Hope Begins with HimBible Reading: Deuteronomy 6:4-13Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Deuteronomy 6 has long been seen as a passage that tells us how a child should be raised. Everyone skips down to verse 7 and then floats around the chapter using verse 7 as the centerpiece. Let’s read verse 7, And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” So there you have it right? Moses is saying, “Here are some rules teach them to your kids and let’s go eat some fried manna” Verse 7 is telling us to instruct our children but verses 4-6 come before verse 7. And verses 8-13 come after! For example verse 7 says And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children See there the chapter is about children!! Well, verse 8 says, “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. Hey I am sure there have been times we have thought about it! And there were times our parents thought about it! But the Bible is not telling us to bind our children as a sign. There have been times when a little twine would have come in handy! What then is this verse talking about? The Word of God!! Verse 6 says: And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. What shall they bind as a sign then? God’s words!! Turn to Matthew 23:2-5 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. Phylacteries and frontlets were like the plays quarterbacks wear around their wrists. These words of Moses sound strange to us. Many of the Jews took them very, very literally. In fact, the Pharisees in Jesus' day were making a tremendous display of this. They actually took miniature scrolls of Scripture with the Ten Commandments and other passages written on them, made little boxes called phylacteries for them, tied them on the back of their left hand and bound them on their forehead between their eyes! They then went about with them hanging there. Imagine that! And they literally wrote them on the doorposts, the gates, and the outer entrances of their houses. But as we can see in the passage we read in Matthew, Jesus saw what these people were really doing. HE KNOWS OUR HEARTS! So we have established that these verses are not centered on or around verse 7. What do they mean then? Let’s read verses 4-6 again Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. The Lord is one Lord. Keep your place at Deut 6 and let’s turn to Exodus 20. What God is saying through Moses here is a summary or clarification of what he had already said. God is reiterating something they already know. Exodus 20:1-5: And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. We can have Lords in our lives that have nothing to do with praying to, bowing down to, and praising the name of Jesus! Our addictions, habits, hobbies, our desire to do anything that is not of God!! If it is not of God it is AGAINST God!! Read verse 5 again And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. You know, we come to church on Sunday’s and we think MAN we are really worshipping now!! We put a five in the offering plate and we think I am Giving to the Lord. We carefully place a family Bible on the coffee table and we are thinking - My home is a GODLY home!! God expects our full attention. We are to love him with not some but all! He is a jealous God!! Verse 6 says: And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. Please turn to Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. When we accept Jesus the Holy Spirit enters our body and dwells within us. We have His constant guidance. This, my friend, allows no excuse for our sin. We often learn to quiet the voice of God. But, that does not change his desires! Just because we ignore him dos not justify our sins!!! The next scriptures point this out. Proverbs 16:5: Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Proverbs 11:21: Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Jeremiah 31:33-34: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more Deuteronomy 6:7: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. We are to teach our children of God! Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. But unless we live the teaching our kids will not believe the teacher. When are we supposed to do these things? when thou sittest in thine house At home! Around our family! When we are not on stage! How often are we to instruct our children? when thou walkest by the way Everyday! When we are having a difficult day! When we do not feel well! Hey I have the fish on my car. What else do I need to do? Joke about the pastor. Be late for church and disrupt the service on Sunday morning. Not attend again until the next Sunday morning…IF I feel like it. Hey if we are not going to act like Christians then let’s quit witnessing with the same mouth we blaspheme with. Take that fish of your car until you can drive like a Christian!! when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. We should pray to God with our last words at night and praise Him with our first thoughts and words in the morning. I find it so very interesting that our Home was mentioned first here. Today’s family unit is crumbling. Divorce is running wild. God is not a member of most of our Homes. We visit him on Sunday but never ask Him to stay at our house. We too often love to worship as long as it does not begin to require more of our lives than an hour a week. I am not doubting anyone’s salvation. But, do you see a change in your life? Are you still committing the same sins you always did? Do you act any different at home? At work? When you are by yourself? Read Verse 8 and 9 again: And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. We should let everyone know we are Christian by our actions and by our words. We should hold our self accountable because God does! Make your home a Godly home. Worship God openly. You may be thinking – Do you want me to be a Jesus freak?!! Yeah!! Verse 13: Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Not swear with his name, by His name! Take an oath of allegiance to God. Exodus 32:25-28: And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies: Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. Hope begins with Him. We must make Jesus our lifestyle. All day everyday. We cannot expect our children to do what we do not live. Back to Hope Chapel
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