What is the greatest commandment?  Open your bibles to . . . 

Luke 10:25-28
25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 
26 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 
27 And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 
28 And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." 
 

Matthew 22:35-40
35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 
37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 
38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 
39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 
40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Notice who said what in Luke and who said what in Matthew.  It is estimated that the events recorded in Luke ten occurred around November 28 AD and the events recorded in Matthew twenty-two occurred five months later around April 29 AD.  For these two sections, I have placed what Jesus says in red so you can compare the two events.  We need to pay attention to detail when we read the Word.  In Luke right after this statement, Jesus gives the famous Good Samaritan story.  In Matthew right after this statement, Jesus goes after the Pharisees and quotes the famous Psalm 110 about David and Christ.  In the following chapter twenty-three of Matthew, Jesus spoke to the multitudes and His disciples about the scribes and Pharisees calling them hypocrites over and over.

Matthew 23:23
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 

Jesus said it is good to be diligent with tithes, but focus on the big picture.  Jesus did not come to earth, die and raise from the dead only to keep what was written, but Jesus came to bring life to the dead.  Jesus came to put an end to death.  Jesus came for you because you are a dead man walking without true life without Him.  Think about David and his men when they were running from Saul and ate the bread from the table of show bread.  The law states that only the Levites were permitted to eat this bread.  Justice, mercy and faithfulness are more important than just keeping a list of rules.  David was guided by the Holy Spirit while God was molding David.  It was during this period of time that David wrote a lot of the Psalms.  Rules and regulations have their place and purpose, but love is the cornerstone of all commands and must act as the filter for good judgment.  That is why Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites.

Matthew 5:20
"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 

How can a Christian have more righteousness than a scribe or Pharisee?  These guys were super religious.  A scribe or Pharisee would try to create their own righteousness by keeping a list of rules without showing any love to the people.  Religions can do the same thing.  They try to create their own righteousness by the action of man.  Remember last week when we discussed John 1:13 where it says but of God.  Born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.  Jesus says He is the way and the truth and the life.  Jesus is the vine.  We must be in Him to bear fruit.  Jesus is our righteousness before God.  We must walk with Him.

John 15:9-17
9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 
10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 
11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 
12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 
13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 
14 "You are My friends if you do what I command you. 
15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 
16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 
17 "This I command you, that you love one another. 

A Christian does not gain his own righteousness by works, but he has the righteousness of Jesus poured over him.  When God the Father looks at a Christian, He will only see the blood of Jesus.  A Christian does good works, but not because he must.  A Christian does good works to show the love of God to another person.  The impact of showing God's love to other human beings will be the fruit God wants you to produce.  When God looks at a scribe or Pharisee trying to earn his own righteousness, it makes God mad. 

We are going to look at the prophet Hosea using the greatest commandments as our light.  Hosea preached during the reign of Jeroboam II.  The sin of Jeroboam is a phrase you might notice from scripture.  Jeroboam was king of the northern kingdom of Israel.  Israelites were commanded to return to Jerusalem three times per year which was in the southern kingdom of Judah.  Jeroboam constructed two golden calf's placing each in two different locations in Israel.  Jeroboam told the people that these delivered the Israelites from Egypt, go and worship them locally and do not go to the southern kingdom to Jerusalem.  This was a great sin. 

The name Hosea is another form of the word for salvation.  The Hebrew word most of us know for salvation is Joshua.  The Greek version is Jesus. Israel knew the love of God as no other nation has ever known it, but they rejected His love and worshiped idols.  Israel knew His deliverance, His redemption, His protection, His forgiveness, His revelation, and His love, but rejected the Lamb of God.  The church is the bride of Christ.  The church is not a replacement for Israel, but the fulfillment of God's promises.  How is your relationship to God?

The focal point of Hosea's message is inside the institution of marriage.  Hosea's wife was a fallen woman which created a broken home.  They had three kids and two are not Hosea's.  Hosea searches out and finds his unfaithful wife and purchases her out of slavery and brings her back home.  That is the story of mankind and Jesus.  If you accept Jesus as your savior, you are His bride.  You have been purchased with a price of blood.  You were a slave to sin and now are set free in Christ.  Last week we looked at John 1:12-13 where it says He gave you the right to become children of God.

Hosea 4:1-2
1 Listen to the Word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 
2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery.  They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Remember Matthew 15:18-20?  Who do you think told Hosea what to write?  The Word of the Lord.  John 1:1-5 describes Jesus as the Word.  Who do you think told Moses what to write in the Torah?  The Angel of the Lord which we discovered last week was Jesus before He was born to the virgin Mary.  We will discuss more about the Angel of the Lord later in class as we look at Exodus 33.

When Isaiah was preaching to the southern kingdom, Hosea was preaching to the northern kingdom.  They lived at the same time and could have had lunch together.  Hosea had a ministry that he had to experience to understand.  He was told to marry a whore.  God uses marriage to illustrate His love for His people.  God was telling Israel they were unfaithful to Him.  Do you love the Lord your God?  Do you seek the knowledge of God? 
Open your bibles to. . .

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest.  Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Do you seek the knowledge of God? 
Are you doing your homework? 
You will get out this program what you put into it. 
Do you understand that you are a priest? 
A Christian is a priest to the world.  First, focus on being a priest to yourself.  Then you are a priest to your immediate family and then to other family members.  That is a full time job, but if you cover those bases, then you can serve your local community and friends. 
Open your bibles to. . .

Hebrews 13:4
Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
 

Matthew 19:3-9
3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" 
4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 
5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 
6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 
7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?" 
8 He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 
9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." 
 

1 Corinthians 6:12-20
12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 
13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 
16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "The two shall become one flesh." 
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 
18 Flee immorality.  Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 

Open your bibles to . . .

Hosea 2:16
"It will come about in that day," declares the Lord, "That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali.

What does Ishi mean?  What does Baali mean?  Ishi means my husband.  Baali means my master.  God is announcing a relationship shift from master and servant to husband and wife.  Sounds to me like the church. 

Hosea 2:19-20
19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, 
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.  Then you will know the Lord.

This sounds like a marriage to me.  Gentlemen, please take notes.  This is what marriage is suppose to be; faithfulness, compassion, lovingkindness, justice and righteousness. 

Hosea 6:1-2
1 "Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. 
2 "He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.
 

Hosea 6:6-7
6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 
7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
 

Hosea 12:3-6
3 In the womb he (Jacob) took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God. 
4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor.  He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us, 
5 Even the Lord, the God of hosts, The Lord is His name. 
6 Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.
 

Hosea 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them.  For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them.

Hosea closes with whoever is wise and discerning.  Are you?  Seek the face of the Living God while He can be found.  For a day is coming when the answer will be "I never knew you." from Matthew 7:23. 

Now let us go back to the book of Exodus.  In your homework, you should be complete with the initial plan for the tabernacle.  In Exodus 31 we see that God provides His method by sending His Spirit upon His chosen.  We see the sign of God's sabbath with the nation of Israel.  The chapter closes with God giving Moses the two tablets written by the finger of God.  God is in control.

We will discuss the tabernacle in a few weeks in great detail, but right now I want to direct your attention to some major concepts from your homework reading that I want to make sure you did not miss. 
Open your bibles to . . .

Exodus 30:11-16
11 The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, 
12 "When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. 
13 This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord. 
14 Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord. 
15 The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. 
16 You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves." 
 

1 Timothy 2:3-6
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 
6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
 

Matthew 20:25-28
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 
26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 
27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
 

Exodus 24:9-11
9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 
10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. 

Ate and drank . . . have you ever noticed that God always has a feast at His gatherings.  In Exodus 23:14-17 God describes three feasts the males were required to appear before the Lord God.  These were big festivals of eating and drinking. 
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; … John 6:35
Open your bibles to . . .

Exodus 23:20-23
20 "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 
21 Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. 
22 But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 
23 For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them. 
 

Exodus 23:31
I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 
 

Genesis 15:18
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
 

Exodus 19:5-6
5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 
6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." 
 

Exodus 17:8-16
8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.
9 So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." 
10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 
11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 
12 But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 
13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." 
15 Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; 
16 and he said, "The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation." 
 

John 6:31-40
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" 
32 Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 
33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." 
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 
36 But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 
39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 
40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."