May the Lord bless us together
as we turn to his word this evening. I'll direct your thoughts to
the chapter we read in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 11, and
we'll read together verses 18 to 21. Deuteronomy 11, verse
18 to 21. Therefore shall you lay up these
my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for
a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your
eyes. And ye shall teach them your
children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house,
when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when
thou risest up, Thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine
house and upon thy gates, that your days may be multiplied in
the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear
unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the
earth. In Isaiah's prophecy, chapter
43, verse 12, we read this. I have declared and have saved,
and I have showed when there was no strange God among you.
Therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. The Lord has told us that his
people whom he has saved are His witnesses. They witness that
He is God and they witness His goodness and grace to them. The Lord's people witness to
the world that the Lord can come to save a sinner like them and
that therefore the Lord can come to save a sinner like any. Ye are my witnesses, he says. And I'm sure we would all concur
with the fact that we feel to be very poor witnesses. We are so often ashamed of our
witness of the Lord. We are ashamed so often of our
witness in the world. of how we act whilst in the world,
of how we act amongst our friends at school, or our colleagues
at work, or our neighbours in the road. Perhaps we're ashamed
of the opportunities missed, the opportunities passed over
and ignored. We're ashamed of the conversations
changed, when we fear it's getting too close for comfort and we
want an easier type of conversation. Perhaps we're ashamed of the
message that we have tried to speak or the opportunity we have
tried to take. We feel that what we said wasn't
clear, wasn't concise, wasn't clear for them to understand
perhaps. And we're disappointed in what we said. We feel that
it was an opportunity missed. Perhaps we're also ashamed, as
I'm sure many of us are, of our witness even at home. Our witness
before our family. Those who know us best. Those
who see us behind closed doors when we're at our most relaxed.
Those who watch us and what we do and say and how we act in
our own homes. Those who see our faults and
our failures perhaps that he's covered up and masked when others
see us outside the home and we're ashamed of our witness at home
as well. Ye are my witnesses, the Lord
says. It is tempting to think sometimes
that being a witness of the Lord is just a matter of presenting,
as it were, a five minute presentation of the gospel. I've spoken to
someone today. I have told them about Jesus. I've told them that I'm a Christian.
I've spent a couple of minutes speaking the fact that I go to
a place of worship. That's the job done today. I've
done my witnessing today. Now I can relax. Now I can settle
back. I've done my bit of witnessing
and we carry on with our life. witnessing has done for the day. But the truth is, the Lord says
you are my witnesses. It's not something you do every
now and again. It's a state. It's what you are. Being a witness of the Lord is
a life, is a lifestyle. You are my witnesses, whether
it's a good and clear witness, whether it's a poor witness,
you are a witness. Does our faith shine in our lives? Does our religion shine and show
forth through our lifestyle? Are we the Lord's witnesses. Now, of course, this must include
speaking. And when given opportunity, we
should pray to be given strength and help in taking that opportunity. I'm not saying it means we don't
speak at all. We must speak when given opportunity. We must be clear. We must speak
the truth. But it is more than that. It
is a life. Ye are my witnesses. Well, before we go any further
this evening, we must consider, are we a witness? Have we been
saved by his grace? As he says in Isaiah, I have
declared and have saved, therefore ye are my witnesses. Are we a
believer? Are we one of the Lord's people?
Before we consider what we are as a witness and what we may
be involved in as a witness, are we a believer at all? Have we known the salvation that
only comes from the Lord Jesus Christ? Have we known His grace
and His goodness? Have we experienced ourselves
what we desire to speak to other people? Have we experienced the
grace that we desire other people might also receive and experience
too? Are we a witness, a saved sinner, called and redeemed? Well, Israel that we read of
in Deuteronomy, they had received and been blessed by God's great
goodness. They had witnessed and known
his work in their lives. Israel had been brought out of
slavery in Egypt. They had been brought out to
freedom. The Lord had appeared in amazing
and miraculous ways, as we know, through the calling of Moses,
through the plagues, to the Passover, to the passing through the Red
Sea. All of these things were clear evidences to them of God's
power and of God's love and grace towards them, that he had chosen
them to do them good and bring them out of Egypt. They had seen
his goodness and they had seen that goodness throughout their
wanderings in the wilderness. Despite their sins and their
rebellion and backsliding, God maintained his goodness to his
people in the wilderness. And they always had before them
the promise of the lands that they would possess. the Lord's
promise and they were working towards the fulfilment of that
promise. They knew the Lord's goodness. And as they came then to the
things recounted in the beginning of Deuteronomy, they come to
Mount Sinai and there the Lord gives the law. He gives much
instruction and of course he gives the Ten Commandments as
well. And there they are told how they
should live as a people, how the Lord would have them walk
and what he would have them do and of course what he would not
have them do. They received his law and then
they're encouraged by Moses in this chapter to obey that law,
that they should serve God There's a summary of that law, we read
it a few times in different ways, but we read it in the first verse
we read in verse 12 of chapter 10. What does the Lord thy God
require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all
his ways and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul. The summary of the law
really, to serve, to love the Lord with their heart and soul. This is what they were called
to do. This is the Lord's command for his people. And Moses was
concerned that they would obey that command and that they would
continue to walk in the ways that God commanded them to go.
But more than that, their concern was that future generations would
also keep the law, walk in his commands and enjoy God's blessing
as a result. As they went into the land, there
would be another generation that would come, and then another
generation, and another generation. And the concern was that those
also would know the law, would know God's commands, would know
of His goodness in the past, and would walk in those ways
as well. Their desire was for the blessing
of God for the many years to come. as we read in verse 21
of chapter 11, that your days may be multiplied and the days
of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your
fathers to give them. So the concern of Moses and of
the people, I'm sure, was that future generations would also
keep the law of God and love his commandments. Well, today Are we concerned about our witness? Are we concerned of how we witness
and of how we are seen by others? And especially this evening for
those of us who are parents today, are we concerned about our witness
before our children and our grandchildren? Concerned of what they see as
we walk before them? As parents, we long, I'm sure,
that our witness to our children may be used for their good. Used
that they also may come to know the law that we know. That they
also may one day also desire to walk in his commands and in
obedience to him. Does our witness before our children
show that? And do they see that as we teach
them? and lead them. But of course
it's a wider consideration than just natural children. As a church
here, the children amongst us, do we have a concern for them?
Do we have a concern also that they may be blessed and fed and
brought to know the Lord themselves? Do we look about and see spiritual
children that we pray for? They may not literally be young,
they may be older, but Do we pray for the unbelievers? Do
we pray for the seekers? Do we bring them to the Lord
and do we seek to encourage them in the right way? That they may
know the Lord's ways, that they may know the Lord's blessing,
that there may be, as it were, another generation and another
generation brought who know the ways of God and desire it themselves. Is that our concern for our natural
and we hope also spiritual children who we pray over? And if it is,
is our life, is our witness consistent with those words and desires?
If we desire that our children may be blessed with the Lord's
blessing and life in their soul, If we say we long that they may
know the Lord, does our witness before them go with those words? If we say we long for prosperity
in the church, that unbelievers may come to know the Lord and
the seekers will find him, does our witness go with that concern? Ye are my witnesses, he says. Well, Israel was told how to
serve him and how to follow the Lord's law, how to be his people,
how to be his witnesses, because the people and their children
would watch them. They would watch their lives
and they would watch their lives more than they heard their words
and that's very true for us today. Unbelievers in the world They
watch a Christian's life long before they hear your words.
Your children at home watch your life, how you act and react and
what you do, and they take that on board much more than they
hear your few words. They were told how to live, and
we really have that description in these verses I've read this
evening. Firstly and most importantly,
They were told that they should lay up the words in their heart
and in their soul. They should lay up words in their
heart and in their soul. To be a faithful witness before
their children of the goodness and the power of God. To be a
faithful witness of the commands and law of God. They first of
all needed to have those words in their own hearts and soul. Otherwise they were just words.
Otherwise they were just things they had learned in the past.
They were not what they knew and experienced themselves. And our great concern therefore
must be first and foremost, have we laid up the gospel in our
heart? Do we know the word ourselves? Are we truly converted. If we are to be a faithful Christian
witness before our children and before others, the first thing
to be concerned is where do we stand? Do I know what I'm teaching
them? Have I experienced the grace
of Christ that I am telling them about? Have I experienced answered
prayer when I encourage them to pray? Have the words been
in our heart and in our soul, so that when they hear our words,
it is not an abstract thing, it is not a vague thing, it is
an experience, it is something we know about, it is something
we have experienced and enjoyed ourselves. It is the word of
God in our own hearts and in our own souls. Apostle Paul, when he wrote to
the Corinthians, he told them, I am the least of the apostles
and I'm not meant to be called an apostle because I persecuted
the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than
they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me. Do you notice what he says in
this text? I laboured abundantly. He laboured,
he worked, he witnessed the grace of God to many. But he did that
because of the grace of God which was with him. What motivated
him was the grace he had received and therefore that grace, as
it were, was shown through his witness. to others. He had first
received God's goodness, then he went forth and spoke. Is our concern, firstly, that
the words be in our heart, that we would know the Lord that we
speak about? Do our children see reality in
us? Do they see a true religion in
us? Now, of course, it's right to
teach our children. Whatever state we are in, we
should not shut our mouths because we are, at this current time,
unsure and uncertain of our own standing. We must always teach
our children however we stand and however we feel. But our
concern should be that we speak from experience, that we have
received the blessing that we speak of. my witnesses. So firstly lay up these words
in your heart and in your soul, may we be alive ourselves. Then goes on to say bind them
for a sign about your hand. Now these words and the following
ones regarding eyes are taken literally by many of the Jews
then and today They are literally, some of the commands of the Lord
are put in little boxes and they are bound upon their arms or
in front of their eyes or their head. They literally put the
Word of God before their eyes or on their hands. I don't think
the intention here is a literal one, really. But what he is saying
here, I believe, is that the Word or the truth of God should
be in our hands. That is, it should be seen through
our actions. Christ should be seen in what
we do. Remember, a witness is a life
and therefore we witness to the world and to our children by
what we do. How we spend our time is noticed. Our priorities in our life is
noticed. They see what we want to do,
what we enjoy doing, what we spend our time doing. And when
they see that, do they see Christ? Do they see dedication and love
to Christ in the things that we do with our hands? Bind them for a sign upon your
hand. Is our religion, our Christianity,
is it practical? Or is it only simply theoretical? It's words, it's theory, it's
even theology. It's a message. But it's not
seen by what we do with our hands. It's not seen by what we do with
our actions. Do we seek to love the Lord our
God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbour
as ourself? And is that seen? Do we try to
serve the Lord with our hands. What is our priority in life?
What comes first? What comes first when we're given
the option of a few things to do? What's our priority? What do we like and enjoy doing? So remember that witness is seen
and our profession and the state of our soul, the liveliness of
our soul Like it or not, it is assessed by others by what we
do. Others look on and they will
make a judgment in our standing with God when they see what we
involve ourselves in and what the priorities of our life seem
to be. May our hands show the gospel. Bind them for a sign upon your
hands. Not just saying the right things
and then completely undermining the witness when others see what
we do and what comes first. Not saying the right message
to a colleague at work and then completely undermining everything
we've said by showing we don't live it ourselves. Not telling
our children about the Lord Jesus Christ and then showing them
a life which has no concern to obey him at all. They'll notice
our walk before they hear our words. May Christ be seen in
our hands, in our actions. And he says that they may be
as frontlets before your eyes. So here the word, the gospel
is seen through our eyes. They would put these boxes literally
on their forehead between their eyes. That's how they interpret
this verse. I believe more it's for us to
consider, do we consider the gospel? Do we consider obedience
to Christ when we think what we're going to look at? When
we consider perhaps what we're going to watch or what we're
going to read, do we think about our witness, what others will
see us doing, what judgment will be made on our thoughts and priorities
by what we are doing, our witness in front of our children when
we sit down and have a time to relax, what do we do and what
do they see? What do they see us letting into
our mind and letting into our thoughts? But not only that,
our eyes are used to see, aren't they? They're used to look in
a certain direction and therefore they're used to choose a certain
direction, to decide which pathway we're going to take. Does the
Gospel, does our obedience to Christ affect the decisions we
make or the ways our eyes are looking? Does it affect our desires? Does it affect the paths we take
and the things that we focus on? and see if it's noticed in
our homes that the decisions we seem to make are all about
ourselves, and the paths we want to take are all for our own glory
and for our own prosperity, and we're neglecting the things of
God, the house of God, the word of God, we're neglecting prayer,
our eyes are set on ourselves and on our own prosperity, it
will be noticed, it will be seen, that the word of God, the Gospel
is not as frontlets before our eyes. We've taken our eyes off
Christ and we're looking in another way. What we're encouraged to
do here is to have his word in front of us, to have his pathways
set in front of us, to walk in obedience to his commandments,
to desire in the path we take, the way we walk, that his name
is honoured and glorified. our eyes. Are they set on Christ? And he says, you shall teach
them your children, speaking to them, speaking of them when
thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest in the way,
when thou liest down and when thou risest up. So we've considered
our heart, our hands, our eyes and now we have our words, our
words. Teach them to your children. Teach them to your children at
all times, he says, at all times. Whether you're sitting down with
them, whether you're walking down the road with them, whether
you're putting them to bed at night, whether you're rising
them up in the morning, all day, whatever the opportunity, whatever
the time, teach them to your children. Bring them to their
remembrance. Bring them that they may know
them? Do our children regularly hear
the gospel? Do they hear the gospel in our
homes? Do they hear the gospel through our words, through our
actions? Do they know the essentials?
It's possible to know the essentials even at a young age. We read,
don't we, of Timothy who knew the scriptures from a young age.
I have to be careful, I'm certainly not putting myself up as any
kind of example here. I'm preaching very much to myself
as much as anyone else here. But do our children hear the
gospel in our homes? We think of the times, the opportunities
that we have to do this. You think when a child is naughty,
when a child does wrong, we tell them off, we chastise them, we
discipline them. But do we take the opportunity, when we're of
age, old enough to understand anything, to say, that was wrong. I'm upset about this. But you
know, God's upset about that. God's upset about sin. God is
upset when we do wrong things. But you know, the wonderful thing
is that God forgives, that there is salvation, there is a Saviour.
And from a young age, they can start to understand what sin
is. And that there is a Lord Jesus
Christ who came to save. Whether in our house sitting
down or rising up, teach them to your children. Bring them
to their remembrance. When our children have a need,
perhaps when they've lost something, when they're having trouble with
friends or with school, even at a young age when they are
struggling to find something particular, do we pray with them? Do we say, I had an answer to
prayer once in this situation. I had lost something once and
I prayed. I had a problem and I prayed and the Lord heard me.
Let's pray together. There's nothing more powerful
than a young child seeing his parents on their knees praying
for them and then experiencing the answer to that prayer. And
they see there's a reality. He's prayed with me. And the
God that he prayed to has answered my prayer. You see, we've taught
them. in our daily life and in just
normal everyday conversation. Do we only mention the Bible
on Sunday? Is Jesus only a name on Sunday mornings? Or does he
come up in our conversation? Is it part of our everyday life
to show our children whether we're awake, whether we're going
to bed, whether we're rising up, whether we're sitting, whether
we're walking down the street, this gospel is my life and I
long that you would know it as well. Teach them. to your children. As we give
thanks at bedtime, as we start the new day, may Christ be the
atmosphere of our house. Of course, this isn't just literally
to children. May this be the case for all
people. Whenever we have an opportunity, we'll be able to speak. May Christ
be seen in us. May we live Christ. I remember
hearing an illustration of someone on a similar subject once. He
said, if you speak to me for very long, you will soon come
to realise that I have a fiancée. I think she was... I can't remember
exactly what she was called, but he said, you will come to
know that I have a fiancée, before too long, because she's a very
important part of my life. Because we're planning a wedding,
we're planning a future together, and before long, in conversation,
she's bound to crop up in our conversation. I couldn't go a
long time without mentioning her. She's so important in my
life. And yet somehow those of us who confess faith in Christ
and say he's everything to us can go days in conversation with
people and he's never mentioned. He's never mentioned. Why is
that? Why do we not speak, teach them
to your children? Do we love to speak of the Savior
and of what he has done? in our heart, in our hands, in
our eyes, in our words. And then he says, Thou shalt
write them upon the doorpost of thine house and upon thy gates,
in our homes. Is the Word of God, the Gospel,
seen in our homes? Is Christ seen in our house? When the neighbours come in,
When people visit, is Christ seen in our house? It's a different
type of house. It's a different kind of family.
Is Christ seen in our house? Are we kind and hospitable and
welcoming in our homes? Not compromising, not becoming
with the world and part of it, but welcoming and wanting people
to come. And there's an atmosphere of
Christ, of obedience to Christ, of love and obedience to Him.
in our homes? Is our faith seen when we sit
down and relax behind the door in our own homes? Put them in
the doorposts of thine house. Again, the Jews often interpreted
this, they literally put parts of the law inside the door frames,
so as they walked over the threshold, they passed the law, they were
entering a house that obeyed The law of God. As for me and
my house, says Joshua, we will serve the Lord. The commands
were there. An obedience was there. Is that
true of us in our homes? How do we see our houses? Ye
are my witnesses. Remember that. Ye are my witnesses.
All day, every day. How do we see our houses? It's mine. It's my safe zone. It's where I'm comfortable. It's
where no one can get at me. It's somewhere I can hide away.
Do we see our houses also as God's gift to us? He's given
me this house. He's given me this place. He's
put me in this neighbourhood. He's put me next door to my next
door neighbour. It's the house that He has given
to me and therefore and give an opportunity. This is a witnessing
opportunity. This is a place I can walk out.
Being a witness, this is a place where I can walk out having the
law on my doorposts and upon my gates. Do you see your home
even as a witnessing opportunity? One example here, you think of
Lydia. Lydia was at the riverside praying
with the women at Philippi. And she came, as we know, into
contact with the Apostle Paul and she believed the Lord Jesus
Christ through his preaching. She was baptised. And she says,
if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house
and abide there. And she constrained us. She was
insistent. Come to my house. Come and stay
with me. My home is open to the Lord's
people. I will use it. for his glory
and for your good. That's how Lydia saw her home,
what God had given her. And when we come to the end of
chapter 16 and the Apostle is released from prison, we read
they went out of prison and they entered into the house of Lydia. It's where they automatically
went. It was a place of safety. It was a place where God's people
were and she willingly used her home for the good of the Apostle
and of Silas and of others, because there they also saw the brethren. You see, Lydia saw her home as
an opportunity to serve the Lord, to serve his people. And I'm
sure she had the brethren and the church together there often. Write them upon the doorpost
of thine house and upon thy gates, in our own homes. Ye are my witnesses. You see, in our heart, our hand,
our eyes, our words and our homes. These are ways in which we should
seek that the Lord is seen in our life. Not just a five minute
presentation of the Gospel, not just thinking we've done our
moment of witnessing today. In our life, in every aspect,
in everything we say before others and especially before our children. May His Word, the Gospel, be
seen. And he attaches to these instructions
a wonderful promise that your days may be multiplied and the
days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto
your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth. Your days and your children will
be multiplied in this land. Now we cannot give our children
grace, cannot give them faith. Our witnessing through these
ways may never have any effect upon their heart. The Lord is
sovereign and the Lord knows, but that is not an excuse to
say, well there is nothing for me to do then, and I leave it
in his hands. Ye are my witnesses, he says,
and he promises and brings his couples together that your days
and their days may be blessed if you bring these things before
your children and they see it in you. and couple it, of course,
with a spirit of prayer and of concern. What a blessing that the Lord
brings here. We cannot give them grace, but
we can teach them and we can pray for them and we can labour
over them and we can ensure that they know as much as they can
know through our means, that they know that we love the Lord
They know there is a Gospel of Jesus Christ. They know there
is hope for sinners. They know that they are a sinner.
There's a way of salvation. There's a wonderful, glorious
life to live in obedience to the Saviour. There's a promise
of His goodness and blessing to them if they come to know
Him. There's a promise of glory in the end. We have a duty to
tell them. Do we live our religion? Is our
religion our life? Not just an occasional time of
witnessing. Not, I've been on the market
stall this month, so I've been a witness this month. Do we live
our religion? Or is our religion, is our ministry,
is our witness, is it undermined by an ungodly lifestyle? Undermined by idols? undermined
by wrong priorities, undermined by foolish wasting of our time,
undermined by a closed Bible, undermined by no family worship,
no prayer together, no speaking of the God of grace. It's our
words undermined by our life. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote
to Philippians, he told them this, for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. His life was Christ. May all of us know Christ first
and foremost and then seek to live near Him every day. May we confess our failures.
May we know His strength and may we prove that as we enjoy
His blessing and Him shining on us that we can shine forth
to others, to our children. Ye are the light of the world,
he says. Ye are my witnesses. May God help us in these things
and instruct us from his word. Amen.