“The Promise of a Prophet” [Matt's Messages]

“The Promise of a Prophet”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

December 17, 2023 :: Deuteronomy 18:9-22

I want start this morning with another trick question.

Everybody seemed to enjoy last week’s trick questions about baptism so much, I thought we might start this week with another question that might seem a bit tricky to begin with. Here we go.

Is Jesus a prophet?

How does that question strike you?

My initial gut reaction is to say, “No.”  Because saying that Jesus is a prophet feels like a kind of downgrade from everything we’ve been reading about Jesus in the Gospel of John, especially, mostly recently, in chapter 5. No, Jesus isn’t a prophet. He’s the Son of God and God the Son! Is that your gut reaction, too?

But notice that the question is not, “Is Jesus ONLY a prophet?” That would be an easier one for Christians like you and me. No, Jesus is not JUST a prophet.

But He is a true prophet of God, is He not?

What is a prophet? A prophet is an divinely authorized spokesman for God. A prophet is a person supernaturally given actual words from God to speak to other people. Sometimes, not always, the prophet even tells the future. A prophet is an divinely authorized (from God) spokesman for God. A from-God supernatural-spokesman for God.

Now, given that definition. Is Jesus a prophet?

Let me ask this question. Is Jesus THE Prophet?

If you remember in John chapter 1, the Jewish religious authorities were investigating John the Baptist and asked John who he thought he was.

And John said that he was not the Christ, not the Messiah. And so they said, “Ok. Who are you then? Are you Elijah? “I am not.” And then they asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” (Jn. 1:21 NIVO).

What were they talking about? “The Prophet?” Well, that’s what our passage today is all about. 

Deuteronomy 18 is a promise of a prophet. I almost titled this message, “The Prophet’s Prophecy of a Prophet to Prophesy,” but I thought that might be a bit much. But that’s what it is. What you have before you is an ancient passage of holy scripture that promises that God will raise up a prophet to speak for Him to His people.

And here’s how ancient it is. It was written over 3,000 years ago! Today, we’re going back more than 3,000 years. More like 3,500 years to book of Deuteronomy. 

Most of Deuteronomy was written in Hebrew by Moses to give instruction to the second generation of Israelites who were actually going to get to enter into the Promised Land. Moses is getting the people ready for what they were going to experience in Canaan and telling them how God expected them to live as His people there.

By the way, you can thank Heather Joy for this sermon being so short and focused today. I’ve been thinking so much about what Jesus said at end of chapter 5 when He told them, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (Jn. 5:46 NIVO).

And I was going to do a whole sermon this week called “What did Moses write about Jesus?” And I was going to do everything Moses said about Jesus in Genesis and everything Moses said about Jesus in Exodus, and everything Moses said about Jesus in Leviticus.

And Heather was like, “You’re going try to preach the entire Torah in one message? Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

And I’m like, “Oh yeah, I should probably just focus on one thing.”

And this is the one I landed on. I’ve never gotten to preach through Deuteronomy in the last twenty-five years, so here’s a chance to study it some together.

Before he gives the promise of the prophet, Moses warns the people to not become like the pagan nations current living in the Promised Land– especially in how they tried to predict and control the future. Let’s start in verse 9. Deuteronomy 18:9.

“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so” (vv.9-14).

Moses says that the people of Israel were going to be tempted to act like the people of Canaan especially in adopting these occult practices that Yahweh hated. He calls them “detestable” or “abominable.” He hates them.

He hates them for many reasons but a big one is that they all encourage relying on powers other than Him. And Moses gives a long list of them. In fact, the longest list of occult practices in the whole Bible.

Moses says that the Israelites are to reject them all. And sadly, all of these are still present in the world today. And, sadly, it must be said that the should be roundly rejected today by followers of Christ. These are not the ways to know the future or shape the future or to make decisions.

And those that practice them are playing with infernal fire. This is serious stuff. Don’t play with it. I know it’s popular. And it might seem harmless and fun. And it might even “work” sometimes because of demonic power behind it.

But it’s rebellion against the true God. Moses says it’s one of the reasons why the Canaanites are going to be judged and dispossessed and driven out of the Promised Land. Israel should not then do the same things they did!

And they don’t need to do any of that cruel and crazy stuff because God is going to give them a prophet. Look at verse 15.

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

There’s the promise of a prophet. God has promised a divine spokesman for God from God to God’s people. 

And that’s good news in so many ways. For one, just that God loves to communicate. He’s a talking God, a speaking God. He doesn’t leave His people in the dark. And we know that Moses is going to die. He’s really getting up there. I think he was around 120 years old when he died. But the words from God were not going to stop with Moses. God was promised to send a prophet.

Let’s look and see what this promised prophet is going to be like.

For starters, he’ll be a gift. Look at verse 15 again. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me.” 

That “for you” means that God will give this prophet to His people as a gift. He’ll be aimed at God’s people. He’ll be “for them.” They will not be left alone. They will not have to wonder what God is like or what God wants. He will raise up a prophet for them.

And from them. That is to say, this prophet will be an Israelite. Moses says, “from your own brothers.” He won’t be a foreigner. He won’t even be an angel. He will be a human. An Israelite human “brother.”

For His people, from His people and LIKE Moses. Did you catch that? Verse 15, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me...”

Moses is the model. Moses is the prototype. He’s being doing the prophet thing already, so they will be able to recognize the fulfillment of this promise, because they’ve already seen something like it.

Now, in what way will this prophet to come be like Moses?

Maybe a lot of different ways. Moses lived a pretty amazing life. Just read the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I won’t preach them all this morning to you though I’m sorely tempted!

Here’s one thing Moses did. He mediated a covenant between God and his people. He interceded. That’s where Moses goes in verse 16.

“For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’”

Do you remember that (Deut. 5:23-27)? When they encountered God at Mt. Horeb (which is Mt. Sinai), the mountain on fire, and they were scared almost to death at His glorious holiness, and they asked for a mediator. And God gave them Moses. He allowed Moses to be a go-between.

Moses now says that this prophet will be a kind of go-between like that for them. They will hear from God through the prophet. 

But it will be God’s own words that they hear. Look at verse 17.

“The LORD said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.”

God has promised to give to His people a prophet who has His very own true divine words placed directly in the prophet’s mouth.

Which could be a painful thing. Remember a year ago how the Prophet Jeremiah talked about it being like a fire in his mouth? It burns. 

And the people were supposed to listen because these word the very words of God. And God was going to back them up. Moses warns in verses 20 through 22 that some false prophets were going to pretend to be true prophets and pretend to speak in His name. And they were not only to be rejected, but under the old covenant, they were to be executed. That’s how serious this was. Look at verse 20.

“But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’

You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ 

[Well, here’s one way. V.22] If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

Last year around this time, we met a prophet named Hananiah in the book of Jeremiah. Anybody remember him? Hananiah took that wooden yoke off of Jeremiah that he had had to wear and broke it all up. Remember that? And Hananiah said that in just 2 years, God was going to restore Judah and bring the exiles back and put the king back on the throne and break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Remember that? That was exciting and encouraging and exactly what everybody wanted to hear. 

And it was false. As false as 2+2 = -2. And within the year Hananiah was dead.

Beware of listening to people who only tell you what you want to hear.

The true prophet from God tells you what God says, whether you want to hear it or not, with God’s own true words in His mouth. And what he says comes to pass. It’s not just wishful thinking. 

It is God’s Word.

So, who is this prophet who was promised?

I think it was Joshua.

And I think it was Samuel.

And I think it was Nathan.

And I think it was Isaiah.

And I think it was Jeremiah. [See Jeremiah 1:9!]

And I think it was Daniel.

And I think it was Ezekiel.

And I think it was Zechariah (that’s a crazy book. I read it this week.)

And I think it was Micah.

And I think it was Malachi. [Remind me to preach on Malachi next Advent season!]

I think that Deuteronomy 18 applies to a long line of faithful prophets whom God graciously gave to His people, from His people, mediatorially speaking God’s own true Words that God Himself placed in their mouths.

But I also think that this is a passage for Advent.

I think that not one of those prophets ever could fully fill up the promise of this prophet.

I mean, a prophet “like Moses?”  The Book of Deuteronomy ends by saying that no “prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10 NIVO).

Nobody had reached his stature as a prophet, a divine from-God spokesman for God. Whom the LORD knew face-to-face. Somebody whom could mediate a whole new covenant. 

And the Jews thought that nobody have ever reached that level either. Year after year, the Jews kept reading Deuteronomy 18 again and again and again, and they believed that God was going to one day send a prophet who would fill that bill like nobody ever had.

That’s why they asked John the Baptist, “Are you THE prophet? Are you the Promised Prophet of Deuteronomy 18?" And John said he was not.

So, who do you think it is?

Was there a prophet who was spared from death in infancy like Moses was?

Was there a prophet who taught on a mountainside and gave a new law there like Moses did?

Was there a prophet who brought a whole new covenant, mediated for God’s people like Moses did?

Was there a prophet Who was faithful in all of God’s house and even over God’s house? (To use the language of Hebrews chapter 4.)

Was there ever a prophet like Moses (or even greater?) whom the LORD knew face to face.?

Who fits this bill?

For His people.  From His people. What does that sound like? It sounds like John 1 to me. It sounds like what the Clarks read to us this morning.

Like Moses. As a mediator. With God’s own true words in His mouth.

What He says comes true. If He said that He was going to die and then take His life back up again, then that’s exactly what would happen.

Who does that sound like to you?

I think it sounds like Jesus. He is not just a prophet. He is THE Prophet. And everything He says is true.

John says, He is full of grace and truth (1:14).

Jesus Himself says He is the truth (14:6).

His mouth is full of the very words of God because He is the very Word of God!

I only have one point of application for today, but it’s a big one. How should we live if Jesus is The Prophet par Excellence? What did verse 15 say?

“You must listen to Him.”

In verse 19, God says, “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” There will be consequences if God’s prophet is ignored, and they will be dire.

Verse 22 says that if a prophet is false, then “Do not be afraid of him.” And so I think the opposite is also implied. If the prophet is true, then you should have a holy fear of him and what He says. “You must listen to Him.”

Listen to Jesus. 

That’s what God said at the Mount of Transfiguration, isn’t it?  Where Jesus “face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light: (Matt. 17:2 NIVO). And who appeared there with him?

Moses and Elijah! Two of the world’s greatest prophets.

And then there’s that voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love [like at His baptism]; with him I am well pleased...Listen to him!" (Matt. 17:5 NIVO)

Listen to Jesus. Are you doing that? Are you listening to Jesus? In all of your life? 

Are you listening to what Jesus says about Himself? That’s what we’re doing as we study the Gospel of John. We’re going hear seven major things that Jesus says about Himself. The “I Am’s.”

He’s said some mindblowing things about Himself already.

Are you listening?

Are you listening to what Jesus says about His Father? John says that “No one has ever seen God [the Father] but God the One and Only [Son], who is at the Father's side [known face-to-face1], has made him known” (Jn. 1:18 NIVO). If that’s not true prophecy, then I don’t know what is!

Do you want to know what God is like? God wants you to know what God is like!! That why He sent His Son.

“You must listen to Him.”

Listen to what He says about Himself. Listen what He says about God the Father. Listen to what He says about God the Spirit. Don’t wait until we get to chapter fourteen. Jump over there and read it for yourself.

He says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (Jn. 14:16-17 NIVO).

How’s that for a prophecy?

Listen to the Prophet Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says about you.

Same chapter. Chapter 14. Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:1-3 NIVO).

How’s that for a prophecy? Listen to the Prophet Jesus.  Are you listening to Jesus?

I must confess that I’ve let my heart be troubled recently. I’ve listened to the world, the flesh, and the devil and they all want to tear me down. I’ve listened to my fears. I’ve listened to my own internal prophecies of how my life is going to work out. That’s what worrying is, isn’t it? Believing in your own bad prophecies? I’m a terrible prophet, but for some reason I keep coming back to listen to myself.  I need to listen to Jesus. 

This is the Prophet Jesus. My favorite passage of scripture. John 16:33. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33 NIVO).

Listen to the Prophet Jesus. 

The second Moses has come, and He is much greater than the first one!

Listen to what the Prophet Jesus says about salvation.

Back to John 5. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word [my prophecy] and believes him who sent me [who put the words in my mouth] has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live” (Jn. 5:24-25 NIVO).

Listen to Jesus.

“You must listen to Him.”

And have life in His name.

Are you listening?

***

Here's an extra chorus to "What Child Is This?" to correspond to today's message:

"This this is Jesus the Prophet

Whom Moses Promised That God Would Send

Haste, haste to listen to Him

The Babe, the Word of God”

Read More

“Impress Them On Your Children” [Matt's Messages]

“Impress Them On Your Children”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

March 27, 2022 :: Deuteronomy 6:1-25

While you’re turning to chapter 6, I’ll say a brief word about why we are dipping into Deuteronomy today.

We just finished 1 Peter and next week, we will turn towards the Cross as we get near to Passion Week.

So I thought we’d use this Sunday in between to focus a little bit on what the Family Discipleship Vision Team has been emphasizing in their meetings.

As you know, we have a small team of volunteers in our church family who have been meeting every few weeks this year to review our ministries to children, youth, and parents with an eye on the future. Our church has a rich history of ministry to kids, especially to school children from busses to clubs to camp to classes to Family Bible Weeks. 

And this team has been praying and talking about what should be the focus and approach in the next chapter of our church’s story. What does the Lord have for us for the future of family discipleship at Lanse Free Church?

And as you might expect, this team has spent some time together in Scripture, and one of the key passages we looked at was Deuteronomy chapter 6. The whole chapter. After that team looked at it, the Elders looked at it, too. And both groups agreed that it would be good for the whole church to study it together some Sunday, as well. So here we are. 

“Deutero” means “second” (in Greek), and “nomos” means law so Deuteronomy is Moses’ restatement of the Law to the second generation of Israelites right before they moved into the Promised Land. They are on other side of the Jordan and just about ready to cross over into Canaan, and Moses preaches the whole Law to them again.

In chapter 5, Moses preached the 10 Commandments to them a second time. The “10 Words” first appeared in Exodus chapter 20. But Moses restated them in Deuteronomy chapter 5. And now, in chapter 6, he’s going to build off of them.

We're going to study the whole chapter, but drill down on verses 6 through 9 especially because what Moses told the parents of the children of Israel there I think teaches us some of the most important things for us to focus on as we teach our children here today.

“Impress them on your children.”

Our Lord has given Christian parents the great privilege of being the primary discipling influence in their children’s lives.

Dads and Moms who believe in Jesus are called by their Lord to pass on the faith to the next generation. To “impress” it on their children.

This is not just an Old Testament idea. It’s clear in the New. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 6, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’–which is the first commandment with a promise–‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ [That’s actually quoting Deuteronomy 5, and then Paul says...] Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

And not just Dads. Paul reminded Timothy how his Mom and his Grandma[!]–probably in the absence of a believing father–how those faithful women, Lois and Eunice, passed on their faith to him, as well (2 Timothy 1:5, cf. 3:14-17).

One of the key concepts that the Family Discipleship Vision Team has focused upon is the importance of parents in making disciples of the next generation. Parents. So whatever we come up with, we know that parents are a key factor in the equation.

Moms and Dads, this is your job.

It’s your job to teach your kids the faith. It’s your calling. It’s your responsibility.

More than that–it’s your great privilege!

To teach your children about your Lord. “Impressing” the faith on your children.

Now, of course, it’s not just Moms and Dads who do that. Pastors and Children’s Church Teachers and Youth Group Leaders and people next to you on the pew can all play an important role. And there are wonderful Christian schools like Clearfield Alliance School or Christian Servant Academy and wonderful camps like Miracle Mountain Ranch to come alongside Christian parents and help.

And when there are children with no Christian parents in the equation, the rest of the church needs to step it up and take their place.

You’ve heard, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, it takes a whole church family to raise a disciple.

But the primary people the Bible talks to about teaching the next generation are the parents of the next generation. “Impress them on your children.”

Moses told the Israelites in verse 6, “These commandments that I give you today [the 10 Commandments and all the rest of this biblical teaching] are to be upon your hearts.” So it starts in the hearts of the parents’ generation. It’s gotta be in our hearts first.

And then we need to try to pass it on towards their hearts.

“Impress them on your children.” 

The Hebrew word there translated “impress” is from a root word that means “to sharpen.”

So we might say, “Engrave,” this teaching on your children.

Drill it in there!

The King James Version says, “teach them diligently.”

The Christian Standard Bible says, “repeat them to your children.”

The New Living Translation actually says, “Repeat them again and again.”

“Impress them on your children.”

Parents, you should be a broken record!

Your job is to impress biblical teaching on your children.

You cannot make them accept that teaching. You cannot make them believe that teaching. You cannot guarantee that they will embrace that teaching all of their life.

But you can make sure they hear it again and again and again–from you.

Now, of course, that looks different with different kids and with different parents and especially at different times in their lives. It will look one way when they are really little and an almost completely different way when they are older. Heather and I are still trying to impress the faith on our children today, but at 21, 20, 18, and 17, it looks really different from when they were 5, 4, 2, and 1!

The point is to be at it. Continually.

As parents, it’s our job to not just to feed and shelter and protect and provide and make sure they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. 

It’s our job to continually teach them about the Lord.

“Impress them on your children.”

And to do that, we have to open our mouths. Verse 7.

“Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

I think that’s a way of saying, “all of the time,” right?

The Israelites were to remind their children when they sat at home and when they were out on the road.

We would say, “When you are out in your mini-van.” 

When you are taking them to school or to soccer practice.

“When you lie down”–bedtime.

“When you get up”–breakfast time. 

Bedtime and breakfast time are key moments for discipleship!

And everything in between!

This is one of the reasons why parents are called to be the primary disciplers–they get their kids for some of the best times to learn about the Lord.

Parents, you may not have them all of the time, but all of the time you have them, you should be discipling them.

Impressing the faith on your children.

You’ve got them when they go to bed and when they get up. When they are sitting at home and when you are out with them on the road.

One of things we’ve noticed is that families are really busy these days. Lots of activities. And sometimes that means they are at church or church programs less than they used to be.

And while I think it’s good and right to ask parents to constantly monitor their family’s priorities and make sure that participating in spiritual community is a high priority–because the Lord calls us to do this together as a church!–yet no busy schedule should ever keep parents from discipling their children.

You don’t need this building to impress the faith on your children. You just need to open your mouth and continually connect everything in life to the Lord.

You can do this! There are lots of ways to do it. 

When they are little, there are Bible story books.

We have a bunch in the church library.

Heather just bought 3 more children’s books for the library, and they are beautiful.

Read a Bible story to your kids every night. Read a missionary biography.

Pray at the table every meal.

Sing with your kids at bedtime every night.

Pray with your kids at the table every morning.

Talk about Jesus as you drive to school in the morning.

When you pick them up, ask your kids about their day, and then bring the Lord into the conversation.

You can do this!

Discipleship doesn’t just happen in a classroom.

Or another way to say it is that everywhere is the classroom for discipleship.

“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Now, Orthodox Jews have taken that literally, and they actually have written down Scriptures and put them in little boxes that they wear on their bodies and attach to the doorframes of their houses. They touch them as they leave home and touch their mouths. And while I don’t think that’s what Moses meant, I applaud how seriously they take it! 

I think Moses meant to do whatever you can to keep the Scriptures in front of your eyes. Use whatever memory devices to get it into your kids’ minds.

Heather has chalkboards set up around our house with Scripture on it and posters and little pieces of writing paper stuck on cupboard doors. If I close my eyes, I can see Scripture all over our house.

The point is to do this everywhere and all of the time.

“Impress them on your children.”

Maybe use a catechism? Our kids memorized questions and answers from before they could understand them and they have given them hooks to hang truth on as they grew up.

I could ask them a question right now (I won’t because I don’t embarrass them that way, right? But I could ask them a question right now, and the answer would be on their lips.

“Q. What is sin? 

A. Sin is thinking, wanting or doing what displeases God.

Q. Is there only one God?

A. Yes, there is only one God and He exists in three Persons–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

If you want recommendations for good catechisms, I’d be glad to help you pick something out.

Even more importantly, memorize Scripture together.

On your way to church on Sunday, practice the “Hide the Word” verse in the car. Say it over and over again. Turn it into a song. Take turns. Make it a game. Flash cards!

“Impress them on your children.”

Parents, you can do this.

Now, some of you are like, “I don’t want to preach to my kids and tell them what to believe. It was forced down my throat, and I’m not doing that to my child.”

And there are lots of ways to do this badly, but one of worst ways is to not do it at all.

The Lord tells us to do it. So if He’s our Lord, we need to do it!

And we don't do this with math, do we? We don't say, "I don't want to preach to my kids all of this 2+2=4 stuff and tell them what to believe. All that math was forced down my throat, and I'm not doing that to my child."

That Jesus is Lord is just as true as 2+2=4. We need to teach the truth to our kids!

I think the key is to be living it out ourselves as we try to impress it on our children. It has to be “upon our hearts” first (v.6). Our kids will easily sniff out the hypocrisy if we are telling them one thing and then doing the exact opposite ourselves. 

We’ve all seen it done poorly.

But we’ve all seen it done well, too, right? Who are your models for family discipleship?

I think this is where the rest of the church can really help. If you have already been down this road, what can you do to help a younger parent travel it now?

I want to recommend another resource. This is a book I’ve been reading this Spring. It’s called, Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments, and Milestones by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin, foreword by Jen Wilkin.

Time, Moments, and Milestones.

Time is quantity and quality time. You have to have both. Setting aside time to get your family into the Bible together.

Moments are like v.7 sitting at home and walking along the road.

Milestones are big events like baptisms and church camp and Challenge Conference and things like that.

Time, moments, and milestones. This book encourages parents to leverage all of those things to impress the faith on your children. And the authors also have a podcast where they talk about practical ideas for doing it well.

You can do this! And you are doing this! You are here with your kids right now.

If you are trying to disciple your family, the Lord bless you and your efforts. Keep it up! Keep going! We’re all with you!

And we’re all learning from you. I thought about walking around with a microphone today and asking all of the parents to tell us a story of how you are doing this right now. What your strategies are. But I didn’t want to put anybody on the spot. Maybe we’ll do that another Sunday. 

The key is keep doing it. Everywhere and every day, all of the time.

“Impress them on your children.”

Now, what are we supposed to impress on our children. I want to briefly summarize Moses’ message in three short points. (And we all need these things impressed on us, not just the children.)

#1. IMPRESS ON YOUR CHILDREN WHO THE LORD IS.

Let’s back up to verse 1.

“These [what he just gave them in the preceding chapters and what he’s going to give them in the chapters to come] are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them [notice the generations there!] may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. [There is blessing with obedience. Let’s teach that our kids! V.3] Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. [This is the essence of the Old Covenant. With obedience comes blessing. Now, here’s where Moses teaches something essential about God’s identity. V.4]

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

The Jews call this the “Shema” from the Hebrew word to “Hear.”

And the Orthodox Jews recite it three times every day.

This is just as fundamental as what Kim Cone read to us last week about the LORD being the “I Am.” 

The LORD (Yahweh) our God, the LORD is one.

Impress that on your children.

“The LORD is one.”

Yes, that means that all Christians parents are theologians.

Mom and Dad, you are the resident theologians in your home.

The question is not whether or not you will be the resident theologian, but if you will  be a good one or a not so good one. Be a good one!  Learn about your Lord and impress it on your children.

For example, the LORD is one.

What does that mean? Well, it clearly means monotheism to start with. As my kids have memorized, there is only one God.

All the other gods out there are not God with a capital “G.” They are not the self-existent transcendent Creator above all things.

There is only One of Him.

Now, we learn in the rest of the Bible that while there is only One God, the One God is triune. Yahweh eternally exists in three Persons.

But there is Only One God.

And more than that, I think it means that He is consistent. Not only is He in a class by Himself–He alone is God–but He isn’t one kind of god one day and another kind of god the next. He is unchanging. He is perfectly unified. 

The LORD is one.

Impress that on your children.

Parents, what do your kids know about God? What have they learned from you about Who He is?

What have you insisted and instilled in them?

I have this thing with my boys when we went hunting together, I knew almost nothing about hunting when I did. I still don’t know that much about hunting. But I do know about hunting safety. And I would ask them, “Is there a bullet in the chamber? Is your safety on? Where are you pointing that? Is there a bullet in the chamber? Is your safety on? Where are you pointing that?”

I want it so that when my boys go hunting, I want them to hear my voice in their heads. “Is there a bullet in the chamber? Is your safety on? Where are you pointing that?”

But that is nothing compared to this. “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

“The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

That’s Who he is.

#2. IMPRESS ON YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THE LORD WANTS.

If there is only one God, then He deserves one thing–all of our love. V.5

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

The Lord Jesus Christ said that this was the greatest commandment in the whole Law. If you have this and the second one like it, you have the whole thing!

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

That’s what He wants. 

He wants all of you.

Your heart, which is much more than your emotions. It’s really the center of you. Like your mind and your desires and your reverence and your worship.

And your soul. That’s not just the immaterial part of you. That’s like your whole being. 

And your strength, your might. That’s all of your efforts. All of what you throw yourself into.

The LORD wants you to love Him with all that you are.

Impress that on your children.

Tell them again and again in all of the ways you can think of that the LORD is worthy of their worship and calls them to love Him supremely, above all things, with all of their beings.

It’s easy to forget.

The reason why we have to be broken records is that our minds are broken, too.

And we easily get tempted to forget that the LORD is worthy of our worship and start to drift off to worship other things.

Skip down to verse 10. Moses says, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you–a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant–then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Don’t forget. When things get easy, it’s easy to forget. V.13

“Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. [The LORD is one!] Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; [Love the LORD your God with all your heart...] for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah [the place of testing, Exodus 17]. Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.”

Impress on your children what the LORD wants, and what He wants is YOU!

All of you!

He is jealous for your love. And that’s a good thing. 

It would be terrible if He didn’t care if you worshipped Him or not.

It would mean that He wasn’t worthy of all of your worship if He did.

But the LORD is one.

Impress that on your children.

Do you know Who memorized this passage (probably as a child) and then used it powerfully when He grew up? 

Jesus! When Jesus fought with the devil in the wilderness, he pulled out Deuteronomy 6 and started fighting back with it. He knew what the LORD wanted!

And maybe even more important than knowing what the LORD wants is knowing what the LORD has already done.

#3. IMPRESS ON YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE. V.20

“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?’ tell him: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders–great and terrible–upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.’”

Notice that a good parent doesn’t just talk. They also listen.

Kids are curious. They have questions. That’s a good thing!

If your kid has stopped asking theological questions, that’s a warning sign.

All of that talking when you are at home and when you are on the road and at bedtime and at breakfasttime. That’s not all you talking, parents. That’s all of your family talking.

And sometimes the kids ask hard questions. Questions you don’t know the answer for.

That’s why I’m here. That’s why Heather’s here. That’s why we have church elders. Why we have teachers. And a church library full of resources.

But this question should be an easy. When they say, “Why do we do all this stuff, Dad?” 

“Why do we go to church?”

“Why do we do pray all the time?”

“Why do we open up our Bibles as a family?”

“Why do you make us memorize catechism questions?”

“Why do we sing the same worship songs over and over again?”

The answer is “Because of what the LORD has done.”

For the Israelites it was the Red Sea Rescue.

For us, it’s the Cross of Jesus Christ.

And it’s all of grace!

“Son, daughter, we don’t do all of these things to impress God. We don’t do it to earn His favor. We don’t do it to rack up ‘godpoints.’ We love Him because He first loved us. That’s where our righteousness comes from.”

Remember that land with large flourishing cities? We didn’t build those.

Remember that house filled with good things? We didn’t provide those.

Remember that gardens with all those good things to eat? We didn’t plant them.

We don’t deserve them.

But they are gifts of God’s faithful grace.

Parents, let’s make sure that we are motivated by grace and teaching grace to our kids, from start to finish.

Often family discipleship goes wrong when we somehow convey that we do these things because we are so great or to somehow get God’s attention or earn His approval.

No, we do all of this out of and because of the grace of God. And we know the grace of God because of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Let’s bring our kids back to Cross, back to His sacrifice, back to His gift, back to the gospel over and over again.

Don’t forget it, and don’t let them forget it either.

Our Lord has given Christian parents the great privilege of being the primary discipling influence in their children’s lives. Be a broken record of grace.

Impress God’s grace on your children!

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