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The sermon treats wholehearted love for God as the oldest, greatest, and most comprehensive commandment, grounded in God’s identity as Creator and Lord. Spurgeon distinguishes genuine religious affection from mere intellectual orthodoxy, outward observance, and charitable activity. Because no sinner obeys the command perfectly, the law cannot provide salvation through works and instead exposes guilt. The appropriate response is repentance, confession, and prayer for the new heart, life, understanding, and strength supplied by God’s Spirit.
Theological center: The law reveals the sinner’s condemnation and inability to save himself, directing him to God’s renewing grace rather than self-righteous obedience.
Applications: Love God Supremely · Reject Salvation by Works · Seek Renewal by the Spirit · Examine Your Love for God
Primary texts: Mark 12:30 · Matthew 22:37-38 · Deuteronomy 6:5
“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 OUR Savior said, “This is the first and great commandment.” It is “the first” commandment—the first for antiquity, for this is older than even the ten commandments of the written law. Before God said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal,” this law was one of the commands of His universe, for this was binding upon the angels when man was not created. It was not necessary for God to say to the angels, “Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not steal,” for such things to them were very probably impossible. But He did doubtless say to them, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” And when first Gabriel sprang out of his native nothingness at the fiat of God, this command was binding on him. This is “the first commandment,” then, for antiquity. It was binding upon Adam in the garden. Even before the creation of Eve, his wife, God had commanded this. Before there was a necessity for any other command this was written upon the very tablets of his heart—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” It is “the first commandment,” again, not only for antiquity, but for dignity. This command which deals with God the Almighty, must always take precedence of every other. Other commandments deal with man and man, but this with man and his Creator. Other commands of a ceremonial kind, when disobeyed, may involve but slight consequences upon the person that may happen to offend. But this disobeyed provokes the wrath of God and brings His ire at once upon the sinner’s head. He that steals commits a gross offense inasmuch as he has also violated this command. But if it were possible for us to separate the two and to suppose an offense of one command without an offense of this, then we must put the violation of this commandment in the first rank of offenses. This is the king of commandments. This is the emperor of the law—it takes precedence of all those princely commands that God afterwards gave to men. Again, it is “the first commandment” for its justice. If men cannot see the justice of that law which says, “Love thy neighbour”—if there be some difficulty to understand how I can be bound to love the man that hurts and injures me—there can be no difficulty here. “Thou shalt love thy God” comes to us with so much divine authority, and is so ratified by the dictates of nature and our own conscience, that, verily, this command must take the first place for the justice of its demand. It…