DEUTERONOMY 4 THE IMPORTANCE OF GODS COMMANDS2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Deuteronomy 4 The Importance Of Gods Commands

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning, as we look at Deuteronomy chapter 4, we're going to be talking about the importance of God's commands. We need to stop and reflect and consider the value, the importance, the role that the commandments of God need to have in our lives, and the value that they provide, and the importance of us walking in the instructions of God.

God. And I know that's a little bit difficult for us sometimes, that we're

It's pretty typical for us to rebel against this idea of authority and someone else giving us commands and telling us what to do. And we rebel against authorities, you know, to different degrees throughout our life. But as it comes to us and our relationship with God and our relationship with the Word of God, I pray this morning that you would be reminded that although perhaps you may not like it all the time, although perhaps you may struggle against it many times, that

It is really important for you and I to be faithful to walk in the commands of God. There's great importance there. There's great value there. And that's what Moses is instructing the people in here in Deuteronomy chapter four. Now, at this point in Israel's history, they are right on the border about to head into the promised land. Moses can't go with them. And so he is giving his final address there.

to the nation. Really, a few final addresses to the nation, a few final messages or sermons to the nation. And that is what makes up the book of Deuteronomy. As

Moses kind of sums up their time in the wilderness, sums up the law that has been given to them throughout their time with the Lord in Sinai and that region. And so we're getting a lot of recap of the things that they've already experienced here in the book of Deuteronomy as Moses prepares them to enter in. And they're entering into a new season now. And in that new season, Moses says, look, it's really important for you to enter into a new season.

to know that you need to follow the commands of God. And so we're going to walk through these verses and consider the importance of God's commands. And the first one is found in verse 1, and that is, God's commands are for your sake.

Good. As we begin to talk about the commands of God, this is really important to understand. Especially, again, as we kind of, you know, don't like this idea of somebody else telling me what to do, and that kind of rubs us the wrong way sometimes, and we don't, aren't always comfortable with the commands that we're given, and we would maybe rather do things differently or approach situations with different techniques, but sometimes

But there are commands that God has given and we need to understand first of all that God doesn't give us commands to be burdensome to us, just to make our life difficult, just to give us some challenges and make us work hard for stuff. But that God's commands are given to us

for our good. Check out verse 1. It says, Here, Moses calls Israel to listen, to tune in their ears, to pay attention to what he's saying, and to listen to what he's saying.

as he talks about the statutes and judgments which he has taught them. Now, statutes and judgments, these are various words. There's a variety of words used for the commands of God, and statutes and judgments are a way to refer to that. And it also may indicate, you know, the different types of commands. I talked about this back in Leviticus, that

in the law, God was establishing, you know, some moral commands, moral practices for the people. He was also establishing some ceremonial laws and commands for the people, for the sacrificing and for, you know, the rituals that God was establishing for the Jewish people. He was also establishing a government, and so there was

civil laws or civic laws that they were to practice as a society. And so there was a variety of things that God was instructing them in. And here Moses reminds them of those things and he says, listen to those things. Tune in your ears and pay attention. We all know what it's like to listen in a way where it's in one ear and out the other, right? We all know what it's like to be able to listen in a way that we can acknowledge the

that something was said and maybe even like, you know, repeat back bits and pieces of what was said, but it's not really registering. We're not really accepting it and receiving it. And what Moses is calling them to do is to listen. And the idea here is to be actively listening that you might obey. I would maybe put it this way, listen with your shoes on. That, you know, it's like getting directions, right? When you need directions and someone is giving you directions, you're

you're listening so that you can turn right where you're supposed to turn right and turn left where you're supposed to turn left. You're listening in a way that you can take what was said and then follow through with it. And as Moses calls Israel to listen, and he calls you and I to listen to the statutes and judgments this morning, he's calling us to listen in that way. Listen that you might begin to put these things to work in your life. And

These are not things that he is introducing for the first time. In fact, the word Deuteronomy means the second law. It's the second time these things are being introduced. He introduced the law in Exodus as well as Leviticus and Numbers that we've seen the bringing forth of the commands of God. But

But now on the verge of the promised land, entering into this new season, he repeats the law. He kind of summarizes the law for the general population and says, these are the commands, and we'll be reading through that as we continue on in Deuteronomy. These are the commands that God has for you. And you've heard them before, but it's worth repeating because these commands are for your good. Now with repetition,

It brings reinforcement many times, but also with repetition comes the tendency or the temptation for us to kind of tune out a little bit. We come to a passage we're familiar with, and it's easy to then begin to kind of skim the passage. Or we come to a subject we're familiar with, we've heard before. I've heard someone teach that message before. I've heard Jerry teach that message before. And so it's easy to kind of tune out and to...

not listen to the commands, to the instruction that is given. But here Moses says, even though it's not the first time you're hearing this, perk up your ears and pay attention that you would listen to the commands. And he says why? It's that you may live. Here's why God gives you commands.

not to burden you, not to give you difficulty, not to make things difficult for you. God gives you commands. Every command of God is because God wants you to live. He wants you to have life and he wants to give you blessings in your life and he wants to fulfill his promises in your life. Every command of God is for your good. And so we can pray,

Listen to God's commands. We can pay attention because it's like if I was going to tell you the winning lottery numbers, you'd listen, right? It's like, this is for my good. I can get something out of that. It's going to be a benefit to me in a similar way. Listen, Moses says, to the commands of God. It's for your good. If you will pay attention, if you will listen to what God says, you will have life. God wants you to live. And he goes on to say, and he wants you to go in and possess the land that he's giving to you.

God has a promise to fulfill for you. He has land for you. He has victories for you. He has things that he wants to do in your life. And these commands are part of his plan for fulfilling those things in your life. So listen to the commands of God because they're for your good. I was thinking about what Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 10. He says, the thief is

comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus talking about the enemy, Satan. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That's what he's out to accomplish. And how does he accomplish that?

He can't change God's plan for you. The enemy can't thwart God's plan. He can't disrupt God's plan. He can't stop God from doing what he wants. He can't take away the life that God wants to give you. He can't take away the blessings that God wants to give you. He can't stop that from happening. So how does he steal, kill, and destroy? Well, what he does then is he tries to persuade you to disobey God. This is the way. This is his technique. This is his tactic to try to get you

to disregard the word of God. And in doing so, he is able to steal, kill, and destroy by keeping you from walking in the things that God has given for your life and for your blessing and for your benefit. And Jesus goes on to say, but I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

Jesus came so that we might have life. And that's not just life everlasting. Of course, that's a big part of why Jesus came and the work upon the cross, of course. But he also came that we could have abundant life

As we work our way towards eternity in our walk with him. That Jesus even said, hey, if you love me, keep my commands. And so there is this connection to loving Jesus, walking with Jesus, life in Jesus, abundant life that he wants to give you that comes in the walking in the commands of God. You need to know that God's commands are for your good.

And as these things are familiar to us, again, it's effective in helping us to stay attentive and pay attention if we remember God's commands are for my good. God's giving me instructions. He's giving me directions to lead me into the good things that he has in store for me. And so as we talk about the importance of God's commands, that's where we start. You need to know God's commands are for your good.

Good. Well, moving on to verse two, now we see point number two, and that is God's commands are to be preserved. God's commands are for your good, but we got to take special care of them, Moses says. In verse two, he says, you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.

So God has given you commands and they're really good commands. They're for your benefit. But he says, you have to be careful. Don't mess with the commands of God because if you mess with the commands of God, well, you may not experience the promises, the blessings, the life that those commands were intended to accomplish for you. Here, Moses is saying, you need to kind of set the commands of God in a special class in your mind and in your heart, right?

It needs to be treated in a special way that there's a special place of priority and reverence so that you do not add to the commands of God. Now, I think for the most part, you know, it would be easy for us to say, well, I would never add to the commands of God, right? Nobody, well, not, I can't say nobody because people actually do try to like add on to the scriptures, but

I think I'm pretty safe in saying nobody in this room, you know, would pull out their pen and turn to the last page in the Bible. Okay, it's a blank page. Okay, now let me add on the commands of God, right? That's pretty rare for someone to have that kind of boldness. And so we might not think too much about adding to the commands of God. But here Moses gives this exhortation, don't add to the words that God commands, right?

And you know, sometimes we do that not by adding lines to our Bibles, but sometimes we do that by adding our convictions in a way that, well, we're requiring, we're expecting, we're communicating, this is what God wants for you or for everybody when it's not something that God has actually revealed. Sometimes we make things into spiritual issues that are not actually spiritual issues, right?

Sometimes we try to get people to do what we want or what we prefer by attaching the name of God, by invoking the name of God to accomplish what it is that we want. At the memorial service on Friday, Roman and Rosalyn were here and they brought their little son Luke. And boy, he's a cute little energetic boy.

It's like three years old, I think. And he was sitting in the back and eating a cookie. And so I was kind of just teasing him a little bit like, hey, can I have a bite? And, you know, we were just kind of playing around a little bit. And I came back and he was still munching on the cookie. And so I sat next to him and I said, do you think Jesus would share his cookie? Because to this point, he hadn't given me a bite of his cookie. And he was sitting right next to me. I said, do you think Jesus would share his cookie? And he looked up at me and then he held his cookie as far away from me as he possibly could.

I invoke the name of Jesus to try to say, hey, here's what God wants you to do, right? Now, I wasn't being serious about it. We were playing around, but hopefully that illustrates the point a little bit that sometimes we do that kind of thing. We want good things for people. And so sometimes that motivates us to try to lay commands that God hasn't commanded, but using the name of God because we could see, hey, this will be best for you if you do this. And so God wants you to do this.

And we need to be very careful not to add to the commands of God in that way. There are commands and God has given us, you know, great commands and instruction in his word. But sometimes we go beyond that and blame God for it and say, this is what God wants for you. The religious leaders of Jesus's day were guilty of this and Jesus confronted them and challenged them many times over that. And one example is in Mark chapter 7.

where the Pharisees were challenging the disciples because they didn't wash their hands the right way before having a meal. And it wasn't about whether or not their hands were clean, but the Jews had this tradition. You have to wash your hands a specific way and let the water run down this way. And, you know, there's this very specific motions you have to make. And if you don't wash this way, well, God's not pleased with you and he doesn't bless that meal. And so they challenged the disciples. How come you don't wash this way? And Jesus said,

responded to those Pharisees in Mark chapter 7, and he says to them, Jesus comes against these religious leaders, and he says, look,

you are fulfilling these words of the prophet Isaiah and that your lips are honoring God. You're invoking the name of God and saying, this is what God wants. And now I'm, I'm holy because I've washed my hands this way, but nowhere did God prescribe that. And you've laid it down as a command to the people. You've laid it down as a doctrine. Here's how to get right with God. Here's how to walk with God. Here's how to be holy and, and have your meals blessed. You know, here's,

And God had not actually commanded any of those things. It was their tradition. And maybe it had started off okay with good motives, you know, way back in the beginning. But now it's turned into this doctrine, but it's not actually doctrine that God has given. And Jesus says they're hypocrites and they're far from him. They're far from God. We need to keep in mind that our personal convictions are not laws for everyone.

And we can try to force and conform people into, you know, the practices and habits and lifestyles that we want. But if it's not actually God's commands, well, we need to be careful that we're not just with our lips invoking the name of God, but our hearts are far from him. We just, you know, we want things the way that we want or we want people to do what we want, but we're using the name of God improperly and inappropriately.

When I was growing up and I began to get interested in, you know, studying the scriptures and kind of dabbling in apologetics and, you know, looking into those kinds of things. Now, the battle had already been won by the time I was growing up, but much of the content as I was like reading commentaries and doing things online, before that was online, but in forums and stuff and interacting with people, man, there was so much content regarding this idea of Christian rock, right?

And I don't know if you've been Christian long enough to remember those discussions and those battles, but there was this teaching, there was this doctrine that Christian rock is from the devil. And particularly that 4-4 beat. Boy, that is a demonic beat. That tempo is just not right, and you can't do that. And there is no such thing as Christian rock, because that beat is from the devil. And there was like these strong like arguments and, you know, whole movements and things. And

I remember, you know, reading through those things, and it was a similar type of thing. It wasn't. The Lord does not address the 4-4 beat in the scriptures. He does not command anything about that. It was not accurate, but it was done and taught as doctrine in the name of God, and it was not an

We need to be careful that we don't allow, hey, if you don't like that style of music, well, that's one thing. You have a personal conviction, there's no reason why you can't share that. But we need to be careful not to declare that this is the command of God for people around us when God has not actually commanded it. God's commands are to be preserved, to be honored. Don't you dare deny

Try to add on to the word of God and make it better for that person because, you know, well, they need to know. And if you invoke the name of God, then they'll be more apt to listen and do what you want them to do. Even if you're thinking it's for their benefit, don't touch the word of God in that way. Don't add to it by laying these things on other people that God has not actually commanded. But he also says, don't take away from it. And that's important too.

Not only do we not add the things that we want onto the scriptures, but we also don't take the things that we don't want out of the scriptures. And there's great temptation to do that. We don't get to pick and choose what

what we follow and what we don't. We don't get to pick and choose what God commands us and what he doesn't command us. And if you've been around for the past few weeks, you might be thinking, but wait a minute, Jerry, didn't you actually like teach a message on how to pick and choose, how to discern what commands we obey? And yeah, back in Leviticus chapter 19, we looked at when to obey an Old Testament law. Now, if you will evaluate these things, I would suggest it

reinforces my instruction not to take away, reinforces God's instruction not to take away. It's not contradictory. In fact, as you look through the scriptures, I would suggest that the majority of the commands that you find are for us today. There are some that aren't, but then God addresses that and God lays the limitations for that. And so here's what we watch through in Leviticus 19. We obey an Old Testament law when it's repeated in the New Testament.

and for the subjects of morality, for how we are to walk, for the character that we're to have, for the ways that we're to relate to God and the people around us, those commands are repeated in the New Testament. And so we have that clear connection, that clear instruction. These are the things that we are to walk in. Now, there are occasions where things are reversed in the New Testament. And we've been looking at the example of Sabbath, that

God did not lay the burden of keeping the Sabbath upon all Christians as we head into the New Testament. And so God is the only one who's able to change those kinds of things and make those kinds of changes. And when he does, he tells us so that we can then walk according to what he has said. Those occasions are few and far between.

We also saw that we obey an Old Testament law when God's heart is clearly revealed. And so there are occasions perhaps where maybe it's not directly repeated in the New Testament, but you can see this is not just a temporary thing, but this is the heart of God. And so those commands, those instructions, we see, we follow those because, well, that's the heart of God. That's what he desires. That's what pleases him. And so we continue to walk in that.

We saw that we don't obey an Old Testament law when it's restricted to a certain time or context. And some commands that God gave, he said, look, in the first year when you go into the promised land, here's what to do. And so there's parameters, there's limitations, there's certain contexts that he says, in this context, follow these commands.

And so in that case, well, we're out of that context, and so we don't follow those commands. And that's different than just saying, hey, well, we live in a different culture now, and so that doesn't apply. That was a cultural command.

It's a cultural instruction and command when God says this is a cultural instruction and command, not just when we pick and choose, well, I don't think this applies anymore today. And, you know, Reverend so-and-so agrees with me. And so, you know, we team up and we outnumber God. And, you know, it's our word that stands. No, like you have to let God be the final authority. And so if he says it doesn't apply anymore, then it doesn't apply. And that's okay. He can do that.

But it's not up to us to add to or take away from according to what we think or what we prefer or what the world around us desires. God's commands are to be

preserved. They're to have a special place in our mind, in our heart, that we recognize that's distinct. It's different. What God says is different than what Jerry says, or Chuck Smith says, or Billy Graham says, or anybody else, you know, D.L. Moody. You could put any person you want in there.

What God says, it's in a different class altogether. It is not the same category. His commands are to be kept, preserved, left alone. Don't touch them. Don't add to them. Don't take away from them. We need to distinguish between traditions and commands. And traditions aren't necessarily bad, but the problem is when those traditions are taught as doctrines. They're taught as if this is what God requires of

And if God hasn't actually required it, if God hasn't actually said it, then it becomes a serious issue. What we need to do, like the Bereans of Acts chapter 17, when the Apostle Paul brought the gospel to them, they heard, they listened, but they didn't just flat out accept it. Instead, it tells us in Acts 17, 11,

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. There was a reverence for the scriptures. They were open to the discussion. They were open to having the conversation and hearing from Paul this gospel, this truth that

But they didn't just accept it and say, okay, well, that is what God says. Then they went themselves, individually, personally, they went and they searched the scriptures and they sought to discover, is this really true? And that is how we need to approach these kinds of issues that

that we would protect ourselves from the adding on to. Hey, the things I'm telling you, don't just accept them and then go tell someone, you know, here's what God says and, you know, quote me. Don't do that. No, no. Look to the scriptures yourself and find out, is this what God says? I make it a point. I do my best to try to distinguish. Sometimes I am just sharing an opinion. I am sharing a perspective. I'm sharing my thoughts. And that's different. That's a whole different category.

than the actual commands of God. And we need to search the scriptures to make sure we don't add to it and we don't take away from what God has said. God's commands are to be preserved, protected in that way. Moving on to point number three now in verses three through five. God's commands are to be obeyed. And this is really key. God's commands are not there to just be comforting to us

to be available for us, for us to know things, but God's commands are there for us to do what he has said. Verse three, he says, your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor. For the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. He calls the people to think about

something that they have seen. He says, your eyes have seen. He's pointing them back to a recent event that happened where they were camped out there near Moab. And you might remember Moab was afraid of Israel. And so King Balak of Moab hired Balaam to come and curse God's people.

So that Moab, you know, could defeat them. And so they wanted to defeat Israel. So Balaam come curse them. Well, Balaam comes and he's not able to curse them. Instead, when he opens his mouth, he speaks forth blessing. And Balak tries a couple of times. I'll try from this spot, try from that spot. And every time Balaam is pronouncing blessing upon the nation of Israel. And so what happens is Balak is mad at Balaam. And he says, look, your God is,

has robbed you of riches because I would have made you a wealthy man if you would have cursed these people for me. But you've blessed them instead. Your God has kept you from all the goodness that I could have given to you. And Balaam was swayed by that. He wanted the wealth that Balak had to offer. And so because he was not able to pronounce a curse, he pulled Balak aside and he said, let me teach you how you can get them to bring a curse upon themselves.

What you want to do is you want to get your young ladies, dress them in a provocative way, bring them down before the men of Israel and seduce them into sexual immorality and idolatry. And in doing that, they will turn God against them as they engage in that. And as he gave this counsel, Balak put it to work and it happened exactly the way that Balaam described.

And the men of Israel began to follow after these ladies and they began to follow Baal of Peor. It was talking about this false God and this idolatry and the way that they would worship is in this immorality. And there was a plague that broke out amongst the people as a result of their rebellion against God and their sin against God, their disregard of his commands. And 24,000 people died. 24,000 men were killed as a result of this whole situation. They'd just seen this not too long ago.

And Moses points back to that and says, your eyes have seen, you have a real life illustration. God's commands are to be obeyed. All these people knew God's commands, but they engaged in this anyways. They knew what God said. They knew what God had forbidden, but they didn't obey God's commands. And they suffered severe consequences. You have a real life illustration, he said. Now we may be somewhat distant from this account and this event at Baal Peor, but this

But I think every one of us can testify that, well, we've watched people around us destroy their lives by disregarding God's commands. We have those real life illustrations as well. And maybe it's our own life and not somebody else's. But I've seen, you know, my life be wrecked and destroyed by disregarding, by disobeying God's commands.

I've seen that happen in other people's lives. But he goes on in verse 4 to say, but you who held fast, in contrast to those who disobeyed God, you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. See the difference? Here's what happens. It's kind of like that old commercial. Remember that old commercial? This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs, something like that, right? And the egg in the frying pan. I haven't thought about that commercial in a long time. It just popped in my head. But

You can see the difference, right? Here's your brain, you know, here's your brain on drugs. Here's your life. Here's your life wrecked by disobedience to God. You have a real life illustration. You've seen that. You've held fast to the Lord your God and you're alive today. That is the effect of God's commands. When you obey them, there is life. There is protection. There is blessing.

They're for your good. In verse five, he says, surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Moses says, look, I've been faithful to teach you the commands of God. I did exactly what God commanded me in teaching you what God commands you. But notice he says that you should act according to them.

The word of God is effective in our obedience. The only way to receive the benefit of God's word is to obey it. You can own the Bible. You can have a Bible. You can hold a Bible. You can kiss a Bible. You can memorize a Bible. You can read a Bible. You can listen to a Bible. You can have Bibles around your house and hold it to your heart and keep it in your back pocket. You can do all of that and not receive the benefits of the contents.

The only way you receive the benefit is by taking those contents and then living them out, putting them into practice, acting accordingly. We need to do what it says. That's what James tells us in James chapter one, verse 22. He says, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. You see, there is that potential to deceive ourselves. We trick ourselves into thinking that we're safe because of our religious activity.

And so we think we're safe because we go to church or we read the Bible or we can memorize scriptures or we know this or we know that. We think we're safe because of our connection to these things. I read the Bible. I listen to the Bible. I listen to Bible teaching. But if we don't actually do what it says, James says, you're tricking yourself. You're deceiving yourself. You think you're safe and you're not. You're not safe by the presence of the Bible. You're safe in the practice of the Bible.

And so every time we come to the word of God, as we open up the Bible for Bible studies and services together, as we open up the Bible for our own individual, you know, personal times of devotion, and as we seek to live this life, there needs to be a looking for God. This is what you say. You're revealing your character, your nature. You're revealing your truth. You're giving your commands. Now, how do I take this and put this into practice in my life? That's what God's commands are for. They're to be obeyed.

They're to be taken and applied to our lives. Continuing on now to verses six through eight, here we get point number four, and that is God's commands are for your witness. Here's the thing that God is communicating here. I want good for you, so I've given you these commands. Protect them, preserve them, and obey them. And when you do, it's going to make an impact upon the world around you. In verse six, he says, therefore, be careful to observe them

For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord God is to us? For whatever reason we may call upon him. And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?

He starts out in verse six, therefore be careful to observe them. Again, notice the point. Be careful to observe them. We're talking about obedience here. We're talking about taking God's word and doing what it says. And he says, when you do this, this is for your wisdom. It's for your understanding. You benefit. There's great wisdom and understanding. As the Lord tells us in the book of Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. As you fear God and begin to do what he says and obey him,

Notice what he says here in verse 6. In the sight of all the people, your wisdom and your understanding will be revealed. In the sight of the peoples. He's talking about people around, the world around, the nations around. They're looking on, they're watching, and they're going to take note. It's going to be visible when you take the word of God and do what it says.

It's going to stand out. It's going to be remarkable. People are going to say, surely this great nation is wise, is a wise and understanding people. There's great wisdom in the way that they behave. There's great wisdom in the things that they do and the decisions that they make. How do they have this wisdom and understanding? And there is, as a result, you know, this interest, this curiosity, this wonder at how do they know this? How do they know to live this way? How is their life changing?

established in this way. And again, the idea is that they would be a witness, that they would be an opportunity for people to come and hear of God because of the way that they live in obedience to God. The commentator Jack Deere puts it this way. He says, "...in contrast with all other nations, Israel was not to be distinguished by her natural resources, wealth, or military might, but by her moral skill and close relationship to God."

This was to be something that distinguished Israel from nations around them. You go to Hawaii for the beaches. You go to Colorado for the mountains. You go to, I don't know, that's the limit of my geographical knowledge. But you go to Israel because those people know God. That was the intention. That was the design that God had established. In a similar way, for us individually, it's to be a distinguishing mark. Whenever I have a sports question, I go to Richard.

When I have a travel question, I go to Jonathan. How do I get through security real fast? What's distinguishing to us? What do people around us take note of us for? God says they should be taking note of your wisdom and your understanding, which comes from obedience to God's word.

And your closeness to God. Again, in verse seven, it says, for what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us for whatever reason we may call upon him. We have this access to God, this connection to God. This is to be remarkable to the world around us. That we could know God, that we could walk with God, that we could hear from God in such a way. And oh man, we have some great examples of this in the scriptures, right?

A lot of times as we look at examples in the scriptures, you know, we can fit them into the context of like, you know, church life and that kind of thing. But I love to look at the example of Daniel. Daniel to me is a great example of one who walked with God and was known for his righteousness in the workplace. He was in Babylon, right?

not a religious leader, not at synagogue, not at the temple. He was in a foreign land who didn't know God, but he was known for his connection to God. He was known for his walk with God. In fact, in Daniel chapter six, when the other leaders and authorities in the kingdom were jealous of Daniel, they wanted to get rid of him. They investigated his life. Let's search his life and figure out where he's done wrong and how we can get rid of him. They wanted to start a slander campaign, but they couldn't find anything.

And they came to the conclusion, the only way we can come against him is if it's something regarding his God, because man, he is faithful to his God. And so they had to invent a law that made it illegal to walk with God. And that was the only way they could try to attack Daniel. What a great example for us. That is how it should be in our lives, that we would be noted for our obedience to God.

that we could be investigated and found out the only thing that we could come against them with is they walk with God, they obey God, they follow his commands. I think another good example of that in the scriptures is Joseph. Another similar context, right? A foreign nation didn't know God, but he was known as one who had the spirit of God. As he stood before Pharaoh and gave him great wisdom,

Pharaoh looked at his people and said, look, can we find anybody more wise who has the spirit of God? When we take God's word to heart and put it into practice in our lives, it will cause us to be a witness. It will be a distinguishing characteristic of our life to the world around us. Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter five, verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.

We're familiar with that verse, right? We've heard that once or twice before. Let your light so shine before men. How do you do that? Well, Jesus makes reference of the good works, and it's in the good works. What does that mean? Like, you know, helping old ladies across the street? Is that, that's how we let the light shine? Notice what Jesus says in verse 17. He says, do not think, this is the next verse, right? Let your light shine by doing good works and

And don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Jesus here is connecting this, let your light shine to this idea of the scriptures still apply. The word of God, the commands that are here, they are for you and for your good. And they're part of how you can let your light shine by taking what God says and putting it into practice. Jesus goes on from there in the next verse to say, until heaven and earth pass away,

All of the scripture will be fulfilled. Not one jot or one tittle will pass away until it's all fulfilled. It is the word of God. He goes on after that to say, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so will be called least in the kingdom of God. That this idea of letting your light shine, it is attached to not, can you share your testimony in two minutes or less? It's not attached to, you know, can you present the gospel message? Those are important things. But the direct context is not about what you say,

but it's about your life of obedience. That's what shines the light. God's commands are for your witness to help you be a light, to help you be different, and to stand out as one who knows God. Point number five is found in verse nine. God's commands are not to be forgotten.

Just looking at the first part of verse 9, it says, There's great value. God's commands are very important. And because of that, he says, take heed to yourselves. Be diligent that you don't forget.

Take some steps, take some measures, put some practices, put some diligence and discipline into your life so that you don't forget the value, the importance of the word of God and the living out of God's word. You need to, this is not just going to automatically stick with you. It's not just going to be, you know, automatically your life is going to be lived out in this way. There is some diligence that you need to have. There's some effort that you need to put into it.

So that you don't forget. Because our natural position is to be forgetting these things. And the importance of God's word, we may be convinced of it at this moment. But a year from now, if we don't take steps to maintain that place in our lives, to maintain our understanding of the importance, that it will diminish. The devotion of our hearts will diminish. The commitment of our hearts will diminish. We need to take heed.

to ourselves. Pastor Dave Guzik says, one of Satan's great strategies is to make us remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember. It's amazing. We can hold on to things that mean nothing. We can remember, you know, lyrics and things that have no impact on our life for good. But the things of the Word of God, boy, those things slip our minds.

And there's great truths that we, and life-changing things, and we're like, have these, you know, mountaintop experiences. And then a year later, like, we don't even remember that we were there. We don't even remember that event happened. We don't even remember what God said. We don't remember. It's so easy for those things to fall out of our minds, to depart from our heart. It's one of the reasons why God established the feast for the people of Israel, so that every year they would remember Passover.

and what that meant, and how God brought them out of Egypt. And he established these reminders for them so that every year they would be reminded of these works of God in a similar way. We need to put in some effort to do some diligence. It's why we are so intent on encouraging the body here to be faithful and diligent in reading through the scriptures. Because, well, we get to the end and we start over because we need the reminder. And we...

Do that on a day-by-day basis because we need the reminder and those things need to be stirred up in our hearts and in our lives. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.16, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.

Continue in them for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. There is a need for us to maintain ourselves, to maintain our commitment, to maintain our devotion to God and our understanding of the importance of God's commands. Make sure you don't forget them, God says.

Well, then finally, looking at verse 9 and 10, we have point number 6, and that is God's commands are to be taught at home. In verse 9, again, it says, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb.

When the Lord said to me, gather the people to me and I will let them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and that they may teach their children. One of the ways that you can help yourself not to forget is to get involved in teaching God's commands. This is an appropriate final point for Father's Day. We need to be teaching the word of God and the commands of God.

And to understand that that role of teaching God's commands, that's not delegated to someone else. And we can develop this idea in our minds, especially in our practices, you know, here at church and in our society that, hey, that's why we put our kids in Sunday school, right? So that they can be taught God's commands. And certainly they do their best, but it's not actually primarily their responsibility. The instruction...

of your children in the ways of the Lord is primarily your responsibility as parents. Pastor Jack Deere says, Later on in Deuteronomy chapter 6, the Lord is going to say the same thing. In fact, he'll say it a few times throughout Deuteronomy.

Teach your children the commands of God while you're walking on the way and when you lay down at night and talk about them, the things of God as you wake up in the morning, that you are to be responsible for teaching your children to be leading your family in the ways of God. Now when he talks about this kind of thing, teaching them to your children, he's not necessarily talking about classroom type instruction. Sometimes parents kind of like

well, I'm not qualified. I didn't go to Bible college, you know, and there's that kind of concept. But here, God is not calling parents to, you know, present doctrinal dissertations to their children. All right, kids, sit here and let me talk for three hours about the doctrine of, you know, whatever. That's not what God is asking parents to do. Notice what he says in verse 9. He says, "...take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen."

He's talking about the things your eyes have seen. And then he goes on at the end of verse 9 to say, and teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. He's talking about, first of all, your experiences with God. You've experienced, you've encountered, you've seen, you have experienced walking with God and not walking with God. You've seen God work in different ways. And it's those things, first of all, he says...

That you are to teach your children from your experience. You have experience walking with God. You have experience in life and following God's commands and not following God's commands. And then in verse 10, he says, especially, so your experience, that's an important part of what you teach, but especially, he says, concerning the day you stood before the Lord at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, gather the people to me and I will let them hear, notice my words.

that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, that they may teach their children. So God says, you'll hear my words, and then you'll be able to teach your children the words that you heard from me. You have experiences with God, and you've heard from God. It doesn't have to be a classroom. It doesn't have to be, you know, formal setting, but you are charged with passing on

The things that you have experienced in your relationship with God and the words that you've, there are things that you've heard from God that have been formational for you. There are teachings, there are doctrines, there are understandings, there are things that have changed your life in your relationship with God. And if there aren't, then, well, you need to get right with God and let him change your life. But you have, you've heard from God.

And it's not anybody else's responsibility primarily to teach your children the ways of God. It's your responsibility as parents to instruct your children how to walk with God by sharing your experiences, by sharing what God has spoken to you. Apparently, my dad didn't teach me how to shave very well. I accidentally had to cut off my whole beard. But my parents did teach me how to walk with God. And it wasn't classroom settings or

It wasn't formal instruction. It was life. We need to make a decision. Let's talk it over. How do we evaluate these decisions? What does the Bible say? What does God want? Let's pray about this. This is the instruction that God has for you. Teach what you have learned, what God has shown you, what you have seen. God's commands are to be taught at home. Your life, your home, your children are to be filled with these things.

from you? Are you teaching your children how to walk with God? It's the importance of God's commands that we see here. They're for your good. You want God's best for your life, for your family's life? Hold fast to the Word of God. Preserve the Word of God. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it. Put all your effort into obeying it, living it out, putting it into practice. It's going to impact your life, and you will be a witness as you walk with God and are obedient to Him in

Take some steps in your life to make sure that you don't forget so that you're diligent in continuing to hear from God. And one of the best ways that you can do that is to turn around and teach others. Here's what the Lord has said and here's what the Lord is teaching me. And in doing that, we maintain that importance, that value that we place on God's commands. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you that you love us so much that you would desire to work in our lives to give us promises, Lord, and a future and a hope. And Lord, we recognize that you give that to us, not with a desire, Lord, of

Lord, that we would just do whatever we want or not with unconditional, just live in sin and you'll still get blessed as long as you say these words or anything like that. But Lord, you give us commands and we may not be excited about that. And your ways are not our ways. So we may not understand your commands, but Lord, you love us so much that you've given us this instruction for our good and for our benefit. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to humble ourselves before you in that way, Lord, that we might receive your instruction from you.

Lord, that we might lay our ideas and thoughts aside and allow you to tell us what is best for our lives, for our situations, for our families. I pray, Lord, that you would teach us to know your instruction, to know your commands, to know you through your word as you reveal yourself. And God, I pray that you would give us insight, Lord, to how we can pass that along to others around us. Lord, that we might be the light that you desire to develop.

as we walk with you. So Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us understanding of your word and help us to hold fast to these things. If we are, Lord, in some ways being hearers only and deceiving ourselves, I pray, Lord, that you would remove those veils of deception that we could recognize where we are out of line in disregarding your word. Lord, that we would come back to what you desire and what's best for us. So Lord, lead us, I pray.

Help us to walk with you according to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.