WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.880 Well, good morning. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:06.320 If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn with me to Deuteronomy. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.759 Deuteronomy chapter 6 is where we are going to be at this morning. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:15.679 We're looking at Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 to 9. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:23.839 And we're talking today about the subject of following Jesus in the home. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.480 What does following Jesus in the home look like? 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:33.759 What does discipleship in the home look like? 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:50.560 About six years ago, I first started on staff at River Oak, and I was in uh the middle school ministry and serving, extremely green, still green, but then extremely green. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:59.840 And uh I'll never forget in the first four to five months was where my my burden for the home began. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:15.120 I remember I spent a lot of time with middle schoolers and high schoolers during that time, and in a very close-up way, I got to see into the life of middle and high schoolers, and I got to see their struggles. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:42.480 I got to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears the way the way they think about the world and the struggles that they have and the sins that were that were plaguing them and just the things in our world that they were wrestling with, and in very short time after being in student ministry, I realized how important is the home. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:02:11.360 You know, I thought about it at the time and it has stuck with me, that if a student came on Sunday morning, every Sunday throughout the year with their parents to church, and if they came to every youth event on a weekly basis, that they would be here and they would hear the word and and everything, but that would amount to about 125 hours over the course of a year. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.159 125 hours over the course of a year. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:22.400 Now contrast that with the average daily time that a high schooler uh spent on their phone. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:33.680 And that number, if you could just in your head try to guess, that number amounted to about 1,200 hours per year. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:48.560 And then also considering the amount of time that a student would spend in school just Monday through Friday on a weekly basis, that number came out to about 1,800 hours per year. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.800 So I saw early on that we had a big disadvantage. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:11.360 And then I found out how many hours mom and dad have, how many potential discipling hours a parent has with their child, and that number encouraged me. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.800 That number was about 3,000 hours per year. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.800 The home is everything. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.159 It is everything, it is so crucial. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:32.639 Howard Hendricks, he uh was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary for a number of years, and he said these words. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:37.680 Many Christians today are praying for revival in the church. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:43.759 But there will never be revival in the church unless there is revival in the home. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:56.639 I'm sure many of us in this room would agree that if there's ever a time, a day and age where we as Christians need to fix our sights on the home, it is today. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:06.960 They say divorce rates are about the same right now with professional Christian marriages and also non-Christian marriages. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:08.319 It's about the same. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:22.240 I read just this past week that among 18 to 23-year-olds, that less than 1% have what we would call a biblical worldview. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:29.759 And just to summarize a biblical worldview, we would summarize that by saying, number one, they would believe that the Bible is inerrant. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.839 That is totally true. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:38.160 Number two, that they would believe that God is the creator and ruler of the world. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:50.160 And number three, that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, that through Jesus and not through good works is the only way to have eternal life. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:58.160 Less than 1% of 18 to 23 year olds believed that and held to a biblical worldview. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:02.480 The home, the home is important. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:27.920 And what we're gonna look at this morning in Deuteronomy chapter 6, I am fully convinced that if we in this room embrace what the word says to us today and not just hear it, but apply it into our lives almost as if the souls of our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren deserved it, that we would see change. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.399 That we would see a reformation like we've never seen before. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.720 I believe the home is everything right now. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:42.319 In this context of Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses is our author, and he wrote this around 1400 BC. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:54.560 In the time of writing Deuteronomy specifically, the nation of Israel has just really finished this 40 years of wandering throughout the wilderness. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.199 They initially come to the land of Canaan. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:02.000 They could have entered 40 years previously, but they chose to doubt the Lord. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:07.680 They chose to doubt that he would deliver them and give them victory over the peoples living in the land. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:12.160 And so they turned and 40 years they spent in the wilderness. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:13.759 But God was faithful. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:15.759 God was faithful. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:21.920 And 40 years later, here, as we pick up Deuteronomy, they are about to enter into the land. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:28.399 And really, Deuteronomy, the whole book, is Moses' last words to the nation of Israel. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:34.000 Moses is not going to be the man to lead them across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:37.360 Rather, he is passing the torch to Joshua. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:41.360 And here, Deuteronomy is his last words to them. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:56.800 His pleading with the people of Israel that they would remain faithful, that when they go into the land, that they would keep their eyes on the Lord and that they would follow the Lord, and that they would not abandon the Lord for idols, that it would go well with them in the land. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:00.079 This is what Moses is pleading with them about. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:07.120 And here, in these few verses of Deuteronomy 6, he's writing about the home. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:18.720 And I want us to see here that what he is saying then about the home is just as true and just as applicable to us as followers of Christ today. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:25.839 And if we're going to see a reformation, we need to see a reformation start in the home. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.040 And so I want us to think about this question first and foremost. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.759 What is our home filled with? 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:44.720 And I want us to think about this whether you're single, or whether you're married with kids, or whether you're an empty nester, or whether you're a grandparent, you have grandkids that you get to see. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.920 I want you to think about this question of what is your home filled with? 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.240 What is it filled with? 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:02.000 I want to encourage you today, as this word has encouraged me and been impactful to me. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:06.480 I want to encourage you today to fill your home with two things. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.120 To fill it with two things. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:15.360 Number one, that we would fill our homes with the love of God. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:27.920 If we're going to pass on the faith to the next generation, if we're going to see the Lord's work and the Lord's blessing and generations to come, that we would fill our homes one with the love of God. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.279 Look at verse 4 and 5 in your Bible. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:42.320 Moses says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:50.720 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:53.840 This is called the Shema. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:09:03.120 And even to this day, practicing Jews will recite what we just read twice every single day. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:10.159 It's called the Shema because that word hear, Shema is Hebrew for hear. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.279 And this is how Moses is introducing this. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.639 He says, Hear, O Israel. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:22.559 In other words, listen very closely to what I'm saying, but don't just listen to it. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.720 Do and set your heart on doing what I'm about to say. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.039 It's the same way we as parents today, we look at our kids and we say, Listen to me. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:34.639 And when we say listen, we don't just mean open your ears. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:35.759 What do we mean? 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.399 You better do what I'm telling you to do. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:39.519 Listen. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.000 This is what Moses is saying. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:42.960 Hear. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:44.960 Pay attention. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.600 Do what I'm about to tell you to do. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:53.679 He says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.879 Now that word Lord means Yahweh. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.279 It's God's pronoun name. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:04.720 He's saying, Yahweh is our God, and the Lord Yahweh is one. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:12.879 Right here in the very beginning, he's rooting them in who they are as the people of God. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:21.840 Before even he gets to the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, might, he starts off with Israel. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.679 The Lord is your God. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:25.600 He's your God. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.440 He roots them in their identity as the people of God. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:33.200 And so for us as well today, we need to root ourselves in our identity. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:38.080 First and foremost, if we're a follower of Christ, he is the Lord, our God. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.240 He's ours. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:48.799 There's a big difference between admitting that he is just the Lord versus saying he's our Lord. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.519 He's my Lord. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:11:01.120 There are a lot of folks who can admit that God is the Lord, that Jesus Christ, his son, is the Lord. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:05.360 But the question is, is he their Lord? 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:07.519 Have they embraced him? 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.159 Have they received him as their own? 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.840 He's rooting this in their relationship with God. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.000 He says, the Lord is our God, the Lord Yahweh is one. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:23.120 This is something very unique to our God. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:30.399 You see, the people of Israel, they were about to go across the Jordan into a beautiful and rich land. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:34.240 A land that was flowing with milk and honey. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:38.399 But also a land that was filled with false gods. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:47.120 Now, I think that's a very true reality of the land we live in as well. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:59.440 In many ways, we live in a land that is flowing with milk and honey, but a land that is full of false gods. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.440 And this is what the people were about to go into. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:18.399 And really, it's a warning against idolatry, that they would not set their hearts, that they would not set their desires or their affections on the false gods of the land that they were about to go in. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:34.080 The false gods that could promise them satisfaction, provision, protection, safety, that they would not set their hearts on the false God, but that they would remember the Lord is their God and He is one. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:35.759 He's all sufficient. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:47.360 They didn't need to go to a specific God for this problem, or a specific God to fight wars, or a different God to fight health struggles, or a different God to fight financial struggles. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.080 No, the Lord is totally sufficient. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:59.440 And some of us as Christians, we need to remember that every single day, no matter what you're going through, the Lord is sufficient. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:01.120 He is enough. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.799 In him, we have all that we need. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.159 It's in him. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:14.080 This is the Lord our God. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:19.120 And now he goes to this great commandment. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.080 A passage that I'm sure we've heard over and over. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:33.919 He says, now in commanding them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:40.240 This here is a picture of what our relationship with God is to look like. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:44.000 Now remember, Jesus in the New Testament, he would quote this. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.039 This is a summary of the whole entire law. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.200 Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:50.720 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:14:02.240 This is what Jesus said in Matthew 22 when he was asked, and he said to him, Matthew 22, 36 and 37, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.759 This is the great and first commandment. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:14.799 But what we have to be very clear of today is that following a commandment isn't what saves us from our sins. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.639 That this commandment is describing the Christian life. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:19.919 This is a true thing to say. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:26.159 As we think about what is a Christian, you could say it like this: a Christian is a lover of God. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:28.799 We're lovers of God. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.600 Not perfect, but we love the Lord. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:33.120 That's what a Christian is. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:39.519 But first and foremost, understand that it's the gospel that produces that in us. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:45.919 The Bible says that we are born into this world dead in our sins and trespasses. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:52.320 Not struggling, not weak people who need to just get a little stronger. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.480 Not less good people who need to just get a little bit more good. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:00.000 Dead. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.200 Dead in sins and trespasses. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.440 Slaves to sin. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:10.159 That is the heart that we are born into this world with. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:11.200 We're born guilty. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:12.960 We're born in corruption. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.000 This is why we need a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:17.360 Think about your conversion. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:23.519 Whenever you came to Christ, and however the Lord brought that about, we rightly say that it was a miracle, isn't it? 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:25.519 A miracle. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:35.679 Even if you grew up in a Christian home, even if you grew up in a home that went to church every Sunday, your salvation is nonetheless a miracle. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:40.240 Because your conversion is not ultimately your work. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.960 Your conversion was God giving you a new heart. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.840 It was God bringing you from death to life. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:48.000 This is God's love. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:59.759 And before we go on and describe this Christian life and even describe filling our homes with the love of God, we have to remember the gospel itself that produces that love. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:03.840 We're born in sin, we're separated from God. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.000 And as soon as we're able to, what do we do? 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.759 We make sinful choices in our life. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:14.559 We turn our backs to the Lord who created us, the Lord who gives us life on a daily basis, and we go our own way. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.320 And the Bible says our sins have separated us from God. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:22.320 And we can't do anything in our own self to get back to God. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:29.039 Not good works, not church attendance, not baptism, none of these things can fix our sin problem. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:38.320 And so God in his love and his mercy, he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, and he lives a perfect life on our behalf. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:44.720 And Jesus goes to the cross to suffer and die in our place on the cross. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:54.320 The Bible makes clear that because God is just, every sin ever committed has to be punished. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.519 He doesn't sweep it under the rug. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:58.480 He cannot. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:16:59.840 He's holy. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:02.960 And so how do we how do we make sense of this then? 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:07.359 Really, this is what the whole book of Romans is solving, this big riddle. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:12.319 How can God be just and justify sinners like you and I? 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:19.200 How can he declare us not guilty when we are full of lawbreaking against the Lord? 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:20.720 The cross. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:23.279 It all points to the cross. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:36.559 On the cross is where God's justice and God's love meet together, where Jesus bears our sin in our place so that he can give us as a free gift his righteousness. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:38.640 We can't earn righteousness. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.400 We can't earn God's love. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:41.599 It's a gift. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.319 It's a gift to receive. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:51.279 And it's only in receiving it as a free gift that we really receive Christ. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:52.640 And he changes us. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.720 If you're in here and you're not a follower of Christ, then that is the call today. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.440 Receive that free gift. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:06.799 Jesus said, Come to me, all you who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.640 He offers you rest. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:19.599 He offers you forgiveness from that guilt and shame which presses you down on a daily basis. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:24.640 He says, I will remove it as far as the east is from the west. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:26.559 It will be gone. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:28.240 Come to him. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:33.759 Come to him in repentance and faith, and he will receive you. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:38.640 And now in this Christian life, we walk with him. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:45.680 We live for him as children of God, changed by him now with hearts that love him. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:54.240 Really, this command is describing to us one of our purposes, the main purpose of our life, to glorify God by loving him. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:56.480 It's a life of love. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:01.759 And this love for God really describes our motive for everything we do. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:11.359 This should be our motive, first and foremost, for getting up, setting an alarm on a Sunday morning when you could sleep in or do anything you wanted on Sunday. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:12.240 Why? 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:14.799 Why is it that we're here? 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.759 Our motive is loving God. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.519 It's love for Him and enjoying Him. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:25.440 This is the motive for the Christian life. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:31.119 And I want you to see here how He describes this love because I want us to examine our own love for the Lord. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:37.359 There's not a day that goes by where you and I have loved God to the full that whole day. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:39.039 I'm convinced of that. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.839 Look at how he describes that love. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:44.160 Verse 5. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:05.440 In other words, with every aspect of your being and to the full. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:21.359 Jesus tells us that our love for God is to be the supreme love of our life. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:25.279 Matthew chapter 10, verse 37. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.960 This is what Jesus said. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:34.799 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:41.359 And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:48.079 Our loyalty to Christ is to be second to none. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:54.160 Our loyalty to him is to be our supreme loyalty. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:59.519 Our affection for him is to be our supreme affection. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:13.279 And wouldn't we say it's true that the man who loves God first and foremost in his life will actually love his wife better than the man who puts his wife first behind the Lord. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.880 And likewise for the mother. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:30.960 The mother who loves God first and foremost in her life will actually be a better mother than the one who puts her child over the Lord. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:37.599 He is to be our supreme loyalty, our supreme affection. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:38.960 And that's a good thing. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.640 That's a joyful thing for us. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.079 And actually, it's better for those around us, too. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:59.200 Others around us are more blessed when Christ is first in your heart, when he is first in your day to day life, not just on Sunday mornings, but on Tuesday nights and on Friday nights and on Saturdays, when he's first and foremost. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.920 Love for Him is to take supreme priority. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:07.440 Our love for God is also to be sincere. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.000 It's to be a sincere love. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.799 You know, children, they have a way about them. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:25.759 Children can tell the difference when Jesus is something we do on Sunday versus Jesus is the love of our life. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:31.519 Those are two very, very different things. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:36.079 And whether or not they would articulate it, they can tell that difference. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:38.799 They can see that difference. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:41.119 And that difference will shape them. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:44.240 It will shape their view of Christ. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:57.759 It will affect whether or not they see Christ as this supreme treasure worth laying our life down, or whether or not he's just another God among a multitude of gods. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:02.319 Our love for him should be sincere first. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.359 And how do we know if it is? 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.440 We just have to examine even our words, just how we talk on a day-to-day basis. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:13.680 The Bible says the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:15.920 You want to know what we're passionate about? 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:17.839 Just what do we talk about? 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:27.119 And the question for us is not whether or not Jesus is our only passion, but the question is whether or not He's the first and foremost passionate about everything. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.200 We speak about what we're passionate about. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:33.119 For those who are passionate about hunting, we talk about hunting. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.240 For those who are passionate about golf, we talk about golf. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:39.920 For those who are passionate about working out, we talk about working out. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.200 I don't talk about working out because I'm not passionate about working out. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.519 But a lot of you do. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:51.279 We talk about what we're passionate about. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:54.000 What we're captivated by. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:56.640 That's what flows naturally. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:05.599 And so, really, if we're talking about filling our homes with the love of God, you really don't need to be told to do anything except be captivated by Christ. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.519 Because if you're captivated by Christ, it's a natural outflow. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.400 It's a fruit. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:13.440 It's like you don't have to force a tree to bear fruit. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:18.480 We're captivated by Him, it flows out of us. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.480 Our love for Him is to be sincere. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.240 Our love for God is also accompanied with obedience. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:26.160 Obedience. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:32.400 Now that word obey is like a four-letter cuss word today in our culture. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:40.480 It's because we live in a culture that assumes any and all authority is bad. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:42.799 Assumes that. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.799 See that association, love, and obedience. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:06.319 They go together. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:12.319 The one who says, I love Christ, but I don't follow him in my life is not telling the truth. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:14.720 It's not the truth. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:16.960 Jesus Himself said it. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:20.480 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:25.839 This has everything to do with our home. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:33.359 Charles Spurgeon once said, Train up a child in the way he should go, but be sure you go that way yourself. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:38.880 You've heard the saying, more things are caught than taught. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:43.759 We pass on easily what we're passionate about. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.680 Are we passionate about Christ? 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.640 Are we in love with Christ? 00:25:51.920 --> 00:26:00.640 You know, if we're honest in this room, we would all admit that sometimes we wake up and just flat out our heart is dull. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:03.359 That the fire is dim. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:16.400 This is why this takes intentional daily time communing with him, pursuing him, spending time in prayer, spending time listening to his word. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:21.359 And we see that dim fire start to grow. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:22.960 You know, this is a true thing. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:27.119 The more time we spend in the word, ironically, it's the more time you love it. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:32.799 It's not like dessert that you eat, and the more you eat it, each bite gets a little bit more and more bad. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.680 No, this each bite gets a little bit better and better and better and better. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:41.359 We commune with Him. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:44.160 We fill our homes with the love of God. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:52.880 You know, we as Christians, I pray that as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we would learn the art of hospitality, that we would host one another. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:27:00.799 And not even just one another as fellow Christian families, but also that we would learn to host those who don't know Christ. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:08.400 That we would welcome people over at our table and break bread with people, and that they would notice something is different in this household. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:12.319 This household is not like any house I've ever been in in my life. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:17.440 Let them smell the aroma of Christ in our household. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.559 Let our homes be filled with the love of God. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:21.839 That's number one. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:27.680 That if we want to pass on the faith, we need to pass on and fill our homes with the love of God. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:41.599 Number two, as we go on to verse six to nine, number two is that we, if we're going to pass on the faith, we should fill our homes with the word of God. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:52.160 Verse six, Moses says, And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:27:52.480 --> 00:28:04.160 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. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:10.799 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:16.799 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:19.920 Look at verse six. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:28.559 There is a direct connection between our love for the Lord and also our love for his word. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:30.640 Notice what verse six says. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:37.039 He says, And these words that I command you today, they shall be on your heart. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:43.440 Let it be on your heart, let it fill you, let it consume you. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:47.200 Let his words be in our heart. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:53.200 I heard the story, a testimony of an older Christian lady. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:02.400 Her name is Susan Heck, and she was describing uh what it was like when she first met the man who would become her husband. 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:12.319 And she recounted a time where he wrote her a love letter, and she read that love letter every day. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:14.799 It sat on her bedside. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:23.839 She would read it all the time, and she almost memorized everything that was on it, and it became so crinkled up because of use. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:34.960 She had spent so much time reading it over and over and over, and she said the reason that she would read it so much is because she loved the author. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:37.680 She loved the author. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:44.720 Matthew Henry said, He that loves God loves his Bible. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:49.920 He that loves God loves his Bible. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.480 Because we love the author. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:55.759 We love the one who wrote it. 00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:07.039 My prayer for my own heart and soul, which is often so dim, is that it would be just like what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 119, 103. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:17.279 He said these words to the Lord, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.240 Write it on your heart is the word written on your heart. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:27.359 We can't pass on to our children if it's not first living in us. 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:36.400 If we're not first and foremost consumed with it, loving it, filling ourselves with it on a daily basis. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:40.240 Before he gets to verse 7, teach them diligently. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:44.079 Verse 6, write it on your heart. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:51.279 He goes on, verse 7, he's saying, Now you shall teach them diligently. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:52.319 What is them? 00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:56.960 Them is actually the words. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:30:58.880 It's these words. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:02.240 Remember, these words here are our subject. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.759 Verse 6, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:10.880 You shall teach them these words diligently to your children. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:16.559 Teach these words, teach God's words diligently to your children. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:19.200 He describes how often that is to be. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:24.960 Well, when you sit down, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:26.960 Teach them diligently. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:35.279 That word diligently, it's this idea of an engraver who would have a hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:41.759 When they would, and even today, when you carve stone, it's carved with a hammer and a chisel. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.839 And so you would put the chisel up to the stone and a hammer and you would tap it. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:50.799 And after tapping that stone, you would write words on it. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:53.119 This is slow work. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.839 It's work that takes time. 00:31:56.799 --> 00:32:00.960 It's work that requires a lot of care and tact. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:09.519 And that's the word given to us of how parents are to teach their children the words of God. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.000 With a hammer and a chisel, we're tapping it into their heart. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:19.599 Over and over and over again, tapping the word into the heart. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:21.680 And this is children's greatest need. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:22.880 You know what's amazing to me? 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:26.480 I have three kids, and they each are so different. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:28.799 They're so different. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:33.039 You almost wonder like, how could you be so different and come from the same two people? 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:34.720 They're so different. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.559 But you know what's the same about my children, different as they are? 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:44.079 And also your children, they have the same greatest problem. 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:46.880 And that big problem is sin. 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:55.359 And likewise, they all, different as they may be, they have the same greatest need. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:33:03.519 And that need, despite all their differences and personality, the need is Christ. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:07.119 And their need is the word of God. 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:11.039 This is what they need, and this should encourage us. 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:21.359 That even though they're dead in their sins, apart from Jesus, that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:23.359 They're born in sin. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:33.359 Number of years ago, I was at a friend's wedding and it was a Catholic wedding, and if you've never been to a Catholic wedding and you ever go to a Catholic wedding, just understand you're going to be there for a minute. 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:44.079 And I remember I remember hearing the priest say something that I will I will never forget. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:50.079 After he said this, it became very clear to me that this guy certainly has not fathered children. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:56.000 He said, Children are not inherently sinful. 00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:00.559 The things that they do bad, they're just learning it from their parents. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:08.800 It's funny because he hasn't fathered children. 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:09.760 You get it? 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.840 It's sad because it's dead wrong. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.159 It's dead wrong. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:23.119 Apart from Christ, we're not born into this world with a blank slate, like so many believe. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:25.119 We're not. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:27.119 Why do little ones sin? 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.960 Why do little ones choose to fight each other even as one-year-olds? 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:31.840 Why? 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:34.800 Because they have sinful hearts. 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:36.320 That is why. 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:37.760 That's the reason. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:43.440 We don't make sinful choices just because we've learned it from somebody. 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:47.920 We make sinful choices the outside because that's what fills our heart. 00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:49.760 That's our greatest problem. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:51.679 This is why we need new hearts. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:56.320 This is why conversion is where God, by his grace, gives us new hearts. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:35:00.159 He takes out that heart of stone and he gives us a heart of flesh. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:02.239 He puts his spirit there. 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:03.599 He resides in us. 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:07.920 This is why when you became a Christian, you noticed something strange. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:11.199 Your desires changed. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:14.800 Your wants changed. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:19.679 The things that didn't bother you before started to bother you. 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:21.360 New heart. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.239 The Spirit of God living there. 00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:26.320 This is our children's greatest need. 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:29.119 This is what they need more than anything else in the world. 00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:35.360 And they need the word of God because only the word of God can transform their hearts. 00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:46.239 When you read the Bible at home with your kids or grandparents, when you have your grandchildren come over to your house and before dinner, you open up the Bible and you read a psalm out loud. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:47.920 Keep this in mind. 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:57.280 You are reading the same words, the powerful words that spoke the universe into existence out of nothing. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:05.519 You're saying out loud the same words that had the power to bring a valley of dry bones to life. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:11.599 You're reading the words that the Bible itself testifies to, saying, are alive and active. 00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:14.000 This is not just an old dead book. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:15.519 It's alive. 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.760