Sermon January 30
Abundant Counselors 3
Fixating on Jesus
Today we continue our series regarding the ongoing, deadly spiritual war raging around us. Scripture warns us so often about that supernatural battle, that for us to close our eyes to it is to do nothing less than INVITE disaster into our lives and our homes.
Proverbs 24:6 continues as our foundational verse for this series of God’s Counselors: “For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” (Proverbs 24:6)
So, in this series of messages we will be acknowledging the irreplaceable value of the Biblical counselors to guide us through the maze of minefields planted by the enemy of our souls to destroy us.
We looked earlier at what counselor Moses can teach us about God’s sovereignty over all created things – including governments and nations and individuals. That also means God is sovereign over Satan and his followers – both spiritual and human. We spent time last week focusing on the lie Satan has deftly perpetrated through his witting and unwitting tools who stand behind pulpits seducing God’s children to question the inerrancy and the usefulness of ALL the Scriptures – Old Testament and New.
Today we go back to counselor Moses, but we will not stay with Moses because it is in the ABUNDANCE of counselors that there is victory. We must not, therefore, take the counsel of Moses in isolation from that of, for example, Paul, or Ezekiel, or Amos, or David, or Peter – and so on. To take any of the Biblical counselors in isolation from each other is to take them out of context with the rest of God’s inspired word. That is why we look at the WHOLE of scripture in context because a text out of context is a pretext for error.
Our primary text for today is the counsel of Moses from Deuteronomy 6, just before they were to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land:
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4ff)
This is very important counsel which the Holy Spirit gives Israel through Moses – and, because God’s word is eternal, it’s important counsel for us as well.
So, let’s look again at verses 4 and 5: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
A reasonable question for Moses at this point might be, “Why state what would seem the obvious to God’s chosen people?” Of course, they believed in the God of the universe who created all that is seen and unseen.
Or – did they?
Well, no, they all did not. And therein lies the direct application to you and me today.
If all Israel HAD believed in the One God, then the Holy Spirit would not have had to instruct them to this truth as they left Egypt. Remember, by this point Israel had lived and worked and interacted with – probably also intermarried with – their pagan neighbors for multiple generations – just as many today – even in the Church – have lived and worked and interacted with and intermarried with our pagan neighbors for generations.
And – and this is important – as ALWAYS happens, when we live and work and interact with people who have little or no interest in the one true God, bad company always corrupts good morals. That principle is not my idea. It comes straight from scripture. Many of you can recite chapters and verses that command us to steer clear of involvements with the godless cultures around us.
So, that is why Moses counseled Israel just before they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land: “When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from you, and destroy all their idolatrous sculptures, destroy all their cast metal images, and eliminate all their high places . . . But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from you, then it will come about that those whom you let remain of them will be like thorns in your eyes and like pricks in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.’” (Numbers 33:51-52, 55).
Even after the nation crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, Joshua had to warn them with this counsel: “Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” (Joshua 24:23)
Did you catch that? During their 40-year trek through the wilderness, Israel STILL carried with them their Egyptian idols. And so, at the outset of their exodus from slavery, the God of the universe had to tell them – Hear, O Israel! The Lord your God is One!”
What is the application for us? I am sure you can extrapolate to the 21st century the counsels of Moses and Joshua, as well as the rest of the Old and New Testament writers: We must be ever vigilant – vigilant because we are so easily self-deceived – we must be ever vigilant to not make for ourselves gods to replace the true God of heaven and earth and who is our creator. Not family, not friends, not wealth, not health, not anything above our God.
Now let’s look at the rest of today’s text: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
Do you want to be victorious in the battle? Do you want your children and grandchildren to be victorious in the battle? Christians know the Bible’s teaching of faith and morals transcends time and nationality and culture. Therefore, Moses not only infallibly counseled Israel about living for God, but he also infallibly counsels the Church today how to live for God.
Why does God direct us through Moses to keep our love for Him in our hearts? Why must we teach God’s laws ‘diligently’ to our children? Why bind them on our hand and forehead and place them on our doorposts?
We only need to open our eyes and ears to what’s happening every DAY to our children and grandchildren for that answer. If WE don’t teach them about God, then the culture will. And we all know what happens to children when the culture teaches them about godly faith and morals.
Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.” And that spiritual principle was not lost on the satanic inspired Vladimir Lenin. It was he who said, “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”
Now, I realize it is no longer plausible – if not impossible – for most of us to teach our children any longer. They’ve already grown up and left home. Many have married and have children of their own. And to the sorrow of many of you, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren live too far away to have any consistent involvement in their lives. And worse still, some of you have children who do not want you to tell your grandchildren anything about Jesus.
But – and this is an important point – and I say it now to be an encouragement to you – no one can keep you from praying for your grandchildren and for your children. Remember, our battle is NOT with flesh and blood. It is with evil, malevolent, and malignant supernatural forces. If it has been a while since you have read that sixth chapter in Ephesians where Paul speaks of our spiritual armor, I hope you will do so again, and soon. The culture may be influencing your grandchildren at this moment, and it may have influenced your children when they lived at home – but God is still very able to prove Aristotle and Vladimir Lenin both wrong.
So, Pray.
Moses continued: You shall bind them [God’s words] as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
In other words, Moses counseled Israel and he counsels us to keep our heart fixed on Jesus. Keep our heart focused on Jesus. We will NEVER be victorious in this battle if we focus on the darkness around us – and there is plenty of that. We will NOT be victorious if we focus on the unanswered prayers in our lives; If we focus on the storms in our lives; If we focus on the challenges and the disappointments and the problems of our lives. We can only be victorious if we focus on the One who alone deserves our undivided focus.
Many of you are familiar with the song, ‘Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus’: O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free! Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. . .”
In his letter to the Christians at Colossae, St Paul counseled them – and EVERY Christian today: Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
That’s God’s promise: If we have died with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ then when He is revealed at that later time, WE ALSO will be revealed with Him in glory.
That is why Paul continues his counsel to those Christians what it means to focus on Christ, to fixate on the Savior: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry . . . But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices . . .
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you . . . .” (Colossians 3:5-16)
Paul speaks here with laser-like precision to the reason Moses counseled Israel to wear God’s words on their hand and on their foreheads: That is, focus attention during the day on Christ.
Do you and I want to be victorious? Fixate on Jesus. One of the ways I try to do that is by setting my phone alarm to remind me through the day to stop what I am doing for a moment or two and, for example, pray for someone on my heart, or to recite back to God a scripture verse – like a portion from Psalm 23 – and ask Him to make that verse true in my life. Those are only two examples. There is no end to the things we can do to help us focus – however briefly – on God throughout the day.
Do you and I want to be victorious? Stay fixed on God’s word. We simply cannot be victorious without the nurture of God’s word in our souls. For those able to read the Bible, and those who can listen to Biblically accurate teaching and preaching on radio, television, or on your phone app – I beg you to excel still more. THAT’S how we fixate on Jesus.
I know I circle back again and again to this point, but as your pastor and teacher the Holy Spirit impels me to do so. There is no other way to be successful in this raging battle, and Satan knows it. That is why he tries to dilute our sense of urgency to read it and study it, for he knows that if he can seduce us into minimizing the importance of God’s word in our life, then we enter the daily battles with dulled and blunted swords.
Oh, Holy Spirit! Impassion us to listen to the biblical counselors you have given us. And please, impassion us to fall in love with your Word.
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