Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame!”

Psalms 119:47-48 “I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.”

Psalms 119:97 “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

You get the idea.

David’s mind was devoted to God.

In a day of endless entertainment opportunities,

This one may be the most neglected.

Our minds are given to all sorts of information,

But the desire of God is that you love Him with all your mind.

AND WHAT OF USING YOUR MIND FOR GOD?

And with “all your STRENGTH”.

Think of a tireless effort.

I can’t help but think of the disciples in the garden.

Matthew 26:40 “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?”

And we think of the many opportunities

We have to show our love to God but quite frankly we are lazy.

We devote our strength to other enterprises.

· We are too eager to start our tasks in the morning,

· We are too busy during the day,

· And we are too tired at night.

Our strength is given totally to some secular task

And there is no strength left for the Lord.

But God calls us to love Him with our best, with all our strength.

To give the type of EFFORT to Him

· That we would give to the most important of projects.

To give the kind of FOCUS to Him

· That we would give to the most important of tasks.

It’s just another way of saying that we love and desire God

More than anything else in this world.

No person, no job, no accolade, no treasure, no relief, no goal,

No project, no anything is more important to us than God.

It is to love and desire Him with everything we have.

In Mark 12:28 God Himself was asked

“What commandment is the foremost of all?”

And He answered without hesitation

That we are to love Him with everything we’ve got.

That is what God wants from you.

He wants you to love Him.

And we also pointed out that it is only accomplished through the Spirit.

Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

We then yield to and cultivate and follow this love to the fullest.

So if you lack a love for God, ask Him to grant you that love.

But this is the foremost command.

OF COURSE YOU HAVE NOTICED THAT JESUS DOES NOT STOP THERE.

The Scribe asked for the foremost,

Jesus goes further and also gives the second.

By doing this, Jesus links the two together

As that which cannot be separated.

He says (31) ““The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

By linking the commands we instantly learn that

God measures our love toward Him

As He watches how we love our neighbor.

Incidentally the word “neighbor”

Simply means “the one near”.

Do you remember that story of the Good Samaritan?

The lawyer asked, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus’ point was obvious.

If you’re walking down the road and you see a man in need,

And you are close to him, then that’s your neighbor…

Even if he’s an enemy.

1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

In other words, you express your love for God

By the way you love your brother or your neighbor.

And just as Jesus did with our love for God,

HE ALSO HERE GIVES AN EXPLANATION.

He says to love your neighbor “as yourself.”

Now again, don’t fall for all the bad theology

That has arisen out of this verse.

I’ve heard one too many preachers and singers state that

What Jesus meant was that “You first have to love yourself.”

After all you can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love yourself.

That is one of the most self-centered

And ridiculous interpretations of a text I have ever heard.

As if mankind has any difficulty loving himself.

THAT’S ALL HE DOES!

Our world is absolutely drowning in self love.

And someone would say, “No, that’s not true, there are plenty of people who hate themselves and don’t love themselves.”

I balk at that 100%

People hold up examples like

· Self-mutilation

· Demeaning self

· Even suicide as examples of people not loving themselves.

But those things actually rise out of self love

Not in the absence of it.

It’s people who want to be seen or noticed

Who want to inflict pain on others for not seeing or noticing.

Mankind already loves themselves plenty.

What Jesus calls for here IS NOT for you to love your self more,

But rather for you to love your neighbor “as yourself”.

· To be as devoted to your neighbors well-being as you are to your own.

· To be as concerned about your neighbor as you are yourself.

And Jesus links that to the first command

As an expression of love for God.

We are called to love others as an expression of our love for God

Because they are made in God’s image.

That comes straight from the lips of God Himself.

Do you want to know what matters more to God than anything else?

· It is that you love Him with all you have

· And love your neighbor as you love yourself.

THAT IS THE FOREMOST COMMAND.

In fact, Matthew’s gospel actually ends with:

Matthew 22:40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

But MATTHEW DOESN’T record the rest of the conversation.

Only Mark includes what is spoken next,

And as we said this morning, he is doing so to make a point.

So let’s move forward.

The question, The answer

#3 THE RESPONSE

Mark 12:32-33

“The scribe said to Him, “Right; Teacher;”

That word “Right” is the exact same word rendered “well” up in verse 28.

The Scribe acknowledges that Jesus again

Answered beautifully and admirably

Just like He did when answering the Sadducee.

This scribe is amazed at Jesus.

This scribe has found a true teacher of the Law.

He goes on, “You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself…”

Jesus is speaking truth.

This resonated in his heart.

What could be greater than those two commands?

They actually sum up the entire 10 Commandments.

· The first 4 speak of love for God.

· The last 6 speak of love for man.

Paul summed it up this way:

Romans 13:8-10 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Love is a fitting summary of the Law.

SO AGAIN,

Jesus was not nullifying any part of the Law

By elevating two commands.

Jesus was explaining the heart of every command.

Every command in Scripture finds its motivation & explanation

In the command to love God and love your neighbor.

Jesus just endorsed every single command ever written.

And again, this is important for those today

Who nullify many commands under the banner of love.

Most obvious in our day is in regard to the LGBTQ community.

Behavior and a lifestyle which scripture clearly condemns and forbids.

And yet someone will nullify those commands and say,

“Well, I’m just called to love people.”

Jesus was not nullifying God’s prohibition of sexual immorality

When He highlighted the command to love your neighbor.

Jesus was emphasizing love as the explanation of those commands.

· How can you love God when you deny His design?

· How can you love God when you corrupt His creative purpose?

· How can you love your neighbor when you sin against them?

· How can you love your neighbor when you endorse what will kill them?

DON’T MISS THE POINT.

Love is the fulfillment of the whole law.

You need to love God and love people

You do that through obedience to God’s law, not by nullifying it.

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

The scribe knows Jesus is on point.

But then, there is something here that WE DO NOT EXPECT.

And I think this is why Mark includes this narrative.

This scribe chimes in with an extra statement

That only further emphasizes how well he understood what Jesus said.

He says that loving God and loving your neighbor

“is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This is one of the chief points to be gleaned in all of Scripture.

When a person finally learns that God wants their heart,

Not their religion, they are well on the road to salvation.

We discussed it recently with the youth

As we talked about evidences of genuine conversion.

We talked about David’s Delight (his new found doctrine)

Psalms 40:6-8 “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

God opened his ears to finally understand the point.

Even later, after David’s great sin and he repented, we noted his doctrine still as he sought God’s forgiveness.

Psalms 51:15-17 “O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

And we have walked this trail many times in our study of Scripture,

But you can find this same message repeated

In nearly every prophet in the Bible.

Isaiah 1:11-17 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

And you know that we could read many many more.

· Psalms 50:7-15

· Proverbs 15:8

· Proverbs 21:27

· Jeremiah 6:20

· Jeremiah 7:1-11

· Jeremiah 7:21-23

· Ezekiel 14:1-3

· Hosea 6:6

· Joel 2:12-13

· Amos 5:22-24

· Micah 6:6-8

And yet it is the truth that man continually ignores.

Man naturally gravitates toward legalism and religious ordinance.

They love to assume they are pleasing to God because

· They brought a goat,

· Or put money in the plate,

· Or had perfect attendance,

· Or got baptized,

· Or whatever else it is.

All the while God watches our religion, which is a filthy rag in His sight,

And yearns for so much more from us.

Our religious involvement is meant to be an outflowing of our love

Not a means of obtaining His favor.

When we engage in all this religion without a love for God

It is the worst form of hypocrisy and that which God hates.

Will not Jesus soon call down woes upon the Pharisees for doing this very thing?

· They clean the outside of the cup and of the dish but inside are full of robbery and self-indulgence?

· They give and pray and fast but they do not love God.

· And God rejects it.

BUT HERE, THIS MAN, HE GETS IT.

He is mesmerized by the wisdom of Jesus

He totally understands what Jesus is saying.

God wants your heart, not your religious involvement.

And that leads us to the final point.

#4 THE ANNOUNCEMENT

Mark 12:34

We look at this verse because it is a clear contrast

To the Sadducee we saw last Sunday night.

Jesus told them that “you are greatly mistaken” (12:27)

“You have strayed way away from the truth.”

But Jesus tells this man just the opposite.

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Jesus explained why the Sadducees had strayed so far.

He said this:

Mark 12:24 “Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?”

The reason they had strayed so far from the truth is because

They didn’t understand the scriptures or the power of God.

But this guy is a contrast.

“When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently…”

That’s interesting.

“intelligently” there comes from two Greek words.

(nooce) – “mind”

(ekho) – “possess”

The actual word is (noo-na-KHOSE)

“having his own mind; his wits about him”

This man was NOT JUST spouting the company line.

This man was NOT JUST regurgitating what he had been told to believe.

He was not following the prescribed doctrine of the Pharisees

Nor the wayward doctrine of the Sadducees.

This man had his own mind.

· He had studied the Scriptures honestly and genuinely.

· He had truly sought to know the truth.

· When He heard Jesus speak, he recognized a man who spoke truth

AND JESUS NOTICED THAT ABOUT HIM.

And there is A KEY in there for us regarding salvation

And entrance into the kingdom.

ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM IS NOT DONE IN GROUPS.

While there is orthodox doctrine that is taught in Christianity,

Truth is still something that you must seek and discover on your own.

· This man sought Jesus.

· This man studied the Scriptures.

· This man recognized the truth Jesus was proclaiming.

And as a result Jesus said:

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

The Sadducees are way out there, but you are very close.

Now, as good as that sounds,

We must still note that “not far” IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

This man HAS a prime opportunity.

This man IS right on the cusp.

But you remember the Roman ruler Agrippa who told Paul:

Acts 26:28 “Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.”

Charles Spurgeon commented on that verse, “To be almost persuaded is to be certainly damned.”

This man is in a favorable position, but he is not yet in the kingdom.

I know we discussed this in recent years,

But R.C. Sproul used to talk about three very important Latin words.

You can write these 3 words down:

1. NOTITIA

2. ASSENSUS

3. FIDUCIA

Notitia is where we get our word for “notes”,

· It has to do with concrete facts.

Assensus is where we get our word for “ascent”,

· It speaks of a person who gives ascent to something being true.

Fiducia is related to our word “confidence”,

· It speaks of a person putting their confidence in the facts they believe.

R.C. Sproul wrote:

The Reformers,,,recognized three essential components of saving faith: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

Faith always has an object, namely, Jesus Christ. To believe in Jesus, we must first know something about Him. This content comprises the notitia of faith, and it is delivered to people through the church’s teaching ministry (Rom. 10:14–17).

Knowing a body of content, however, is not enough for saving faith. We must also affirm the truth of this content. Millions of people know something about Christianity but do not believe it is true. Saving faith requires assensus, the conviction that the content of the notitia is truth.

Finally, even knowing the facts and believing them to be true are not enough in themselves to make us Christians. Demons affirm the truth of what God has said, but they do not trust Him (James 2:19). Fiducia — the entrusting of ourselves into the hands of Christ, the Living Truth — must also be present for our justification.

https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/three-aspects-of-faith

AND THAT IS A GREAT POINT HERE AS WELL.

This man heard the truth.

This man agreed with the truth.

· He was so close to salvation.

All that was lacking was this man putting his confidence in the truth.

· He needed to trust Christ and follow.

NOW, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT HE DID.

His answer is not mentioned.

HOWEVER,

The fact that we read, “After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.” Does not bode well for the man.

IT MAKES ONE THINK THAT