Sep 21, 2020
Deuteronomy 6:7-9, 20-25 – “You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. . . . When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’”
1. The Principle of Teaching (vv. 7-9)
Deuteronomy 32:41 – “I sharpen my flashing sword.”
Isaiah 5:28 – “Their arrows are sharp, their bows are bent, and their horses’ hooves seem like flint.”
Parents are responsible to teach their children about God
Teaching implies heart knowledge, not just head knowledge
Conversations should include the question “what does the Bible say?”
Hebrews 4:12 – “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
John 6:63 – “Jesus said, ‘These words I speak to you are spirit and they are life.’”
Isaiah 28:10 – “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
1 Thessalonians 2:8, 13 – “We, being affectionately desirous of you, were ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves, because you were very dear to us. . . . And we also thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God.”
2. The Principle of Story (vv. 20-23)
Deuteronomy 4:32-35 – “Ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.
3. The Principle of Decision (vv. 24-25)
Deuteronomy 30:15-19 – “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”