Lesson 4: To Love The Lord Your God

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god i'm excited we're continuing a series present truth in deuteronomy today a beautiful text about loving the lord your god my prayer is you not only catch a glimpse of how much god loves you but you would experience the immeasurable unfailing love of god today so welcome to hope sabbath school and welcome to the team good to be together again and i'm excited because one of our team travis is going to be teaching our study today and we've also got some of our team joining us remotely which we found is working really well so we want to welcome glenny in florida gleny good to have you with us again on hope sabbath school shaina good to have you with us from maine glad you're here and jonathan good to have you with us from maryland great to have our remote team members with us too and we're also happy you're here you know someone corrected me they said you have over 200 countries and there's only 193 recognized by the u.n well go back and do the math there's about 215 additional countries that aren't recognized and our hope sabbath school app our hope channel app has been downloaded in more than 200 countries around the world so we're hearing from you and we're glad here's one from south africa blanche writes and she says i want to thank you for the work you do for the lord i've been learning a lot from the word of god since i started with hope channel i can't wait for the coming of our lord and savior keep doing the good work amen amen well blanche we're glad you're part of our hope sabbath school family there in south africa here is another note from kenya we have hope channel kenya called hck and it's played across the nation a lot of hope sabbath school members this is thomas writing from nairobi it's amazing what hope sabbath school is doing touching lives around the world much more during the health pandemic i personally like the flow of the program starting with the greetings the song interlude and finally the study the format not only makes the study more interesting but it makes us feel part of the program by the way that's why interactive teaching is so powerful because everybody in your group feels part of the program right needless to say the hopes about score outline simplifies the study may god continue to use you mightily well thomas sounds like you're using the outline to lead a study you're part of a multitude around the world we're glad that you're not only part of our study but you are sharing the word with others here is a note from a donor couple hope sabbath school continues to be a blessing to us your group's experiences and knowledge of the bible is truly inspiring thank you for your prayers blessings and a donation of two thousand dollars to help others have a school praise the lord i just want to say thank you california actually no not california it's south dakota thank you south dakota for being part of the miracle we're an impact movement and you can be part of it hopetv.org donate we're here coming to the end of the year we're glad that you can partner with us thank you for your support every every gift makes a difference well all the way to tracy in the seychelles you know our most recent hope channel is hope channel indian ocean launched in madagascar broadcasting madagascar mauritius seychelles here's tracy tracy writes and says my family and i watch hope sabbath school on youtube every sabbath we're blessed for this opportunity to learn more about god my husband and i have been baptized for the last four years and still look forward to learning more about god amen amen amen amen as our church is still closed because of the pandemic we thank you for hope sabbath school god bless you all well tracy uh you don't have your husband's name here but greetings to him too aren't we glad they're part of our hope sabbath school family way out there in the islands of the indian ocean someone's watching hope sabbath school today we're we're glad you're part of our family and it looks like i've got one more from my homeland my homeland you say derek where's your homeland i will talk with a british accent to read from someone who wasn't born in england dumisani dumasani writes from the uk i'm always blessed by your interactive bible study i jot down notes when i'm listening and apply them when i teach my sabbath school class i'm also the first elder of my local church may god bless your ministry always elder dumasani in the uk well thank you for writing to us dumasani we're glad you're not only part of our sabbath school but you're a leader in your community and right now we need you all to sing with us our theme songs taken from deuteronomy 31 6 it says be strong and of good courage do not fear no be afraid of them for the lord your god he's the one who goes with you he will not leave you or forsake you let's sing it together [Music] be strong and a good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them for the lord your god he is the one who goes with you he will not leave you nor forsake you be strong and of good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them for the lord your god he is the one who goes with you he will not will not leave you be strong and of good courage to not fear nor be afraid of them for the lord your god he is the one who goes [Music] what an incredible promise he says i will not leave you or forsake you and i believe travis is going to be with us as we study the word of god today so thanks for leading us in prayer let's bow our heads as we pray father in heaven so grateful that you've been with us here in this series of studies in the book of deuteronomy we're also thankful lord to hear the emails from people all over the world to get letters what a blessing it is to note that the program is impacting people from all over lord right now we just ask a special blessing on our group here that the holy spirit would attend us and teach us as we open your word and study it right now in the name of jesus amen amen the study today to love the lord your god well i have to be honest with you i didn't know what the shema was until i read the of course i'd read the book of deuteronomy deuteronomy several times but i hadn't known what the shema was so i got to look to see what it was and of course it's a prayer and today we want to start in deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 billy if you'd read that for us and we want to know or we want to find out what truths are contained here in the shema okay i'll be reading from the niv here o israel the lord your our god the lord is one so what truths do we find here in in verse 4 deuteronomy the lord is one the lord is one we call that monotheism right of course uh we live in a society or or even back then a society where there's uh polytheistic uh beliefs where there was many gods right we saw that with the children of israel matter of fact god had warned them to have no other gods plural before them right and so here this jewish prayer of course that's meant for us today right is is letting us know that there's one god right well let's read verse five nicole if you'd read verse five let's look at another part of the shema and the new living translation says and you must love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul and all your strength okay so why is this also important in the context of the shema i think it's just you know but we've been talking about in this series is is that god wants a relationship with us that's right he's not just some great god up in heaven but he wants us to respond to his love and so you know back to the previous verse the lord our god lord is yahweh right it's my bible is all capital letters it's like the the one who wasn't isn't is to come he loves you and he wants you to love him in return with all your heart and he loves us all right our god right our god yes sabina travis i'm thinking how those two verses are so connected in context to what they were experiencing you know if you look at the surrounding nations to the nation of israel they truly they were polytheistic monotheism is really a concept that comes here uh with the hebrews right but further they were also serving gods that had no relationship with them they couldn't care less about having this type of loving and kind and caring they were actually incapable of love right exactly they were actually just willing and expecting to receive favors that's how they would see gods at that time so for me both uh show god as not only being the one true god that is there is no other god so it's this shout to his uniqueness and his his unity but also to the fact that he is distinguished also from other gods not only because he's one but because he's a god that relates to human beings in this personal level um amen thank you for that so what is the significance that the possessive adjective you're always appears in the singular go ahead stephanie oh i i stephanie and then jonathan well it just makes me think that he wants to be our personal god he wants a personal one-on-one relationship with me so he can we have we serve a corporate god right he's our god but there's a there's a when it comes to relationship he wants it one-on-one right jonathan yeah just the same thing that um it's not just this um corporate thing that is impersonal it is a very practical uh personal relationship that um with all our heart with all our individual might that this connect what does pastor derek keep saying the real connection with god thank you shayna you had a comment yes so even though when whenever god would speak to the children of israel he was speaking to them as the nation on a whole but then those same messages that he was sending to them could be applied individually and if if each individual person in the nation of israel took those messages to heart their outcome would have been quite different than what it resulted in good point anyone else one thing travis it stands out is that the your heart your soul your strength i mean that's god wants and desires my heart and to love him with my strength as a father of three little ones each child expresses love in a unique way god wants the way i express love and you know my heart um and that makes it real personal okay so someone else that kind of launches us into the next question is what does it mean to love your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind what does it mean stephanie you're smiling i think it's purposeful right it's not it doesn't automatically happen we have to be intentional about giving him every aspect of our lives yes it also calls into the the um idea of obedience i have to get my heart my soul and my might in obedience to what god wants for me and that for me is what what shows that i love him is that i'm allowing myself and all of me to be in obedience to what he wants for me and it's not uh travis it's not just personal like like john said it's total three times all all right so this is like a complete surrender to a loving relationship with a god who loves us with an eternal love that's beautiful derek thank you clemie and like pastor morris had mentioned when we surrender everything to god it rattles our priority list and before we do anything the question we ask is lord does this make you happy is this something that pleases you [Music] and and the jews looked at this as jesus demanding love but was he demanding like commanding this love or or is or was he wooing and drawing wanting uh love in return for a love that he had already given yeah go ahead savina i think that just going back to the previous question that uses the adjective your i think the bible makes it very clear that those things belong to us god has given to us we have our individuality he respects that space that freedom he granted us but it sounds to me in in saying those words the way that he speaks them express his desire of drawing us close to him how much he wants us to respond to him and not that he is obliged to that uh naturally a love relationship cannot be enforced no the love requires necessitates freedom and it doesn't sound to me like here he is requesting people to love him out of force but he is asking them is pleading them begging to really respond to his love that is already offered freely on his end thank you sabine i agree and as you were just speaking thinking about the word your is that we belong to we belong to god as much as he belongs to us and it's so it's this beautiful right interactive relationship that we have maybe it's a promise it doesn't say you must love the lord you it says you shall maybe maybe when i jump into that relationship because i don't have human relationships like that right this is like this is the perfect love relationship that that is a promise you shall you know when you surrender yourself fully to god you love him with all your hearts soul and mind that's beautiful it is beautiful we've learned what it means to love god let's explore what it means to fear the lord and i'm going to ask lemmy if you would read from us from deuteronomy 6 verse 2 and then sabina if you would read 10 verse 12 after that please what does it mean to fear the lord i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says that you may fear the lord your god to keep all his statues and his commandments which i command you you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged [Music] thank you sabine so deuteronomy 10 uh verse 12 i'm reading from the new king james version and it says and now israel what does the lord your god require of you but to fear the lord your god to walk in all his ways and to love him to serve the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul okay so with these verses in mind what does it mean to fear the lord nicole i would say that i would equate this fear to having awe of who god is okay and for loving him and just you know it's not the scared kind of fear that we would think of when you hear the word fear but it's more of a you know you you fear the awesomeness that god is and who he is to us in our lives so in awe of john you're smiling absolutely as nicole said i think it's something of of reverence and respect okay you know in in the context of this this is god who having appeared before the israelites really in a in thunder on the top of a mountain with lightning uh and so it was a reverence for for god's presence for his power okay which had delivered them so yeah it has to be that doesn't it because it says to rep to fear the lord and to love him you cannot love someone you're afraid of that's right you can't perfect love will cast out that fear but but you can love someone that you reverence and respect right because he's great an awesome god so we can conclude well of course we could dig into this for the whole study right but that to fear the lord means to have respect to have awe and just to uh to reverence god right well what what can we learn from the expression fear from the psalmist we're going to read from the book of um from the psalms and stephanie if you don't mind reading psalm chapter 2 verse 11 and then i would like shaina to read psalm 19 9 the first part of that and then jonathan if you would read psalm 34 8-9 let's see what we can learn about the expression the fear of the lord and i'll be reading from the new king james version serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling okay to serve the lord with fear he says let's read 19 9 shayna would you read that for us yes and i'll be reading from the new king james version it says the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever okay and then jonathan psalms 34 8-9 a reading from the english standard version o taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him oh fear the lord you his saints or for those who fear him have no lack well it sounds like we hear some some reverence coming from the psalmist right from king david so what can we learn about the expression to fear the lord go ahead stephanie in addition to reverence i see that it's saying taste and see that the lord is good so i feel like it's an experience those that you respect or those who you've had an experience with and those you've had an experience with you respect and therefore you can love them so all of those are tied together that's an amazing point and i believe that's tied together with with what derek had mentioned too is that you can't have love and fear in the same way right in the same context right yeah i love it from psalm 29 where it said rejoice with trembling you know it's it's uh it's kind of you know it's like the little child standing in front of someone really important that they they're just like you know but it's not it's not afraid trembling he's not afraid no it's not scared it's just this i'm here yeah anticipation that's a beautiful verse to an appoint derek perfect love casts out fear it does so they're not in harmony with one another sabine i'm going to come to you after shayna you had a comment shaina yes i'm also thinking that a significant part of fearing the lord of is being obedient to whatever the lord says and so he's given us his law and a part of experiencing who god is is by following what his law says and he's given us those laws so that we could have a better way of life and and through being obedient to those laws we can see wow i have a loving father who really loves me and and then that fear can be exhibited through through that connection so we'd be obedient because we respect god is that what you're saying perfect sabina what i'm thinking travis is that mostly most of us usually we fear things that we don't know or things that we know and that we know they are going to harm us right so you only fear the things you don't know very much where you are getting into the territory so you may be afraid or you are going to fear someone that is going to truly be violent to you or going to harm do you vote and then you want to run away and i don't think the bible teaches us anywhere that god is trying to do as evil so going back to what stephanie was saying i think that indeed it cannot be the same type of fear also of those who do not know something but actually some sort of relationship that is established with someone who you know right and not this type of fear that is human of someone that doesn't know what they are stepping into what's the territory that they are wondering does that make sense to you yeah it does yeah it's a beautiful point thank you very much uh well david had a son his name was solomon of course if king david feared the lord respected him loved him he probably would have taught his children to respect and fear the lord as well so we are going to read uh what solomon with king solomon had said about fearing the lord and uh lenny if i could have you read proverbs chapter 9 verse 10 let's see what king solomon has to say about the fear of the lord and it says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding it's the beginning of wisdom it's interesting in hebrew parallelism that the reverence for god and the knowledge of the holy one are parallel and and and this i think is not just an intellectual knowledge but it's a relational knowledge and and so you see that together and it's unfortunate in english that we have to use that word fear because we always think the negative being afraid right it's kind of a loaded term yeah but the fear of some perhaps we should deal with say fear of the lord that fear of the lord is dependent on my relationship if i love him and and he's my god it's it's a holy reverence that i'm shaking with joy yes but but if i'm in rebellion against him and i know that someday a judgment is coming i can be shaking with with a uh being afraid it all depends on the relationship of course that makes sense in the fact that we serve a creator god he deserves to be feared right i mean to be in odd and in reverence too because he's god he hung the moon and the stars in their place this is god and so it's a beautiful thing well the one of the last messages i say one of the last messages given to the world because the last message given to the world is in revelation chapter 18 but in revelation chapter 14 the beginning of the three angels message it mentions to fear god of course we're familiar with those passages but i'm going to ask john if you would read revelation chapter 4 6-7 and why is there this appeal to fear god in one again the one of the last messages to the world yeah no gladly revelation 14 6 and 7 new king james says then i saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation tribe tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear god and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water well this is kind of building on what derek had mentioned earlier that perfect love casts out all fear because the context of fearing god is or it's in the context of the everlasting gospel which is what good it's good news so to fear god is good news right so so what what is this appeal to fear god [Music] why the appeal right at the end of time right as the the moments of earth is are closing why the appeal to fear god jonathan yeah i think that fearing god does um appeal to that which uh fear does as well i guess like i mean if if you see something you see a bear you're like whoa pay attention to that bear what's he gonna do and i think god in a sense we do have to whoa pay attention to god versus maybe other things in the world that are trying to cause us to fear so there's that sense but i think it is there is a judgment i mean it says the judgment hour has come and like derek said i mean if we are holding on to the ways of the beasts the ways of these these false um kingdoms then that that that that time will be a time of fear or are things um our hearts will be laid bare so i i i feel like we need to not completely disassociate it from fear because it is i mean there's plenty of verses that combine both well of course we know that god isn't described as a bear he's the lion of the tribe of judah but he's a lamb so we i mean he's described as the lamb of god right so we're not going to be afraid of a little lamb but jonathan i think you made a good point thank you so the prophet uh isaiah says that when the redeemed see the lord come they look up and say lo this is our god we've waited for him for him and he will save us right this is the lord we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation now by the way when we're saying that the clouds are rolling back like a scroll right he's coming with ten thousand of his angels in glory so i think there'll be a little bit of annoying awe right reverence but but but it's mixed with joy because of the relationship but in revelation chapter 6 16 you've got people crying for rocks to fall on them and saying hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne right and from the land of the land it's the same event wow yeah right hiding from a lamb derek well it's the same event but but back to the relational issue they they they've never accepted and embraced the the love of the one who's coming so i think so maybe what jonathan said is right there is a fear both ways right there's a reverence and an awe but then when you don't know jesus or have that personal relationship and he's coming in the clouds of heaven they're scrolled back god is returning to this earth it's going to be a frightful time for those who haven't given their life to him that's right subpoena no what i was thinking also you know what on the other side of love which is part of love is justice right so we cannot have love without justice and without god work in the day of the judgment so i i need to to go with what pastor derek is saying i really think there is an aspect of that that is this fear of yeah there will be a judgment and i don't think we should have that as something bad because it's the shape of love being expressed you know in the universe and god finally bringing things uh that are for our own good as well but it happens that you need to choose well right to be god's side even the judgment is good news one pastor said judgment is such good news that it's actually skewed in your favor so it's unfair in the in the in the fact that it's skewed in your favor so that's just an amazing thing uh john and then i would like to go to glenny oh no go for it she had i was pointing at her i was just gonna i mean i was going to say that um you know there is a point of relational aspect of this and i think that our relationship with jesus will determine our fear in the end of the end of time but even those who don't have a relationship with him he still loves them and he's going to do for them what they've chosen which is not to be with him and so we can even see that as mercy and love that jesus has even in the end when we do not choose him thank you many yeah and reminded me that what will happen towards the end of history reminded me of what happened in the beginning of history when adam and eve had a such a close relationship with god but because of sin now they were afraid oh yeah that's that added another element into the relationship good point so yeah but of course they had no need to be afraid right actually he was looking for them to put clothes on them but it but sin can give us a misunderstanding of the character of god yes right that's what sin does well while some people are afraid of god and others draw near god or why are some people afraid while others draw near i know we've kind of brushed over this but is there a verse in the bible or a story in the bible where where we can see people actually really afraid of god anybody have a verb go ahead you mentioned revelation 6 uh revelation 6 verse 16 talks about the mountains falling and you know people wanting to be in a situation where they are afraid of the coming because they have not chosen to be in a relationship with christ where they would have a love and awe of him when he returned so and it's more than just mountains falling though it's true they're asking for the rocks yeah they were appalling they're begging for them wait now it could be that they've been in active rebellion and and now they're finally seeing the one you know they've been fighting against but but but it's so tragic when what god wants for everyone is eternal life it's the look with joy it's saying hallelujah are redeemers coming [Music] jonathan yeah i think that um exodus 20 actually paints an interesting picture here where you have god coming down on the mountain with fire and with terrible things and the people are are terrified i mean they're literally terrified and they're like whoa what is this god and in a sense i mean christ refers to it later i can't remember the exact words but god uses that to help them to respect to have awe to take him seriously but then right afterwards moses comes to him and says do not fear for god has come to test you that that the fear of him may be before you so i i feel like the whole package has to be kind of combined so it's it is a relationship but but it doesn't but there is something to this yeah if you're taking not taking him seriously maybe you may need to fear him so yeah well we know that god wants us to love him right and but i agree with you jonathan there if the mountains were shaking and smoke was coming down in the mountain right now i think even i would be afraid of course god can move mountains and it's good to recognize who he is yeah and it's just a beautiful thing travis one of the saddest i think results of sin is the projection of satan's character upon god and we see that demonstrated in the garden of eden you had asked the question do we see an example of someone fearing adam and eve hid themselves and adam said i heard your voice in the garden and i was ashamed and i hid myself i was afraid and so you see fear playing out where we repel from god when he is in his mercy coming to seek us that's what sin does that's what sin does well we have to move on in our study thank you for sharing that john the next part of our study to obey the lord our god motivated by love i think that's the key right very important we want to find out what it means to obey god motivated by love stephanie if i could have you read deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 1 all right and i'll be reading from the new king james version therefore you shall love the lord your god and keep his charge his statutes his judgments and his commandments always so what comes first love love or obedience nicole says love i say love because out of love you will be obedient you don't do obedience to love someone you actually love someone and from that love flows your desire to make them happy okay jonathan yeah doesn't this go back to um the beginning of our study with the shema i mean you shall love the lord your god with all your heart without your soul if we're loving the lord your god for keeping statutes and doing these things which is tempting to do and was for the israelites something they fell into um yeah we're not following the shema so you're not going to love somebody right who's a dictator who is uh mean i know one pastor one time asked the question are husbands good and that depends on who the husband is that's right right and so so some wives would say i have a great husband and others who have been beaten would say not so good right and but one would love the other the husband differently wouldn't they out of respect uh so so is there good news that there's a god amen amen it depends okay so the god we know i would say yes right it's good go ahead stephanie i was just going to say that it depends on your view and your picture of god and that could that could be imposed by someone else's opinion of him upon your understanding and that's so true and what john said earlier is so true that the enemy has tried to distort the character of god and and actually make the god look like the enemy and and unfortunately i think a lot of people struggle what do you mean love god you know we're just afraid of him we see all this medieval artwork and we read all this kind of like he's some kind of tyrant why would i why would i want to have a relationship with a god like that and that's why jesus came jesus came not only to pay the price for our for our rebellion he came to reveal to us the character of god yes and that god loves us with an immeasurable and unfailing love pastor derek i believe that's the truth that sets us free yeah it's the character the real character of god of course that was uh in person personified in jesus christ right he said if you've seen me you've seen the father bill exactly because i think the people during jesus's time they were seeing the pharisees and the pharisees were keeping the law but they weren't loving god so so jesus came at the right time saying that no the way the way you should do it the opposite where you love me and then as a result of loving me you keep the commandments it's just it becomes natural so the pharisees is a great comparison as to this is what happens when you focus so much on keeping the law but not loving god so as a result you you created a society that's based on class that's based on um origin where you're from and then you mistreat those who are less fortunate so it distorts that so the pharisees now they're causing people to fear god afraid of god because they think that well the pharisees are the most religious so if if they are like that then maybe god is similar to them and jesus came at the right time to change that narrative thank you bill so so what we have here is this idea that love to god is comes before obedience right yes is that is that what i'm hearing so where in the bible is is a teaching of jesus that would support this idea does anyone know john yes john is he has sabina it's in john 14 15 john 14 15 would you take us there yes of course and the bible says i'm reading from the new king james version if you love me keep my commandments if you love me keep my commandments so he is asking for love first right he wants to draw us he wants us to see his character and when we see that he the bible says taste and see that the lord is good we've read that in an earlier study he wants to have us to have an experience and then out of respect or fear he wants us to be obedient to him right is that what we're seeing yes i struggle with that word fear when we use it by itself yeah i would rather say fear fear of the lord because that's kind of we now know that's reverence and all because perfect love casts out all fear yeah so he he does want us to respect him he's worthy of our honor and praise but he doesn't want us to be afraid of him yes that's true well how does the apostle john uh support this idea that our love for god is demonstrated by our loving obedience to his commandments shaina would you read john chapter 1 john first john 5 3 i'm sorry sure and i'll be reading from the new king james version for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome okay what can we learn from that verse his commands are not burdensome okay i think that's just the way it sounds right yeah the command so keeping his commandments wouldn't be burdensome to us shayna yeah and if we look at the verse itself it says this is the love of god so to find the commandments not burdensome would really be us personifying the fact that um we have the love of god in us when we don't find the commandments or his commandments burdensome so if the commandments were burdensome as what i hear you're saying shaina it would be contrary to the love of god if they were burdensome yes and i just need to make an addition because depending on someone's perspective when you say burdensome they will just think that it will necessarily be easy um i say when i say burdensome and what i understand here from scripture and the totality of the bible is that they are for our good right they are going to do good for us it's for our benefit to our prosperity which doesn't mean that they are not going to cost us certain things that maybe our sinful inclinations are more eager to do and i think that even in this passage here in first john if we read the entire context we are going to see that actually we can overcome the world with the strength that god will provide to us so i just wanted to make that addition because depending on who is listening to us is not very familiar we just think that there is no cost you know that we have to to pay in the good sense to obey god and to follow his good will uh then but he will help us to overcome the world for our own good did you have something now thinking of a parent i used to live on when i was a young a young person we lived in london and we lived on a main road and i guess you know as a parent you would tell your children one of our rules can i use the word commandments is you don't run across the road without stopping and seeing if there's traffic coming that is one of our rules or commandments that is given because you love that child yeah it's not because you're trying to be difficult or because you're being arbitrary like i'm a tyrant my rule is it's because you love them and i think i think that's really important in that sense well i do have to slow down and look there's the burden you know but but really when i think about it i'm like i'm glad we have this rule in my family because you know i hear people getting hit by cars but one of the rules in our family is you don't just run across the road and i think when we start looking at the commandments of god coming from a heavenly father who loves us so much then we just say wow thank you god and well we need to keep moving on in our study thank you derek i think that's a beautiful point um but we want to take a look and see what uh when compliance to the commandments of god wouldn't be acceptable to him when would that be we're going to look at a few verses and nicole i would like you to read matthew 15 verse 8 and then jonathan if you would read luke 18 10-14 for us the new living translation of matthew 15 8 says these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me oh so heart worship it's a lack of heart worship missing here it seems go ahead jonathan yeah um verse 10 english standard version says two men went up into the temple to pray one a pharisee and the other a tax collector the pharisees standing by himself prayed thus god i thank you that i am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector i fast twice a week i give tithes of all that i get but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying god be merciful to me a sinner thank you so we have here uh two people one to say god be merciful to me and another one is proud i'm glad i'm not like those people what do we see here when is what do we see here from these verses that we just read go ahead stephanie what comes to my mind is that obedience without a loving relationship is mere conformity it's not conversion and jesus wants that relationship with us that our lives are changed from the inside out that our heart is repaired first and then our the rest of our being is repaired i heard sabine say in an earlier study that god wants our heart wasn't that the first verse that was read in matthew the hearts were far from him god wants our heart he's looking for our heart shayna and then we're going to move on yes i'm also thinking of a story in john where he talks about men who love the praises of men rather than the praises of god and it that that would be an example of people who do the commandments so other people can see that yeah i'm doing the commandments of god but their hearts are not in it whatsoever and it doesn't matter what other men think because god is the only one who can really see our hearts and and that's what matters to him that's right beautiful well remember i think it's in galatians chapter 5 it says those who attempt to be saved by keeping the law have fallen from grace so that is also unacceptable to god when we do it to obtain salvation because of course we know that that's a free gift given to us by jesus that's why we love him right so well we're going to move on the first and greatest commandment how did jesus regard the instruction recorded by the prophet moses in deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5. we're going to let's go to deuteronomy 6 verse 5 just to brush up on that we've read that in a prior study billy if you'd read that and then stephanie if you'd read matthew 22 34 2 38 for us after that please deuteronomy 6 deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 yes and i'll be reading from the niv love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength okay stephanie now how did jesus uh relate to that uh in the new king james version it says but when the pharisees heard that he had silenced the sadducees they gathered together then one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him and saying teacher which is the great commandment in the law jesus said to him you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and great commandment why is this the first and greatest commandment i think it's the foundation of everything you know you could list the other commandments whether it's the sabbath or not stealing or killing but but the very foundation is our relationship with god and so i think he's saying you know when you have that you've accepted the love of god and you're loving him totally yeah that's the foundation of everything so you're saying the law the love is the center of the law it's the center at the center of the commandments love is the center of god himself right that's who he is right amen well what motivates us to love god the lord our god with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind we've brushed on this a little bit let's dig into this a little bit more uh sabina if you'd read deuteronomy chapter 4 37 okay and then seven seven and eight and then i'm going to ask glenny if she'd read 33 3 deuteronomy 33 3. okay so i'll be reading deuteronomy 4 37 and i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says and because he loved your fathers therefore he chose their descendants after them and he brought you out of egypt with his presence with his mighty power and then uh chapter 7 verse 7 and eight it says the lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people for you were the least of all peoples but because the lord loves you and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers the lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt amen yes buddy i'll be reading deuteronomy 33 verse 3 from the new king james version and it says yes he loves the people all his planes are in your hand they sit down at your feet everyone receives your words well uh well sabine was reading i uh i was thinking uh that he said i didn't love you because you were more than better than anybody else he loves us just because of who who we are we need them even in spite of our well our frailties in spite of our brokenness god loves us for who we are and i thought wow that's a beautiful that's a beautiful message if we just had that message alone we would have the perfect study right god loves us in spite of our brokenness and all he wants is our love and return right yes really he had a comment yeah i just want to say something that we may miss is that when god is talking about the ancestors you know he had that conversation in that conversation basically that promise with ancestors that means that god was loving us even before we were born so he he was loving our ancestors and part of the reason was loving our ancestors was because he knew that we were going to be born and in just pausing on that thinking that god was making plans for us before we were born he was designing plans for us and that level of care that even before were you know sales or zygotes i don't know the correct terminology he was still drawing out plans for us so that's how much he loves us going back to our ancestors that he was demonstrating his love for us amen praise god thank you you know one of my favorite verses i know we're going to come to it first john 4 19. but well maybe we could have someone read that but but i want to respond to the fact that we will never love god with all our hearts until we catch a glimpse of how much he loves us and that's why i think hope sabbath school that's why i think bible study is that's especially reading the gospels is so important because ultimately it's his love that draws us to love him with all our hearts we love him because he first loved us well that's the text i was thinking of in first john 4 19. let's let's go ahead and i'm going to have nicole read first john 4 9 and 10 and then 19. why don't we read those texts real quick first john four nine okay 10 through 10 and then 19. the new living translation says god showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him this is real love not that we loved god but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins verse 19 says we love each other because he first loved us wasn't that beautiful the cross was the greatest demonstration of love and our response to that is what god is looking for i want to challenge that translation but also there are some manuscripts that omit him the word him so some manuscripts say we love because he first loved us but i would challenge the translation that you just read which said we love each other and if we're going to interpolate we would say we love him and we love each other because he first loved us are you with me uh all of it springs from from his love his love from right yeah so we and we can't that's why people desperately need a revelation of how much god loves them i was reading in john in the book of john and it says this is the condemnation light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light so i thought well my job is to lead them to love jesus that's my job of course that's the job of the whole team here at hope sabbath school that's the job for each and every one of our viewers is the lead people to fall in love with jesus not because he's commanding us to but because he loves us and he's looking for that love in return derek you close for us thank you travis you know i just i feel so blessed today i just want to use my favorite hebrew word hallelujah because i realize that that many of us perhaps including myself we didn't grow up in a family where we saw so clearly the immeasurable unfailing love of god i'm not going to ask you to raise your hand or where you are at home go i did or i didn't i just want to encourage you to read the book especially read the gospels and see how much you're loved by god and first john boy what a great letter that is a revelation that we loved him because he first loved us open your heart to the immeasurable unfailing love of god and you will love him in return and you will love those around you with his unselfish love let's pray together father in heaven how we long for the day when all things will be made new and only love will be on the earth but let it be now even in this broken planet as we open our hearts to your love that your love would not only be in us but flow through us to bless others that they too may come to know you and love you we pray in the powerful name of jesus amen well thanks for joining us for hope sabbasco i tell you the love of god so deep and he wants you to experience that love in your life and then let his love flow through you to be a blessing to those around you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021