When God says “all”…..He means “all”
Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
Deuteronomy 11:1 “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep His charge, and His statues, and His judgements, and His commandments, alway.”
When the Bible speaks of love….it is speaking of a willed tendency and action of the heart toward something.
Love in the Bible is not just emotion….no, it is followed by action…which moves us closer to the Person loved.
We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart….we are to open our hearts to Him, and return the love He gives us. 1 John 4:19 “We love Him, because He first loved us.”
We are to love the Lord our God with all our soul, or will….willingly obeying everything He Wills for us.
We are to love the Lord our God with all our mind….thinking as He does about things…1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him.”
When we do not do “all” for God, we get hurt, and so do others.
The example I am going to use is a very Godly king,…..this is an example of denying ourselves in some things….yet not in others….to our hurt.
Jehoshaphat came to power, and “sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments,”.
He took away the “high places and most of the groves”, which were places of great wickedness, that Judah had made (1 Kings 14:22-23)….following the worship of people around them…
….”for a long season”….My people….”hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.” (2 Chronicles 15:3)
Then he sent princes, Levites, and priests out among the cities of Judah:
2 Chronicles 17:9 “And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.”
Judah was coming back to God.
Because of Jehoshaphat’s diligence and obedience, the Lord blessed him.
2 Chronicles 17:10 “And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war with Jehoshaphat.”
But Jehoshaphat had a weakness….he believed the two nations, Judah and Israel, were brothers (which they were,…yet God had separated them)…
…..and so, when he was at rest and the law was being taught….thinking everything was established in the Lord….
…..he allowed his first born son to marry the king of Israel’s daughter (2 Kings 8:18)…which was Jezebel’s daughter….
….not good.
(How did this happen? Jezebel was a schemer….seeing Jehoshaphat’s wealth and prosperity….she would have wanted to get her hands on it….or ruin it for Judah.)
This was terrible for the son, who began to follow the “ways” of Israel, which were idolatry…..instead of the way of the Lord…
Terrible for Jehoshaphat, for it turned blessing into judgement….for both himself and his kingdom.
2 Chronicles 19:2-3 “And….the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.
Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.”
You see, there is never a time when we can sit down and say…..”I have done all….I have accomplished all….I do not have to be watchful for evil, any more.”
This son, that Jehoshaphat allowed to marry into Jezebel’s family, became king….and was a wicked one….turning all Judah back to idolatry.
2 Chronicles 21:5-6, 11 “Jehoram (Jehoshaphat’s son) was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.”
So much good, ruined…..because Jehoshaphat had not done “all” for the Lord.
Instead he had allowed what he thought was a good idea, to corrupt his godliness.
And that ruined the blessing God had for him, his family, and his nation.
His son was ruined,….and he, in turned ruined God’s people for years….with the wicked influence and direction, of Jezebel’s daughter.
Mark 12: 30 “And 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.”
When God says “all”….He means “all”.
We are to watch ourselves….”Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 21
“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” 2 John 8
…and for others. “Jude 22-23 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:
And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
If Jehoshaphat had done “all”……his son would not have married into one of the most wicked families….nor been turned to wickedness….which led to his ruin.
Let us watch….and love the Lord our God first….and with “all”.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 