Again in verse 1, now these are the commandments,
the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded
to teach you that you might do them in the land whether you
go to possess it. These are the commandments, statutes,
and judgments. Not just the ten commandments. which were mentioned in the previous
chapter, but all of God's commandments. These words, he says, these are
the words, Moses says, these are the words that God gave me
to give to you, to speak to you. That's what God's messengers
do. They speak that which God has given them to speak, that
which comes from his word. Turn to Matthew 28. beginning in verse 18. These
are the words of our Lord himself. He says, Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. Go ye therefore, teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world. Amen. Paul, in 2 Corinthians,
speaking of the Lord's Supper, he says, I've received of the
Lord that which I delivered unto you. We're to speak those things
found in God's Word. His commandments, that which
he's commanded his people. In 1 John 5, verse 3, we read,
this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His
commandments, they're not grievous. They're not a burden to God's
people. Well, what are some of those
commands Moses received of the Lord? Let's look at just a few
of them here to begin this morning. Exodus chapter 3. Exodus 3, these will be very,
very familiar passages of Scripture. Exodus 3, it was here that the
Lord God appeared to Moses out of that burning bush. Look at
verse 5 of Exodus 3. He said, Draw not thy head, but
put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standest holy ground. It's holy ground. God, God is
holy. See that God is holy. Verse six,
he says, I'm the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac,
God of Jacob. Verse seven, he says, I've seen
the affliction of my people. Not just any people. He said,
I've seen the affliction of my people. That speaks of his electing
mercy. Our Lord told Moses, he said,
I'm going to send you to bring forth my people out of Egypt. And Moses replied, he said, what
should I say unto them? What will I say unto them? Look
at verse 14. God said, now that word, another
translation, God said, God commanded. God commanded unto Moses, you
tell them, I am that I am. Thus you shall say unto the children
of Israel, I am hath sent you. He's the eternal God. Look at
verse 17. He said, I'll bring you up out
of the affliction of Egypt. I'm going to deliver my people. He speaks of deliverance in his
commands. What other commands did Moses
receive of God? Turn to just a few pages to Exodus
12. Exodus 12. I want to read a few verses here
in Exodus 12. beginning with verse 1. Let's read these 13 verses here.
And the Lord spake unto Moses. He commanded Moses and Aaron
in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you
the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak ye unto the congregation of Israel. God's
telling Moses exactly what he once told to the children of
Israel. Speaking unto the children of Israel, say, In the tenth
day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb,
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbor next unto his house, take it according to the number
of the souls. Every man, according to his eating, shall make your
count for the lamb." Verse 5, your lamb. Your lamb shall be
without blemish. It should be perfect, it should
be sinless. A male of the first year, and you shall take it out
from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it up to the fourteenth
day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it. The lamb has to be slain. And
you shall take of the blood, strike it on the two side posts
and on the upper door post of the house wherein they shall
eat it. And they shall eat the flesh
that night, roast it with fire. Unleavened bread, and with bitter
herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden
it all with water, but roast it with fire, the head with its
legs, and with the pardons thereof. And you shall let nothing of
it remain until the morning. That which remaineth of it until
the morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you eat
it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff
in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It
is the Lord's Passover. I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt
will I execute judgment. I am the Lord, and the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the house where you are. And
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of
Egypt." Is that grievous? Is that a grievous command? Is
that a burdensome command? It's not to many, but you know
it is to some. Some would say, how's that fair? How's that fair that God would
spare the children of Israel and slay the firstborn in Egypt?
How's that fair? How's it fair that God would
spare any? See, there was death in Israel. But that death was
a lamb with its bloodshed and put up on that doorpost. The
bloodshed, the sacrifice. We rejoice in that, don't we?
Oh, we're thankful for that. That God would, that God would
spare any, that God would spare His people. And under that blood,
under that blood, we're safe and secure. He said, He said,
take a lamb. Take a lamb, take a lamb without
blemish, spotless lamb of God. The lamb must die. It must die. Just like all the way back in
the time of Adam, when Adam fell, God slew an animal and made those
coats, skins, those coverings for Adam and Eve. But he said,
the lamb must die. Its blood must be shed. The wages
of sin is death. That lamb has to die. And eat
of that lamb. Eat of that lamb. Take it by
faith. Rest. And the results? God's people. God's people are delivered. That
speaks of Christ. Those commands speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn to another scripture with
me. Exodus 14. Exodus 14. Moses said unto the people, fear
ye not, stand still, ye shall see the salvation of the Lord,
which he will show you this day. For the Egyptians whom you've
seen today, ye shall see them again no more, forever. What are God's people to do?
Stand still, stand still, wait on the Lord. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Is that commandment grievous?
Is that a burdensome commandment? You know, if we read on over
in verse 27, God parted that Red Sea. He told Moses, he said,
take the rod and hold it out over the water. He parted that
Red Sea and the children of Israel, they walked through on dry land. And when the Egyptians tried
to follow, we know what happened. Moses stretched forth his hand,
look at verse 27, over the sea and the sea returned to its strength.
morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it. And the Lord
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea, and the waters
returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the
host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained
not so much as one then." Every last one of them destroyed, but
God's people walked through safe on dry ground. He delivers His people in Numbers
21. I won't have you turn there,
but the children of Israel, they'd sinned against God. God sent
those fiery serpents. They bit the people. Many people
died. And the people cried out. They cried out to Moses. They
said, pray unto the Lord. Moses prayed unto the Lord. He
said, take a serpent. Make a serpent of brass. You
raise it up. And those people, you tell them,
look and live. Is that a burdensome? Look and
live. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look unto Him. Well, back to our text here in
Deuteronomy 6. These are the commandments, the
statutes, the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to
teach you that you might do them in the land whither you go to
possess it. These are commands. These are commands. God said,
that's not like if I said that. Cecil said, or Wayne said, or
Eric said, God said. He's not a beggar. He commands. What he says, he commands. He's
the King of Kings, and he's the Lord of Lords. He commands. We're
to hear what he has to say. Verse 2, that thou mightest fear
the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes, his commandments,
which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son's son, all
the days of thy life, Thy days may be prolonged. Why do we need
to be taught these things? Why do we need to be taught His
commandments and His statutes and His judgments? Well, first,
that thou might fear the Lord thy God. Listen to a few scriptures
on this. Proverbs 8, 13, the fear of the
Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and
the froward mouth. Fear the Lord. Proverbs 9, verse
10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To fear
Him, to stand in awe and honor Almighty God, our God who's sovereign,
sovereign in creation, sovereign in providence, sovereign in salvation,
God who's holy and just. I'm a sinner. I need to know
my place. I'm a sinner deserving the wrath. of Almighty God. I'm to fear
Him. Contrary to the foolishness of
this day, He's not the God of man's understanding. He's Almighty
God, and we're to fear Him. Men by nature don't fear Him. They know nothing of themselves.
They know nothing of their sinfulness. They know nothing of God and
His holiness and who He is. The first thing we need to be
taught is to fear Him, to fear, reference to Almighty God. Verse
3, Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it
may be well with thee, that ye may increase mightily, as the
Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that
floweth with milk and honey. Hear therefore, O Israel, and
observe to do it. He's speaking to a particular
people. Hear, O Israel. Hear, O Israel, and observe to
do it. What he do, do his commands,
follow his commands. Not for salvation. We can't do
anything to merit salvation. But what God speaks, what he
commands, we're to obey. And we're to hear him, hear him.
Over in the New Testament, over in Matthew 11, 15, he says, he
that hath ears to hear, let him hear. The hearing ear, Proverbs
20, verse 4, the hearing ear and the seeing eye. God has made
even both of them. Hear, O Israel, verse 4, the
Lord our God is one Lord. Again, Israel, God's people are
called to hear, to sit, to listen intently to what's being said.
The Lord our God is one Lord. Now, the first four words of
the Bible, in the beginning, God. John 1, verse 1, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Word was God. The Lord Himself said, I and
my Father are one, are one. The Father, the Word, the Holy
Ghost, these three, these three are one. He's one with the Son. He's one with His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ who suffered and died in the place of his people.
He's one with him. He's one with the Spirit, the
Spirit which effectually calls out his sheep through the preaching
of the Word and draws men to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's one with his church. Turn to John 17.23. He says, I in them, thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world might
know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me. Verse 2, we read, we're to fear
the Lord thy God. And in verse 4, Moses says, fear
the Lord thy God. He's one God. He's one God. of our text, and thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with
all thy might. Fear the Lord thy God. Hear the
Lord thy God. Love the Lord thy God. Love Him.
You know this scripture. We refer to it often, but turn
back to Exodus, Exodus 21. Exodus 21. Look at verse 1. Now, these are the judgments. Remember what we read back there
in verse 1 of our text. These are the commandments, the
statutes, and the judgments. These are the judgments which
thou shalt set before them. Verse 2, if thou by a Hebrew
servant Six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall go
out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master hath given him
a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters, the wife and
her children shall be her masters. He shall go out by himself. And
if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master. My wife and my children, I will
not go out free. Then his master shall bring him
under the judges. He shall bring him under the
door, under the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl. He shall serve him forever."
The servant said, I love my master. I doubt that was, I was thinking
about it, I doubt that was the case when he first took him,
but now he says, I love my master. We love our master, don't we?
If you do, if we do love him, rest assured, it's because he
first loved us. He says, I love my master. Verse
six, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy
heart. Back to our text there. These
words which I command thee this day, they shall be in thine heart. God gives us that heart. Salvation
is a heart word. We need these things written
on our heart, not on a bumper sticker, not on a sign to hang
out somewhere. They need to be written on our
heart. Verse 7, Thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children. Thou shalt talk to them when
thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by the way, when
thou liest down, when thou risest up. Thou shalt teach them. Teach them about God's holiness,
about that Passover lamb, about the serpent lifted up in the
wilderness, about that bond-servant. Well, teach them to fear the
Lord thy God, to hear the Lord thy God, to love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. Thou shalt teach them diligently,
diligently. If you have a margin in your
Bible, you'll see that that word means to wet or to sharpen. That's a reference to sharpening
a knife. I've got a knife in my pocket
that was given to me by a dear friend, and it's sharp. It's
sharp as a razor. But it won't stay that way forever.
After time, over time, it's going to become dull. You're going
to have to get that stone out, Drag that knife back and forth. Each time it takes a little metal
off the knife, but in due time that knife will be sharp again.
But then what happens? Over time it becomes dull. Back
to the stone to sharpen. Can you repeat that? Listen,
teach them diligently. That's not a one time. We have
these workshops at school, they call them sit and get. It's a
one day. God's Word, not so with our children,
not so with us. We have to be taught over and
over and over again. I say this, didn't I tell you?
Haven't I told you? I think about that with myself. Haven't I been told over and
over again? But we need to continually hear.
Every time, every time we have opportunity, every time these
doors are open, We need to be here. We need to have our children
here to hear God's Word. Blaine mentioned that in his
prayer. How important it is, not just for us, but for our
children to hear God's Word over and over and over again. That
he might be pleased to plant that seed in his time. Save their souls. Teach them
diligently. And he goes on here, he says, He says, you talk about it. It's
not just it's not just in the Sunday school class. It's not
just coming here and in God's house to worship. He says, look
there, he said, you talk to them when you sit in your house. When
you sit down as a family. At the dinner table. We give
God thanks that which set before us that meal that that home we
live in those jobs, all that he's brought salvation. Do we
give thanks for those things? He says when you sit in your
house, you teach them then. He said when you walk by the
way. You know, we take trips. We take trips. We usually go
to the ocean. We love going to the ocean. I
don't know that in my mind, in my eyes, as far as God's creation,
to me that's one of the greatest things to behold. To stand out
there and look at that ocean, the vastness of it, and to think
it comes to a certain point in those waves, they stop by God's
command, by God's decree. Take those opportunities to talk
to our children, to mention to our children, to say to our children,
it's God's creation. How about, and you know, that's
one of those great things. A walk in the yard, a walk in
the woods, a flower growing. You know, how a nut can fall
out of a tree and land on the ground and a great oak can come
up from that. It's all by God's hand. That's
all by God's hand. A beautiful sunset. Anything
more beautiful than a sunset? All these things. The works of
our Father. Psalm 8. He said, When I consider the
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars which
thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou visitest him? He said, When thou
liest down at night, when we retire for the evening, do we
take time to pray with our children, to thank him, to thank Almighty
God for the day's provision? keeping us? Do we think on these
things? Do we take time to teach our
children from His Word during these times? He says, When thou
risest up. When we rise up in the morning,
who kept us through the night? Whose hand? Well, you know, we
can lock the doors. I do that. I walk through the house and
lock. But truly, it's Almighty God that keeps us in all times. Teach Him diligently. over and
over again. He said, when you sit down, when
you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, teach
them at all times. Teach them at all times. In verse
8 of our text, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy
hand. They shall be as front look between thine eyes. Don't
forget these things like tying a string around your finger to
remember something. Don't you forget them. Don't
you forget them. And thou shalt write them upon
the post of thy house and on thy gates. Don't let them slip
away in times of trouble, in times of prosperity, whatever
it might be. Keep these things. Keep these
things. And these next verses, they're
a warning, a warning to the people of God. They're also a picture,
a picture of God's grace. Verse 10, and it shall be. 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,
to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou
buildest not, houses full of all good things, which thou fillest
not, wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive
trees, which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and
be full." All these things mentioned here. Speak of God's provision. God's provision for His people.
There's not one thing here mentioned that was the result of any of
the children of Israel's labor. God supplied. God provided all
these things. Every need was provided. Not
one thing. Not one thing left undone. Think
about what God has done for His people. We have a dwelling place,
don't we? We have a natural dwelling place. We dwell in Christ. Here in this next verse, he says,
you'll eat and be full. Verse 12, beware. Beware lest you forget the Lord
God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from
a house of bondage. Any desire to go back to that
bondage, back to the law, don't forget. Whether it's a time of
prosperity, again, a time of trouble, don't forget. And like
that old knife, it'll be drug back over and over again. Over
and over, we need to be taught. Just like our children at all
times. And he says, beware. Beware lest
thou forget the Lord. On verse one, Moses said, God
commanded to teach you. Who are you? Israel. Commanded to teach you, to teach
Israel, to teach his people, teach his children. What are
they to be taught? Fear the Lord thy God. Fear Him. Hear the Lord thy God. Love the
Lord thy God. I pray the Lord might be pleased
to teach us to fear Him, to love, to reverence, to honor, to worship
Him. That He might grant us ears to
hear the Lord. He's one Lord. hear what He has
to say about sin, hear what He has to say about salvation, about
Christ, and that He might give us hearts
to love Him, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts,
all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our might. I pray God bless His Word.