#2 (The
“Remember” Series)
“REMEMBER MY WORD!”
TEXT: Deut.
4:1-14
INTRO: The purpose
of books is to preserve knowledge from one generation to another so that each
generation doesn’t have to start from scratch when learning about life. Verbal language alone was not enough to
preserve knowledge, books were required to preserve the huge pool of knowledge
gleaned from one generation to another, it has been the ability to preserve this
knowledge in written form and thus making it available to each generation that
has transformed humanity!
It
is therefore highly significant that God was so concerned for His people to
preserve knowledge about Him and His ways that He Himself wrote one of the
earliest documents on tablets of stone so that each generation of His people
could pass this information on and on.
Israel’s
knowledge about God often determined the quality of their life, when that
knowledge declined through avoiding or losing it Israel’s national life
declined, usually ending with their captivity! No wonder David said in Psa 119:11 “I have
hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” David meant by “hiding” that
he had committed God’s Word to his memory and soul, by doing so he was much less
likely to sin.
Where
are you in your knowledge of God’s Word? How much do you really remember? Where is our country in the knowledge of
God’s Word?
ILLUS: A
study was conducted by a teacher at the Newton High School in Massachusetts
among college bound juniors and seniors on their knowledge of the Bible. This was done prior to a class on “The
Bible as literature.” This High School is considered one of the better high
schools in the country. The
responses to the questions went like this: “Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers;”
“Jezebel was Ahab’s donkey;” some students thought the 4 horsemen appeared on
the Acropolis;” that the New Testament Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark,
Luther, and John; that Eve was created “from an apple” and that Jesus was
baptized “by Moses. The answer that
took the misinformation prize was given by a fellow who was academically in the
top 5% of the graduation class, the question was: “What was Golgotha?” His
answer: “Golgotha was the name of the giant who slew the apostle
David.”
– Source Unknown
I
wonder how much better (or worse!) many Christians would do on the same test
today?!
Numerous
times throughout the Bible God called His people to “REMEMBER MY WORD!” Many whole Psalms were written with this
as the single theme in them! Such
statements by David as in Psa 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I
might not sin against you” certainly carry this theme strongly! In fact, much of the Bible was written
with mnemonic devices or structures that aided memory for this reason, and
because paper books were nearly impossible. (Stone tablets were awful to check out of
libraries!) Just like sermons
which have alliterated main, points (each
point starting with the same letter – a mnemonic device) sections of the
Bible were written this way as well, or the use of acrostics or verses that
followed each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. *(in the original language it was, when
translated this is lost to us completely – and so these mnemonic devices
completely disappear in our translations!)
PROP.
SENT: It is not enough to
learn new things, we must remember the old things too, and especially those
things God has recorded for us in His Word. There can be no progress without
remembering the Word of God; revivals come from renewal of His
Word!
I. REMEMBER THE CONDITIONS OF THE
WORD
4:1-8
A. Complete! 4:1-2
1. In order for Israel to live and
possess the land they would have to adhere to God’s
Word.
a. These would not be temporary laws
they would be spiritual dynamics that would be
universal!
b. These decrees and laws might have a
cultural dynamic to them when given but there is a timeless principle behind
each one that will always remain true! i.e. “not eating yeast in bread” ... while
cultural, in some way the principle of “pollution” is taught by this image, thus
the idea to not become polluted by the world – the timeless truth even if the
cultural part ceases to be true.
2. These laws and decrees of God were
not optional, not something designed for them to pick and choose which ones they
liked or disliked or ones they agree with or disagree
with.
3. How unlike people today, they pick
and choose which of God’s laws they agree with or disagree with, like buying
optional packages for a new car -- they build their own type of Christianity
based on the laws of God they like or don’t like.
4. The condition of God’s Word was
clearly stated by God, they were not to add to it or take away parts of it and
thus change God’s plan.
a. God’s laws are complete as they
stand alone.
b. Any attempt to change small parts
will only lead to false principles and ideas!
ILLUS: An
example of the damage that can be done when someone attempts to alter a verse by
addition or deletion was found a few years ago with some Christmas cards that
attempted to show that Christians should give gifts at Christmas time. The verse
of Scripture on the cards was
Rev. 11:10 “They exchanged
gifts and made merry...” What was lost
was the context of the whole passage which had to do with the 2 witnesses that
God will send to preach the Gospel to the wicked during the Tribulation
period; the wicked will so hate these men sent from God that they will kill them
and leave their bodies in the street for several days and then have a world-wide
celebration to show their hatred toward God by “exchanging gifts
and making merry...”! Talk
about lifting part of a text out of its context!! What a total change of meaning just
because something of God’s Word was left out! –
Source Unknown
5. God’s Word was not given to us to
be a menu of what we like or don’t like.
B. Consequences 4:3-8
1. As if to remind them of what
happens to those who slowly drift toward a “pick and choose” mentality toward
His Word God reminds them of what happened in the past to those who forgot His
Word!
a. When Israelite men chased after the
women of Moab they forgot God’s laws and started fooling around with the
idolatrous ways of Moab in worshipping Baal Peor. (Num. 25:1-9)
b. This resulted in a plague that took
many many lives.
c.
2. Their success depended on their
obedience to God’s Word, here obedience is connected to
knowing!
a. They might have remembered the Word
but they were not following it!
b. Consequences were God’s way of
jolting them back into an obedience stage much in the same way parents use
consequences to correct disobedient children.
3. Yet how often do we think we can be
the exception to the rule, that God’s laws only apply to weaker people than
us!!
a. And how tragic the consequences
when they come, and they will!
b. No one is above the law, especially
God’s!
ILLUS: The
winter 1991 issue of the UNIVERSITY OF PACIFIC REVIEW offered this chilling
description of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia. “Two electrical engineers in the control
room that night decided to play some games with the generators. Later the Soviet officials called it “an
unauthorized experiment.” The 2 men
decided to see how long a turbine would “free wheel” when they took the power
off it. Taking the power off that
kind of a nuclear reactor however is a difficult and dangerous thing to do
because that type of reactor is very unstable in their lower ranges. In order to get the reactor to do that
kind of event they had to override manually six separate computer driven alarm
systems. One by one the computers
would come up and say, STOP! DANGEROUS! GO NO FURTHER! And one by one, rather than shutting off
the experiment, they shut off the alarms and kept going. You know the results; nuclear fallout
that was recorded all around the world, being the worse industrial accident ever
to occur in the world! They were
warned over and over again just as people are in the Bible and finally the
consequences showed up!
– Source Unknown
4. God has called us to hold to all of
His Word, that we not take a selective memory approach to
it!
5. Their example of remembering all of
God’s Word and living it out would send a powerful message to the other nations
of the Wisdom of God, for God would be able to bless them as a nation and
people!
a. God’s Word is full of wisdom and
justice.
b. His laws would demonstrate God’s
Word as superior to men’s.
II. REMEMBER THE CALL OF THE WORD! 4:9-12
A. Concept
4:9
1. God never intended for this
obedience to His laws to be merely external action!
a. If it became this, it would easily
disappear or become nothing more than a harsh legalistic approach to life, it
was meant to be a law within the heart of His people!
b. He might write it on tablets of
stone, but it was meant to transfer to tablets of
flesh!
2.
3. Forcing people to live by some
external codes will not produce righteousness!
4. However, God’s laws on the heart
will produce righteousness in keeping with holiness!
5. Only the laws written in our hearts
are what gets passed down from one generation to another, external codes have a
way of passing out of existence over time!
6. “Form” takes over when the heart is
absent from God’s laws!
B. Conviction 4:10-12
1. God put on quite a show for Israel
in giving them His Word, fire from the top of a mountain, His booming voice
declaring that Word for them, they saw no form of God, they only heard His
voice. (4:12b)
a. Why? God didn’t want them
sidetracked on the wrong issue, “what
does God look like?” Instead He
wanted them to stick to the real issue: “What does God want me to
be?”
b. His Word is all they would need,
not another image or idol!
2. God wants His Word to bring
CONVICTION, not curiosity about
how He looks!
3. Had they seen an image of God they
would have always needed to find that image to find God – but with His Word they
could always find God as long as they could remember His
Word!
ILLUS: Karen’s
mother was startled to find her 5 year old going through a new Bible storybook
and circling the word “GOD” wherever it appeared on the page. Holding in check
her first reaction to reprimand her daughter, she asked instead “Karen, why are
you doing that?” Karen’s matter-of-fact answer was: “So that I will know where
to find God when I want Him!” Karen
had captured the whole idea behind God giving us His Word – so that we can
always find Him whenever we need Him or want Him, He is the
Word!
– Source Unknown
4. This “WORD” from God would bring
“reverence” toward God throughout their lifetime, and from generation to
generation; it was something that could keep each generation in a right
relationship with God all the time!
5. This provided a source of
conviction for God’s people in terms of their lifestyle, much as the Word
of God does today for those who hear it!
6. This work of conviction acts as a
constant monitor and gauge to keep us on track, to keep us moving in the right
direction all the time, not only for our lifetime but for our kids and their
kids and their kids, etc.
a. Thus God’s blessings could flow
from generation to generation!
b. And so would the knowledge of
God!
III. REMEMBER THE CONTENT OF THE WORD
A. Covenant! 4:13
1. His Word was part of a binding
contract or covenant with His People!
a. If they remember and obey His Word
He will always fight for them and bless them!
b. To ensure this happens in more than
one generation He preserves that Word in stone tablets – the book of the
time!
2. To aid Israel in remembering His
Word God gives His laws in a succinct form of 10 laws: these were divided on two
tablets, one set of laws dealing with man’s relationship to God, the other with
man’s relationship to man!
a. The first 4 commandments (probably
on one tablet) dealt with our relationship to God.
b. The second set of 6 laws dealt with
man’s relationship to man.
c. This would make it easier to
remember.
3. All these laws had more to do with
the heart than just merely external action!
4. These laws dealt with issues of
anger, resentment, greed, lust, pride, hate, etc.
5. They were to remember this list and
use this Word from God to guide and check their hearts, and thereby check their
actions!
6. God made them responsible to know
these laws and to understand their content!
7. It is vitally important for us to
know God’s Word!!!
ILLUS: Mark
Twain once said, “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which
they cannot understand; but as for me, I have always noticed that the
passages in Scripture that trouble me most are those which I do
understand!”
– Source Unknown
8. It is not just a matter of knowing
more but knowing better!
9. Do you know what God’s Word says
for you to know? Have you put His
Word away in your heart by memory for easy retrieval!?
a. God covenanted to give us His
Word.
b. And we are called to know it and
hold to it! You can’t hold to
something you don’t know!
B. Conveyance 4:14
1. God employs servants to help
dispense His Word.
a. It is not just through Pastors
either!
b. This is a way to encourage
remembering!
2. It is important that we spur each
other on to better remember God’s Word!
a. Hence the importance of Bible
studies together, etc.
b. This is the reason for Sunday
school for children!
c. Home fellowship groups fall into
this area of importance too!
3. The disciples were taught by Jesus
so they could teach others and to write down His Word to preserve it for all
generations after them!
4. It is important that we study God’s
Word so that we might pass it on to others!
ILLUS: In
an interview, Billy Graham was asked this question: “If you had to live your
life over again, what would you do differently?” His answer: “One of my great regrets is
that I have not studied enough. I
wish I had studied more and preached less. People have pressured me into speaking to
groups when I should have been studying and preparing.” Another man, Donald
Barnhouse said that if he knew the Lord was coming in 3 years, he would spend 2
of them studying, and one preaching!
[Sept. 12, 1977 Pg. 19 “Christianity
Today”]
5. The bottom line is simple: “REMEMBER MY WORD!” This
was the whole point of this passage:
a. This alone would ensure victory for
the Promise land.
b. This would be required in order to
hold the Promise land.
c. This was necessary for God’s
blessings to flow.
6. Israel’s identity in the world
would be GOD’S LAWS AND HIS WORD! This would set them apart from the rest
of the world and display the wisdom of God over the wisdom of
man!
CONCLUSION: God’s Word was not just to be a
document in stone; it was to be a dynamic in spirit! For God’s people, worship is connected to
walk; it is not just a weekly performance or ritual. There can be no renewal without God’s
Word at center stage! Israel’s
renewal was not based on a feeling orientation, it was based on faithful
obedience to God’s Word – both to remember it and practice
it!