|
“Remember”
for
Puritan Christian School
Students
Charles R. Biggs
[Last Graduating Class]
Text: Deuteronomy 4:1-40
"REMEMBER"
Proposition: You may forget everything I say to you today- - but remember
this one thing:
"OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S COMMANDMENTS IS THE ONLY TRUE
WAY TO FIND REAL PURPOSE, TRUE FULFILLMENT, AND
LASTING HAPPINESS!"
Introduction
In our Scripture from Deuteronomy chapter four, the Israelites are
poised on the edge of the Jordan River, on
the Plains of Moab, patiently waiting to cross over into the Promised Land
of Canaan. They were about to cross over into the Promised Land to begin a
new life of obedience to God. This was the beginning of a new era of their
lives. The past was behind them, ahead was their hopeful future!
You too have a very hopeful future waiting to unfold before you! You
too are about to cross over - -not the Jordan, not into the Promised Land-
- but into a "land" just as hostile and threatening as the one
Israel was about to enter. You see, although God had promised the land to
Israel, there were those who lived in the land that denied God's existence,
opposed God, and would do the same to them!
Israel was
about to go into a land of many idols and "so-called gods".
"Gods" that the True God hated. They were going into a land where
they would experience hatred from those who opposed God and turn their
invisible vindictiveness, visibly toward God's people. This was a culture
that prided itself on plurality and relativism. In this land, they would
experience persecution for believing in only one way to God, only one truth
about God (that he had revealed in his Scripture), and only one life
provided by God. This was a culture that did not believe in any objective
truth other than "there is no objective truth"!
You are about to enter a land, a world like this if you will! So how
do you survive? How do you stand firm under persecution? How are you to
maintain the truth of Scripture? How are you to live your life for the sole
purpose of glorifying God and enjoying him forever, in a culture that
scoffs at such things as this? How are you to keep yourself set-apart
(holy) from this world, while maintaining your faith and making a
difference for your Lord in this world? In your vocation, your life, in
your education, your goal will be to live for God's glory in the world, but
not of it. How are you to keep yourself from becoming "like" the
world? These were Israel's
challenges poised on the edge of the Promised Land; they are your
challenges on your day of graduation, poised on the eve of entering into
the real world! How? [Pause] Remember!
Illustration: Sherman, Jason, and Kevin you have made history
this week. What will you remember about this week five years from now? Ten
years from now? Twenty, or even thirty years from now? (BTW, that will be
the year 2031). Many future leaders like you who are graduating this week
will remember such things as the following. During the time you graduated
these things had recently happened during the week of June 8, 2001:
- The movies Pearl
Harbor and Shrek are the
blockbusters making millions of dollars at the box office.
- On the New York
Times Books, Bestseller List, P. D. James, Amy Tan, James Ellroy, James Patterson and Stephen King are being
voraciously read at home and the beach!
- And popular
artists like U2, Weezer, Eva Cassidy, Enya, Tool, Radiohead,
Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and even older artists as diverse
as R.E.M. and Paul McCartney and Wings, and the Beatles (although they
broke up as a group over 30 years ago) are still climbing the
Billboard charts, being listened to in headsets, car CD players, and
boom boxes all over America!
- In
other news, Anthony Quinn died this week (Zorba
the Great or the Great Zampano); the
Oklahoma City Bomber will die by execution; Bush, "George
W." that is, is President of the U.S.
and congress has just had a $1.34 trillion tax cut approved by
congress!
However, I want you to remember three important truths that will
give you real purpose, true fulfillment and lasting happiness throughout
your lives:
Sherman, Jason, and Kevin: REMEMBER! (1) Remember: To Keep God's
Commandments; (2) Remember: To Keep idols from your hearts; and (3)
Remember: To Keep the LORD your God first in your Lives!
- Remember:
To Keep God's Commandments: Deuteronomy 4:2: 2 "You shall not add
to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep
the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you…"
- Why?
Because they are God's commands! God is our Creator and therefore His
commands are to be kept because HE IS GOD!
- There
are two main so-called virtues of our modern world: Tolerance and
Pluralism.
- Tolerance
is accepting all the beliefs of people as equal, or their choice.
As the people of God, our wisdom and understanding will be evident
in our intolerance. Intolerance of other's beliefs is not to be
rude or hostile to those who differ with you, but to realize that
there is only one God who has revealed himself and his will. In a
tolerant modern world, no one will mind if you have your own
beliefs, they have theirs as well. The wisdom and understanding
will come when you say that the truth you believe from Scripture is
the Only truth. That leads us to what is
the other virtue: Pluralism.
- Pluralism
is believing that all truths or assertions
of fact are equally true. As the people of God, we are not
pluralistic, but we believe that all truth is absolute and revealed
by God in his Word!
- V.6:
'Wisdom and Understanding will be evident in your life!
- Because
you do not fall into the tolerance and pluralism of the modern
world, your lives will display God's order and purpose. You may
undergo persecution for standing firm, but others will see the truth
found in your lives.
- Why?
Because the Lord has redeemed you 'in Christ' (as the Israelites were
redeemed out of Egyptian bondage).
- Remember
love is the foundation and the motivation for your obedience to
God's commandments. You obey them out of gratitude for your lives as
creatures of God and for his redemption in Christ!
Our Lord Jesus taught that the summary of all of
God's commandments was to love the LORD your God with all of your heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself!
Elsewhere, I Lord taught that if you love him - -
show it! He says in John 15: If you love me, keep my commandments!
- Remember:
To Keep Idols from your Hearts: Deuteronomy 4:15: " Take careful heed
to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 "lest
you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form
of any figure: the likeness of male or female, 17 "the likeness
of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird
that flies in the air, 18 "the likeness of anything that creeps
on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath
the earth. 19 "And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven,
and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of
heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD
your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a
heritage."
- What
idols? I have seen no "high places" or "altars to
Baal" in our modern world!
- (Remember
that idols are outwardly manifested realities based on an inward
disposition of the heart). Jesus said in Matthew 15:
"…those
things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile
a man. "For out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. "These are the things which defile a
man…"
In other words, idols are anything that take position in your hearts before the love for God and
your obedience to him.
- Because
it is from the heart that these idols proceed,
beware idols of the heart! Such as?
- Self-sufficiency:
I can do it all myself, I need no help at all. I have graduated from
a Christian
School,
now I can break from the shackles of my faith. I will live my life
"my way"- - as Frank Sinatra.
- Self-love;
self-seeking: I am more important than anyone else. To serve my
neighbor as myself would only get in the way of my progress! Life is
short, I must live it to my own glory and
good!
- Peer
pressure: "to be liked" or "to conform" to
other's expectations (One of the greatest dangers to the Christian):
I want to be liked no matter what! I will do whatever friends,
family, employers, or professors ask me to do. I need and long for
acceptance by others! Please like me!!
- Correct
equation for avoiding idols: "Seek the LORD + Deny Self = Find
true life!"
Mt. 6:33: "But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Mt. 16:24-26: Then Jesus said to His disciples,
"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what
profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Live
a life of continual repentance from the idols that populate your
heart-
Deut 4:28
"And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and
stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 "But from
there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek
Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 "When you are in
distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you
turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31 '(for the LORD your God is
a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the
covenant of your fathers which He swore to them."
- Seek
the LORD always in your life because he is truly merciful to you
when you sin just as he told the Israelites. When you sin and fall
short of his glory, the obedience you owe to him, repent and
continue to seek the LORD! Live a repentant, obedient, grateful
existence!
- Remember:
To Keep the Lord your God First in your Lives: Deuteronomy 4:24: For
the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:35-40: "To you it was shown,
that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other
besides Him. 36 "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He
might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard
His words out of the midst of the fire. 37 "And because He loved your
fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought
you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, 38 "driving
out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in,
to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 "Therefore
know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God
in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."
- V.
24: The LORD is a Jealous God:
- Jealousy
seems to be a rather strange attribute for a Holy and Perfect God,
but it is not. It is a perfect jealousy, a jealousy of love for his
people. God knows that his commandments are right and just and when
disobeyed will lead to the people's disaster! God is zealous for his
Truth, he is jealous when his creatures do not lovingly commit
themselves to him as they should!
- In
other words, there is no tolerance to God's commands, God's truth
and other so-called truths that are competing for acceptance! This
is a biblical and good way of intolerance. God does not tolerate his
truth to be challenged!
- Verses
35, 39: The LORD is God, besides him there is no other! In other
words, there is no pluralism, only God and His Truth exist! No matter
what anyone else tells you, God has revealed himself to us and has
revealed his will to us for us to obey! There are not many truths,
but only God's truth!
- Verses
39, 40: Long and prosperous life lived in obedience to your Creator's
commands! These are the benefits of an obedient life to God! Also, in
Ecclesiastes, the book about the "real world" it sums up
all of life: 12:1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your
youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when
you say, "I have no pleasure in them"…13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. 14 For God
will bring every work into judgment, Including
every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
Conclusion
Remember Again: "OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S
COMMANDMENTS IS THE ONLY TRUE WAY TO FIND REAL PURPOSE, TRUE FULFILLMENT, AND LASTING HAPPINESS!"
- But
keeping God's commandments, keeping the idols from our hearts, and
keeping the LORD God first is impossible for sinners. It is
impossible for us who have sinned and who fall short of God's glory!
In fact, the Apostle Paul describes our condition after the fall of
Adam into sin, in Romans 3:10-20:
- As
it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
- There
is none who understands; There is none who
seeks after God.
- They
have all turned aside; They have together
become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
- "Their
throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced
deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their lips";
- "Whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
- "Their
feet are swift to shed blood;
- Destruction
and misery are in their ways;
- And
the way of peace they have not known."
- "There
is no fear of God before their eyes."
- Now
we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God.
- Therefore
by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin.
- Pretty
grim reality, huh?! Thus the reason, I suppose, that the "real
world" that you are about to enter is such a challenging place
to try to exist…but there is great hope!
After the Apostle Paul sums up fallen man's great problem of keeping
God's commandments, killing the idols that all have in the heart, and
keeping God first, he gives us wonderful news. Notice in Romans
3:21-26:
- But
now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
- even the righteousness of
God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference;
- for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus,
- whom
God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had
passed over the sins that were previously committed,
- to demonstrate at the
present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
- No,
God does not just overlook our sins, the times we break his
commandments, the idols we have in our hearts, the other things we
put first in our lives etc. He does not overlook these realities
because he is just and these things must be punished with a holy
justice! This is where our hope in Christ is found! A righteousness that we do not have- - an alien
righteousness- - if you will, is ours by faith in Jesus Christ. He
propitiated God's wrath by taking our punishment upon him on the
cross. In doing this he expiated (or took away) our sins and the
guilt for our sins. Christ glorifies God in a way we could never do
as fallen sinners. In verse 26, we see that Christ glorified God in
his righteousness. God was just (toward punishing sin in the body of
Jesus), but the Justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ alone
for righteousness! This is what Paul meant earlier in Romans 1:
"The Just, or the Justified man shall
live by faith!"
SHERMAN, JASON, AND KEVIN: THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU ARE INDEED "CROSSING
OVER" INTO A BRAVE NEW WORLD. A WORLD THAT IS SO PREOCCUPIED WITH
ENTERTAINMENT AND SEEKING PLEASURE, IT HAS NOT LOOKED UP LONG ENOUGH TO
NOTICE THINGS HAVE CHANGED. THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH; TRUTH IS RELATIVE.
THE ONLY ABSOLUTE IS THAT THERE IS NO ABSOLUTES. THE ONLY VIRTUE, THE ONLY
THING THAT IS NOT TOLERATED IN A TOLERANT SOCIETY IS INTOLERANCE.
NEVERTHELESS, GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER HISTORY. THEREFORE: GO TODAY IN
THE POWER OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST! CROSS OVER INTO THE REAL WORLD,
INTO A WORLD THAT BECAUSE OF GOD'S BLESSINGS AND YOUR OBEDIENCE WILL BRING
YOU A LIFETIME OF PURPOSE, FULFILLMENT, AND HAPPINESS! REMEMBER, OR BETTER:
"DON'T FORGET" THE WORDS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD TODAY!
MAY THE LORD OUR GOD BLESS ALL OF YOUR ENDEAVORS! MAY THE LORD BLESS
YOU BY DIRECTING YOUR PATH ACCORDING TO HIS WORD.
MEMORIZE THE WISDOM OF PROVERBS 3:3-6:
LET LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS NEVER LEAVE YOU…
|
