Thou Shalt Love The Lord Thy God With All Thy Heart

Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment. Mark 12:30
What saith this commandment to us?

What say we unto it ?
Here is first, the duty, ”thou shalt love the Lord thy God:”
here is, secondly, the measure of the duty-“thou shalt love
him with all thy heart, mind, soul , strength;” here is, thirdly ,
the ground of the claim, enforcing the duty-because he is
“thy God.”
God demandeth of us to obey, simply upon the ground that
he is our God.
This command demands a duty. That duty is , that we should
love God. How many men do break this? One class of men
do break it willfully and grievously; for they hate God. There
is the infidel, who gnashes his teeth against the almighty ;
the atheist, who spits the venom of his blasphemy against
the person of his maker. You will find those who rail at the
very being of a God, though in their consciences they know
there is a God, yet their lips will blasphemously deny his
existence. These men say there is no GOD, because they
wish there were none. The wish is father to the thought, and
the thought demands great grossness of heart , and grievous
hardness of spirit before they dare to express it in words ;
and even when they express it in words , it needeth much
practice ere they can do it with a bold, unblushing
countenance. Now this command bearth hard on all them
that hate, that despise, that blaspheme, that malign God, or
that deny his being, or impugn his character. O sinner! God
says thou shalt love him with all heart; and inasmuch as thou
hatest him , thou standest this day condemned to the
sentence of the law.
Another class of men know there is a God, but they neglect
him; they go through the world with indifference, “caring for
none of these things.” Well. They say it does not signify to
me whether there is a God or not. They have no particular
care about him; they do not pay one half so much respect to
his commands as they would to the proclamation of the
queen or president. They are very willing to reverence all
the powers that be, but he who ordained them is to be
passed by and to be forgotten. They would not be bold
enough or honest enough to come straight out, and despise
God ; and join the ranks of his open enemies, but they forget
God; he is not in all their thoughts. They rise in the morning
without a prayer, they rest at night without bending the
knee, they go through a week’s business and they never
acknowledge a God. Sometimes they talk about good luck
and chance, strange deities of their own brain; but God, the
over ruling God of Providence, they never talk of , though
sometimes they may mention his name in flippancy , and so
increase their transgressions against him. O ye despisers
and neglecters of God! This command speaks to you- “ thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul.” But I hear one of these gentlemen reply, well sir, I
make no pretensions to religion, but I believe I am quite as
good as those that do ; I am quite upright , quite as moral
and benevolent. True , I do not often darken the door of a
church or chapel, I do not think it necessary, but I am a right
good sort; there are many, many hypocrites in the church ,
and therefore I shall not think of being religious.” No ,my
dear friend, allow me just to say one word- what business is
that of yours? Religion is a personal matter between you and
your maker. Your maker says-“ thou shalt love me with all
thine heart:”it is of no use for you to point your finger across
the street , and point at a minister whose life is inconsistent,
or at a deacon who is unholy , or to a member of the church
who does no live up to his prefession. You have just nothing
to do with that. When your maker speaks to you , he appeals
to you personally; and if you should tell him, “ my Lord, I will
not love thee, because there are hypocrites ,” would no your
own conscience convince you of the absurdity of your
reasoning? Ought not your better judgment to whisper “
inasmuch, then, as so many are hypocrites, take heed that
thou art not; and if there be so many pretenders who injure
the Lord’s cause by their lying pretensions, so much more
the reason why thou shouldst have the real thing and help to
make the church sound and honest!
Ecclesiastes 12:12
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God,
and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of
man.
Deuteronomy 11:18
Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart
and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, 19: you shall
teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit
in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie
down, and when you rise up. 20: and you shall write them on
the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

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What saith this commandment to us?

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