Deuteronomy 6:20-25 Bible Study | Episode 868

 February 5, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Deuteronomy    Bible Study | Episode #

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life.

I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We. We are in Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy, chapter six. And we're finishing up the chapter today with verses 20 through 25.

And as we're studying through these, this chapter, it is, it is the end that we come to after we've been given the greatest commandment. After, in last chapter, we've been.

We've been given the, the ten commandments. And, and so Moses is telling the children of the children who came out of Egypt what God has done and what God is going to do.

And so it's interesting that we get to this passage where Moses is talking to the children of the, of the people who came out of Egypt and telling them about how to deal with their children.

And as I was, when I was younger, as a, as a pastor, when I was younger, as, as, as a Christian, you don't take to account, and it's impossible to do this.

You don't take to account the value that you will place and that your life places on the generations that are beyond you. Now, you don't have to have children to come to this conclusion or to come to this realization, but it's helpful.

A lot of people don't have children, but they have nieces and nephews. They have, they have family members that are younger. And even in that context, oftentimes people come to the realization that life is a continual process and that your life does, and this is scriptural, that your life does end, does endure on past you, when you invest your life in those who live past you.

And so there is an enduring legacy of life, God's life that he's given us. And when I say life, I'm not talking about eternal life. Bios the. The or Zoa The.

The life that we actually live on this earth has an enduring legacy beyond. And that is A foreshadowing of the eternal life that God has that gives us a legacy that is eternal, that never goes away.

And so understanding that we have a legacy that goes on beyond us is very important.

Most people come to that conclusion when a baby is born in the family while they're adults, whether they, whether it's their child or not, their adulthood is, is intruded upon by a child.

Maybe their child might be a brother or sister's child, might even be a close cousin's child, somebody that is, is close to you in your family and that child is born into that family.

And then there's that great realization that you know, life is, is, is not just about me and meeting my needs, but life is about investing into this new life that has come along.

That is a powerful, powerful understanding. That is a powerful revelation that comes and I believe it comes from God because remember, God is the initiator of life. And so he, he not only has initiated life on this planet, not only has he initiated and, and you know, God loves all of his life.

He, he does.

We see that even when God's describing how much he loves us, he, he reveals to us the, the love he has for his creation. When he says, you know, why do you wear, worry about what you wear?

You know, look at the birds and, and how God has arrayed them with, or adorned them with such beauty. What he's saying is, is God cares about, you know, he cares about the birds.

He does, he cares about, he cares about the animals of the earth. He cares, he cares about all of us because we come from him, we come from his creation.

We are the culmination of his creation. And so understanding that, that maturity, that desire for you to pass on things in your life, oftentimes you'll see. And as an attorney, I do this many, many times when people come in and they don't have any children, but they have nieces and nephews, they have family members that are younger than them and they're.

The importance that they place on giving inheritance to those children is you. There's no discernible difference between that and a parent doing it. They, they act as if those children are theirs.

And in a real way they are. They're not there. They're not their children biologically, but they're their children in that they have invested their lives in them in a self sacrificial way that's really, really powerful and important.

And so we see as we get older that that's, that is a powerful moment in our lives and Then luckily, as, as, as an older man, and I'm not old, old, but, but I'm a man in my 50s.

I've been given the opportunity to experience what it's like to have my children have children, which is my grandchildren. And I say, I say that if, if you endured raising children, which is tough, it's very difficult because it's a, it's a whole life investment.

You realize that this life is totally dependent on you and you take on that responsibility in that role. It's very powerful, very maturing, very important way of looking at things.

When, when you, when you have grandchildren, it's just like, it's, it's all the good stuff of, of having children and almost none of the bad stuff of having children on steroids.

It is just, I mean, it's wonderful, wonderful. And you know, I had people tell me about love, you know, loving the grandchildren when I had children. I'm sitting there going, well, I'll give you some grandchildren.

You just come take mine. You know, when you're doing that as an as, as a, as an, as a parent, it's really tough. But then, but then once you experience it, you realize they were right.

This grandparents stuff is fabulous. It, I mean, it's wonderful. And it is, it, it is, it is a continuation or the enduring legacy of, of, of God's blessing, of giving us children.

And so God knows that. God understands that. And even in this passage, and this is a very important passage for the Jewish people, even today, they will turn to this passage.

This is something that they, that they memorize. And they live their lives by, as families in their, in their communities. They, they live their lives by this passage because it is such a beautiful passage.

It's an important passage. And you see Moses telling the children of Israel, the children of. The children of Israel that he led out of Egypt what to do with their children, because there is a continual legacy of, of, of children.

He says, when your sons, verse 20, when your son ask you in times to come, or in a time to come, saying, what is the meaning of these testimonies, these statutes, these judgments which the Lord has.

Our God has commanded you. And you go, why does he say testimony, statutes and judgments? Well, you can get into the particulars of these things. Remember, testimonies are stories that are told.

Statutes are the actual law. The, you know, thou shalt not steal. And then judgments are God teaching us about the law.

This is the law, and this is how it applies. Now that's what those three things mean. But I want you to notice that all of them point to the character nature of God.

And so when I hear a testimony of God or a story from Scripture about God, well, I, I'm learning about God's character. When I, when I read his statutes, when I read, you know, this is.

God says, do these things this or don't do these things, then I learn about his character. And then when I hear God in Scripture telling me how this should be carried out in my life, which is a judgment, then I'm learning about his character.

Remember, all these things are to divinely reveal his character, which is helpful for us because it makes us realize that our character's not his and that we need to have his.

And so these judgments, these statutes, all these things are fulfilled in Jesus Christ so that ultimately by the Holy Spirit and walking in relationship with God, I can actually take on these characteristics.

But the law, the statutes, the judgments, they do reveal to me, divinely reveal to me who God is, when, when, when times come and they ask why or what are these which the Lord the God commanded you?

He says, then you shall say, verse 21, you shall say to your son, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. Now he starts with contextualizing why. And you do need to tell the whole story, right?

And, and that's really what's going on here. We're getting a contextualized why. We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, Meaning God did miraculous work to deliver us from the world.

And Egypt is a picture of the world in Scripture. And the Lord showed us signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household.

Meaning God is a supernatural, powerful God. He is a miracle working God. He is a God that is a creator of perfection in the universe.

It is good, it is excellent.

And yet when man brought in sin, God is able to overcome that with his supernatural power.

He showed us signs and wonders before our as great and severe against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household. Then he brought us out from there that he might bring us in to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers.

Meaning he is a God that not only can do supernatural, he does that to deliver on his promises. Because God delivers on his word. God delivers from his truth on his word.

And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day.

Meaning God did this so that we could observe his statutes. And that means to keep them. But it also means to know them. I got to know them in order to keep them.

So His. He gave us this so we could observe his statutes, we could know them and keep them, and that we could do it always. And that we could learn to fear the Lord and that we could walk in them, that we could actually live them out.

And in that he would preserve our lives, he would preserve us in the life that he's given for us. And then it will be righteousness for us. Notice that righteousness comes by faith.

Why? Because we've heard God, we've seen God, we've, we've been had. God revealed, we believed it, we acted upon it. We took it in, we acted upon it, and we lived it out.

That is righteousness. To hear God's revelation, to believe him and to act upon it is righteousness. Okay. It is the righteousness that comes by faith. He says if we are careful to observe all the commandments before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.

And notice what is God saying here? God is telling us that these, these, these children, that we have this next generation, these next lives, these things that come beyond us and, and that we invest so much into, we need to invest them in this also.

In fact, this is the primary thing we need to invest in now. I want you to hear me. You need to help your children develop their skills and their talents and their abilities.

If your child's musically inclined boy, you need to be. Be allowing them to be in places where they can expand their musical talents. If your child is, is super smart, put them in places where they can learn more and more.

If your child is athletic, get them on the athletic field. But I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me.

Nothing is more important than your child soul.

Nothing is more important than your child soul.

And your child's soul is what they're going to have to live with the rest of their lives.

Their, their physical talents, if they're athletic, will only last into their mid-30s. Even if they're the best of talent. I'm talking about the top.001% of athletes in a field. Even if they're the best, their talents will begin to grade in their 30s and by their 40s.

They will not exist on the level that they exist today.

If your child is a musician, they're going to be able to use that talent, that skill well on into later life. But I want you to hear me, that talent and that skill have nothing compared to this length and breadth of life that the soul has same's true for intelligence I believe in studying I've got all the degrees and stuff like that to prove that I believe in knowing things and understanding things and having understanding but you know I can fathom all the mysteries of the universe but if I have not the love of God I can understand all the things that are around me but if I have not the love of God I have nothing and so understanding the character and nature of God understanding the importance of his character and nature in our lives is the greatest gift you give your children, your nieces and nephews your grandchildren, your your family members who are younger than you and and we must live our lives as such place the greatest importance on the most important things sure help our children develop to their fullness but they cannot be full without as you go today I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.