Love and Obey God

Transcript

GRS 50
4/17/1988
Love and Obey God
Deuteronomy 6
Gil Rugh

Chapter 5 of Deuteronomy contained an overview of the Ten Commandments, which themselves are an overview or summary of the Law that God is giving Israel, so that all 600 and some commandments contained in the Law are summarized in the Ten Commandments. And you can appreciate the advantage of this to a people who would not each have their own copy of the Law. We know how difficult it is for us where we each have our copy of the Scriptures to be familiar with all the commandments God has given and you think now of Israel who would hear the Scriptures read, but for most of the people in the nation they would never have opportunity to read it for themselves.

The Ten Commandments would provide a concise summary of all those commandments that God had given. The Chapter closed with a strong emphasis on the importance of keeping these commandments. The Ten Commandments and through them the other commandments that God has given and note several things at the end of Chapter 5 verse 29; Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. You see here God’s desire for his people is that they would fear him and keep his commandments and the two go together, fear being that reverential trust but also that recognition that he is God and I stand in awe of him and in holy fear and so I obey him all the time and that fear and obedience go together.

We look in a day where people have no fear of the Lord and so we see no concern at all to obey him and submit to his word. In verse 31; God’s instruction to Moses, “but as for you stand here by me that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.” And you see here God is going to Moses and Moses is going to speak to the people. And you note in verse 31; which you shall teach them that they may observe them. The purpose in Moses teaching Israel the word of God so that they might obey the word of God, that’s crucial.

It’s not teach them the word of God that they may learn the word; that’s too short sighted but teach them the word that they might obey the word, that’s the purpose in the teaching of the word of God that people might obey it. In verses 32 and 33; obedience will lead to blessing and God desires to bless his people but obedience is the framework in which blessing occurs. Now as you come into Chapter 6; have command to love and obey God, and really the opening verses; the first three verses repeat what was said at the end of Chapter 5. Verse 1; now this is the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you that you might do them in the land where you are going to possess it.

Israel is being taught the word of God that they might obey the word of God. God has commanded me to teach you that you might do them, that’s the point. Verse 2; so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments, fear the Lord and keep his word. Verse 3; O Israel you should listen and be careful to do it that it may be well with you that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord promised the God of your fathers -- the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. Again listen to the word so that you can obey the word, so that God may bless you.

Hear the word, obey the word, experience the blessing of God and that pattern is not only true in the Old Testament, it’s also true in the New Testament, that God’s word goes forth; we think of it in the context of salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, we share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, why. So people can hear it, so people can know the gospel, no. So that people might obey it by believing in Jesus Christ, what’s the result of that? The blessings of salvation for us as believers as we walk in obedience to the Lord then the blessings that the Lord intends for us as his children are poured out upon us.

So we come together to learn the word, to obey the word, to experience God’s blessing. Verses 4 to 9; very important section for the nation Israel, for the people of Israel, right down to our day. This section along with two other sections are joined together to be recited daily in the prayers of the Jewish people. These verses along with Deuteronomy Chapter 11 verses 13 to 21 and Numbers Chapter 15 verses 37 to 41 are recited as a daily prayer of the Jews. Verse 4; hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. This is the basic foundational truth of Judaism, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.

The response to that great truth is verse 5; you shall love the Lord your God. Hear O Israel; call to Israel, hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. What’s being stressed here is the absolute uniqueness of God, he is God and he alone and different translations translate this a little differently but the point is clear whatever the translation you might have; God alone is God, he is totally unique, he stands apart from all the other gods of all the other nations and the peoples of those nations had the difficulty of trying to obey their different gods.

With Israel they were to have one focus. Jehovah is their God, he is God alone, he is absolutely, totally unique, now that’s the foundational statement for the religion of Israel. The God of Israel is the only God, the Lord is our God and he is the only God. Now there is responsibility that goes with that. In verse 5; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul and with all your might. Since there is only one God and the obligation of this creation is to love God then Israel is to love this God with all of their being.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might. Now heart and soul would indicate the entire being of the person with everything that you are, we might say; every fiber of your being you are to focus on loving the Lord, the word might; with all your might, indicates the intensity of their love. They are to love him with all their strength, that a song sung several times in recent weeks and one line on it goes; because of what he has done, he deserves a fiery love and I love that expression. He deserves a fiery love.

That’s expressed here, all of our being, with all the strength that I have, it is focused in one direction and that is in loving my God and my life is simplified, there is only one God. He alone is God, now I can become totally absorbed with every part of my being and every ounce of strength I have in loving him and it goes beyond what we think of with love as an emotion but it’s a love of will and of action. And it is the foundation for all the commandments that are given, sometimes think there is a difference in the Old Testament because they had commandments but we function in the realm of love, that’s not true.

All the obedience of Israel to the commandments of God was to flow out of an overwhelmingly intense love relationship with their God and because they are devoted to loving him with their entire being and every ounce of their strength then they are to be a people who are obedient to him in every area because love only functions in the realm of obedience. This command; to love God is the first, the foremost command. In the New Testament Jesus says; the command to love God and the command to love your neighbor summarize the entire Law and express it in its entirety.

Turn over to Mathew Chapter 22, Mathew Chapter 22 in verse 35; a law here, ask Christ the question, testing him and said in verse 36; teacher which is the great commandment in the Law and he said to him, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” And the New Testament adds mind here instead of might, in Mark’s gospel and Luke’s gospel you have all your might and all your mind as well. So the addition of mind to heart, soul, strength, now you have mind in the New Testament which would have been included in the realm of the heart in the Old Testament, here it’s clarified, again to stress every part of my being.

Jesus says; that is the great commandment in the Law. Verse 38; this is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, from Leviticus Chapter 19 and verse 18; you note, the second is like it, so Jesus draw these two commandments together closely and we can see as a result of Israel intensely loving their God with all their might, what would be the result of that. Obedience to his commandments; many of which have to do with what. They are relating to one another as God’s people, as God’s nation. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.

Jesus says there; everything then in the Old Testament hangs on these two commandments; love God and love your neighbor. At times the New Testament indicates that the command to love your neighbor can be used to summarize the Law and of course that would be true, the greatest commandment is to love God, you say; love God, that would encompass the entire Law but second to that is love your neighbor and that under the commandment to love God encompasses everything. So when you say the command; you have to love your neighbor; you have included all the commands that have to do with our relationships to one another. Look over in Romans Chapter 13, Romans Chapter 13; I think it’s important that we see the commandments that God has given to the nation within the framework of their responsibility to be exercising love.

Romans Chapter 13 and verse 8; owe nothing to anyone except to love one another for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. See that, if you are loving your neighbor you fulfill the Law, which commandment whichever one you mention. For this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. If there is any other commandment it is summed up in this saying; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law. So here you see, Paul is concerned to deal with those commandments that have to do with our interpersonal relationships, don’t steal, don’t covet, don’t commit adultery, they will all be pulled together in the commandment to love, why.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor, love here; agape love always functions in the context of doing what is right and proper and good for the other individual. Galatians Chapter 5 verse 14, Galatians 5 and verse 14; here Paul says, “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Here within this context again, he is warning them about their relationships to one another, so within this framework you can summarize all those responsibilities in love your neighbor as yourself. That summarizes the whole Law, that command to love.

Now let me digress here a moment, I think it’s important that we see the focus of love here, the word for love in these New Testament passages is the word agape or agape or the verb we are familiar with. It’s a love that is not primarily an emotional love or a love of feeling; it is a love of will and action, that’s why it can be commanded. You cannot command me to have certain feelings about someone, but you can command me to do something for someone. This is a love of will and action where I in obedience exercise my will to do what I should for that other person; feelings are not the issue here.

Now I mentioned that because the Hebrew word for love back in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 is translated normally when it’s translated into Greek in the Septuagint by the word agape or agape for the emphasis of that word is, well, is on your will and your actions, on doing what you should do. It’s an action, not a feeling word, maybe I have to come back to Mathew Chapter 22 a moment and verse 39; I want you to note there are two commandments here. In verse 40 of Mathew 22; Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law.” I say that; you understand it in a moment why. Verse 39; the second commandment is like, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now he is saying there; he is not expressing the kind of feelings you have for yourself primarily. But what he is saying; is that we all look out for ourselves, we do what is necessary to preserve ourselves, to take care of ourselves. Look over in Ephesians Chapter 5 and keep your finger in Mathew and go to Ephesians Chapter 5. Verse 29, verse 28; husbands are commanded to love their own wives as their own bodies, he who loves his own wife loves himself, no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it. You see when you love your wife as your own body, you nourish and cherish here just like we do our own bodies, not primarily feeling here, is the word agape or agapao that we are talking about.

Regardless of what feelings I might have about myself, I take care of myself. I don’t walk out in the street in front of traffic; we take care of ourself, the kind of idea that is involved here. So you are looking out for others in the same way that you look out for yourself and move to meet the needs that you have; you meet the needs that others have. Now I say that because in Mathew 22 verse 39 some have tried to make three commandments here. Love God, love your neighbor and love yourself and sometimes they try to turn it around and say; but you first have to love yourself, because if you don’t love yourself you can’t love your neighbor and if you don’t love your neighbor you won’t love your God and that is making mumbo jumbo out of scripture.

First place, Christ says; there is only two commandments here, love God and love your neighbor and it’s presupposed as an established fact here as it also is in Ephesians that we do love ourselves. We do take care of ourselves, that’s obvious; you have done it today over and over. None of you say; O you know I forgot to eat for the last two weeks; I have to remember to do that, write me in, no, would you. No, why I remember to do that. I see that I feed me, I make provision, it’s just an established fact. That’s an important point otherwise you will misunderstand the idea of self love.

Over in Second Timothy Chapter 3, Second Timothy Chapter 3 verse 1; but realize this that in the last days difficult times will come for men will be lovers of self, lovers of self, the word for love there is philo. Phileo love, the verb phileo, the noun philo, that is a love of affection, emotion, feelings, that is characteristic of the ungodly self love, the love that is assumed that we all have is the love of action, of doing what is necessary to care for ourselves and meet the needs; food, clothing and so on. But having good feelings, strong feelings, love feelings for ourselves is condemned; men shall be lovers of self. I say that because what is emphasized today in self love, self esteem is the love that’s condemned in Second Timothy Chapter 3 and verse 2; being a lover of self.

The Bible never says; you ought to feel good about yourself. That’s why I recommended the book to you that I did this morning, that I hope you are all going to read on a biblical view of self esteem, self love and self image by Jay Adams and there are number of other things being written today but important that we see the proper perspective, you know what the emphasis on love coming out of Deuteronomy as well as Leviticus on loving God, on loving your neighbor is; it’s focused on others. So constant focus on others, I need to be totally absorbed with all my being in loving my God and then out of that loving the people of God; my neighbor as myself.

Jesus picked up in addressing his disciples, he says; by all this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So in principle that we have in the Old Testament; love your neighbor as yourself for Israel that being the people of God. I think so much confusion comes by turning scripture around and turning attention around on us. I was reading the writing of a book; I picked up this past week in a book store, by a man I greatly respect. Just came out into print and it’s on how you can have biblical self esteem. I find no place where the Bible says; you ought to have high self esteem or low self esteem.

Last chapter of a book I read, it’s going to be, make it available to you in coming weeks. He says the biblical position is no self esteem, because nowhere do you find the Bible emphasizing attention on yourself. He says maybe # lesson from your physical body, I like this analogy, you got two eyes and you know what, you need some clever device of man who to have been able to see yourself; you got to look in a mirror. You know if God wanted you to have all your attention on yourself he would have hung your eyeballs on some stems out here, but you get that idea from some people today, they are constantly telling you to look at yourself. God gave you two eyes and what do you do, you are always seeing others, so he says, oh did you know you have that all over your tie. O goodness, no didn’t know it was there, why, because my eyes don’t see me, and well we won’t go on to that.

Point is the focus out on others, on our God and on the people of God and when we are living that way we are fulfilling all the rest of scripture and we need to be very careful what is destroying our homes, destroying our families is that inward attention. And I have to learn not to raise my kids with self esteem and I have to look out for my wife’s self esteem and my wife has to look out for my self esteem, what we are doing is creating a group of people that look like Second Timothy Chapter 3; lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness but denying the power.

We need to be very careful; we buy into something that is totally unrelated what God is talking about. He says; you love me with all your being and you love your neighbor as yourself, you look to meet his needs, to take care of him, to do what you can for him, that’s to be the focal point of my life, I live that way, I take care of all the rest of scripture. Somehow those two commandments have been subjected now to one great commandment, learn to love yourself and you really can’t carry out these other two until you get that one right. What a terrible, wretched distortion of the word of God, is it any wonder that we as believers are in trouble today when we buy that kind of scriptural twisting.

Come back to Deuteronomy Chapter 6. Now you note where this comes out, in loving God with all of our being, with all of our strength and moves now to talk about the sphere of our home. Deuteronomy Chapter 6 verse 6; and these words which I’m commanding you today shall be on your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your sons, shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, they shall be as frontals on your forehead, you shall write them on the door post of your house and on your gates.

Every area of my life now is going to be affected by the word of God because I love him and love manifest itself in obedience. I think we ought to be clear on that point as well. Love is always demonstrated in obedience. It’s a repeated emphasis through the Book of Deuteronomy that we are to love God, we won’t take time to work through all those passages, but you could chase them through your cross references in your Bible. Repeatedly Israel is commanded to love God why, when they love God they will obey God, the problem with Israel; when they were disobedient was they had failed in loving God with all their being and applying themselves to that love with all their strength.

Keep your finger in Deuteronomy 6, we have to jump back to the New Testament quickly. John Chapter 14 verse 21; you see the same principle carried out, God’s intention for people in Old Testament and New Testament alike is always the same. His people are to be totally consumed with loving him which will manifest itself in their obedience, difference between law and grace is; under grace we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who empowers us and enables us, whereas the Law simply commanded. John Chapter 14 verse 21; Jesus says, ‘he who has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me.” There is no love apart from obedience, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father and I will love him and we would -- I would disclose myself to him.

Verse 23; Jesus answered and said to him, “if anyone loves me he will keep my word.” You note that, love always functions in the context of obedience, where there is true love, there is obedience, they cannot be separated. We have made an artificial kind of reality for ourselves today as believers, we have believers living all kind of disobedient lives but at the same time saying; yes I love God, I love Jesus Christ. They are liars, that’s not true. He who has my word and keeps it is the one who loves me. Look back in First John Chapter 5, First John Chapter 5 verse 2; by this we know that we love the children of God.

You look at a lot of ideas about; there is not enough love among the people of God today, you know what we are talking about, there is not enough squishy feelings, people come in and sit down and say; there is not just enough love in this building, in this church. How do they know that, they just sat down, just didn’t have that feeling. We are not talking about the kind of love God is talking about, what warm feelings bring your hot water bath, tuck it under your shirt and you will have warm feelings. Now there is a place for feelings, I’m not one to put down feelings, but we as Christians are paddling along with our head in the sand, it is hard to paddle with your head in the sand.

By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God, well that helps a lot, I love you because I love God. That’s how I know I love you not because of the feelings I have for you, I’m in love with God so I love the children of God and observe his commandments, for this is the love of God and we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. So I loved you because I loved God and I love God because I keep his word, anybody who professes to love God but is not obedient to his word is a liar, which is a major thrust of the first epistle of John.

So keep in mind what the love of the children of God is, the love of the children of God is obeying the word of God, that’s what love among the children of God is. We say there is not enough love in the body today, what we are really talking about is the feelings we would like to have, unless you are saying we are not obedient enough to the word of God and I agree with that. If we are more obedient to the word of God we would be demonstrating the greatness of our love for him and the greatness of our love for one another no matter how I feel. And that is true in our other relationships in our homes and so on as well.

While you are in John, Second John verse 6, Second John 6; and this is love that we walk according to his commandment. This simple, this is love, walk according to his commandment, doesn’t matter how you feel, this is love, you obey that’s it but I don’t feel in love with God today. I get up some days, I don’t feel in love with God, just blah, there is nothing there, doesn’t matter, his word says; I do this, I do it because I do love him. Now I don’t have the feelings, that is got to be true in my marriage relationship as well, in our home, become so dominated by our selfishness and how I feel and what I’m getting that we have totally lost sight of what biblical love really is.

It is doing the word of God, as you come back to Deuteronomy 6; that attention now turned to our relationships; first ourselves and then to others. If I’m going to walk in a love relationship with God I’m going to have to obey his word therefore I’m going to have to know his word, it’s going to have to dominate my life. So verse 6; these words which I’m commanding you today shall be on your heart and to meditate upon them, they are to be governing and controlling my life, the heart; that’s the center of my life. It is out of my hear that comes the issues of life and the word of God is what is on my heart.

It’s the instruction here, these words which I’m commanding you today shall be on your heart, that will enable me then to walk in love by obeying the word of the Lord. That also to be the controlling environment for our families, verse 7; you shall teach them diligently to your sons. You know, you find you talk about what’s on your heart, what you talk about in your family after there has been a major football game or a athletic contest, you are talking about, why; that’s what’s on your heart. You watch your favorite TV program, then you talk about what happened, it’s on your heart. You know the problem we have; we don’t have the word of God enough on our hearts.

So that we are talking about it in our families, with our children not just a formal sit down time, sit down kids now I’m going to teach you. And I’m not saying there is not a place for that but this is to be controlling my entire being. It’s the atmosphere of life for the child of God, the word of God is on his heart, he teaches it diligently to his sons, to his children, he wants them to understand and know these truths and their importance. You talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when your eye is up. You see I’m totally in love with him, with all my being, what happens when you are totally in love with someone.

Ever been around somebody that is totally in love, can only take so much of it. I mean really, you know, your kid falls in love, O no. What you hear about all the time, how wonderful he is, how gorgeous she is, how sweet, how they, yeah, great, great, keep talking. What we are talking about here, in the proper right, solid biblical sense, verse 5; you shall love the Lord your God with all your being, every ounce of your strength so it’s natural. You talk of him when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down with your eyes up, why. I’m in love with him, so his word is the most real thing in my life, why. That’s what he has said to me. This is natural, it’s the environment which I live the air, the air that I breathe, it just comes out of the heart, doesn’t it.

You are in love with someone, don’t have to have a set time, now I sit down, I want to tell you about my; one I love and here are the four things I want to tell you about the one I love today. Now we are done, thank you. It’s nice to have four things about the one you love and I’m for systematic and organized teaching but what we are talking here; it just start to absorb you. All that we do, we back up and look like; do I have that kind of love that we are talking about here, with all my being, all my strength so I’m talking about him all the time.

You know, we are walking along, just a natural thing, you know what I got from the word, I realized something out of Ezekiel 32, I never realized before about my God and how wonderful he is, the greatness of his glory. I’m just in awe of it and you prop up at the end of a busy day and you say; you know, I just been meditating on psalm 22:4 and it just impressed upon me again. Why, that just is to be on my heart, that’s me. That standard I’m afraid that some of us don’t look very much in love. It’s just something on the side. Verse 8; you shall bind and as a sign on your hand they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

The Jews had taken this and carried it to extreme literalism. The point here is, again, that the word of God is dominating my life, now they have made the phylacteries, little box, so when they go to prayer, you go to Israel, you go to some place like the wailing wall, watch a Jew in prayer, they will come out and have this little boxes bound on their forehead. They will have it bound on their forearm, on their arm and back of their hand and it has this portion of scripture they have written in the box. Why, I have it bound on my hand and I have it bound on my forehead. It’s not what God is talking about; put little boxes on your forehead with scripture verses in them.

I got something in the mail couple of weeks ago, I wish I brought it to you, it’s the size of a credit card, it has the entire Bible on one side of that credit card, vow. So I got out my glasses and sat down, then I got out my magnifying glass, then I read the other side of the card; if you magnify this 100 times, it almost becomes readable. You know what the thing want said; I’m sure you want to order many of these, there is something about carrying the word of God in your pocket. Yeah I really got this letter, I still have the card, I didn’t whether to laugh or cry. The silliness of it, there is something magical about having a card and I can pull it out and say; aha the word of God.

Tell me we are not in trouble, it had nothing to do with the word of God. You got something magical, you know, it’s like a spell, that’s not where the power is, although let’s face it we laugh at that and it struck me as humorous too but many of us do the same thing with our Bible. I mean there are pages in this Bible that may be stuck together and it’s years old, well, you know, nobody reads chronicles do they and really Zephaniah, all the word of God, it’s my God, I love him, I want to know everything about him. You know when you are in love with someone you want to know all about them, tell me about your family.

Now somebody I don’t care about, I hated, they sit down and say; let me tell you about my family, let me tell you how much I’m interested in you telling me about your family but you know when you love someone you want to know, don’t you. How many sisters you have, tell me about your brothers, what’s your parents like, all of that is important because everything about them is important because they are important to us. That’s the way it is with our God, that’s why his word is so important, we are in love with him, everything I can know about him, I want to know him as thoroughly and as well as I can. That verse 9; you shall write them on your door post of your house and on your gates, picture here, controls not only them personally but it controls their homes, the door post of their house, and then you write them literally again.

But as you enter in; this is the controlling factor in this home, on the gates would refer to their towns and cities. Keep in mind Israel is the nation that belongs to God, but not only them personally and their homes but their cities. Rode to Kansas City and I noticed this, we went by St. Josephs, I believe it is. They had a big sign on the billboard; Jesus is Lord of our city. I was so hungry, I was on my way to lunch or I would have stopped and torn the sign down. Had nothing to do with reality, Jesus Christ is not Lord of that city, that is blasphemy. If he is Lord of that city it wouldn’t be run the way it is and I don’t know anything about St. Josephs, please.

But I know there are no theocracies in any city today but for Israel their cities were to be arranged according to the word of God and all that went on in those cities why because those cities were populated by Jews who were the people of God, who were to be in an enduring love relationship with their God. Just to summarize the rest of this chapter, verses 10 to 15, a warning about the danger and consequences of departing from total commitment and allegiance to God. You have to understand; there is great blessing in this love relationship, this love relationship is commanded for you and I.

Now it is my greatest privilege that God should command me to love him and express that love and obedience but you better be careful. That does not mean it’s an optional relationship for us as his children. Warning, verse 14; you shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you. Keep in mind there is only one God, only one God. He gets our total devotion, the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God, otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, he will wipe you off the face of the earth.

So I think that we have distorted the love of God today to a great extent and we as believers are distorting the love of God. That love functions in the relationship of obedience. We have got a strong emphasis on; he loves you, whatever you do; obedience is not the issue, you need to be very careful about that. Is that what God says to Israel here, is that the stress, it’s not. We have come up with ideas and concepts that do not stand the weight of biblical test and I saying; then therefore you won’t be forgiven. No, I’m not saying that, I believe all sins; past, present and future are forgiven the moment you believe in Jesus Christ.

Does that mean; then the love functions regardless of obedience and that becomes irrelevant in love, no. It does not that has some influence on our families too; we are going to talk about that as we move through our study on families that there is condition in love. Verse 16 to 19; a warning about testing the Lord, they tested him at Massah, Exodus 17, basically what is involved here is we put God to the test, verse 16 says, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massah. You put him to test when you require him to prove himself, often in crisis situations; we require God to meet our demands if he is really God. Things like; if you really love me God; you will do this, God if you really were concerned about me; this would happen, God I can’t believe that you would let this happen after all I have done.

How after, how hard I have prayed, what I’m doing. I’m trying to put God to the test, God you come through in this situation or else you really don’t love me. Or that sort of manifestation; in fact you really don’t care for me. What, I’m no longer walking on the basis of the word of God, the word of God tells me he does love me, the word of God tells me that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose and I should have the audacity to question that love because things are not going according to my plan.

I put the Lord to the test, you better not do what he says, you see, I’m to love him, I’m loved by him, I have been chosen by him, Israel was chosen by him but you must understand that there are guidelines set down in this relationship and I walk by faith in obedience to his word and I never have the liberty, the freedom or the right to put him to the test. So you come to the New Testament, the temptation of Christ in Mathew 4, Satan quotes scripture and says; jump of the temple. The scripture says; he will keep you from dashing your foot, Jesus says; the scripture also says you better not test the Lord your God, that would be a test.

Lord I’m going to jump off, prove yourself, the Lord doesn’t have to prove himself. I take him at his word, people are running around looking for miracles today, what, to prove; the Lord works. When asked Jesus Christ for miracles like that; he would do it, he said; it’s an evil and adulterous generation that looks for signs, because that’s a generation that wouldn’t take the word of God at face value. I have to have something more, something else when God says I ought to trust him and trust his word. The Chapter concludes by talking about in more detail when your son asks you about what God has done then explain to him this, and this, and this.

You ought to be ready to talk about the word of God, the parents in Israel, the fathers in Israel, their sons have questions about their deliverance from Egypt, they had to be ready to answer it. Take it, that us-- we as we parents today need to be ready to talk to our children about the word of God and have our children reading the word of God. Now when they come and say; O I have been reading in Ezekiel like you told me and I don’t understand Chapter 8, you say; you are ahead of me, I didn’t even know Ezekiel had 8 chapters, am I ready to do what God says; I’m to do as a father and a parent.

Now you have questions, I answer them; I talk to them about what God has revealed concerning himself and the word. I want their loves to grow for him and love needs to grow. We need to be careful, you know we could become like the church that Jesus addresses in the opening chapters of Revelation that what happened; they left their first love. They are still doing a lot of things and a lot of good things, but they had gotten off track in love. Happened to Israel; they got off track in their love relationship, most important thing in my life is that I be in love with my God with my entire being, and all my strength; and the next most important thing is I be in love with you, and there is no place for being in love with me.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for yourself. Thank you for being our God and our Father. Lord, thank you for making it possible for us to love you. Lord, what a travesty that we should even think of loving you with anything less than our entire being and that even seems to be so little. Lord, may we apply ourselves with all our might and all our strength to love you, to serve you, to obey you that you might bless us with all the blessings that you provided for us in our wonderful savior Jesus Christ. We pray in His name, amen.