In his sermon titled 'The Making of a Wise and Understanding People,' Scott Brown explores the book of Deuteronomy, focusing on its themes and significance. He outlines Deuteronomy as a series of three speeches by Moses, emphasizing the importance of hearing and obeying God's law. Brown highlights the key themes of God forming a holy people, leading them into the promised land, and providing them with statutes and means of atonement. He discusses the significance of Deuteronomy in Jesus' teachings, noting that it was a book Jesus frequently quoted. The sermon stresses the importance of heartfelt obedience and the need to avoid adding to or subtracting from God's commandments. Brown also discusses the role of parenting as an act of cultural rebellion, emphasizing the importance of teaching children the statutes of God. He calls for a life of diligent obedience and highlights the necessity of living a public life that reflects God's teachings. The sermon concludes by acknowledging human shortcomings in obeying the law and pointing to Jesus Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of the law.

The book of Deuteronomy pictures what culture would be like if people obeyed God. The book of Deuteronomy casts a vision for how the people of God should operate with one another and with the world. And the proposition is that they would hear and then to obey. These words that we have just read are found at the end of the first speech that Moses gives in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is composed of three speeches, and they're all given in the last month of Moses' life on the east side of the Jordan River just before they're ready to go on into the Promised Land.

So if you can picture two million people just getting ready to enter the promised land. Moses is giving three great speeches. He's 120 years old, and these will be his last and most significant words that he'll ever speak. The first speech stands from chapters one to chapter four, and that's where we are now. The second speech takes us from chapter 5 to chapter 26, and this gives the heart of God in practical matters.

The first speech really speaks of lessons from the wilderness wanderings and a description of God's fatherly care. And also a riveting, almost a lightning rod kind of urgent call to obey the law of God. And then he begins to speak of the law of God in the second speech in all of its detail And then the third and final speech is found in Chapter 27 to the end of the book and here we find a promise of life and death Blessing and cursing so that's the book of Deuteronomy now. You can go home No, We're going to unpack these few verses here in the midst of this second speech. Now what's happening here?

One of our men said, Moses in some ways is like a coach getting ready to send his team onto the field, except the coach is not going out. He's staying back. So he's giving them words that will help them to know how to operate when they get there. And Moses, in this speech here, and in this very small slice of the text that we're in this morning, he continues to hammer away at the broad themes that he's been speaking of all throughout the Pentateuch. Everything he says here has a line to things that he's already said in many other places in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

And now he brings them all together in the book of Deuteronomy and connects all the dots. So what are those great themes? Here they are, and you'll see them in this text. The first great theme of the Pentateuch is that God is making for Himself a people, a people for His own possession, a holy people who will not follow in the ways of the Gentiles, but will be a godly people. The second theme that Moses continues to pound on that you see all throughout the Pentateuch is the theme of the land, that God is bringing his people into a land.

It's a geographical space. And the land really gives us two great thoughts. One, it's a real place. Number two, it's also a spiritual reality. It's the land of Canaan.

It's a picture of the blessings of God. You're going where the rivers are flowing. You're going where the grapes are growing. You're going to Canaan's land. That's where you're going.

And God is going to make sure you get there. He will carry you into these wilderness wanderings He's carrying his people to Canaan's land. What a marvelous thing. What are you experiencing now? Well, whatever you're experiencing Here's one thing you have to know he's carrying you to the land He's carrying you to that great and promised land where He wipes away all tears from all eyes and where He brings His people into eternal happiness.

And so there's the land. And then Thirdly, the theme of the statutes. God is giving His people statutes and commandments and judgments to live by. He is giving them really the jump start on life that everybody needs. We're born into this world and He is giving His people a way to live, so they don't have to go figure it out on their own.

So they don't have to bang their head against the wall and get themselves bloody day after day, year after year, because they have a law, they have a way to live. They know a way of blessing, and they don't have to go reinvent the wheel with every birth of every new person. And then the fourth theme is that God is giving His people a way of relief from their sins. He's giving them a way of worship and atonement. And so these are the great themes of the Pentateuch.

He's making himself a people. He's bringing his people into a land. He's giving them judgments and statutes and commandments. And he's also giving them a way of worship and a way of atonement for their sins. And in all of it, he's carrying his people and he's leading them.

He's leading them with a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. And he's providing for them manna in the wilderness, quail, water from the rock. He's a kind and gentle father. Those are all the themes of the Pentateuch and they come down again in this section that we're studying here now. Let's look at chapter 4.

Okay? Because I want us to understand where we are before we move into the specifics of this text. The first words of chapter 4, do you see them? And now, very significant words. And now, these words indicate that Moses is passing from recounting what God has done for them and onto the laws that he's given to them.

We're in the midst of a major transition. Chapter 4 is a transitional chapter that is getting us ready to listen to the law of God. In chapter 5, right off the bat we encounter the Ten Commandments. So Moses is beginning to set the stage here for the commandments of God. So he says, and now making a mark of distinction from the historical narrative and the recounting of the history of Israel and God's fatherly kindness toward his people.

He's marking a line from there to these specific statutes and commandments and judgments that he's going to be giving. We have this final call for obedience And what we see in the first five verses are very clear statements. One of the most important principles or commandments that we find in the first five verses has to do with adding and subtracting from the law. He says you will not add and you will not subtract. It's really perhaps the most critical principle for us to keep in mind for our lives individually, for our home life, for our church life, for civil life, for every kind of life.

Do not add or subtract from His commandments. Trust them. They're sufficient. They're all you need. If you have a question, go to the Word of God and find your answer there.

Don't go to your friend. Don't go to your culture. Go to God and His word. Don't add or subtract. So that's where he's been taking us here.

So the big picture here from chapter 5 on, he's going to show us what a godly society looks like. And a godly society is based on the law of God. And this is the principle that will be unfolding for the entire rest of the book of Deuteronomy. The principles and the commands and the statutes that make up what it means to live a life that is blessed. Now you can, If you don't want to live the blessed life, you don't have to.

But here's what you need to know. There are bruises and scars and pains and sufferings from it. But if you walk with God, blessings and abundance is promised to you. And we'll see that over and over and over again. And that's why we see such tremendous urgency in the heart of Moses in these first four chapters as he's appealing to his people.

So our text today now begins with an appeal. Look at it in verse 6. Therefore, be careful. Do you see the structure of this? And now, okay, a new idea.

And then in verse 6 he says, therefore. Now we're going to begin to get the details and the explanations of all the things that really are logical conclusions from the historical narrative that he's just brought. Moses gives us a passionate cry for the children of Israel. Remember what we said last week? God never approaches His people with a shrug.

He approaches his people with a very clear, urgent, passionate warning. And in the same way, neither should we with one another. Neither should we in the church. We should approach one another with the urgency of the Word of God because It is so true. It is so helpful.

It is exactly what we need for every situation. So Moses here isn't just giving us some interesting things that you might consider. Think about this, think about that. No. He does not approach us with a shrug.

He does not approach us with options. He does not approach us with options. He does not approach us with points of negotiation for us to just consider. No, he is presenting us with commands and statutes and judgments. And so he says, therefore, And you see the following words that you'll read over and over again in Deuteronomy.

Therefore, be careful to observe them. Be careful to observe them. It's possible that you could sum up the entire book of Deuteronomy on those four words. So you can see how this text begins with an appeal for careful observation. Now, you've seen the beginning of our text.

Now I want you to look at the end of our text and then we'll begin to speak more about the book. The text begins with appeal to be careful to observe and then it ends with giving the whole reason that he's giving them. In verse 14, that you might observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. Do you see it? Okay?

We're going to call it an urgency sandwich here. Be careful to observe why, so that you will do something about them, okay? So that you live them out. They're not just for your intellectual cogitation. They're for your application.

They're for your walking them out. We should never read the Word of God and walk out and say, oh, how interesting. Let's argue about this point. We should walk out saying, oh, Lord, what would you have me do? So often in the church what we find is this pseudo-spiritual intellectual cogitation program that goes on.

Instead of looking at, oh, Lord, what would you have me do? So often in the church what we find is this pseudo-spiritual intellectual cogitation program that goes on. Instead of looking at, oh Lord, what would you have me do? It's often just an intellectual exercise. And that's a tragedy in the church, because they were meant to be applied.

Now, of course, we need conversation to understand what we should do. There are arguments that need to be engaged in. There are debates that need to be had about the details. So we must do that. But we can never stay there.

The debates always should issue in action and that's the point of this text here. Now I'm going to delay us getting into the text even more now. I know that no one in our church has gone through a systematic study of Deuteronomy. My guess is that's true of almost everybody here. So I'd like to pull back again and just talk about the significance of the book of Deuteronomy.

If you have an outline in front of you, you can see where I am in this progression. We've just been trying to get calibrated to the context. And now I would like to talk about some points to consider that really help you understand the importance of the book of Deuteronomy. So, let's talk about Deuteronomy. Now these things are so important to understand because I think that most people are not aware of the supreme importance of the book of Deuteronomy in the mind of Jesus.

First of all, Deuteronomy was the book that Jesus loved. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy more than any other book of the Old Testament. That should take your breath away. Why is it that the book that Jesus loved is so neglected today? What is that all about?

Well, when the devil is tempting Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus rejects the temptation and he turns intention to Deuteronomy. And he says, man shall not live by bread alone. He quotes Deuteronomy 6.16, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. He quotes Deuteronomy 6.13, You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him. When teaching about the family, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy.

When teaching about oaths, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy. When teaching about riches and how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy. He's constantly going back there. When teaching about genuine love for God, he quotes Deuteronomy and takes us back into the Shema. When teaching about the resurrection, he quotes Deuteronomy 25, 5-12.

So Deuteronomy is the book that Jesus loved, and So should we love it. Here's the second thing to consider. Deuteronomy is the book that grieved Josiah. Not only did Jesus love it, it grieved Josiah. Josiah, the king of Israel, Josiah's father Ammon was assassinated.

And Josiah becomes king at age 8 and he ascends to the throne. And the Bible says he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. At age 15, like many 15 year olds, and maybe like many 15 year olds here today, for some reason in this age range, God begins to put his hand on children. I don't know why it is, but there may be some of you, even today, who are 15, 16, 17, and God is speaking to you, and he's laying his hand on you. He's pouring his spirit out on you, and he is calling you to serve him.

That happened to Josiah at age 15, and we read that he began to seek the God of his father David. And then he began to deal at age 19 with the idolatry of the land, and he began to undertake reforms in the land at age 19. And he began to destroy idols and do business with the idolatry and the paganism that he crept in. And then at age 25, while he was refurbishing the temple, Some of his construction workers broke into a section and they found the lost book of the law. Most people believe that he found the book of Deuteronomy.

And when he read the book of Deuteronomy, he was grieved and he tore his robes. Why did he tear his robes? Why did people in those days tear their robes? Because they were grieved over their sin. And in sackcloth and ashes, he grieved over the tremendous disconnect between the law of God and the life that they were all living at that time.

And brothers, that's what we should do too. We should have the book of Deuteronomy before us, see what it says, and realize how far we have drifted, how different we are, how wrongly we have gotten to think. People despise the book of Deuteronomy because they don't think godly thoughts. That's why. If you're ever disturbed about one single thing in Deuteronomy, it's because you're a pagan in your thinking.

And I realize that there are many things in Deuteronomy that are very disturbing to me, that I do not like, they grate against me. And the way that I've always thought all my life. I was raised as a relativist in my pagan education system, and it's almost impossible to get that relativism out of my soul. And when I read the book of Deuteronomy, The God of heaven is stabbing and stabbing and stabbing my relativistic spirit because I'm an antinomian at heart just like all of us are. And so Josiah opens the book of the law and he sees this massive disconnect And I'm sure he felt the same way that you feel when you read the book of Deuteronomy.

You say, oh Lord, how far I have drifted, how disconcerting this is to me, how different it is from the way that I think and live. So Deuteronomy is not only the book that Jesus loved, but it's also the book that grieved Josiah, and it should also grieve us. This is why people call Deuteronomy the Romans of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy follows a very similar outline as Romans. We just finished studying the book of Romans for the last year and a half.

Now we're in the Romans of the Old Testament. Romans is organized in this way. The first 11 chapters, the Gospel. And then from chapters 12 to the end of the book, it's how to apply the Gospel. The same outline as the book of Deuteronomy.

One through five, the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's fatherly care, His tender mercies toward His people, the sinfulness of His people, and His provision for their sins. That's one through five. And then the application of the law, what to do about it. Deuteronomy follows the same basic outline pattern as does the book of Romans. Here's another critical issue that needs to be understood about the book of Deuteronomy, and It should lift it up in its place of importance in our thinking.

Deuteronomy is a book about heartfelt obedience. Deuteronomy is a book about heartfelt obedience. The people who say that the Old Testament was about the law and the New Testament was about grace, do not understand the book of Deuteronomy. I'm not confident they've read it very carefully, because the book of Deuteronomy is all about heartfelt obedience. It's all about the heart.

It is about the feet, but it is about the heart that drives the feet. And so what we find, capsulizing this whole spirit of Deuteronomy, is found in Deuteronomy 529, where Moses says, oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever. So Deuteronomy is a book about heartfelt obedience. It is also perhaps one of the most neglected books in the church today. Most pastors avoid it like the plague.

It's very disturbing. First of all, it imposes limitations on your life and your thinking. Secondly, its message is to obey the good rewards of the manifold mercies of God and to reject the poisoned ways. On the one hand, it imposes limitations. It exposes the poison, but it also tells us that there's relief from that poison.

The book of Deuteronomy shows us why we must preach the Old Testament as well. Jesus expounded the Old Testament in his ministry. Luke 24, 27 says that Jesus expounded the Old Testament. He expounded the law. And Jesus believed that Moses testified about Him.

How about that? Jesus believed that Moses was talking about Him. That's why we must preach the Old Testament. Because Jesus said that His testimonies were there, casting forth knowledge of him. The book of Deuteronomy is also very important because it's written to a people in transition.

All of God's people are in a place of transition. So are you and so am I. Think of the transitions that you're in right now in your own life. Think of the transitions that you're undergoing in your family life right now. How you're desiring to become faithful to the things that are clear because you were out of ignorance or out of rebellion, rejected the law of God.

Think of your church life. Think of how you're attempting to bring your church life into compliance with the Word of God. You are also in a church in transition. The church is always in transition. All of us are always in the midst of some transition.

That's what sanctification is all about. And so Deuteronomy catches a people who are in transition. They've been wandering in the wilderness and now they're in this transitional moment where they're going to enter in the promised land. Deuteronomy is also critical because of the key words that you find in it. The word heart is used over 40 times.

Obey over 20 times. Observe 29 times. Be careful 20 times. Abomination 14 times. These key themes are so critical for us to understand.

These thoughts that are connected to these great words that are repeated over and over again are the key to life and so they are so important for us. The great summary statements that we need to grip on for our own improvement and sanctification of air. Deuteronomy is also important because it confronts an antinomian spirit in us. It argues hard against the antinomian spirit that says, The only law for me is the law of my heart. Well, that's not true.

The law of your heart is inadequate. You need the law of God. Yes, God does illumine. Yes, God does place His law in your heart. But we need an external law from our hearts.

We need both. And Deuteronomy exposes the falsehood of those who say, I only need my heart. The Bible says that the heart is wicked and deceitful, and it needs the law of God. And so there are many things that we could say about Deuteronomy for how important it is. We could speak about the fact that this is in the form of a treaty between kings, between a victorious king and the conquered king.

And it's written in the same way that ancient treaties were written, the stronger the Suzerain king provides protection for the weaker. And the text follows the pattern of covenants between conquering kings and weaker parties. It gives the promises that the stronger gives to the weaker, and it gives the responsibilities that the weaker subservient must give to the greater king. And it also casts forth the promises and the blessings that the great King provides for all of his vassals. It's important because it helps us to think about life in human terms.

It's also a case study for our treatment of pagan nations. We learned that in chapters 2 & 3 that There are ways that God's people relate with the pagan nations of the world. So those are some of the great reasons that we should be studying this book. And now I would like to begin looking carefully at this text. Now I've broken this text into three sections.

They're all under the heading that God is about a marvelous work in the world, and it's this work that He is making for Himself a wise and an understanding people. So you can see in your outline how I would like to consider three things under this subject. First of all, the details of what it means to be a wise and understanding people. And secondly, that he would make us a diligent and transgenerational people. And then thirdly, we would be an obedient, word-centered people.

Those are the three main principles that we have here before us. So let's look at the first. In verses six through eight, God makes for himself a wise and understanding people. These are people spoken of in verses 6 through 8 who are putting into practice the laws of God. And these laws always bring blessing to a people.

And there are many fruits that are achieved as a result. So there are a number of things that he says. First he says, therefore be careful to observe them. For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. And then in verse 7 there are two questions.

The first question is verse 7. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And then the second question is in verse 8. You see it? And what great nation is there that such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you?" These beautiful questions, you know, these very lovely questions that when answered give an answer that tells of the glory and the goodness of Jesus Christ.

What great nation is there that has God so near to it? How wonderful it is when God is near a people, when people know that God is near. When they cry out to him, they call upon him. And then the second question, what wonderful things happen when they have such statutes and righteous judgments that they would be governed in a proper way, that they're not gone wild, that they're not destroying themselves on the rocks of this world, but they're being blessed by the blessings from heaven because of the great and wonderful statutes. That's the idea that's here.

So he says be careful to observe them and then he gives the reasons why they should be so careful. The first reason is this. This is your wisdom. This is your wisdom. Why should you be careful?

Why should you inspect your life and inspect the Word of God and compare? Because this is your wisdom. This is how you get on. This is how you think right about life. And then the second reason is your understanding in the sight of the people who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding nation.

So why should you pay attention? Because it's your wisdom, number one. And number two, because the people will see how good God is. They will see how wonderful the statutes are. It will be in the sight of the people.

So we are meant to have the wisdom of God and then live it out so it will be seen. So often we're embarrassed at living out what God wants to expose. He wants people to see the goodness of God and yet we want to hide it under a bushel. We want to try to fit in somehow. But God says no, no, no.

Let it be in the sight of the peoples. Do you see that? You know this was why the Queen of Sheba came to view the expressions of the wisdom of Solomon. The wisdom of Solomon was astonishing. It was heavenly wisdom.

God gave him understanding, and the Queen of Sheba came, and it took her breath away. That's what God wants to do with you. He wants to take the breath away of the pagan nations around you who will look into your life and say look at the way this person works. Look at the way this person is married. Look at the way this person conducts his family.

Look at this person's children. Look at this person's productivity. Look at their happiness. Look at the kingdom of heaven that's come near. That's what he's saying.

It's meant to be seen. It's to be displayed in the world. All of the commandments of God are to be out in the world and God has given us so many to help us know how to live and the Wisdom from the law of God would be their true treasure. It would be something that would be so visible in the world. It would be treasures scattered about in the world.

Because we're marching to the tune of a different drummer. Not only do they see the statutes, what else? What else do they do? They hear them. They hear them.

Not only is it a life example that's exemplary and so different, but also words are spoken. The idea that we are just living out the gospel and that's all there is. It's a ridiculous idea. It's not consistent with Scripture at all. We also speak the words of the law of God to the people around us.

We're often afraid to speak the words of the law of God because we would be shamed. But God says, no, they should see it in the way you live and they also should hear it. I think it's important that they hear it too because often we don't live it all that well, do we? And so they need to get it in its more pure form. They need to get it in the Word form, not just in the incarnational form with we weak, imperfect sinners.

They need to have both so that they can get their wits about them, so that they're not misled that we are the quintessential expressions of the glory of God, which we're not. They also need the Word of God. They need us to say it. And so people are to both hear and to see. And this is what Lord Jesus said.

He said, go into all the world and make disciples of nations, teaching them all the things that I've commanded. In other words, you say it. You're not just living it out, you're saying it as well. This means we don't live a cloistered life. We live a public life.

We don't hide away in our houses and in our churches. We must be living a public life. And that means that we are like the Lord Jesus that we become the friend of sinners So that the law of God might be seen and it also might be heard with the ears in distinct and specific ways and And it says here that people will comment about it. It says, and they will say, people will say something about it. If you apply the law of God in what you do and what you say, people are going to say something about it.

And he says it right here. And they will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. People will talk about it. That's the formula. You see the kind of life formula that has been given here?

Obey the law of God, demonstrate it, speak about it, and then people are going to talk about it. Now, what we know for sure is people don't always say, oh, what wonderful people these are. But we'll talk about that in a minute. But the key is this, that God is desiring to make a wise and understanding people, And he does that by putting them on the ground to apply the law of God in every area of life. And that makes them a wise and understanding people.

And They stand far above the rest of the culture because they've gotten their laws from heaven and their sweet and beautiful things that they've acquired. And so we might ask ourselves this question, why is it that often people are onlookers to the Church and they despise the Church. And I would just like to suggest a couple of things. Oftentimes, because of our disobedience, the Word of God is blasphemed. There are things that we do, there are ways that we live that cause the Word of God to be blasphemed.

They watch our divorces. They watch our dishonor. They watch our breaking down families in our own churches, they watch our unhappy wives, they watch us as husbands not caring for our wives and living out the gospel and laying our lives down for our wives and they despise you. The Word of God is blasphemed because of our lives. Often that's why.

Why isn't the world lining up to obey the law of God? Often it's because we're causing it to be blasphemed in the way that we live. The Bible says in Titus chapter 2 that there are a number of things that cause the Word of God to be blasphemed. One of those things is if a woman is not a keeper at home, if she's not chased, those things cause the Word of God to be blasphemed. Well There are many things that do cause the Word to be blasphemed.

These are, I believe, just a few of them. But often, the way that we live, our dishonesty, our duplicity, things like that cause the Word of God to be blasphemed. We need to change. We need to repent of our sins as God's people and turn around. It's so critical that we do this because we are the people whose God is the Lord.

We are the people who have God near to us. How do you demonstrate the nearness of God except by your humility, except by your repentance, except by your good works and your loving kindness, except by your obeying God in your family and in your church and in your work and in all the areas that God has called you to. How else would You demonstrate that you are at peace, that God is near you. Here it says that the people will see this is a people who have God near them. How wonderful it is to consider this idea of the nearness of God toward us.

Let me just suggest to you, If you have repented of your sins and you've turned from your lawless ways and you have cried out to God in the blood of Jesus Christ, has cleansed you from all of your unrighteousness, if that has happened, then God is near you. And the Bible says that the Lord is near those who call upon Him. The Bible says that the Lord is near those who have a broken heart and He saves those who have a contrite spirit. We are a people for whom God is near. And I just trust that even this morning, we can just relish that and relax in that sense that God is near his people.

And because of his nearness, because of his tender mercies toward us, because he's carrying us, because of all these things, then we should be willing and ready to with a holy and humble Abandon to obey him and be a distinct people a wise and understanding people in This world That we would be like David said, that he is like a green olive tree in the house of God. He said, I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever, because you have done it. And in the presence of your saints I will wait on your name forever." Now this is the heart of a trustful submissive servant of God who understands that God has an agenda for his people and that agenda is to make them a wise and understanding people whose lives are seen, whose words are heard and commentary is made. So that's the first point. Okay?

God desires to make a certain kind of people. Now this takes us to the second point, and that is that God also desires a diligent and a transgenerational people. I'll have to be honest, I struggle with how to capture verse nine. Help me in your own heart and mind. Let's read it.

Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life and teach them to your children and your grandchildren. So here is a picture of a people who have preserved themselves for something really important. They are diligently keeping themselves, their hearts for a task to teach the next generation. That's what it is. It's a person who is careful with himself, careful with his heart so that he would do something valuable in the world to teach the next generation.

So I've titled this point, A Diligent and Transgenerational People. I'm very unsatisfied with this title. I just hope you can get the sense of what the text says here. That there's this connection of a life that has an overwhelming focus. But it begins in the heart, doesn't it?

It begins with you and how you conduct your own heart. That's the beginning of the wellspring of every blessing, of what you would do deep within your own heart. And so he says, take heed to yourself and to the words, and then teach them to your children. Now, the first thing I want to point out here is that God has a very special call toward His people. And Christianity calls people to care for themselves.

I don't know if you've ever observed someone in a free fall and over time they're caring for themselves just drops away I've seen this a number of times but it always begins in the heart and then it begins to move into outward appearances and things like that but Christianity calls for people to take care of themselves. And here he says, take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself. So this isn't a self-centered kind of self-absorption. But it's a healthy acknowledgment that you are made for the glory of God. And because you're made for a purpose, you should keep yourself in a certain way.

And it all begins in the heart and it comes out in everything about you. What you read, what you listen to, what you see, how you dress, what you say when you're with people. This is a careful taking heed to yourself. To see that you are under the great and mighty hand of God. That you were born for one purpose, to bring glory to God.

That is the only reason you're alive in the world. You're not alive for yourself. But in order to bring glory to God, you must pay attention to yourself. Isn't that interesting? It seems like a contradiction, doesn't it?

On the one hand, we should be very God-centered. On the other hand, we have to take heed to ourselves. Why? Because God has given us in His wisdom the ability to govern ourselves for His own glory. That's the reason.

And so we take heed to ourselves. And then he turns toward what seems to be the focus on our hearts and everything about ourselves and he talks about our memories, our thoughts. He says lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Now Moses here is placing a high value on your memory and I would just say on history and education okay He's placing a high value on remembering things that happen. That's education, right?

Education is all about what has happened and what are you going to do about it. That's what education is. And so he's speaking of the things that your eyes have seen, lest they depart from you. And so it's very critical that we have this high value of education, of the things that have happened in the past. And you'll find this appeal a number of times in Deuteronomy to remember the past.

The word remember, remember, remember will appear in the book of Deuteronomy. And so this is part of our taking care of ourselves. If you want to take care of yourself, you must be educated. You must know things. Things must be in your minds.

You mothers here who are educating your very young children right now, I mean this is a glorious calling that God has given you to help your children not forget to drill them daily, line upon line, every day drilling them about the things that are good, the things that their eyes have seen, the things that God has done, that they might know them, as Psalm 78 says. So we are an educational-oriented people. We're fixated on not forgetting certain things in this life. That means we have to repeat them all the time. We don't learn anything without many, many repetitions.

And so that's why the Word of God is repetitious, because we need the repetition. So Moses, in explaining the value, first of all, of you taking heed to yourself, of your education and not forgetting, he turns toward the education of your children, okay, And that Christians would be teaching their children. Here's one of the data points of the doctrine of education. What does the Bible say about education? Here's some verses about it right here.

If you're with someone and they say, well the Bible doesn't say much about education, we can educate our children any way we want. Go to this verse. Go to Deuteronomy 4.9. There are lots of places that you can go to develop a biblical doctrine of education. This is one of them right here.

The Bible says that Christians bring their children up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. This is why we say that our pagan public education system rages against all of the commandments of God about education. And people often ask me, Scott, how do you handle the issue of education in your church? And I say, this is my view, and this is what I say in our church, that it's not lawful for Christian people to send their children to be educated by pagans. Because educating your children in paganism rages against every single command of God about education.

And the church, unless she wakes up for this, will disappear. Fortunately, Christ is building his church. He always has a remnant. And so he will preserve his church. But I fear, I fear for churches who play patty cake with pagan education.

Here we find that parents are to train their children and it's all part of this diligent life. It's the life of taking heed to yourself. It's the life of keeping yourself. It's the life of education and seeing what has gone before. What we see is that when parents have failed to do this, collapse takes place.

And you can see this in the history of all revivals. Here we've got a revival on the east side of the Jordan River and the people are saying, yes We will go in and do your will. And then when we get to Joshua chapter two, we find that there was a generation that did not know the Lord because their fathers did not teach their children. And that happens over and over again. But we find that there's this interplay between the preaching of the Word of God in revival and the sustaining of that revival.

Revivals die because fathers do not teach their children. That's what you see in the pattern of scripture And you can see it in this revival. You see it in Psalm 78, where Asaph cries out to the fathers again. You see it in the revival of Gideon. I believe you see it in the Protestant Reformation.

I believe you see it in the Great Awakening, the first and the second Great Awakening in American history. If fathers don't get it, the revival won't roll on. It'll just stop. God gives His Word, and the Word of God is sort of like the dynamite. And then there are prophets who preach the Word of God, and that's like a match.

And then the revival fires up. And then if the fathers do not keep it going, then it will die, because it's the fathers who keep the fire burning. And so here we find this principle of parenting in the midst of this appeal to take heed to yourself. Now I just want to talk about parenting for a minute. Our parenting is so critical because of what's spoken of right here.

Because parenting has everything to do with the glory of God from one generation to the next. God has arranged His world so that there would be these enclaves of cultural beauty, of the Kingdom of God, places where the Word of God is preached and the culture of the Kingdom of Heaven is cultivated there in this little family. And He gives a family a head and it gives that family a focus of attention. The father, the head of that house, and that father is to teach, and the mother is to teach, and there's this nourishing, unified relationship between husband and wife as they are co-labors for the kingdom of heaven. It gives a family a prophet and a priest and a king, and it gives a family a tender-hearted mother who would so care for these children.

It gives just a beautiful mix of capability. I read an article the other day that really helped me grip this in a vivid way. In many ways, parenting is a means of cultural resistance. It's a means of preserving holiness. It's a means of keeping destructive, worldly, corrosive, poisonous things out of the hearts of the next generation.

God has sort of built a wall in a way around a family so that it would grow and have a sense of holiness to it and not just be cast off and polluted by everything else rolling around in the world. One of the secular cultural analysts, Neil Postman, perhaps one of the great secular prophets, if you want to call them, of the 20th century, had some very powerful things. Many Christians are aware of his writings, like the book Amusing Ourselves to Depth, when he talked about the devastation of this entertainment, play, gaming world that we live in today. He also wrote a book called The Disappearance of Childhood. But I want to read you something that he wrote, because I think it really helps us to understand the intentions of this verse.

It helps us to understand what God is doing with parenting and the training of the next generation. He was asked, is the individual powerless to resist what is happening? In other words, there are all these devastating trends rolling in the world. And he's asked, is there anything that can stop it? Listen to his answer.

My opinion is No. But as with all resistance, there is a price to pay. Specifically, resistance entails conceiving of parenting as an act of rebellion against American culture. You get that? Parenting as an act of rebellion against American culture.

Parents, you must be rebels in this world. You must rebel against it. You must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And in that sense, we must be cultural rebels. For example, for parents merely to remain married is an act in itself of disobedience and an insult to the spirit of a throwaway culture in which continuity has little value.

He says, when you stay married, you're rebelling against this world. You're throwing off the chains of the devil as he's whipping you with them. And you're saying, no, I'm going to stay married. Yes, I may have done so many things to damage my marriage and the heart of my wife is so wounded and I am so inept in my marriage. You may say that, but stay married, stay married and rebel against the impulses to break it apart.

Just Stay married and rebel against the impulses to break it apart. Just stay married and rebel against the trends of this culture. You're going to have Christian people even say, maybe you're done with this marriage and it's time for you to move on. You're going to find Christian people are going to say, no, no, you need to do something for yourself. You need some me time now.

Christian people give this kind of silly counsel. But what the Bible calls us to is cultural rebellion. And just by staying married, You're in cultural rebellion, " he continues. It is also at least 90% un-American to remain in close proximity to one's extended family so that children can experience daily the meaning of kinship and the value of deference and responsibility to elders." And then he continues, similarly, to insist that one's children learn the discipline of delayed gratification, or modesty in their sexuality, or self-restraint in their manners. Language and style is to place oneself in opposition to almost every social trend.

So, in helping your children honor and obey, in helping your daughters and your sons dress modestly, you're in rebellion. It's cultural rebellion. It's a way that God has made to create a little piece of heaven on earth, in a place where relationships are destroyed, in a place where marriages are broken or up, and hatreds and depression and suicide and all kinds of other maladies that come upon children who suffer from the parents divorce. They're saved from that. It's rebellion against the culture gone mad.

So even when you Discipline your children and help them to say please and thank you and to rise when you come into the room out of respect You're in cultural rebellion. You're preserving the kingdom of heaven on earth. He continues even further to ensure that one's children work hard at becoming literate is extraordinarily time consuming and even expensive. But most rebellious of all is the attempt to control the media's access to one's children. If you've been in this church long enough, you know that there are, from time to time, urgent appeals from parents to withhold this wicked, sinful media from the hearts of your children and to keep your children from wasting their lives on entertainment and that's what Neil Postman the secular commentator is speaking of here.

He says the second is to monitor carefully what they are exposed to and provide them with a continuously running critique of the themes and values of the media's content. Both are very difficult to do and require a level of attention that most parents are not prepared to give to child raising. And so the proposition here is that parenting is an act of rebellion against the wicked propositions of the world. And so our parenting must receive tremendous care. And here Moses is giving us language to help us understand what that care looks like.

He says, only take heed to yourself and keep yourself. Pay attention to yourself lest you forget the things you've seen and they depart from your heart all the days of your life and teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. And so God is making a wise and understanding people and those people have something to say and those people are seen in the world and their words are heard and commentary is made. Secondly, those people are diligent, transgenerational people who love God from the heart. Because it's in the heart, it's real, it's genuine, and it's full passion.

And it's characterized by taking careful heed. Whatever labors you have to do, labor there. If there's anything you have to change to achieve this, change it. If there's anything in the way, kill it so that this can survive in the world today. Take heed.

Be careful. Don't just dilly-dally around in your heavenly journey. David Brainerd said, oh that I might not loiter in my heavenly journey. That's what Moses is saying here to the children of Israel. When you get on the other side of that land, don't forget this.

All the days of your life. Now we come to the last point and obedient word centered people and obedient word centered people verses 10 through 14 So he says teach your children and then he tells you what to teach them. Okay? Again, we're still on the biblical doctrine of education. What do you teach them?

He says, especially, especially teach them this right here. Teach them the 10 commandments. Help them know that. In January, we're going to start memorizing the Ten Commandments as a church, the whole narrative that we find there in Deuteronomy chapter 5. So especially, teach them concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, When the Lord said to me, gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, that they may fear me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.

Then you came and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven with darkness, cloud and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but you saw no form." Now this is really important. You've just hit some words that are very critical to the argument of the rest of the chapter. Okay?

These words right here, you saw no form, you only heard a voice. It was only words. This is really critical. Pay attention to it. We'll deal with this in detail next week.

It's words, not images, that guide the people of God. That's the idea. We have a word-based religion. And what do we do? We look at words.

We read the words and we obey them. That's what Christians do. And so he gives a specific content of the teaching. Now I want you to notice a few things throughout this range of verses. Look at the end of verse 10.

Let them hear my words that they may fear me. And look at verse 12. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form. You only heard a voice.

Can it get any clearer? He's using 10 different ways to say the same thing. He's not going to let you off. He just wants to repeat it over and over. It's words, it's declarations, it's voices, it's commandments.

In verse 14, Teach you statutes and judgments. That's what he's talking about, words here. How do we teach our children? We teach them the words of God. That's the idea.

And we teach them the things that God has commanded. He's already said, do not add or subtract from the words of the law, and teach them diligently to your children, and to observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. And so our lives are to be guided by words, not images, not feelings, not cultures, not peers, but words, statutes, judgments, the voice from heaven that was spoken out of the mouth of God and then recorded by His holy men. And the idea is listen to the words and then obey them. It's very simple.

It's extremely simple. It doesn't take any great natural intelligence to figure it out. It's a good thing for all of us. So coming to the end of this first speech of Moses, Moses has painted a picture of the kind providences of God, the goodness of God. He has painted a picture of the sinfulness of man and the rebellion that rages against God from the hearts of men as it did in the wilderness wanderings.

And then he gives instructions on how his people should relate to the surrounding pagan nations, that they should obey his commands, and they should never fear giants. And then he comes and makes this transition. He is getting us ready now to engage in discussion of the law of God and how it applies in every area of life. And so this first speech in Deuteronomy, Moses is motivating the children of Israel to obey the Word of God. And he's speaking of this wise and understanding people that God is creating in the world.

I was reading David Brainerd's biography and I read this beautiful picture of what happens to a pagan culture when salvation comes to it. David Brainerd, the missionary to the Indians, a young man in his early twenties was used of God to transform, really, missionary activity for 200 years after him. And he was there ministering to the Indians, preaching the gospel, catechizing the Indians, going around and asking them questions to help them understand the will of God. He labored and labored. He was sick all the time.

He felt terrible and he was depressed. And out of his labors, God caused salvation to come to the Indians. Here's what he says about one tribe of Indians. Let me read it to you. And I pray that this tribe of Indians, that we pagans, would find ourselves in the same condition.

That we who have been saved out of the great pagan propositions of the world would be found to be a people, a wise and understanding people. Here's what he says, I doubt that not many of these people have gained more doctrinal knowledge of divine truths since I first visited them in June, then could have been instilled in their minds by the most diligent and proper instructive means for years, except without divine influence." What he's saying is that he's been gone from these people for a long time, but they've changed dramatically. And they've had God teaching them through His word, just personally. And then He says this, their pagan notions and idolatrous practices seem to be entirely abandoned in these parts. They are regulated and appear regularly disposed in the affairs of marriage.

They seem generally divorced from drunkenness, their darling vice, the sin that easily besets them, so that I do not know of more than two or three who have been my steady heirs that have drunk since I first visited them, although before it was common for some of them to be drunk almost every single day. Some of them now, to fear this sin in particular, they fear it more than death itself. A principle of honesty and justice appears in many of them, and they seem concerned to discharge their old debts, which they have neglected and perhaps scarce thought of for many years. Their manner of living is much more decent and comfortable than formerly, having the benefit of that money which they used to consume among such strong drink. Love seems to reign among them, especially those who have given evidences of salvation.

I never saw any appearance of bitterness or sin-sor-iousness in these, nor any disposition to esteem themselves better than others who had not received like mercy. As their sorrows under convictions have been great and pressing, so many of them have since appeared to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And so Deuteronomy paints a picture that's very much like this, that creates a Christian culture, a people whose God is the Lord, a wise and understanding people. And yet we know this, we know that this is not enough. We know something about ourselves, that we break the law every day, that there are many areas that we are not wise, there are many sins, There are many patterns that still beset us, and we have not abandoned these things. And what should we do about that?

Because we know that we still are not the husbands that we should be. We know that we are lawbreakers regarding our love for our wives, and we're selfish people. What do we do? Here's our only hope that we remember that there is one who did keep every law, every statute, and every judgment. It was Jesus Christ.

He's the only one that was able to keep all these laws. He's the only one who was able to observe all the commandments and statutes and judgments. And he obeyed them so that the punishment due you would go on him. Nobody ever kept the whole law. Nobody ever will be able to.

But we have Jesus Christ who kept every point of the law for us. He kept it for us and he was sacrificed for us so that our sins would be laid upon him. And this, brothers and sisters, is our only hope in considering what it might mean to be a wise and understanding people. That Jesus Christ stands as the sacrifice for all of our sins. And He stands there in one hand with a sacrifice and His blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And in the other, a promise that He who began to work in you will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus. That he will do it. Would you pray with me? Now to him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory to God our Savior who alone is wise be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.