Listen, Love, and Live

Deuteronomy chapter 6:05 and this is a very famous passage of Scripture.

Of course, is one the Christ" quite often for the book of Deuteronomy and were going to run one of those verses tonight so Deuteronomy chapter 6 and here the we can read the first three verses that were read each segment as we go through the message that this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you that you might do them in the land where you're going to possess it so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life that your days may be looked prolonged, O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly. Just as the Lord, the God of your fathers has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey (father in heaven we thank you for your great grace in the fact that you actually had Moses record these things for you people down through the ages father. We are indebted to you because you're the one who has mediated for us all through history. You're the one is been planning our redemption.

You're the one who's accomplished.

Father, we come before you tonight giving thanks for your great Almighty grace teaches theory with reference teach us to love you Lord help us for weirs that have such a deficit in love. We pray this in Jesus name, amen Lindsay try to introduce this text is pretty difficult. But one thing we can say for sure is that you need a really broad look at Scripture to get to this because when you start talking about laws, commands, and in the judgments people can go to get off track on that will misunderstand those things.

So in reality we look at the broader contact with you all know is that is that from the time that amity sand. There was the message of the Savior to come to crush the head of Satan and all through Scripture, there is that promise of Christ comes coming and he came he died and rose again. He said it is coming again the story of salvation, but in the immediate context of this historical context. This is just following the great redemption physical redemption from slavery in Egypt and so the 10 Commandments were given in Exodus 20, and now they been repeated and restated in the second law. Deuteronomy here in chapter 5 just preceding this so now chapter 6 comes and wishes to go back and you think about this this week what what is the real theme of of chapter 6 a puzzle that and so I came up with a theme but you can probably come the better thing than this. What ties all of this together and and that is this the proposition is that the God who chose us with his everlasting love charges as to listen and obey. Love him and to live holy lives. That's what I see in chapter 6 okay the first part first three's verses that we read is the one that causes really emphasize the fact that we need. We need to listen to God. God shows us with everlasting love charges as to listen.

With that in view of obeying him than covenant making God that we have is he doesn't ask us to do a bay heat tells us that may sound abrasive button just simply tell us why because he is the one who has bought us with his own blood. He is the one who's purchased to be his holy people.

So he tells us as a sovereign Lord obey me, me, listen to me okay now when we listen to the terms that are used here in the very opening verses of this of this passage of Scripture will get it leading the terms that are used in trees and covenants down through the ages. These are the terms that Moses uses their terms like commandment statutes, lost testimonies, judgments of their legal terms for covenant and he's talking about the covenant there at Mount Sinai. Now we must not read these covenants and these laws and the statute through the eyes of the Hittites, Hittites and Canaan. They had done they in their knowledge that had covens very similar similar patterns.

That's not were doing were remembering that the covenants that God gave the wicked came from him. He is the author of covenants because he's the one who made that first covenant with Adam and Eve, the first two people on the face of this earth and all of the covenants, are of God's idea.

He is covenants are relational and so when we read through this passage don't get thrown off about laws and commands realize this is a relational statement God is filling the void as he takes the children of Israel out of Egypt into the desert was the structures they had for the new nation 1,000,000 1/2. 2 million people. What was the structure. There was none.

So he gives them laws, commandment statutes, be prepared prepared that for them as he guides them first with the moral law there at Mount Sinai. So that's the context of Deuteronomy 6 is the law covenant that God is given the people that he's purchased he's freed by the blood of the of the site of Passover lambs over the doors as he sent judgment on the Egyptians and he spared God's people, and he spared the first says these laws, the statutes are from the heart of the saving God who loves us and cares for us.

So now sometimes we do here if you think maybe in America and around the world in recent years and the last hundred years or so, we get we can get off on track and have have an erroneous view of the law of God, but ugly posits that straight. He sits straight in several ways. The church has been damaged seriously by false presentations and this week we sometimes think about laws, no longer a word in the Christian life.

We don't do Commandments. We are all under grace. Well, as Stewart under grace but Paul says this in Philippians chapter 3 is as it is a law keeper himself as the premier law keeper of his time. Saul of Tarsus. He says this. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh are far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews of the law, a Pharisee, as to see a persecutor of the church as to righteousness, which is in the law found blameless in the eyes of men.

Paul knew that there were some generations in the Jewish heritage that had misunderstood and misused the law of God corrects that when he goes in Galatians chapter 3, he says, look, he says, is therefore the law has become our tutor, our teacher to lead us to Christ, so that we may, or may be justified by faith alone is good. Commandments are good. The statutes are good but they were never ever a means of salvation never and we need to remember that it is there. Never salvation is not true. It's it's it's never been true. So listen to the Paul's condemnation of such an idea. In Galatians 1689, he says, I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of God by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. But even if we or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what you have preached, we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so I said again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received he is to be accursed.

Salvation is always and only through the blood covenant of God, and the Passover lamb point is to the final Passover lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why would Jesus make statements like if you love me, keep my commandments with it or wait a minute, we saved by grace we are but explains that more further in this passage of Scripture says, the abolition of Moses. Moses charges the people there and sell. He's charged by God to say, teach Dewar Deuteronomy 6 to the people teach them that they are to live for God to be a holy God and that he is the one who brought them out of Egypt and set them free.

They came out of Egypt for one purpose. The worship and serve God. So the moral law is our tutor that brings us to Christ and shows us our need of salvation. But after salvation with the new nature the moral law has a new application, the more law the 10 Commandments as a tool for our sanctification. Personally, when we listen to Christ. He says if you love me, keep my commandments what he was saying was just look at the sermon on the mount.

I explained to you what it means to love God with your own heart how to love God and obeying him and or there is another there's another parable that Jesus told in Matthew 21 is the parable about two sons with nothing to the prodigal son know with two other sons once the bosons are told by the father look, you need to go to the field of work. One says okay that I'll go and do it in the second sense is not online, I'm not going to work in the field today for the first time said he was going, but he never went in. The second son repented and he did get Jesus asked the question who did the will of the father with the one who repented and went so is showing us that to obey those that you love is what we should be doing and what obedience really means. So if you look at them. If we listen to what God has done and said he's promised the children of Israel a blessed life. He's promised that they would have abundant resources in this new land he's promised and growing families.

Well, yes.

He said the children of Israel, the sons of Abraham would be like the start of the sky in the sands of the sea. He's promised in the land flowing with milk and honey. Then he says if we listen if we listen to his commands, laws and statutes and judgments. If we accept God's wisdom over our own wisdom, and over the wisdom of the world so to listen to God's moral law.

We don't need to be trying to avoid it because we don't want to see our sin.

We don't want to avoid the more and more law because we have to admit that many of the Savior we need to look at the moral law had to bring us to Christ and to be a tool for our sanctification that we get discouraged. In verse three it says God says hero Israel. You should listen that were listen instance Shema, which is the same Shema in in verse four, Shema hero, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one verse five you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. These words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets on your four head. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Second point I believe is this is that the God hooch shows us with his everlasting love charges us to love him with our whole heart. Can't believe not. But that's what the charges the love him with our whole heart and that's what Jesus said is the greatest commandment. Who is God who charges us to love him.

Verse four.

Here Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one, the Lord, it means the Lord is only only Lord the only God. That's what he's insisting upon here. He is a monogamous God. He does not want any spiritual adultery. No idols know that nothing placed in place of him. He is the only God so God is our Redeemer. He takes us from under the master of sin and puts us under his rule of grace and mercy, and he did it because this is children. He is our God in order to believe in God, we must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek the we have to believe and know that he is the great IFT is the self existing God. He is worthy of our love singularly only him and if we do not love him. We sin that is house how blatant this is so he is the believers.

God, all the believers who left Egypt knew that it was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob had taken them out of that land.

They knew that it was God who sent the plagues. It was God who parted the Red Sea. It was God who fed them is God who gave them things to drink.

It was God who protected it was not their own doing.

They also knew God Almighty was and is the only God. All the images of Egypt, the various gods that represented fertility event represented prosperity in the field represented health and wealth all those Gazan images were nothing, and even the leaders of Egypt, the counselors of Pharaoh came to realize that as God sent the plagues they said that is the finger of God. They knew there was only one God, the only God the only Redeemer charges us charges me and you love him, the one God majestic in holiness, Almighty, eternal creator, loves his people and he wants us to love him know how much intensity and then in an purpose of lease to love God how much time away to give to him language devotion are we to give the him so Jesus made it very plain in verse five you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The God who saved charges us to love him with all of our heart. So what is the heart. What is the so what was what does he mean by strength. The heart is the seat of our emotions is our will and volition heart describes the center of our inner nature is a center of our conscience is the center of our nature of where we understand what is purity what is wisdom what is uprightness what is piety. This is the home of our personal life is with the heart that we first believe then we are further charged to love God with all of our souls, what is the so the Hebrew word is Nefesh in the PhD agent, a TSH, it means your person all your living being. So are advertising our passions are to be aimed at loving God above all else, are Nefesh the so is historically defined by the word of God would turn to Genesis chapter 2 with different words first use chapter 2 verse seven God says this then the Lord formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. Nefesh became a living soul. He was different from all other creatures man has a soul that will never die, man is a so they can commune with God, and know God, because he's made in his image. So we are to love God fully from our so all of her so then it says that we are to love God with all of our strength are all in my mind all our efforts. All efforts include the discipline of knowing God's word the time of prayer, the time of service the way you look at all of life. We are to act to serve God and the children of Israel were sitting in a different situation that we sit in the day they were literally physically sitting there having to face the fact that they needed to live love God so that they go into in war and destroy the wickedness of the horrendous Amorites, in the land that they were to possess that took courage that took a total commitment, but all of these words heart so strength is simply saying this that we have all of all of our being, were supposed to love God. I don't we don't. We need to be taught by him. We need to meditate on this passage we to realize that we love him because he first class that's always true love for God is to permeate our whole life and overflow into our teaching and example in word and deed and everything so he says here listen to love God with all that you are and he is making you less and he is correcting us. He is shaping us by his word and he expects us to make that commitment to him wholehearted commitment.

So he says teach diligently teach your children teach other children in your community diligently teach him the circumstances in which you live daily so when you see a moral violation. Maybe it's a traffic violation like mine or maybe it's another kind of violation that we have a just name it, it's a sin against God is a sin against that neighborhood. But speak openly about what God says in the daily activities of life.

That's how we were to speak as how're to live point out the sinfulness of humankind and that we need a Savior, even if it's to your work. Later your boss's it. Tell the truth speak openly.

None of us can believe God lived perfectly.

None of us can live a life that is perfect before our children or grandchildren. Yet, we can confess. Confess that we can't and we can bear testimony to the fact that we need a Savior. So when put it this way when we get up in the morning and this is not you are the suggested just example but if we get up in the morning for we forget God because of the morning and we don't pray we don't think about God if he goes through the day and were silent about Christ, and we don't say anything about him at all. We go to bed at night and we don't even utter prayers are repented and cross our mind that we taught our families.

One thing we taught them the way of agnosticism or worse what we live is what we teach what is in and on our hearts is what we communicate – with the society.

We should love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and were in the school of learning what that means right a record of God's word and truce and around your home. That's what he saying here is some referring to a number of different things of the commandments of God that there to be part of our life and in Jewish families. This was literally done. They they wrote things and put them in a phylacteries a little box and put on the four head the rent here has Scripture in that box, and on and on their arms and have another amulet than they would be there Scripture in that box that Jesus didn't mind people doing that what he says don't you wear a big box and a big one on your hand site look really cute. Scripture noted that's what Jesus condemned wasn't the fact that that was on their minds and on their in their hands in the works that they did that was all right but this was different from Egypt and Egypt.

The war trinkets around her neck of the various gods and goddesses and symbols that symbols are that they were put on wrist bracelets around their hand in the world uses symbols all the time.

Jesus says this that this law is to be where is to be in our hearts. And that's the main message. The Christian faith is evident in the home is wonderful to walk into a home where you know that that person put that sign God blesses home or for me and my house we will serve the Lord, you know that there because that's what's in their heart. What a testimony to anybody walks in that house and is a testimony should be on our doorpost of the river. The story of a movie be in her preservatives all that long time ago and Judah. Ben Hur comes to his house and there's a wall there and then this little box. He goes over he kisses that box what is in that box.

Deuteronomy chapter 4 hero Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. These are the words I commanding you today, shall be on your heart – what was in that box.

God does want to be in our hearts. He wants us to love him first and foremost because he chose us and he loves us. Then we get the second passage of Scripture we talk we talked about how goddesses listen to him because he is the words of life. He says love him with all our heart, then next we get the longer sections were going to read is talking about living for him living for him in the place of their place was the promised land are places where God puts us right here is this, you converse 10 and following, and when you get to verse 25 and say when it was that me okay burst him then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you great and splendid cities which you did not build houses full of good things which he did not feel an insistence which you did not dig vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear only the Lord your God and you shall worship him and fears whereby his name. You shall not follow other gods any of the gods of the peoples who surround for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise anger the Lord your God will be kindled against you and he will wipe you off the face of the earth. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Masa, you should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his testimonies, and his statutes which he commanded you. You should do what is right and good in the side of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. When your sons ask you in the time to come say what do these testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean was the Lord our God commanded you, then you shall say to your son. We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a mighty hand over. The Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household. He brought us out from there. In order to bring us in to give us the land which he is swore to our fathers, so the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our own good always and for our survival as it is to this day it will be for righteousness, for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, just as he commanded us. We are to live for God, but not for his blessings. The covenant that God made the 600 years before this that the Exodus before they went in the promised land. That covenant was that he was going to bless his people in promised land where Abraham first set his foot but he warns in verse 10 that do not just assume that riches are there. Just because you're so good included houses of walled cities and he turned over there's lights include sources of water wells, cisterns, included vineyards and fruitful entrées in grain fields and produce that they had not planted. This was better than the links in the vegetables of Egypt, because they owned it. They possessed it was a gift to them and they were free free to worship and serve the living God.

God's promised land warnings came in verse 12 he says watch yourselves. Do not forget the Lord, and this is the danger of every civilization and every Christian family Church, an individual that we become rich to become satisfied become comfortable in our hearts.

Forget God is very easy to do doesn't take but a moment. I remain sin nature's are tempted. The focus on the blessings rather than God who blesses us, we can forget the giver and just love the gifts that is a major sin for us. The second warning comes with the acquisition of the land.

The rampant pagan practices of the land work around them. They were worshiping the local deities and that they were not worshiping the creator. There were not looking for Redeemer. But in verse 14 it says you shall not follow other gods any of the gods of the people who surround you that this and primitive that it will not were not out worshiping little idols were not worshiping the answering were not enough. Following Malik were not doing that were not doing what the Amorites did we complement our sins, but this reemphasize that God is a monogamous God.

He is to be the only God and he is the only God. All these others are false deities, so there is no neutral ground either believe in God you don't believe in a God in all its review, so the warning comes not follow the cultures around us. He can wipe us off the face of the earth is pretty blunt and done. If we follow the ways of the Amorites that we could face his judgment, we must reject pagan culture. There is no neutral ground. There is one Lord, and only one God, who do we listen to literally read literally watch all these are good questions.

Is your favorite celebrity or pagan. The evolving is your news network, managed and produced those who hold a pagan worldview is your medical advisor pagan are the public policies that you endorse that parallel paganism. Your personal questions that I need to ask myself.

We all need to ask yourself who are weak tuning ideas. Who are we listening to whoever he really loving who we living for. We live to fear God and that fear is a reverent fear standing in awe of God would even dare to give his life for us sinners, so why not pray for someone to be a City Councilman that the County Commissioner to be a godly major why not do that.

We charged to live for God and conquer the world for him was we know that there is opposition that we are not a civil law like the nation of Israel. No were not that but we are God's people and would be salt and light in the land where we live to be a blessing to our neighbors.

We are to rule and manage the sphere of influence that God is given to us. We are not to blend our spheres with Christianity and paganism. We are to present one Christian worldview and live for Christ. We are to live to please God and not quarrel.

Then Jesus said when they dispatch the Scripture talks about how the people before they ever went into the pagan country of the Amorites and the Canaanites while they were in the wilderness, they stay rebelled against God because they were quarreling with Moses complaining about lack of water and actually the rebellion was against God and G and they would. They tested God.

He says don't test trusting and this is the passage of Scripture that Jesus refers to when he spaced by the temptations of the devil. He said we do not were not supposed to God and so he says that happen. But then there was the soap outwardly. There are other types of tests that come in. That's in verses 18 and 19, where the clear instructions are that they are to drive out the Amorites, they are to take captive as we would say every thought to the two for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to assert his moral commandments. All of his holy word. We are to be blessings to our communities by the lives that we live. We are to join. We can join in no moral crusades are not the end the gospel is the answer but but we also need to be salt and light and think about the bottom of the poor, the widow, the orphan, the unborn. We do as part of living for Christ, but live to testify for the grace of God the praise him in his abundant mercy. Verse 20 begins a whole new section he said what your children are asking, why do we do this or why do we do that, why are we doing the Passover.

Remember, eating lambs and remembering what happened in Egypt and you explain because we were slaves.

So what do we do like this morning and as it was explained we do that we would leap to do the Lord's communion.

We remember that we were slaves to sin and Jesus has given his life and bought us with his own blood, and we are under that covenant blood of Christ we are his children.

We are his chosen people chosen to live for him. So how do we come to the conclusion of this matter is that there's a typically verse would get down to verse 25 it says it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe this commandment when it doesn't mean that were earning her salvation. If you look at the context is is is is so is an amazing thing it is the God who loves us with his everlasting love who brought us to the place of salvation. To begin with. It is our God who brought us out to bring us in the bars out of darkness to bring us into line is our God who has given us his commands and his testimonies that make us wiser than all the other peoples of the earth is our God, who is shown distressing signs edited in a brute and in Egypt and eight destroyed Pharaoh's God who was planned long ago to redeem our lives and bring us into his kingdom.

So all alone. It was God's mediatorial work all along it was God who was interceding for us all along. It was God's plan to live and die for us to love us first and draw us to love him because he loved us. Remember the God who chose you and I with his everlasting love charges us to listen and obey to love them completely. The live holy lives that that please him that aglow will glorify him. That is the biblical instructions for living in the kingdom. That is the biblical instructions for today and tomorrow in this new year on motivation is to love God with all our hearts, so the foundation and core of this whole context of chapter 6 is found in verses four and six. First we have to believe that God exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek we must know and trust. The only God, the one God and then secondly, you must love God with all our heart.

This is only possible because he loved us and he planned and carried out.

That plan of salvation with Christ as our Passover lamb, why God chose to love us as sinners is a question that will be asking all eternity. God charges since he teaches us and motivates us to love him with all of our hearts. We are called and charged. Listen to love and live for the three and one with all our hearts so instrument. This is our worship and service love follow the one only God our Savior's prayer. Father, we thank you that we do not live by power. Power we are not saved by a power we are safe, purely and totally by your amazing grace you plan long ago that you suffered so long for and continue to intercede for us. Father, we come before you, asking you help us to love you more. Help us to know you were deeply we pray in Jesus name meant