G-Rated Families Living In An X-Rated Society
Series: Study of Deuteronomy - Deuteronomy 6:5-7aHow to Survive in a X Rated Society - Part 3Pastor Ed Riddick - Sunday, April 28th, 2002
Deuteronomy 6:5-7a “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children.”
Isaiah 59:21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”
This was the bloodiest day on American soil since our Civil War, a modern Antietam played out in real time, on fast-forward, and not with soldiers but with secretaries, security guards, lawyers, bankers,janitors. It was strange that a day of war was a day we stood still. We couldn’t move–that must have been the whole idea–so we had no choice but to watch.
Having hit the country’s financial and cultural heart, the killers went for its political and military muscles. David Marra, 23, an information-technology specialist, had turned his BMW off an I-395 exit to the highway just west of the Pentagon when he saw an American Airlines jet swooping in, its wings wobbly, looking like it was going to slam right into the Pentagon: “It was 50 ft. off the deck when he came in. It sounded like the pilot had the throttle completely floored.
The plane rolled left and then rolled right. Then he caught an edge of his wing on the ground.” There is a helicopter pad right in front of the side of the Pentagon. The wing touched there, then the plane cartwheeled into the building. At 9:43 am on September 11th, hijacked American Airlines Flight 757 en route from Washington’s Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles containing 58 passengers and six crew members, crashed into the Pentagon, collapsing a portion of the western façade of that world-famous building.
The crews assigned to the recovery effort after the September 11th attack on the Pentagon had an awful job to do. Working in 120-degree heat, they were making their way through the wreckage left behind when terrorists flew Flight 757 into the Pentagon. They didn’t find any survivors. They did find a mass of concrete and metal debris; the metal too hot to touch. But USA Today reported that they did find a sign of hope as they looked into that black chasm inside. On a second floor, right next to where the jet sheared off a section of the building, was an undisturbed stool. And on it was a thick, open book - a Bible. It wasn’t burned. Neither was anything around it or on the two floors above it. The leader of the recovery team was quoted as saying, “I’m not as religious as some, but that would have me thinking. I just can’t explain it.” … the Bible has been for me, and for millions of people, the one thing that has survived every fire in our life. Everything else may be taken away, but God’s words are still true, always surviving life’s fires. Jesus said it in Luke 21:33, our word for today from the Word of God - “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” “Indestructible Truth.” by Ron Hutchcraft
Keys To Survival
Key #1: It begins with adult and parental priority.
Key #2: Survival Depends on wholehearted devotion and Commitment to the Lord!
Key #3: Putting His Words on Your Heart
If I love the Lord I will love His Word!
Men, the buck stops at our desk.
Genesis 3:9 They both hid from God’s presence but God said,
“Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” Both Adam and Eve were there. But God called to the man first.
Point? When God looks for your family, He looks for the man of the house first.
A real spiritual leader knows and loves God with their whole heart.
A real spiritual leader builds his and her life upon the Word of God!
Four issues that form the background of our text.
~ Obedience as a natural overflow of love and reverence for God.
~ How to transmit God’s truth from one generation to another
~ Living in hostile territory without forgetting God, 6:14, 18-19
~ Shining as a light in a dark world: Deut 4:6-8
Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell addresses to a new generation
That is facing a new challenge
In a new land
where they will face hostilities.!
He is telling them out to live successfully in the land of promise.
There is so much potential in the lives of Christians.
in Christian marriages
and in Ctns homes. But there is only one guarantee!
Christians are supposed to be different.
Christian marriages are to be different.
Christian homes are supposed to be different.
To be love-filled and peaceful instead of battlegrounds of bickering
and squabbling and fighting and rebellion.
Most people do not know where to begin to bring order out of chaos and love out of strife.
This passage says that the place to begin is with God.
Knowing Him.
Loving Him
And finding our answers in His Book!
And the people to start with is with adults and with parents! 6:6
“these words shall be upon your heart”!
We are all in process. And we must begin to be healed by God and before Him. We can’t pass on to our children something we don’t have ourselves.
Nothing can happen through us until it has happened in us!
We can not communicate what we haven’t discovered ourselves!
We must begin correction with ourselves before God
before we try to pass it on to our children!
But the only guarantee of this is to that our lives and our marriages and our homes are built on the Word of God.
John 17:17 “Set them apart in truth. Your Word is truth.”
The central purpose of life is to love and serve God with our whole heart.
When Its All Been Said and Done
Jim Cowan, 1999 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music
“When it’s all been said and done There is just one thing that matters
Did I do my best to live for truth Did I live my life for You?
When it’s all been said and done All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I’ve done for love’s reward Will stand the test of time.”
I. The Value of God’s Word from His Point of View
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of out God stands forever.”
Isaiah 55:11-12 “So shall My word be which goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands…”
Matthew 4:2-4 “And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” = Sustains and satisfies!
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
John 10:35 “the Scripture cannot be broken”
II. What Does “Upon your heart” Mean?
In order for our love to be of the right kind, the commands of God must be laid in our heart! and must be the constant subject of thought and conversation.
Like a new hard wood floor.
What a massive job
Tear out the old, sweep out the dirt
Prepare for the new floor with a sub-floor of a new relationship
with God, without which no one can understand God’s
truth.
“Upon your heart”
The commandments of God were to be an affair of the heart, and not merely memory.
to be on your mind, in the center of your thoughts.
The object of your devotion.
All this drawing a picture of undeviating observance.
Psalm 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”
It’s 4 pm and you haven’t eaten all day. What’s on your mind?
Desire!
You are on a cross country trip. You are in the middle of the Bad Lands of So. Dakota and there are no way stops and you have to stop for personal reasons. What’s on you mind? Urgency!
You are engaged. You are in the Navy. You are out to sea and have
been for 150 days. You have letters and emails from your
fiancé. What is on your mind? Love affair
Poem XIII of “A Shropshire Lad,” by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say,
“Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies, But keep your fancy free.”
But I was one-and-twenty, No use to talk to me.
III. What’s In It For Me?
Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
James 1:25 “the perfect law that gives freedom”
Lincoln Frees a Slave
There is an old story that Abraham Lincoln went down to the slave block to buy a slave girl. As she looked at the white man bidding on her, she figured he was another white man going to buy her and then abuse her. He won the bid, and as he was walking away with his property, he said, “Young lady, you are free.”
She said, “What does that mean?” “It means you are free.”
“Does that mean,” she said, “that I can say whatever I want to say?”
Lincoln said, “Yes, my dear, you can say whatever you want to say.”
“Does that mean,” she said, “That I can be whatever I want to be?”
Lincoln said, “Yes, you can be whatever you want to be.”
“Does that mean I can go wherever I want to go?”
He said, “Yes, you can go wherever you want to go.”
The girl, with tears streaming down her face, said, “Then I will go with you.”
When you stand beside a 747 jet on the runway, its massive weight and size makes it seem incapable of breaking the holds of gravity.
But when the power of its engines combines with the laws of aerodynamics, the plane is able to lift itself to 35,000 feet and travel at 600 miles per hour. Gravity is still pulling on the plane, but as long as it obeys the laws of aerodynamics, it can break free from the bonds of earth.
Freedom does not mean the absence of constraints or moral absolutes. Suppose a skydiver at 10,000 feet announces to the rest of the group, “I’m not using a parachute this time. I want freedom!” The fact is that a skydiver is constrained by a greater law–the law of gravity. But when
the skydiver chooses the “constraint” of the parachute, she is free to enjoy the exhilaration.
God’s moral laws act the same way: they restrain, but they are absolutely necessary to enjoy the exhilaration of real freedom.
Psalm 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.” Stability!
Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encourage- ment of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Ask the Lord to help you understand
Ask the Lord to confront you, show you things in your life
Ask the Lord to correct you.
Ask the Lord to train you!
IV. How Do I Go About This? - Got to Have a Plan
“You probably don’t think it’s any big deal that you can turn over by yourself or burp yourself or feed yourself. But it’s a big deal when your baby starts doing some of those things for the first time. That’s a milestone! The other day our daughter called and said, “I wish you could see him now - he’s feeding himself Cheerios!” There was dancing in the streets! See, the little guy has been studying his hand for months, flexing those fingers, eventually trying to grab available targets like noses and glasses. But now he’s really got it together. He’s sitting in a high chair with Cheerios on the tray - and he’s reaching for one of those O’s, wrapping his fingers around it, and putting it in his mouth - all by himself! And then he smiles and laughs real big. What a guy!
All of us grownup-types know what a big deal the accomplishment of being able to finally feed yourself really is. We know this is the beginning of lots and lots of times he will do that in his life! He’s moved from needing someone else to feed him to be able to feed himself. God is wishing some of us would get to that point.
Too many of us depend way too much on getting fed spiritually by someone else. We’re living on that nourishment given to us by someone on Christian radio or Christian TV, on a pastor or youth leader or Bible study leader’s lessons, on Christian concerts and conferences and retreats. And that’s all good stuff. But if you’ve known Jesus for very long, what others feed you should be supplemental to what you’re getting directly from God and His Word.
It’s OK for a baby to be fed by someone else in his early days - and many new followers of Jesus are really dependent on an older Christian feeding them spiritually. But just like with our grandson, it shouldn’t always be that way! Many people who have belonged to Jesus for many years are still babies when it comes to feeding themselves. It’s time now to take this big step toward growing up in God.
You want to be able to get most of what you need spiritually directly from God Himself, especially as He speaks to you personally through His Word, the Bible. You need to know that if you were marooned on an island, and cut off from every Christian you know and Christian meeting you attend, that you would be fine spiritually as long as you’ve got your Bible.
It is really exciting to experience God taking something that’s in His heart and planting it in your heart - with no one in between. Now, don’t abandon those great opportunities to hear from Him through others, like your pastor, for example. It’s great to have a special meal, prepared by someone who really knows how to cook spiritually. But there’s no substitute for you opening your Lord’s Love Letter each new day and finding your own personal message from Him.
Ron Hutchcraft, “The Thrill Of Feeding Yourself.”
1. Make a Commitment
Set a non-negotiable time and place where you will meet w/ the Lord.
1 Peter 2:2-3 “like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Ezra 7:9c-10 “The good hand of His God was upon him for Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
Then as you set there with God’s Word on your lap or on the table…
2. Begin with this prayer….
Psalm 119:18-19 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.”
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what it means and how it applies to you
1 Corinthians 2:12 “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
4. Look Intently
James 1:22-25 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the person who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.”
What do I see? What does it mean? How does it apply?
5. Think About It Over and Over
Joshua 1:7-9 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
6. Stir in a whole bunch of faith
Hebrews 4:2 “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” and obedience.
Bottom Line
Colossians 3:16 “Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Psalm 1
The Word of God is the hallmark of his faith and practice.
Therefore, he is spiritually healthy and fruitful.
Psalm 40:8
Proverbs 3:1-3
Isaiah 51:7
Matthew 7:21-29
1 Corinthians 2:12-16
2 Timothy 4:1f