Hear, O Mt. Vernon
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· 7 viewsJust as Moses charged the Israelites to devote themselves totally to Yahweh and His commands, so too we must dovote ourselves totally to God and His Word.
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ETS: Moses told the Israelites to give total devotion to Yahweh and
His Word.
ESS: Christians should give total submission to God and His Word.
OSS: Christians would totally submit to God and His Word.
Introduction:
This is my little boy. His name is Lincoln Elijah Minor and he has changed our lives forever. What is exciting is that there are so many possibilities for Lincoln. He was blessed to have been born in the greatest country in the entire world - the land of opportunity. He could grow up to be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, a technician, a welder, a preacher like his Daddy, or anything he wants to be. But there are some negative possibilities. Lincoln, by the grace of God, was born with a mother and a father that loves God, but it is possible that Lincoln could grow up, disbelieve everything that his mother and I teach him, and reject God. So, as his father, I have some questions to ask myself and decisions to make.
Am I going to do all that I can possibly do to show Lincoln how great and how wonderful Jesus Christ is?
Am I going to live my life in such a way that proclaims the Gospel to him?
Am I going to teach him and show him that the Word of God is true, is alive, and is the very inerrant Word of God almighty?
I have to ask myself these questions now. Because the decisions I make now can wildly shape the future.
Turn with me to . In these verses you see Moses charging the Israelites to make these very decisions to insure the future of the nation of Israel.
Context:
The book of Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book of the Torah - first five books of the OT
It is not chronological to what you read in the first four books of the OT
Instead, it is a series of sermons by Moses that review events in earlier books and challenges the Israelites to live a faithful and devoted life.
It is certainly important theologically - it is the third most quoted OT book in the NT and is quoted verbatim 44 times by Jesus and the Apostles.
In , Moses has just given the ten commandments in and he is setting the Israelites up to hear his earnest plea to follow Yahweh and His law and to apply those commandments.
“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.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
de
English Standard Version Chapter 6
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
“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.
hey hey
hey hey
is called the Shema and is recited twice daily by orthodox Jews
In it we find two major themes and Moses gives examples for the last theme
Total Devotion to Yahweh
Total Devotion to Yahweh
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Deut. 6:
Right out of the gate, Moses is commanding the Israelites to totally devote themselves to Yahweh - the one true God
The Israelites spent 400 years in Egypt and were surrounded by cultures that were polytheistic or served multitudes of gods.
In one sentence God tells the Israelites that He is their God, and that He is the only God
But God
He is telling the Israelites that He will be their strength; He will build them into a mighty nation; He will lift them up when they fall; The God of the universe - the Creator of the world - is their personal and intimate God.
And the only response to this mighty, unique, and personal God of the nation of Israel is complete and total devotion
He says He wants them to love Him with all their heart, soul, and might meaning that above anything else that this world may claim to offer, He wants His people to desire and love Him
But we have to ask a fair question: Why should the Israelites love God with all of their being?
The answer: He led them out of Captivity in Egypt
He says He wants them to love Him with all their
And God’s expectations for His people are no different now than they were with the Israelites - He calls us to total devotion to Him
He commands for us to desire him more than anything else in this world
He desires for His people to fall head over heels in love with Him - their Creator, their King, their Lord, their Savior
But again we have to ask a fair question: Why should we love God?
We should love God and devote our existence to Him because he did more for us than to lead us out of the captivity of Egypt - He led us out of the captivity of our sin
God descended from a heavenly throne and became a man, endured insults, blasphemy, and crucifixion to save you from the damnation that you deserve
He traded power for weakness; He traded glory for humiliation
He hung naked on a cross and suffocated to death to liberate you from the jail cell of your sin and to reunite you with Himself
Unless you are perfect, you have a huge problem that separates you from an eternity with God
He made the impure pure, the tainted clean, and the captive a conquerer
He liberated you for a relationship with Himself so that He could be your unique and personal and intimate God
But He calls us to total devotion
He calls us to find Him as the number one treasure of our lives
He calls us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind
But the problem is that we don’t give Him that devotion and that love; we don’t find Him as the number one joy of our lives
But the problem is that we don’t give Him that devotion and that love; we don’t find Him as the number one joy of our lives
Just like the Israelites, we look for a hundred other things to love with all of heart besides God
Sports:
In 2017, Americans spent $56 billion on sports events
We spent another $33 billion on sports equipment
In total, we spent over $100 billion on sports related items
Where your money is, there your heart will be
You tell me, who is our God? The everlasting Creator of the Universe? Or a ball grown men throw back and forth down a field?
Relationships:
We turn human relationships into a love and obsession that God intended only for Himself
Kane Brown’s Top 20 Billboard Hit called “Heaven” stayed in the top 20 countdown for weeks and says:
Everybody’s talking about heaven like they just can’t wait to go
Saying how its gonna be so good, so beautiful
Lying next to you, in this bed with you, I ain’t convinced
Cause, I don’t know how, I don’t know how, heaven, heaven,
Could be better than this
Florida Georgia Line’s hit song “Holy” spent 18 weeks at number one on the billboard charts and says:
You’re holy, holy, holy
Im high on loving you, high on loving you
You made the brightest days from the darkest nights
You’re the river bank where I was baptized
Cleanse all the demons that were killing my freedom
I love Sports and country music as much as the next guy, but that right there is a representation of how we have traded a degree of intimacy and love reserved only for God for human relationships
When cornered by some Sadduccees, Jesus said that loving God was the most important commandment:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
matt
Matthew 22:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
Can we truly say that we are shocked that churches are closing their doors and youth are leaving the church in droves when we teach them that there are better uses for their time and devotion than the God we say we believe?
Listen, if we truly believe that God said “Let there be!” and the first beams of light cracked across the sky, why would we not give Him our full attention, our complete submission, and our total devotion?
If we really believe that a dead man rose from the grave, came back to life after experiencing one of the most gruesome and horrific modes of torture in human history to save us from our sins and reconcile us to a holy God, why would we not love Him with all of our hearts and find Him to be the number one treasure of our lives?
A man or woman who truly believes that, will totally submit to God and will follow Him wherever He takes them
“God wants the whole person and He will not rest until He gets us in entirety. No part of the man will do.”
A.W. Tozer
If you claim to be a Christian and Jesus Christ is not the greatest love of your life, you either need to repent and recommit, or question what you are calling a relationship.
Total Devotion to His Word
Total Devotion to His Word
And if you wanna know how you truly feel about God, just honestly ask yourself how you feel about His Word
Total Devotion to His Word
Total Devotion to His Word
The pastor who goes to a church members house for a thanksgiving dinner and puts the silver spoon in the pages of their Bible
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Just as God calls His children to love Him with all their heart and to give Him total devotion, so too does He require the same for His Word.
“Now, mark this: by this shall you know whether you are a child of God, or not; by the respect that you have to your Father’s Word. If you have small respect for that Word, the evidences of a bastard are upon you.”
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon is quoting from the KJV to show that we are fatherless if we do not hold Scripture in high regard.
It is futile to try to separate how you feel about God from how you feel about His Word
If you are not obsessed and head over heels in love with God’s Word, you are not obsessed and head over heels in love with God.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:15
We are living in a time of rampant Biblical ignorance
We are living in a time of rampant Biblical ignorance
We are a people who claim to love Jesus, but we don’t even know what His commandments are.
Before the reformation in the 16th century, the common man was ignorant of the Scriptures because
he could not read
the Scriptures were written in a language he could not speak
the Scriptures were kept from him and were reserved only for the priests.
In 21st century America, the common man
who can read just fine
who has an average of three Bibles sitting at home
and has world class theological training available at the touch of a button
is ignorant of the Scriptures because he is lazy and is not truly interested in what God has to say
But God does have a lot to say and it is for your benefit so that you may have life
1 “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, 2 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. 3 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.
1 “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, 2 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. 3 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.
Deuteronomy
If we believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, we are to devote our entire lives to studying it.
It is in the Bible that we supernaturally see things that we could not see before - where we learn more and more about a God who created us and redeemed us
You don’t have to go to seminary to learn about the beauties and intricacies of God - it is there to be had by anyone who will simply bend down and pick it up. Being ignorant of God’s Word is like starving to death with a loaf of bread sitting at your feet. Just bend down pick it up and eat!
The crazy thing is that God actually wants to speak to us
You don’t have to go to seminary to learn about the beauties and intricacies of God - it is there to be had by anyone who will simply bend down and pick it up.
Being ignorant of God’s Word is like starving to death with a loaf of bread sitting at your feet. Just bend down pick it up and eat!
He says love me with all your heart and put these commands on your heart
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
psalm
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
Job 23:12
Teach the Word diligently to Your Children
Teach the Word diligently to Your Children
Moses gives different ways of what it looks like to totally devote yourself to God’s Word
Teach the Word diligently to Your Children
Teach the Word diligently to Your Children
7 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.
7 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.
haha
haha
Deuteronomy 6:
Moses gives this charge to the Israelites as if the survival of a nation depended on it
Moses understood that unless the people of Israel constantly taught their children everything they knew about God and His Word, they would forget God and their nation would crumble
Our Youth are not just the church of tomorrow, they are also the church of today
And if we fail to teach them the Word of God diligently, we will cease to be the Church God has called us to be
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, churches were illegal in Russia. So, Christians had to gather in secret house churches of no more than 20. Three bold ministers decided to organize a mass gathering of the youth of these house churches in Moscow so that the Christian Youth could meet together to worship and encourage one another. Youth from all over the USSR came together. As a fun little game, the leaders wanted to see how much of the Bible the youth had memorized. So, they had them gather in small groups every morning for a week to see how much of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John they could recite. At the end of the week, the youth - who had never owned a Bible or hymnbook - recited verbatim all of Matthew, all of Mark, all of Luke, and all of John with only 6 mistakes. In addition, they were able to recite over 1200 hymns.
Today, we are thrilled if our youth are able recount a couple of stories from the Gospel or name a handful of books from the Bible
What is the difference?
The difference is that the youth of the USSR were taught diligently the Word of God by their parents and grandparents because the survival of their faith depended upon it.
If you aren’t head over heels in love with God’s Word, why would you expect your children to be?
If you aren’t head over heels in love with God’s Word, why would you expect your children to be?
We get so caught up with making a better world for our children that we forget to teach them the Word
It is not ultimately a better world our children need; what they need is to be prepared for a better world.
Have you ever considered that your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews are counting on you to teach them the Bible so that God could show them the light of His Gospel and secure an eternal relationship with Him?
That doesn’t come from teaching kids a couple of cool stories from the Bible at bed time. It comes from having tough - possibly uncomfortable - conversations about God and speaking with your children about who God is and why we worship Him
Saturate Your life with the Word
Saturate Your life with the Word
Many children have left the church. Could it be because we taught them about Jonah and the whale, but never the God of Jonah and the whale?
Could it be because we taught them about Daniel in the lion’s den but we never taught them about the God of Daniel and the lions den?
Saturate Your life with the Word
Our young people are starving to know who God is and all of the sweet beauties of Him revealed in His Word. They want to know God.
The Word should be ingrained in You
The Word should be ingrained in You
But God did not write the Bible for the sake of literature. He wrote it so that His lost creation could find their way back to Him.
If we teach the Word diligently to our children like Moses commands the people of Israel, our children will not view the Bible as a bunch of mythical stories of fiction.
They will see the Bible as the gateway to the Savior of the universe.
If your children see you talk about God’s Word when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise, they will want to know it.
Men are called to be the spiritual leaders of the home. Men will be spineless pitiful leaders if they refuse to learn the Word of God and teach it to their families.
Men will be spineless pitiful leaders if they refuse to learn the Word of God and teach it to their families.
Satan has convinced men that they hate to read - He inspired a book.
It is not our responsibility to teach your children diligently (though we will teach your children diligently). It is your job and your responsibility to teach your children diligently. It is our job to supplement what you teach them and provide them with the opportunity to serve God.
It is not my responsibility to teach your children diligently (though I will teach your children diligently). It is your job and your responsibility to teach your children diligently. It is my job to supplement what you teach them and provide them with the opportunity to serve God.
It is not our responsibility to teach your children diligently (though we will teach your children diligently). It is your job and your responsibility to teach your children diligently. It is our job to supplement what you teach them and provide them with the opportunity to serve God.
How much is the Word of God a topic at your house?
Bind the Word to Your Mind
Bind the Word to Your Mind
Deuteronomy 6
Deuteronomy 6:
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Some of those most conservative Jews took this verse literally, and so, to this day, many Jews wear what is called a phylactery
It is a little box that they put little pieces of paper in that have Scripture wrote on. They literally tie this little box onto their wrist or their forehead.
I believe that this practice confuses what is teaching us.
Moses understood the importance of not just hearing God’s law, but memorizing God’s law and saturating your mind with His Word
This is why is so true and revered:
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:
But we have lost the importance and earnestness to memorize the Word of God
And the number one excuse we give ourselves (me included) is that we are not good at memorizing or we just don’t have the time
What if I were to ask you to memorize one verse of Scripture this year? Not one verse a day or week or month, Just one verse a year. Would you say that that is doable? Of course you would. But let me ask you another question: How many years have you been a Christian? A year? Ten years? Twenty years? Forty or Fifty years? And how many verses of Scripture can you recite verbatim? See the sad reality is the average American Christian can’t even recite one verse of Scripture for every year that they have been a Christian.
Show People the Word
Show People the Word
If we really believe that this is the Words that God has spoken to us so that we may believe Him and understand Him better, why would we not memorize it?
If I wanted to become a chess master, I would intimately study a book of chess strategy.
If I wanted to be a wonderful quarterback, I would intimately study a play book.
So if I wanted to become a master son of God, why would I not intimately study His book?
Show People the Word
Show People the Word
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:9
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:
Moses concludes the Shema by charging the Israelites to show their covenantal commitment to God
God wanted the Israelites to be a people that radiated with God’s law.
When people saw an Israelite there should be no question as to what God expected from His people.
Write God’s Word on your doorpost so that you are constantly reminded of His law.
Write it on your gates so that you see every time you come and go.
And let people see God’s Word come to life in your life.
Understand that this is not some cultural Christian statement
God is not saying put a cross necklace on and hang up on your wall so that everyone can see how good of a Christian you are.
There will be a lot of metal cross necklaces lying on the floor of hell because the people who wore them never truly knew Jesus
No, what God is saying is
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
matthew 5:13-
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
matthew 5:13-
He is saying, I have given you my Word, you have studied my Word, and now go live my Word
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
If God has really transformed our hearts and we are a new creation, we will be permeated with God’s Word and His light will split the darkness of this world.
We are called to show God’s Word to a world that is wicked and in desperate need of it.
Conclusion:
Let it not be said of Mt. Vernon that we failed to love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our might
Let it not be said of Mt. Vernon that we failed to fasten God’s commands on our hearts
Let it not be said of Mt. Vernon that we failed to teach our children diligently the Word of God
Let it not be said of Mt. Vernon that we failed to bind God’s Word to our minds and refused to memorize the words of our Savior.
Let it not be said of Mt. Vernon that we failed to show a dark and starving world the light and sustenance of God’s Word
If we are honest with ourselves, we all fail miserably - we fall short of all of this
And truly, the only way that we can succeed in any of this is with the help of God Himself
So, If you feel you haven’t totally devoted yourself to God and he is not the supreme joy and treasure of your life, come to the altar and ask him to fill your heart with a love and joy for Him that only He can provide.
Maybe you have realized that you don’t know Him at all. Come to the altar and ask Him to reconcile you to Himself today.
If you feel you are not madly in love with His Word, come to the altar and ask Him to give you a thirst for His Word that cannot and will not ever be satisfied
If you feel you have failed to teach your children diligently His Word, come to the altar and ask Him to equip you with the ability to show your children His majesty and His power and His goodness
He will give more of Himself to us, if we will just ask Him
Hear, O Mt. Vernon: 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.