FEBRUARY 29TH, 2004
DEUTERONOMY 6:1-2
I. We are commanded to teach the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments of God. (1).
A. God’s people are commanded to teach the younger generation about God and His Word.
1. Christian education is so important in today’s world.
- Public schools are nothing more than places of social experimentation.
- Evolution, sex education, homosexual toleration, illegal drugs, revisionist history classes, and a zero tolerance of God and the Bible describes the public schools.
- Everything that Public Education “philosophically” stands for today is in direct opposition to Deuteronomy 6.
2. Christian parents must make the decision about education.
3. There are some Christian schools that parents cannot send their children to without violating the principles Deuteronomy 6.
B. We need to emphasize the command to teach in verse 1.
1. How can children live for God if they haven’t been taught to live for God?
2. How can children become Christian adults and leaders without Christian education?
- It’s impossible to expect godly behavior from children who are taught the principles of modern progressive education.
- Children are being taught to be ungodly in the public schools.
C. We have been commanded by God to teach His Word to the next generation.
II. Teaching the commands of God produces a holy fear of God. (2)
A. Ungodly people despise the commands of God because they do not fear God.
1. Liberals do not like the commandments because the term “fear of God” contradicts their idea of an all-tolerant, all loving God.
2. If you do not fear God, then the commandments are not commandments but “good ideas” or “relics of another time.”
B. Even in the Age of Grace, God is to be feared:
1. Philippians 2:12, Jude 23, Luke 23:39-41, Acts 10:22
2. You may have an unscriptural fear of God:
- You fear God as you would a monster.
- You fear that God hates you, or misleads you, or hurts you.
- These are fears of God that are based on misconceptions of God; not only is this type of fear wrong but it is based on wrong views of God, and the Bible.
- People who have these fears of God usually have not been grounded in the Truth of God’s Word, or experienced the genuine love of God.
3. There is a scriptural fear of God:
- Remember God’s desire in Deuteronomy 4:10.
- The fear of God was Abraham’s motive for obeying God in Genesis 22:11-12.
4. We must be careful not to allow the watered down morals of our society to extinguish the fear of God in our hearts.
III. Notice the emphasis that God places on teaching the future generations.
A. “…thou, And thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life…..”
1. God said the same thing in 4:29.
2. We must live for God, and teach God’s Word TODAY, so that our children, and our children’s children, and their children will live for God.
B. Education is passed down from generation to generation.
- What you know is what you teach, and what you teach is what they will know.
Conclusion: By teaching our children the Word and ways of God, we are giving them the greatest opportunity to have a long and happy life, (“That thy days may be prolonged) – verse 2.