Well, good evening.

We are going to be in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 to 14. I promise I’m not trying to delay the ending of our series in Corinthians. We’ve been there for some time and we only have a couple sermons left, but I felt led to preach out of Deuteronomy chapter 4. For, just like people need check-ups periodically when you go to the doctor, you know, your doctor wants you to come in periodically and, you know, get a blood work-up. I know with having a newborn, Vera’s got so many appointments and doctors from the hospital are calling and checking up. On that. Hey, I’m just calling to check up on the baby, how are things going? Because we need to keep those vital things in our body in check, so we’re not sick or worse. And it’s very much so true in our spiritual lives. We’re not just, you know, I’m saved and that’s the end of it. That’s not it at all. We have to do spiritual check-ups. We have to take inventory. We have to take account. We have to take account of our hearts, take an account of our minds. Where am I? Where do I need to grow? Where does the Lord, you know, need to grow me? What things do I need to change? And I always feel, I think, like preaching a sermon like this coming out of summer and into fall because summer, you know, you’re all over the place, you’re traveling, you’re doing this, you’re doing that. And the end of summer, the beginning of the fall semester season, it’s a great time to do that very thing and say, okay, Lord, I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to waste this season of life here. It’s good for seasons to be different. But coming into the fall, getting back into work, your rhythms of life, how am I going to make the fall count? I don’t want to be run by my life. I want to run my life. Right? And it doesn’t feel that way a lot of times. And so if we don’t do a spiritual check-up, we’ll get to Christmas and go, oh, goodness, where did I grow? Was I faithful or did I just kind of try to put things on? And cruise control and I was running on empty the whole time. So that’s really what’s going on in Deuteronomy here. So look at it with me in chapter 4, verse 9.

It says, It says, Only take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. So Moses is speaking to the people. This is like his last big grand, you know, say-so to all the Israelites. He’s at the end of his life. And if you remember the story back in Numbers, out of aggravation and anger, Moses does not wait for the water to come from the rock. He whacks it twice. And for doing it, God said, you didn’t trust me. And because of that, you can’t come into the promised land. That had to be, you know, like a bullet through the heart for this. A man who had led these hard-hearted, difficult people for so long. And here he’s literally on the cusp of going into the promised land. And the Lord says, no, you cannot go into the promised land. So Moses knows Joshua is going to take over.

So Moses gives kind of this farewell address. So Deuteronomy is just recapping a lot of things. And what he’s doing is saying, look, this is what matters. This is what matters most. That’s really Deuteronomy. This is what matters most. These are the things you’ve got to keep before your eyes if you’re going to go into the land and thrive as God’s people. Which, boiled down, is love and obey God. That’s Deuteronomy. That’s the whole Bible, really, boiled down. It’s love and obey God. And as much as that’s true and plain, you and I are really good at not loving God. Loving and obeying God.

I, maybe not you, I’m wayward. I get really wayward. You think about the Israelites and their wilderness experiences. How many times do they doubt God? How many times do they disobey God? Even though God was so plain in His instruction, even though God was so obvious in His goodness and power, you and I have kind of this natural bent in us to disobey and misbehave. To misprioritize God. And it’s just what you call a sinful condition, isn’t it? So Moses has to say something really useful. Like, what’s the most important thing I could say to these people that I’m not going to lead anymore? Like, what do they need to hear? And Moses says, this is the most important thing for you to hear. He says, only take care. Only take care. Only take care. Only take care. Only take care of your soul diligently. So it means guard your heart. It means pay close attention to your own soul. You’ve got to watch over it. And he doesn’t even say, just do that. He says, do so diligently. And you know what’s so interesting about this word diligently? In the Hebrews, it’s used in our English language as might in 2 Kings chapter 23 to describe, King Josiah. It says in 2 Kings 23, 25, Before him, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might. So this is interesting. You see, you say, Josiah was a great king because he really put himself into knowing and loving God. He did it with his might. So the same thing is being said here. You and I would be kept in this life for God. We must be ever so careful of our own souls and we must do it not part time, not some time. We must do it with all our might. That’s what Moses says to the people.

If we aren’t diligent to keep our souls, you and I will forget, Moses teaches us here, number one, the fear of God. If we aren’t diligent to keep our souls, we will not remember the fear of God. In verse 10,

it says how on the day that you stood before the Lord, God’s recounting what happened. The day you stood before the Lord, your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me. All the days that they live on earth.

So if you remember the story, if not, I’ll do a recap. They’re saved up out of Egypt. Remember that? And God calls all of the Israelites, tells Moses, bring them all to the base of Mount Sinai. And at the base of Mount Sinai, they get really this beyond words. I can’t describe what they would have saw. What they saw was God came down like fire on the mountain. The mountain’s wrapped in black smoke. And Exodus tells us there’s smoke like a kiln and fire going up to heaven. The mountain shakes. There’s a trumpet blast. And the trumpet blast, it says it gets louder and louder. Can you imagine this trumpet getting piercingly loud? And it says that God is speaking to them in thunder. So apparently it seems Moses can hear the audible voice, but to them it’s but thunder. And even after God says, to Moses, don’t let the people touch the mountain, because if they touch the mountain, I’m going to kill them. And Moses said, yes, I’ve already set that up. He says, OK, make sure you tell the people don’t touch the mountain or I’ll break out against them. This is a wildly, I’ll call it awful, dreadful thing for them to behold. There would have been nothing like it. They’re trembling. They say to Moses, Moses, you talk to God from now on. We don’t want to do this. We don’t want to do this. You go talk to him and you can relay the message to us. That’s how incredibly dreadful and just terribly awesome God was in this moment. They couldn’t take it. And you have to ask yourself, why did God present himself like this? Did God just want to flex his muscles and say, look, I’m awesome? Well, partly, I think so. But here’s really why. If we look in Exodus chapter 20, it tells us 2018 exactly. Exactly why it says now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled. They stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us lest we die. They think they’re going to die. And here’s what Moses says. Do not fear for God has come to test you. Here it is that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. That’s why God did it. So the people would learn not to sin against him. So there’s two kind of fears I want us to explore here in understanding this. This first kind of fear is a really good kind of fear. It’s the fear of God. And this first kind of fear that Moses is talking about that they need to learn, it’s something like, an extremely serious, holy reverence for who God is. Okay? God is holy. God is powerful. God is good. God is right. God is above all. God is creator. I am creature. I am a dot in his universe. I am water in his hand. And I see that. And because I see that, I dare not transgress. That God. I can orient my life around that God because I see him for who he is and I respect what he is and I love what he is and it teaches me how to be me. That’s what God wants for them. Now there’s the other kind of fear that God does not want for them. That’s the kind of fear that recognizes that same God has raised his hand against me not to draw me in as a child but to crush me as an enemy because I’m not a child. Because I have not paid him the holy reverence he deserves. I have not obeyed him. I have not loved him. And now the fear of judgment is upon me. The fear of being judged which I deserve. Somehow I thought in my human pride I could be a creature in God’s created world and do what I wanted to do. I thought somehow I was not accountable to this God. It’s very much so like the imagery that you get in Isaiah when Isaiah gets the vision from the Lord. He sees the smoke fill the temple. He sees the robe of God cover the temple. He sees the seraphim. And what does Isaiah say at that moment? He says, Woe is me. I am undone or I’m lost. I’m a man of unclean lips. In other words, when you really get a picture and a vision of God, it gives you a picture and vision of yourself. And when you get a picture and vision of yourself, you realize just how wonderful and above all things God is in Jesus. Just how sinful and deserving of judgment you really are. It brings all of life into perspective when you see God for who God is.

Now God would extend mercy and grace to those who would turn to Him. In the beginning of Luke’s gospel, when Mary’s singing her song, it says, In His mercy, who is mercy for? It’s for those who fear Him. From generation. Not afraid of Him in the sense that He’s coming after me, but I fear Him. Because by God’s grace, I see God for who God is. And because of that, I can orient my life in the way it should be around this God. I really believe that our passage here cries out, don’t you think, to 21st century America. Because there is no fear of God. Not the good kind, not even the bad kind of being afraid of His judgment. Not in government. Not in schools. Not in the public square. Not in the home. I would even go as far as to say not in the church. God seems to be this big blob of silly putty and I can just rework Him and get Him to approve of my lifestyle and my choices and how I want to do things and how I want to do things. And the sexuality I want and the way I want to spend my time and my money and He’s just there like a genie to bless me and approve of me. For years and years, they leveled it a few years ago, but for the longest time, down way closer to Jordan Lane on University, there was this church right across from UAH and they had this big sign up and it said, God’s not mad at you no matter what. Passed that a thousand times. God’s not mad. God’s not mad at you no matter what.

If only we could hear the Hebrew writers say this. For we know Him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and that should make your hair on your arms and your neck stand up.

So the great day is coming, right? And the living and the dead cannot hide and all will be judged.

Now here’s the good news. The good news is the cross of Jesus satisfies the wrath of God.

Praise, praise God that He sent Jesus to experience that wrath, to experience the bad kind of fear on Calvary. Jesus knew what it was like to have the fist of the Father against Him and as the prophet Isaiah says, the Father did what? He crushed His Son so that you wouldn’t be crushed and so I wouldn’t be crushed. Jesus on the cross received the wrath of God that would come from Mount Sinai so that you and I could experience the life, life, blessing, and peace on Jerusalem on top of that mountain in that city. So friend, flee to Jesus for salvation from eternal damnation. Flee to Jesus for justification in God’s courtroom. Flee to Jesus for shelter for all the wrath of God that will be outpoured on the ungodly at the end of time and I think it’s got to be true that we’re living closer and closer to the last days when such a thing will happen. Turn to Jesus and know that you’re kept in the shelter of Christ but if you know you’re kept in the shelter of Christ then fear God. If you really, really have seen the awfulness and dread of God because His law condemns you and you know that He has saved you by the mercy of the blood of His Son you will live a life of fear of holy reverence and obedience of diligently guarding your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. So it’s plain that we’ve yet to really see the gospel as good when we don’t live in righteousness and holiness. It’s plain we’ve not really got a vision of Mount Sinai because if we did we would live with the utmost diligence and might that we’re called by grace to live in Jerusalem. The fear of God is a grace because it shows me how helpless and hopeless my soul is if it weren’t for some kind of amazing mercy and yet that amazing mercy was provided in the person and in the cross of Jesus. So walk in the grace of the gospel fearing the Lord who spared you from a terrible end.

But I want you to see this at the same time that Moses draws out. There is a relationship that can’t be denied between the fear of the Lord and the word of the Lord. The fear of the Lord and the word of the Lord. So if we’re not diligent to fear the Lord we won’t be diligent either to listen and obey the word of the Lord. Verse 10

He says How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb the Lord said to me gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth. And down in 13 it says He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform that is the Ten Commandments and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. So obviously the Ten Commandments is the first of you know that represents the entire Torah Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy it’s everything God said to the people here if you really fear me what are you going to do? You’re going to love what I say and you’re going to do it. And it’s it’s it’s sad if you go down to Deuteronomy 5 so just a couple just the next chapter from where we are God says this to Moses in Deuteronomy 5 29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always to fear me and keep my commandments that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever. I think that’s such a powerful telling verse because God knows it’s not going to happen. He says Oh that they had a heart. What happens? Well the Bible says the big powerful God at Sinai you know we’ve cooled off you know I want to do what the other nations are doing I’ve got my own life to live I don’t have time to be you know obsessing over what the priest has to teach and what the word of God says so all that dissipated and they became like the other nations and in becoming like the other nations they perished. So see that friend as you come into a new season of life the fall of 2022 the fear of the Lord keeps me mindful of the word of the Lord and the word of the Lord is life. The word of the Lord is life. You know you delight in physical food don’t you when you’re hungry. There’s no question about it. You make whatever decision you’ve got to make to find some food. You’re out you’re trying to be frugal and you’re starving well I’ll spend $7. on this because I’m hungry and your hunger has a way of controlling you doesn’t it. Friend so it should be the same way in our spiritual lives we need to see and the fear of the Lord keeps us mindful of just how bad we need the sustenance of the Lord to endure and to remain faithful. You know Psalm 119 is long but you should read the whole of Psalm chapter 119 if you haven’t because the whole chapter is just on how central the word of God is for the Christian. Psalm 119 how can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. Friends the word it teaches you the word corrects you the word encourages you the word comforts you the word nourishes you the word strengthens you it counsels it gives wisdom it keeps you for all of life. So take that take that back to Jesus bring that into this side of the cross. What does John say about Jesus? Jesus is the word of God. That means that everything that there is to know about God everything that is good everything that it means to walk in the fear of the Lord if I knew this Jesus oh I would know what it looks like and it’s even better than that the Bible tells me if I trust in this Jesus I’m not just going to know Him externally but the word of God would be internalized by His Spirit. So I can be kept in the word and the fear of the Lord because the person of Jesus is inside of me. That’s amazing. So again turn to Jesus to flee the wrath of God He is life. Friends we are kept by the power of the word of God at work in us. And you say well that’s great but I’m just feeling blah today. I’ve been feeling kind of blah for a long time. But Philip Henry the father of Matthew Henry Matthew Henry is a very famous commentator you’ve probably seen his commentary online for free you know I think it’s just public domain anymore. His father Philip Henry a wonderful man of God and he never got to preach because he was you know kind of on the outside he wouldn’t submit to you know the monarchy and he wouldn’t you know use the book of common prayer so he was a wonderful teacher preacher but basically I love Philip Henry because he was you wouldn’t have a Matthew Henry without the parenting of Philip Henry. But Philip Henry you know once said if that’s what you are if you’re cold what do you do? Go towards the heat. Sit by a fire.

And if you’re cold what else do you do? Start moving. And if you’re cold what else do you do? You stay in community for the warmth that comes from other bodies. You see the word is the place to go and you might be cold and you might be dry and you might feel just kind of used up but if you go to this thing and if you go to Christ you’ll find that He has a heat that can re-enliven anything and anyone and if you find if you start obeying and you start resisting the flesh and you start serving you’ll find more warmth and you find when you do so in the context of the church and you’re doing it with other believers you’ll find you’ll get even hotter. So friends just start obeying. Go to Christ. Fear Him. Obey Him.

So question are you in your life right now diligent or are you distracted in your spiritual life? Are you diligent or are you distracted? Okay. Now let’s go back to what Moses said. You must guard your heart diligently. That’s a lot of doing. Which means what? It’s not going to happen this semester this semester I don’t know I’ve witnessed 63 people I prayed an hour every day I mean it was amazing I don’t know how that even happened. No. It happens when we labor for the Lord and His power. So friends plan to walk with God. Plan to love the gathering of the saints on Sundays. And I’m not saying plan to plan to come hear me Chad like I get it you probably get tired of my style of preaching at some point in your life. You probably get tired of the sound of my voice my face that’s fine. But believe God has something to say to you. That’s why you show up. Right? There’s going to be some off notes sometimes. Alright? We’ve all done that. There’s going to be some funny chords. Guess what? That’s not why we show up. We show up because God has something to say. So I really want to encourage you stop stop singing Sundays I’m supposed to go to church but start living with anticipation. You know Lord what do you want to say to me? God what are you going to do Sunday? What sin are you going to reveal? What truth are you going to how are you going to grow my faith this Sunday?

Secondly this semester and we’ve been talking about we’re starting our systematic theology class on Wednesday nights. We’re starting with the doctrine of God the existence of God and Chris is going to teach his first one and I promise you he’s been working his fingers to the bone studying and he’s excited to just talk about God with you. Be there. It’s afforded to you to grow and stay warm in that way. What about a discipling relationship? What about meeting with someone for coffee before or after work or a Saturday morning? What’s your plan to be in the Scriptures every day this semester? To pray? Well you know it’ll just happen but it won’t. But it won’t. So guard your heart diligently, church.

We have to add on to that because Moses adds on to that. If you go back to verse 9 in the second half he says you do all that stuff keep your soul diligently but then he says make them known to your children and your children’s children.

Make them known to your children and your children’s children.

So it’s not so that I can in the Christian life just worry about little old me you know which is a lot. There’s this thing and really it’s written into just a fabric of human nature. It’s written into God’s plan from the garden all the way to you know the return of Christ and how we are propagating the gospel and how the people of God go on. And it’s called generational passing. And it’s not even necessarily a biblical concept. You can imprint who and whatever you are on somebody else. The question is what are you imprinting on somebody else? What what he says what he’s saying here is exposed a little bit more fully in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Again just a couple more chapters. And this is called the Shema in the Hebrew. And the Shema you know that’s very important you know for Jews. You know Jesus when he said hey you know what’s the most important you know they’re trying to trick him up you know Jesus refers to the Shema. And you’ve heard this. Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul. And with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. So there’s the Shema but it goes on.

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. So could God be making it any clearer to parents I mean this is true for all contexts of discipleship but we’re just talking about children right now how central

discipleship and teaching is to your job and task as a parent. He says hey when you wake up you know what you should be doing. Hey when you go to bed you know what you should be doing. Hey you know how often in a day you look at your own hand. Hey imagine if something was hanging between your eyes. Imagine if you wrote the word of God on the doorpost to your house. God is saying in all of life to be a parent if you fear the Lord is to saturate your children in the truth of the word of God. And that happens differently. I think there’s a formal sense in which we do that and we teach that but it’s all of life. It’s all of life in bringing about talking about God in everything. And if that sounds you know foreign to you to us I think we need a radical lifestyle change. Because it can’t be it can’t be they go to school they study hard to get good grades so they can get into college and they have sport life over here and then they got their friends over here and you know they love watching TV and there’s the video games and we’ll sprinkle a little bit of Jesus in like on Sundays or when we feel like it we’ll do maybe something at home or we’ll pray maybe periodically before meals. The word of the Lord would condemn that and say no it’s got to be when you wake up and when you go to sleep your conversation in the car it’s all about who is this God so that you can you can inculcate the next generation. That’s what that word means in 6. When it says you shall teach them diligently it’s inculcate and if that sounds like a big word I got the definition to teach and impress by frequent repetitions and admonitions. Inculcate. I like what one writer says about that. He says so much is this the case that the covenant recipient must impress the words of the covenant of the covenant faith into the thinking of his children by inscribing them there with indelible sharpness and precision. The image is that of the engraver of a monument who takes hammer and chisel in hand and with painstaking care etches a text into the face of a solid slab of granite. The sheer labor of such a task is daunting indeed but once done the message is there to stay.

God’s made it really plain and clear what it looks like to fear him and to pass it on to the next generation. We muddle it up. He says you wake up talk about me. You go to bed you’re talking about me. You see some billboard and it’s got something inappropriate. Hey let’s talk about why Jesus doesn’t approve of that. Some court ruling that doesn’t please God. Hey did you know this is what’s happened in government? Let’s talk about what doesn’t please God. Hey do you know why we just gave you know five dollars to that man in the corner and let me tell you why that made Jesus happy. Hey let’s open the Bible and read that together. Hey no let’s not watch TV tonight. Let’s read the Bible together. Friends it’s it’s your choice what the church and even I would say the nation looks like tomorrow. And it’s how you are choosing or not choosing to raise up a godly generation

right now.

And you know don’t get me wrong I think there’s just the common grace of children like okay we got a new baby baby smell you know like they got that new smell. Did I talk about this recently? Babies have that new smell and then like Josie’s funny she just does things that are like hilarious and like that’s that’s a common grace you know like these are gifts and Dawson had he’s like he’s in like real soccer this year like they expect them to know what they’re doing they got to play the field and he made the game winning shot yesterday to break the tie and he looked over at me when he did it and he went and I went and I left there like I said Jessica I’m really surprised at myself that I acted like that like I went like I got acting nuts because there’s just the common grace of my six year old son like doing something cool and that’s wonderful but can you hear me say it to you

this evening that impressing upon your children the fear of the Lord the gospel and the way of Jesus that’s the greatest responsibility responsibility and privilege you have. Okay? That’s the greatest responsibility and privilege of parenthood is to impress the fear of the Lord the gospel and the way of Jesus on them. Right? Because kids are like mirrors and when you see them you’re seeing them you’re seeing yourself. Here’s the thing though children are at such a young age moldable. They’re moldable. How are you molding them? You’re molding them in one direction or another. Don’t let the government mold them. Don’t let the TV mold them. Don’t let the culture mold them. You mold them. You mold them with the word of God. It’s funny right as I was coming up to as our service started my dad had no idea that I was preaching this but he texted me something and I thought that’s true and funny. If you raise your children you can spoil your grandchildren but if you spoil your children you’ll have to raise your grandkids. And I think there’s a lot of truth to that friends. There’s more and more blessing if you raise your kids well. So I think that there’s truth in that is when you do the work the farming if you will of raising up a harvest of righteousness in your children there’s a fruit of righteousness that’s to come from them as they grow up and grow older. So the psalmist says this in Psalm 78 4 he says we will not hide them from their children but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might and the wonders that He has done. So we’re not going to hide it from them. So I want to ask you that question. I know not intentionally I know you’re not going home and saying I’m not teaching my kid about the Lord. But are you hiding the Scriptures? Are you hiding them through carelessness? Through carelessness? I want to again encourage you in the same way that we’ve talked about your own soul. Friends it’s time to take serious and we’re going to talk about this until Jesus comes back taking discipleship in the home serious. Take it so serious. What’s it good for? What’s it good for? What’s it going to mean and look like this season this semester for you to raise your children up to know the Lord? And I know that’s different like what it looks like with me and my you know two to nine year old and what like different if you’ve got teenagers and I think even you know as a parents with adult children I don’t think we can ever you know stop trying to pour into our children but just I want to ask you that what is the thing you’re going to be diligent in doing? So take advantage those of you that have young children of the most important thing is the bold ability of these ages. Neglect worldly pursuits that distract from biblical instruction. Be engaged. Do you just live with your children or do you lead your children? It’s a huge difference. Plan a devotional life. So we’ve talked about family worship for some time. I’ve kind of explained the simplicity of it. Get everybody together sing one or two worship songs. You know my kids we do Lord I lift your name on high I’m so tired of that song but they love to sing it and we’re putting scripture in their mouth because that one and Josie knows it now so when she hears it she starts singing it so it’s fine we’ll do that one and we do we’ve started doing the catechism and so we’ll do a question tonight and we’ll be on a question it might take us two three weeks to get through that one question because they can’t remember the answer that’s fine we’re just we’re still doing it we’re praying and we’re building that habit we’re building that rhythm in why have I sent out I have to talk to some of your people the God the children’s guide for family worship I think some folks have thought that’s like my passive aggressive way to get you to shut your kid up because they’re too loud so read this thing no I mean it’s better when kids are quiet but the thing is when your children learn to value the public preaching of God’s word the way that they should as adults you’re only helping them at a much younger age benefit from it so if they think their task in public worship is just to be as quiet as possible we failed them the goal is to hear what God wants to say and if my six year old or your kids showing up to say hey God has something to say to me today man praise the Lord that they know that and they believe that that God’s going to say something to them as a six seven year old and I’m not just supposed to shut up and color you know and I understand some kids are so young they’re not there yet but still let’s help them get there so there’s a relationship between those two things one more thing I know that I’ve got a lot of points on this but pray and trust the Lord’s goodness so I’m going to pray for you so give your children to the Lord give your children to the Lord now again I know that looks different in different stages of life but daily pray pray for the soul of your child commit them to the Lord and trust God’s goodness with your children so if you want to see the future of the church and you want to see the future of the nation look in your own home and ask yourself how am I raising my children is it in the fear of the Lord or is it according to the way of man in the flesh okay alright last verse here Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 13 no 14 Moses says and the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess so there’s a great grace again friends when we obviously know we weren’t at Mount Sinai but the Spirit and if you’re saved you know this but the Spirit there’s that moment you know when you you and the Spirit know that God is a dreadful God you know that you’ve crossed this God you know you deserve His worst punishment but then that wonderful flood of the Gospel truth comes in that Jesus took that friends that’s a grace so walk in the fear of the Lord walk in holiness it’s a grace that God puts these little people in our home to live with us so we can we can just inculcate them that’s a grace so let’s be diligent in guarding our own souls and in guarding our children’s souls as well and you say yeah but Israel didn’t Israel didn’t they very much so threw that off and they were lost in exile so how do I deal with what seems to be an unbearable burden to keep my own soul and honestly the crushing weight of diligently keeping my children I would say to you and to myself this morning your help comes from the Lord

and your mistakes as a parent and your failures in your own spiritual life know that it doesn’t depend on you it depends on God and the Lord is faithful that if we turn to Him for help He will give help remember when Jesus’ disciples you know they’re talking about how hard it is for a rich person to get in and all of a sudden it clicks for them like man who can get into heaven and Jesus says well with man what’s He saying it’s impossible but with God all things are possible so friend have the peace and the surety this morning that if you turn to Christ Christ will keep you if you surrender your children to the Lord trust His promises that they will be kept too so it doesn’t mean I kick back and go well Jesus said if I turn to Him everything will work out no because Jesus said everything’s going to work out I’m excited by the power of the Spirit to labor in obedience and labor in holiness and labor in parenting because I know it’s going to come to pass I know it’s going to come to pass I know God’s going to bring me and my children into the heavenly Canaan I know that I’m going to be in the city of Jerusalem with Jesus forever because He said if I turn to Him He would bring me home and my children it says so in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 and Peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your children

for all who are far off everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself church keep your soul keep your soul the Lord the Lord depends on Him Amen let’s pray

Father thank You that though the way often seems difficult because it is and tough we don’t labor in our own power we don’t we don’t labor in our own power we don’t have to work to merit but we know that Jesus has already finished the work and Lord as we trust Him we can know that even in our weakness even in our low points You are keeping us so Lord let our faith let it swell up inside of us to produce more love to produce more fear to produce obedience

God as we think about our own individual lives Lord and all the things that we do just detours we’ve taken and all the times we’ve been just careless in the faith and all the times that we’ve failed Lord we know that those those things don’t define us we’re defined by the cross we’re defined by the blood of Jesus and Your grace speaks so much louder Your kindness and Your love are new every morning Lord and You are not keeping tabs on us and You are not ready to crush us Lord You’re ready to Lord discipline us keep us on the the straight and narrow Lord so we pray that we pray that over our hearts and minds we pray that over our church we pray that over our children Lord we’re trusting Your promise Lord that Lord surrendering them to You You will keep them and You will do a mighty work in their time to work through them to bring Your kingdom

so Jesus we just say we need You Jesus we say we need You and that’s our prayer in Christ’s name Amen