The Greatest Commandment

Order of Service

Welcome

Prayer

Hymn - BENEATH THE CROSS OF JESUS (699) - ELIZABETH C CLEPHANE 1830-69

Notices

Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm

Friday 7pm - Online

Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm

Tithes & Offerings - £

Main Prayer

Hymn - TO GOD BE THE GLORY! (676) - FRANCES J VAN ALSTYNE 1820-1915

Reading

Deuteronomy 6 ESV

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 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. “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised. “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.’

Sermon

The heart of the law: love for God

Jesus said...

Matthew 22:38 ESV

This is the great and first commandment.

Great: Main - most important element

First: Best - ranking above all others

Love the LORD your God (vv. 1–9)

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 ESV

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 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.

Moses begins teaching of the people God commands

Moses reminded them in chapter 5 of their desire for God to teach Moses and him to share God’s Word with them for them to obey

Each generation is responsible for their own obedience, and teaching the next generation

Obedience is to flow out of and lead to fear of the LORD

True recognition of all that He is

An attitude of deep reverence and respect

Obedience & Blessing go hand in hand

(v4-5) The heart of the relationship between the Lord and His covenant people

Therefore their allegiance and devotion are not shared out among competing deities

Rather wholly given to the LORD

This covenant is based on His Love

Only adequate response is for His People to Love God in return

The LORD has no rivals

To love and worship any other is to turn from Him to what God is not

The revelation of the unity of God (I AM WHO I AM - Exodis 3:14), the Living and true God, is before the revelation of the Trinity

There are indications of the Trinity but there is clarity we worship One God.

Some Christians are in danger of thinking of three, emphasizing or prefering onm person of the Trinity before the other two.

The unity of God is absolutely fundamental

“You shall Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”

Heart: Persons Thoughts, Knowledge (conscience) and Emotions

Soul: Thinks, feels, wills and desires

Might/Strength: Physically & Mentally

They had every reason to Love God

They witness his works & prescence

They knew Him as:

Creator

The God of Abraham, Issac &Jacob

By person experience

Judgement against the Eygptians and those who had sinned

Deliverence from Egpyt

They had eaten the manna day after day and quail

They had drunk water out of the rock

Their clothes had not woen out, and their sandles still protected their feet

We know God through the the gift of the Son of God - His life, ministry, death and ressurection

Who have tasted of His Grace have even greater reason to love God

It is to the shame of many of us that our love is so fitful and half-hearted

It is love for God that brings about inward obedience

We know His Love, it is a mutual love

The Bible never contrasts Law and Love in the way people sometimes do today

Law informs and guides love into those ways that please God

beneficial to our neighbour, who was made by God

Because of indwelling sin and living in a godless world with its temptations and enticements, love needs that guidance and rejoices in it.

Psalm 119:97 ESV

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Such love has a practical expression (v6-9)

Those who love God will love what he says

They will take His Words to heart

They will treasure them up in their minds, meditate upon them and put them into practice in their lives

Their houses bear witness to their obedience

They don’t change into different people when they pass through their gates and go out and about for work or business

Privately and publically they are to live out what God says

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The people must be careful to see that the new generation knows the ways of the Lord

This teaching is to be informal as well as structured

Many occasions will give opportunity to teach and answer questions

This obliogation of spiritual education still lies one Chrisatian parents and needs to be taken very seriously

Those who love God, and recognise the great blessing of having His Word and living by it, will take care to fulfil this responsibility

Do not forget him (vv. 10–15)

Deuteronomy 6:10–15 ESV

“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

Every situation we face has its own unqiue set of temptation specific to it

There is a danger than once the Israelites settle, and benefit from the land and prosper that they would forget God

C.H. Spurgeon said “Adversity has slain its thousands, but prosperity its tens of thousands”

Israel has also become a very large family.

In Egypt they were slaves and drawn together, relying on each other

As a new nation they would have contact with many other people from other nations

They would get to know about their gods and their worship

Aware of their difference and the uniqueness of God’s Word and His desired worship

Experience the pull of tempations to “go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you” (v.14)

Moses warns against Forgetting the LORD

Many of the good things they had received were His gifts to them

They were to:

‘fear’ Him (v. 13)

Serve Him

Take their oaths attesting to their truthfulness by His name

Remember that he is a jealous God - unfaithfulness would stir anger against them

It is utter foolishness to play fast and loose with God

Examples: Students going to university / New Careers / Developing Social Lives

Do not put him to the test (vv. 16–19)

Deuteronomy 6:16–19 ESV

“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

“You shall not test the Lord your God, as you tested him at Messah”

As a child tests the boundaries of the authority of their parent

Messah

People had no water to drink

Probably God was testing their faithfulness

The grumbled against Moses and quarrelled with him (ultimately with God)

All they could think of was their present thirst and not God’s prior blessings.

They made this a test of the Lord

If He provided the water, then we was with them and they would continue to follow him

If He didn’t then they would know he was not with them, and by implication no longer tursted or followed the LORD

Moses affirms that there will be times of difficulty ahead

As such they must not test God as they did at Messah

They need to keep God’s commands dilligently and do what is right and good in His sight

It is not unusual to find people who once professed faith in Jesus, but who have given up following him because at some point their prayers werenot answered as they wanted

They had tested God and he didn’t do what they wanted Him to

So they no longer followed Him

God may test us, but we must not test Him

Malachi provides the only verse in the Bible in which we can test God

Malachi 3:10 ESV

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

In Malachi, God requires His people to give then entire unequivocal trust and faithfulness to him without question through giving tithes

It is in this that God allows being put to the test, and nothing else

Jesus said ...

Matthew 4:7 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Return...

Deuteronomy 6:18–19 ESV

And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

They are to get on and obey God’s Commands

They were to rely in God’s promises

2 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Our business is to rely on His Promises, and know what is right and good in His sight

Teach your son about him (vv. 20–25)

Deuteronomy 6:20–25 ESV

“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.’

Children are naturally curious

Why do we do this?

Why do we live differently from other people

There will come a time when children will ask about the mean of God’s commandments

This is the opportunity to recount the story of the LORD’s redemptive mercy.

Redemption from slavery

God’s Statutes are “for our good always” (v.24)

“It will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment” (v.25)

Moses highlights this opportunity and responsibility

Parents need to seize these natural opportunities

Children are to be taught the story of God’s redeeming love

Encouraged to

believe His Word

fear and reverence Him

walk in His Ways

Hymn - FATHER OF ALL, WHOSE LAWS HAVE STOOD (921) - David Mowbray

Q&A

Hymn - OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN (1070)

Closing Prayer

Doxology