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I'd ask you to turn your Bibles
to Deuteronomy chapter 6. It is a familiar chapter, Deuteronomy
chapter 6, but I think it has a lot of truth relevant to being
a real Christian. In case you're wondering which
side of that paper we're on, we're on the marks of a real
Christian, Deuteronomy 6, 1 to 15. Hopefully it doesn't look
too daunting. Trust me, we will not be here
until 2 o'clock. In case that was your first thought,
I hope to move through the points fairly quickly. So Deuteronomy chapter 6, I'll
read the whole section 1 to 15. Now this is the commandment,
and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your
God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in
the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may
fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments
which I command you, you and your son and your grandson and
all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that
it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly,
as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing
with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength. And these words, which I command
you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently
to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you
rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So it shall
be when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which he
swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you
large and bountiful cities which you did not build, houses full
of all good things which you did not fill, hewn out wells
which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did
not plant, When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest
you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt
from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your
God and serve him and shall take oaths in his name. You shall
not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all
around you. For the Lord your God is a jealous
God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord your
God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of
the earth. Amen. Let's pray and just ask
God to bless the reading of his word as well as the preaching.
Let's go to God in prayer. Our gracious and our loving Heavenly
Father, we would seek you now, Father. We pray that your spirit
might be amongst us, that, Lord, you would be pleased to tabernacle
here in this place. We know, Lord, that you are well-pleased
when your word is opened up, and that's what we desire, that's
what we intend to do this day. And so, Lord, we pray that that
attending Holy Spirit might be here. We know that it's not up
to man, it's not up to the eloquence of words or lack thereof, but
rather it's the spirit of the living God that takes your word
and makes it sharp. like a two-edged sword, so that
it might pierce the soul and find its mark in each one of
our hearts. So, Lord, we pray that Your Spirit might do that
even now. We pray, Lord, that I would not become a distraction
in any way, but that rather Your Word would be what we would center
our focus and thoughts upon, and that, Father, You would be
well-pleased to bless Your Word, cause it to not return into Your
void, but we pray that it would have its intended effect in each
and every heart here this day. And we pray in Jesus' precious
name. Amen. Well, certainly when we go to
the doctor for a check-up, those who have had to go to the doctor
for a check-up, any decent doctor, at least I would consider a decent
doctor, he will ask the ABCs of your health. He's going to
question you about your diet, he's going to question you about
how much sleep or rest you've been getting, he's going to question
you about your exercise patterns. And if I were to tell the doctor,
well, I eat fast food five nights a week and I'm never in bed before
midnight and I get no exercise at all, Well, the doctor is going
to be rightly concerned about me. The doctor has a concern,
and he has a right to concern. Well, spiritual health is much
the same as our physical health. Spiritual health, in spiritual
health, there's called the ABCs, what we might call the ABCs,
that must be in place for the Christian to be living in a healthy
manner. And so therefore, I've indicated
at the top of your paper that today's sermon is going to be
entitled Marks of a Real Christian. we might say marks of a sincere
Christian, we might say marks of a healthy Christian. So if we're not doing these things
to their fullest, as instructed in Deuteronomy, then I suspect
that we are not living as healthy or as sincere or as real as we
could be or ought to be as believers. So I trust that the seven marks
that we look at this morning in regards to the marks of a
real Christian, that you'll have cause, as I've had cause this
week, to consider my own heart and consider, well, I may not
be doing that one or I may be doing this one, you know, reasonably
well, but I certainly could pick it up on that one. But God, it's
not a smorgasbord. God doesn't call us to, well,
you choose whatever it is you want to really, to wax eloquent
on or do very well on. No, God expects us to do all
of these things. These were instructions to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy
6. It wasn't a choice. It wasn't do the best you can
and as many as you can, but it was these are the things that
you ought to do if you want to remain a real Christian, if you
want to remain a healthy Christian or a sincere Christian. So let's
look at the first one, which is loving God. I'll just reread
the text, which is verses 4 and 5, just so we can hear it. We'll
be doing a fair bit of flipping in our Bibles. I think I put
most of the texts on your papers, so you can refer to them. If
you don't hear the exact text, you can refer to the paper and
see where it is I'm reading from. So the first, the fact that we
ought to love God, that's the first mark. of a real Christian
that comes from verses four and five. It says, Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your strength. And if we flipped over to chapter
10, verse 12, a similar theme. I'm gonna take two other verses
in Deuteronomy. A similar theme in chapter 10,
verse 12. I think you'll hear it well.
It says, And now Israel, What does the Lord your God require
of you? But to fear the Lord your God,
to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, to serve the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So to
love God. And also in chapter 11 verse 1 it says, therefore
you shall, what? You shall love the Lord your
God and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and
His commandments always. The first thing there in chapter
11 verse 1 is we ought to love God. That's our first thing.
The New Testament, in Matthew 22, 38, says that the Lord Christ
calls love, loving God, the first and the greatest commandment.
So if God calls it the first and the greatest commandment,
then that's why I put it first here in our outline, even though
it doesn't necessarily come first in the text. It is of most importance. Please turn your Bibles to 1
Corinthians 16, verse 22. 1 Corinthians 16, 22. Now, this is a bit of
a negative view. We can assume if this is a negative,
then obviously the positive is the opposite of it. 1 Corinthians
chapter 16 verse 22 says, if anyone does not love the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Well, who in here wants to be
accursed? Obviously, we don't want to be accursed. We want
to be loved by God. We want to be blessed by God. So therefore,
what ought we to do? 1 Corinthians 16, 22. If anyone loves God, then we
can be sure that we're not accursed by him. And that's what he expects.
And we flip over to 1 Peter 1 7-8 for a couple more passages. 1
Peter 1 7-8 is a very positive one, a very familiar one. 1 Peter
1 7-8. In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved
by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more
precious than gold, that perishes, though it is tested by fire,
may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of
Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love." Amen to that. And the last passage I'd like
to look at is, 1 John chapter 5 verses 1 to 3, just over a
couple of pages, to 1 John chapter 5 verses 1 to 3. Again, the theme
here being that we would love God. The marks of a real Christian
are that they love God. 1 John 5, 1 to 3 says, that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God, and everyone who loves Him, who
begot also loves Him, who has begotten of Him. By this we know
that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep
His commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. So again, just that important
theme throughout all the scripture, but certainly in those texts,
both Old Testament and New Testament, And very much, today you will
see that I will start in the Old Testament, but go right through
the New Testament, that this wasn't just something for the
Old Testament Israelites to follow. It wasn't just something for
the Old Testament Israelites to, at the end of the Old Covenant,
to put aside, and we're into a new covenant, we're into something
different. No, what the Old Testament covenant people were taught and
expected of by God, the New Testament, the New Covenant people are expected
the same thing. The same thing is expected of
us. And that is, first and foremost, that we would love God. Please
go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 2, the second point,
in terms of marks of a real Christian, of a sincere and healthy Christian,
is that he would fear God. And that is in verse 2. Verse
2. It says, that you may fear the
Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments
which I command you and your son and your grandson all the
days of your life. This is a description of biblical
religion in the Old Testament. And I will argue that it's also
a description of biblical religion in the New Testament. We sometimes
think, oh, those Old Testament Christians, they were to fear
God. Well, we're just to love God. No, we're to fear God as
well. John Murray says an excellent
quote, and then we'll go to a passage in 2 Corinthians. But John Murray,
first of all, says, listen carefully to this. It's an excellent quote.
It says, the fear of God is the soul of godliness. The fear of
God is essentially a religious concept. It refers to the conception
we entertain of God and the attitude of heart and mind that is ours
by reason of that conception. The fear of God in which godliness
consists is the fear which constrains adoration and love. So it's not
fear to cower, but rather it's fear that draws out adoration
and love. It is the fear which consists
in awe, reverence, honor, and worship, and all of these on
the highest level of exercise. So that's what it means to fear
God. It's a positive thing. It's not something, as Pastor
Butler, I always remember him saying, it's the fear somehow
he always points to the piano. I can see why you do that up
here, just it's naturally there, to fear and cower under the piano.
That's not the kind of fear, fearing God, that is referred
to in the scriptures. If you turn to the New Testament,
to 2 Corinthians chapter 7, Verse 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse
1, and it talks about this same fear amongst the New Testament
believers, fearing God that is. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1
says, therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. So they were expected to fear
God, they were expected to live in the fear of God. If you just
flip over to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 and 29.
Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. It says in Hebrews 12, Since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is
consuming fire." So you can see it's the same God in the Old
Testament as in the New Testament. We may think back to an incident
in the Old Testament. If I bring up the names of Nadab
and Abihu, I think we all can remember immediately. They were
Aaron's sons. And they offered up a strange
fire. What did God do to them? He killed them. He struck them
dead right there. Why? Because they offered up
a strange fire. So certainly we know the God
of the Old Testament is a God who certainly worked vengeance
towards those who did not fear him. We can think of also another
man by the name of Uzzah. In the Old Testament, he simply
steadied the ark so it wouldn't fall over. We would think, well,
that's a good thing to do. But God struck him dead because
he thought that he had to step in and, in a sense, help God.
He didn't fear God the way he ought to. We may think, well
that's great, those are Old Testament examples, what about the New
Testament? We're in the church age, we're in the church where
it's all about love. Well not really, if you consider
the opening chapters of Acts, Acts chapter 2 I believe it is,
no maybe a little further, 3 or 4, where we've got Ananias and
Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira were struck
dead. Why were they struck dead? Because they lied to the Holy
Spirit. So, it's the same God that we deal with in the Old
Testament as in the New Testament. So, we may not have as many examples
in the New Testament of God striking dead or coming upon people with
vengeance for those who don't fear Him. Yet, we have to believe
God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, the God of the
Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. So, we want to
be a real Christian, we will want to fear God. Moving on to
the third point, obeying God. referring back to our passage
in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 6, and this refers to the idea
of obeying God. God expects to be obeyed, not
to be trifled with. Chapter 6, verses 1 to 3, and
listen carefully for the the ideas of obedience. Now this
is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments
which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you. That you may observe
them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. That
you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and
his commandments which I command you. you, and your son, and your
grandson, and all the days of your life, and that your days
may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and
be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and
that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord God of your fathers
has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey." So I think
I put on your outline there the next sentence, which I'm just
simply going to read. And that is, it's to be in obedience in
all areas of our lives. It's to be in obedience 24-7.
It's not a choice of when we obey or what we obey. It's all
areas, it's at all times. And it's to be, it's a careful
and precise obedience. Now I feel like when speaking
about obedience, especially in reference to the Old Testament,
I think I do need to give a caveat, and that is that this obedience
is the result or the evidence of grace. It's certainly not,
obedience can never ever merit or earn my salvation or your
salvation. And I would never want to give
that impression that somehow, well, we just have to obey and
we can merit with God. We can receive that grace from
God. No, never ever. Grace is grace and obedience
is something else. But it's to obey God in all of
our lives with careful and precise obedience is I think what we
see demonstrated throughout the whole Old Testament. Matthew
Henry says it this way, he says, religion and righteousness advance
and secure the prosperity of any people. Fear God and it shall
be well with thee. Those that are well taught, if
they do what they are taught, shall be well fed too. as Israel
in the land flowing with milk and honey." I just want to read
that one more time, because sometimes in a quote we hear certain things,
we don't always hear the whole thing, because I think it's very
relevant in regards to obeying God. This is Matthew Henry, he
says, "'Religion and righteousness advance and secure the prosperity
of any people. Fear God and it shall be well
with thee. Those that are well taught, if
they do what they are taught, shall be well fed too, as Israel
in the land flowing with milk and honey.'" Please turn your
Bibles to Philippians chapter 127. I'd like to just look at
a couple of passages in the New Testament as well. Philippians chapter 1. And Philippians chapter 127 says,
only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that
whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of your
affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind,
striving together for the faith in the gospel. So you sense a
sense, you get there a sense of obedience, obedience to the
instructions of the Apostle Paul. And just over into the next chapter,
chapter 2 verses 12 to 13, He says something similar. He says,
therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed in, not as
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
who works in you, both to will and to do, for his good pleasure. So it's that sense of obedience.
When Paul wasn't watching, when Paul wasn't in the church, when
Paul wasn't observing them, he wanted to know that they were
being obedient. I remember a number of years ago someone saying to
me, I think it was in Bible school at the time, he said, and I always
remember the statement, and it is, what a man is when he is
by himself is what a man is. Right? When you think no one
is looking, When you think no one is around you, when you are
literally by yourself, what you desire, what you contemplate,
what you think about, that's really what we are. So sometimes
we may watch our behavior because the boss is watching us, right,
at work. It might be the boss. For children, it might be because
mom and dad are watching us. So that somehow, sometimes that
affects our behavior. But let's consider our behavior,
we're always being observed, we're always being watched by
God. Not in a mean, ogrily way, but if we consider that God sees
us at all times, He observes us at all times. I think that
would affect our behavior. I would hope that that would
give to us that desire to be obedient, whether it be a child
in the home or a parent in whatever responsibilities and whatever
we involve ourselves in, that we would desire to obey God because
He sees us at all times. It's not like we can somehow
do something in the dark, or, oh, He doesn't mind, or, God's
a forgiving God. We have all sorts of reasons.
ways of, of negating the fact that God observes and God expects
obedience. And certainly we see that in
Deuteronomy, and we see it in the New Testament, throughout
the Old Testament, and the New Testament as well. Continuing
on in the Marks of a Real Christian, let's look at verse 4, back in
our passage in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, holding to sound
doctrine, holding to sound doctrine. Verse 4 says, Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your strength. So that's called the Shema, the
first sentence, or Shema, I guess would be a better pronunciation.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That's
the Shema. It was known as the morning confession. of every genuine Old Testament
Christian. It was a declaration of faith
in one God. That's what they are declaring,
that's what they were declaring, that there is one God. The word
one certainly stresses the monotheism of Israel, and it's a rejection
of polytheism in the day in which they were living. The people
were to give their allegiance to God and God alone, who was
God. However, the word for one here The word does not mean singleness,
but rather unity. And therefore, it's not inconsistent
with Trinitarianism. The sense that if we look at
in Genesis, Genesis 2.24, where it talks about a man shall leave
his father and his mother and be joined with his wife, and
the two will become one flesh. Well, that's the one being referred
to. Obviously, we're talking about two individuals becoming
one flesh, acting as one. And that is what is being suggested
here in the Shema, that God is one. Even though it's three persons,
the God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they act
as one. And it was a declaration of that
truth that they were to have. And so, therefore, what are they
being instructed here to do? Since the marks of a real Christian
would be that we hold to sound doctrine. Hold to sound doctrine.
kind of refer to it a little bit in our Bible reading this
morning when we read 2 Timothy chapter 2, but I would just refer
you to 2 Timothy chapter 1 first of all, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses
13 and 14, with this idea of holding fast, holding strongly
to sound doctrine. So 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
13. and 14, says, hold fast the pattern of sound words which
you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus. That good thing which was commanded to you, keep by
the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. So there's a sense of a
commitment. They were to be committed to holding to sound doctrine.
Paul expected that of Timothy as the pastor and of the congregation
as well. Flip over to chapter 3, verses
14 and 17. Chapter 3, 14 and 17. And it says, but you must continue
in the things which you have learned and have been assured
of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood
you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So certainly
when it comes to sound doctrine, we know it's, we certainly hear
it, we hear it thundered from this pulpit. Sunday after Sunday,
we hear it in the Wednesday night Bible studies. We've gone through
some Old Testament books. We see a wandering away from truth,
a wandering away from doctrine. And that is not something that
we just read about in our scriptures. That's something that's relevant
today in the churches throughout North America and around the
world. Some Christians, they simply become bored. I think
it's, Pastor Butler and I have talked many times. they simply
become bored with the truth. The truth just becomes boring.
Therefore, they have to invent, invent new doctrines, invent
new ways of looking at things. Or perhaps it's a matter of shaving
off the truth a little bit, or redefining the truth. We ought
to remember that a degree here, in 2014, a degree off here, as
we continue and project out, becomes a much greater degree
off the truth and off sound doctrine in 10, 20, 30, 50 years from
now. We ought to be encouraged as a congregation that Pastor
Butler and Pastor Porter, along with him, but mostly Pastor Butler,
has been working very hard on the impassibility of God. That's
a doctrine that has been under attack. It's kind of been left
to the wayside. It's been kind of shuffled away. Pastor Butler and a few other
men in the Reformed Baptist world, other pastors, are seeking to
just redefine it and just make it more clear and make it just
more, bring it into sharper focus. So we ought to rejoice in that
as a congregation, that we do have elders and teachers here
in this congregation that do consider holding to sound doctrine
to be of utmost importance, which unfortunately you would not hear
in too many other churches around the world, or certainly in Canada,
of which I think we can speak of. So, in essence, if you want
to be a real Christian, if you want to be a sincere and healthy
Christian, Hold on to truth with a tight grip, not a loose grip. Hold on to it tightly and encourage
our pastors when they too want to hold on to truth and doctrine
in a tight grip. Encourage them in the things
of God that they would not grow weary in the fight. Continuing
on, let's go back to our passage in the fifth point of Marks of
a Real Christian is that he desires heart religion. The mark of a
true Christian of a sincere and healthy Christian is that he
desires heart religion, and that's in verses 5 and 6. Again, we
sometimes think in the Old Testament it was all about the outward,
it was all about behavior, behavior modification. That's certainly
not what God promoted in the Old Testament, if we actually
take him at his word. So verses 5 and 6 read, You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your strength. And these words which I command
you today shall be in your heart." Right? So that's what, that's
what God desires. The Old Testament was not concerned with merely
externals. Hence the Sermon on the Mount.
We don't have time to read it, but if you were to go to Matthew
23, the first 12 verses, Jesus' indictment upon the Pharisees
there is that basically, Don't do as they say, but don't do
as they do, which is kind of unfortunate that you would have
to say that about a teacher in the land. Do what they say, but
not what they do. So clearly, the Lord Jesus recognized
that there was heart religion involved. They had left their
heart out, and they were simply following the physical, the outward. They weren't following God with
their heart. If we flip the page to Deuteronomy
chapter 11, verse 13, Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 says something
similar. It says, and it shall be that
if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to
love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with
all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in
its season. And then he goes on in that passage.
So there's that sense of God wants our earnest. God wants
our earnestness. He wants our heart in following
him, not just the outward. The truth of God has got to become
internalized. It can't be an external thing.
If you flip over to Romans chapter 12, Romans 12 verses 1 and 2,
it's a familiar passage, but I think in light of what we're
talking about here, that God desires heart religion, Romans
12, 1 and 2, speak very well to this. It says, I beseech you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. And one last passage, if you
flip over to Philippians chapter 4, Philippians 4, 8 and 9, we'll
see there too that God desires that we are meditative, that
we are, that the Word of God gets into our heart, not just
into our mind. And Philippians chapter 4, 8,
9 says, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things
are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there be any virtue And if there be anything praiseworthy, meditate
on these things. Internalize them. Meditate on
these things. The things which you learned
and received and heard in me, these do, and the God of peace
will be with you. So clearly, that's what God wants.
God wants to see us meditating, internalizing His Word, that
that might benefit our souls and make us healthy, sincere,
real Christians. Moving on to point number six,
the promotion of truth, that's in chapter, or back in verse
verse 7 of chapter 6 in Deuteronomy. Verse 7 says, you shall teach
them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you
sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down,
and when you rise up. So we're to diligently teach
our children at all times and in all places. Teach them at
the kitchen table, teach them in their bedrooms as they go
to bed at night, teach them as we are on a walk, teach them
as we go throughout life that this would be, that we would
be promoting truth at all times. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4 says,
and you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring
them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Psalm, Psalm chapter
34 verse 11 says, these are several verses in a row, so you may not
be able to turn to them fast enough. I'll just read them because
they're fairly short. Psalm 34 verse 11 says, come
you children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. So that's the Lord speaking to
us like his children, as we ought to imitate. Psalm 78 verse 4,
we will not hide them, that is the law, from their children,
telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord
and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done, right? Telling the generation to come
of the praises of the Lord. We've had many births here in
the Church of late, in the last several, well, really, you could
look at a number of years. There's lots of little ones growing
up and lots of little babies. Well, as parents, that's your
responsibility. For some of you as new parents, that's a brand
new responsibility, to train them, to speak to them about
the praises of our God. It's a wonderful privilege, but
it also comes with great responsibility. as well if we consider that God
has commanded us to promote the truth amongst our children. Psalm
145 verse 4 says, one generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your mighty acts. One generation, that's
their responsibility, is to declare it to the generation coming up. The idea is to propagate, promote,
and protect the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
If we believe that this is truth, contained in our Bibles, in our
Scriptures, if we know that to be the truth, the only truth,
then we will want to promote it, we will want to propagate
it, we will want to protect it within our families. Our homes
ought to be that place where truth is promoted and where it
is protected. And it goes from parent to child,
from one generation to the next generation, one after the other.
It seems clear from Scripture that God instituted the family
for this very purpose. If we think of, it was around
the section we were reading there in Timothy, I didn't read it,
I won't refer, I won't go back to it now, but just refer to
it for, for your memories, from your memory. But remember Timothy,
Timothy was what's commended because he was, he was, he was
going on in the faith. And who got the credit for that?
But rather, but, but it's grandmother and mother. Truly the, the, the
faith, the truth had been passed down from one generation to the
next generation. And that is how truth is propagated.
That's how truth continues within the, within the context of the
church. And let's turn to our, to our last, our last mark, and
that is number seven. that if you want to be a sincere,
real Christian, we're going to value or prize the Word of God. That's referred to in verses
8 and 9. Verses 8 and 9, considering valuing
or prizing the Word of God. You shall bind them as a sign
on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your
eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and
on your gates. Right? To prize it, to recognize
this is the Word of God, and what a privilege it is to have
the Word of God that we would not just kind of cast it aside
or consider it as something that is just like any other book.
but rather it is the very Word of God Himself. And I'll refer
you to Psalm 19, 7 to 11. Of course, if you're speaking
of the Word of God, you have to go to Psalm 19. It just oozes
of that idea of prizing and valuing the Word of God. Psalm 19 verses
7 to 11 reads, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true. and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant
is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." If you
flip over to Psalm 119 verse 72, Psalm 119, 72 says, The law of your mouth is better
to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. Is that the
way, do we value the word of God that way? Or would we rather
have the riches? Would we, do we value this if we were to lose
all our possessions? that be left of their Bible,
would we be satisfied? Or we would say, well, I would
rather have my possessions and give up my Bible. Psalm 119,
just a little further along, to verse 127, it says, therefore
I love your commands more than gold, yes, than fine gold. And
2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, it's a familiar verse, probably I
could say and you could all, you'd all be able to say it along
with me. It says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work." Well, that to me
is a man who values, who prizes the Word of God, that we would
see that if we understand what it does, then truly we are going
to prize it. And if you flip over to Jude,
there's no chapters in Jude, so Jude 17 to 21, for our last
scripture text on point seven. So Jude 17 to 21 says, excuse
me, but you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before
by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that
there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according
to their own ungodly lusts. These are central persons who
cause divisions not having the spirit. But you, beloved, building
yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
Here's where it is. Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. So how are we to keep ourselves
in the love of God? Well, by prizing his word, by
reading his word, making it part of our daily life is so very
important to remaining a healthy Christian, which is what we're
talking about. Let's move on to the second main point, and
that is found in verses 10 to 15. 10 to 15, and it's cautions to avoid
apostasy. Apostasy is simply turning away
from God, turning our back on God. And it may not be turning
our back on God and leaving the Christian faith. It may just
be turning our back on God in terms of a specific command or
something we know we ought to be doing, something we ought
to be performing or doing in the Christian life. That is a
form of apostasy. Unfortunately, apostasy is a
natural default position of every Christian. Hebrews chapter 12 describes
the Christian life as a race. It's for those who endure, it's
for those who continue and finish the race. Paul describes in Romans
7, he describes the Christian life as a battle, that we'll
battle with our old Adam, our old nature. until we breathe
our last breath, and thus the warning to the Old Testament
saints is here in the remainder of the text that we have not
read yet or have not re-read in verses 10 to 15. We see that
sense of, here's a caution, because you may leave the faith, you
may turn away from God, you may depart from the things that are
truthful and right and scriptural and biblical, so therefore, here's
what we ought to do. We are not to forget God. There's
a temptation in times of abundance. When things are going well, we
can sometimes feel, well, I don't need God. I'm doing well. I'm
eating my three meals. I have a nice house. I have a
nice family. I drive a nice car. We're able to go on holidays.
We can enjoy all the luxuries of life. And so, therefore, the
temptation often is, in that time of abundance, we are to
confess our native sinful ignorance. And that's in verses 10 to 11. Let me read verses 10 to 11.
It says, When the Lord your God brings you into the land of which
He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to
give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build,
houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn
out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which
you did not plant, what were to acknowledge that God who sustains
us with raiment and homes. It's God who gave us homes. It's
God who's given us the raiment, the clothing that we wear today.
We didn't get these things on our own selves. We're to confess
sinful neglect that we read on in verse 12. Verse 12 says, when
you have eaten and are full, then beware lest you forget the
Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house
of bondage. So we're to acknowledge that it is God who sustains us
daily with food. When we pray for our food, isn't
just a while we pray simply because we're supposed to pray? Or do
we genuinely thank God for that daily food? Do we genuinely thank
God that we have a house to live in, that we have clothing to
wear, that we enjoy the many benefits that we enjoy? These
don't just happen by accident. And if we're acknowledging God's
faithfulness in these things, then I do believe that we will
not forget God. And that seems to be the warning
here towards apostasy, is it's a forgetting God, it's a turning
away from God. So we are to confess our native
worldliness, When our possessions become more important than God,
that needs to be confessed. When we need to confess our pride
and our native selfishness. These are all things that are
common to you, they're common to me. The only answer, I suppose,
to put it that way, is to confess these things, to have daily and
regular confession to the Lord. So what is the biblical remedy?
We need to learn to live with contentment and joy in the Christian
life. If you flip over from Deuteronomy,
chapter 6 to Deuteronomy chapter 28. To Deuteronomy chapter 28,
verse 47, learn to live with contentment and joy in the Christian
life. Deuteronomy 28, 47 says, because you did not serve the
Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of
everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies. So that was
a punishment, because they didn't acknowledge God, because they
did not, they weren't content, they weren't expressing that
joy and happiness in the Lord. for the things he provided, then
he allowed them to serve their enemies. We need to learn to
have a biblical view of stewardship. Psalm 24 verse 1 says, the earth
is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell
in it. So do we have a biblical sense of stewardship that all
we enjoy on this earth is from the Lord? And the final passage
is in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 17 to 19. 1 Timothy chapter 6,
17 to 19, it says, command those who are rich in this present
age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but
in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to
give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation
for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
So that's the biblical remedy to this forgetting God, to this
natural apostasy, and that would be to recognize that God is in
everything. To recognize that God is in the
raiment and the homes and the food that we daily get. To recognize
that we ought to be content and joyful in our Christian lives.
And with that, God is well pleased to add blessing upon blessing
to those who are going to ultimately be healthy in their Christian
life. And the last point is verses 13 to 15, back in chapter 6.
Verses 13 to 15, and then I'll finish with some application.
Chapter 6, 13 to 15 says, You shall fear the Lord your
God and serve Him and shall take oaths in His name. You shall
not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all
around you. For the Lord your God is a jealous
God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord your
God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of
the earth. So we are to fear God and serve
Him, not run away from Him, but rather run to Him. That's what
fearing God means, to love Him, to serve Him with all our heart.
soul, mind, and strength. That's what's going to help us
to not engage in idolatry. We're to reject the competitors.
You know who the competitors are in your life. I know who
they are in my life. What would you rather do then to come to
church? What would you rather do then to read or pray or read
the Bible or pray? Those are the competitors in
our life, and we need to confess those things to God. Otherwise,
if we don't, then we follow after them. Those become our idols.
That is idolatry. We are to understand that, according
to this passage, God's a jealous God. That ought to be something
that ought to enthuse us and give us great hope, that God's
a jealous God. He's jealous for our love. He's
jealous for our attention. He's jealous for us. And in the
New Covenant, 1 John 5.21, What does John tell them at the
very last verse of 1 John? It says, little children, keep
yourselves from idols. So that meant that they were
to keep themselves from anything that was going to be more important
than God. So again, idolatry is not just something in the
Old Testament, and we don't have to worry about the New Testament.
Idolatry is anything that steals our heart away from God. And
the people that John was writing to, He recognized that they would
have idols, and they were to keep themselves from idols. So
you know what your idols are, I know what my idols are, so
this afternoon consider what they are. What is stealing our
attention away from God? Because whatever is stealing
our attention ultimately doesn't make us healthy, sincere Christians,
that it doesn't. In regards to application, just
to finish off, I began by talking about the ABCs, like a good doctor
who would ask questions, about our physical health while we
have the ABCs of the Christian life. And with the help of the
Holy Spirit, I believe we need to ask ourselves the questions
of one through seven on the handout that you have, those marks of
a real Christian. Be critical of yourself. I need
to be critical of myself. And we need to ask that God will
continue to, or I need to ask us, or we need to ask, sorry,
I kind of put that wrong. We need to, as Philippians chapter
two, verse 12 says, it says, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. What does that mean? It means
to ask questions. It means to ask those things of ourselves. Which
of these seven points am I not engaging in? Which of these seven
points do I need to engage more in? That is what working out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, to be self-critical,
but with the aid and help of the Holy Spirit and, of course,
the Scriptures. Keep in mind, of course, in the Christian life
We believe in progressive sanctification. We're not fully sanctified when
we become saved. We're all along this road of
sanctification. And where someone is at may not
be where someone else is at. But nevertheless, we are seeking
to be sanctified, to be set apart. And I would encourage you that
I hope this has not become a message of discouragement. Well, I don't
do this and I don't do that. And I do have idols in my life. I trust that we would say, well,
I'm not where I want to be. But I'm not where I used to be.
I'm not where I once was. And I am, slowly but surely,
progressively becoming more and more sanctified by God and His
gracious Holy Spirit. The marks of a real Christian,
what are they? Well, they're faith in Christ, their love to
God, obedience, delight in the truth, desire to propagate, to
promote and protect biblical Christianity. The very seven
marks that I've laid out here. So, a second application is,
do these mark me? Am I, if they do mark me, then
I'm healthy, then I'm reasonably well. The doctor would give me,
he'd sign a bill of clean health. But we need to ask these questions
of ourselves, and I trust that in the quietness of your own
heart in the coming week, that you would take that paper and
that you would ask yourself those questions with the help and aid
of the Holy Spirit. Third point of application, third of four
points. There's really nothing new under
the sun here. I've not, I've not, I trust I've not wowed anyone
with, wow, I never knew that before, wow, I've never seen
this before, never heard of it. Forgetting God and having idols
in our lives, they're two constant threats that were constantly
threatening the old covenant Christianity. And forgetting
God and idolatry, having idols in our hearts, they're also two
threats that continue to threaten new covenant Christianity as
well. So we ought not to ever think that, well, that was in
the old, I live in the new. What they were struggling with
in the old, what they had to deal with in the old, what God
expected of them in the Old Testament, God expects of us in the New
Testament. So let's learn and implement
the biblical remedy to guard against the wickedness that ultimately
we do see in the life of many Israelites as we have been in
Bible study, as well as in the preaching here by Pastor Butler,
we've seen in the Old Testament scenes. And finally, everything
I've said this morning is true only for the believing Christian,
ultimately. And that may not describe you
this morning. Living the Christian life can only be accomplished
through knowing Christ personally. So everything I've said today
is really irrelevant to you if you are not a true believer,
if you're not a true Christian. Upon witnessing a startling event
in his jailhouse, the Philippian jailer was not told by the Apostle
Paul, well, you've got to love God, you've got to fear God,
you've got to obey his commandments, you've got to hold to sound doctrine,
You've got to promote the truth. That's not what the Philippian
jailer was told by Paul in that jailhouse. The answer to the
question of Acts chapter 16 verse 30 was, to sirs, what must I
do to be saved? Well, the answer was, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And so I
would invite any who perhaps have heard this this morning
and said, wow, The Spirit of God is at work in me. I don't
do those things, but how can I do those things? I need to...
I'm not a believer. I'm not a true Christian. So
therefore, these are things that you will not be able to engage
in until you first come to a knowledge of the Savior. And I would invite
you to consider that, even this morning. Well, let's close with
a prayer. Just ask God to bless the thoughts that we have here
before us this morning, and that He would be pleased to bless
His Word as we go into the afternoon. Let's pray. Our gracious and
our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, that you are
a kind God, that you are a merciful God, that you do not hold over
us something that we cannot accomplish. Lord, you have given to us your
Holy Spirit, you've given to us the aid of the scriptures,
and how I would pray this morning, Lord, that each and every person
who has heard this sermon this morning, they would be encouraged.
that they would seek to delight themselves in the word of God
and seek to delight themselves in this passage, especially in
Deuteronomy chapter 6. How we pray, Lord, that you would
help us to see where perhaps we need to make confession to
you where we are not living as we ought to live. We desire to
live as healthy, sincere Christians that bring glory to you. And
so we pray, Lord, that you would help each one of us to do the
things that we need to do in the coming days that we might
delight ourselves in you and that you would be well pleased
to add your blessing to. Lord, how we praise you, we thank
you that you are a God who forgives as well. We thank you, you are
a God who does call any and all who know nothing of the things
of Christ to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Lord,
how we pray that the gospel would be effective here in this place
this day, that you would be pleased to save, that you would be pleased
to sanctify, that Lord you would be pleased to bless this whole
day. May we worship you and glory in the things that we have in
Christ Jesus and it's in his precious name we pray. Amen.
