It Takes God to Make a Home | Part 2

How are we to teach our children to love?

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. In part one of today's teaching, children learn more from than anything else. How else can we teach our children to love the Lord our God and follow His commandments? If you have your Bible, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5 as Adrian Rogers shares part two of It Takes God to Make a Home. The underground is the home and the issue is truth. And Satan has aimed all of the artillery of hell at the homes of America and every shell in that artillery is a lie. Satan's chief weapon is deception. Now Satan had rather peddle a lie than peddle dope. Satan had rather get you to believe a wrong thing than to do a wrong thing.

A lie is the most dangerous thing on the face of this earth. It is antithetical to God who is the truth, whose word is truth. And so Satan is a pusher of lies because it is the thought that is the father of the deed.

And if he can get a nation to move away from its truth, if the foundations be destroyed, then what can the righteous do? The title of our message today as we deal with the first commandment, It Takes God to Make a Home. It Takes God to Make a Home. Now read with me, if you will, as to what God says that fathers are to do and mothers are to do in their home. I'm going to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now he's restating, again, the commandment that I just gave to you. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lies down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates and it shall be when the Lord thy God hath brought thee unto the land which he sware unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not and wells dig which thou digest not and vineyards and olive trees which thou plantest not when thou shalt have eaten and be full then. Then Israel, listen, then America, listen, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Now this passage that I've read to you, the Jews consider to be the most important passage in the book of Deuteronomy, if not in the entire Bible, is called the Shema. Orthodox Jews would repeat this at least twice a day. They repeat it in the congregation. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might and teach this, fathers, to your children. Now, we complain if the Ten Commandments are not posted in public places today. But the question is, how many parents here today know the Ten Commandments? The question is, how many of us have the Ten Commandments posted in our home?

God told Moses, Moses, tell them to put these laws upon the doorposts of their house. And God said, fathers, it is your responsibility, not the government's nor the schoolteachers, to teach these commandments to your children. Fathers, it is your responsibility. It is not the responsibility of the school.

It is not the responsibility of the government. It is the responsibility of dads to see that these commandments are handed down. This is God's priority plan. God says that the home is to be so supercharged with spiritual truth and godliness that these things will go from one generation to another.

For the most part, a juvenile delinquent is a child trying to act like his parents. And the great problem today is not dropout kids, but dropout dads and misguided mothers who have failed to hand down these truths from one generation to another. Now, listen, this is Deuteronomy chapter 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now, that I call the great revelation, one Lord. The Scripture declares it, friend. Creation displays it, and faith discovers it.

Faith discovers it. Nobody's ever argued into believing in God. People accuse us of being believers. They say, you're a believer. Friend, everybody is a believer.

The atheist is a believer. He says to me, prove there's a God. I say, I can't. He just laughs. I say, prove there is no God.

He can't either. He says, well, I don't believe there's a God. I say, that makes you a believer. You believe there is no God. And you believe by faith there is no God. I believe there is a God. I believe by faith there is a God, but I believe with evidence. I have the external evidence. I have the internal evidence. I have the creation, and I have the witness of God in my heart. And if you want to believe in God, you can believe in God. The matter is not in your head, it is in your heart. The fool has said in his heart there is no God.

He doesn't have intellectual problems. He has moral problems, because he does not want this God to rule over him. You see, friend, God so wired you, God so made you, God so created you, that when your heart is right, your heart will respond to the fact of God like my eye responds to light when my eye is right, like my ear responds to sound when my ear is right.

Your heart will respond to God when your heart is right. The great revelation is this. Hear, O Israel, there is one God. The Lord, our God is one Lord.

Now, here's the second thing I want you to see. Not only the great revelation, but the great response. What is the response to that revelation?

Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. Now, here is the great response. Verse 5, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. That, my friend, is the great response.

The great revelation, one Lord. The great response, one love. You are to love him supremely. Now, you're to love him with a sincere love with all of your heart. Jesus spoke of people who honored the Lord with their words, but he said, The heart is far from me. Do you know what your children need to see in your home?

A sincere love. They need to see in you a burning, passionate, emotional sincerity when it comes to the things of God. Kids can spot a phony a mile away, and they know whether or not you love God with all of your heart, and it is the phoniness of parents, by and large, that turn kids off to the things of God. There was a young Jewish boy. He and his father lived in Germany. His father was a successful merchant, and they were practicing their Jewish faith, and they moved from Germany to England, and the boy was surprised to see that his father joined a Lutheran church. That boy said, Dad, why did you join a Lutheran church? And the father said something like this, Well, son, we live in a different place now, and there's so many Lutherans here in this particular place, in this particular town. It would be good for business.

It would be good for business. That boy who had a deep interest in religion lost it all. His name? Karl Marx, who wrote the Communist Manifesto, in which he said religion is the opiate of the people.

Kids can spot a phony. You're to love God with a sincere love. I'll tell you something else. Not only are you to love Him with a sincere love, but, folks, you're to love Him with a selfless love because the next word says with all of your soul. With all of your soul. Your soul is yourself.

And what's he saying? The whole self, the total self, needs to be given over to God. There needs to be no area in your life that is off limits to God. How are you going to teach your children there is one Lord? They are to see in you that one love. They are to see in you a sincere love and a selfless love for our Lord. Do you know how I can measure any man, woman, boy, girl in this church pretty well?

Just look at two books that are in your home, and I'm not talking about this book. I'm talking about your checkbook and your date book, your calendar and your bank account. Where are you putting your time?

Where are you putting your money? You're to love God selflessly. There's to be a sincere love, a selfless love, and there's to be a strong love because you're to love God with all of your might, every inch, every ounce, every nerve, every sin. He's not just talking here about physical strength.

He's talking about whatever strength you have, emotional strength, financial strength, intellectual strength. Now, there is one Lord and one love. Now, here's the third thing.

Watch it very carefully. Because there is one Lord, that's the great revelation. One love, that's the great response. Then, friend, there is the great responsibility, one law.

Now, follow. One Lord, one love, and one law. Look now, if you will, in verse 6. And these words which I command thee this day, these are not ten suggestions or voluntary initiatives. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. One law.

Now, your home is to be a law school. You're to teach the law of God. The professors in that home are to be mom and dad, but primarily dad.

Go back up to verse 2. He says that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy son's son. The emphasis is upon the Father. The great problem today, frankly, is his fathers have abandoned their role to drop out dads. The Father is God's person to lend stability and character and strength to the home. We have dads today that are interested in sports and business and sex. They've forgotten their God-given assignments to teach the Ten Commandments. The National Fatherhood Initiative has come out with a statement called Father Facts.

I've been studying that. Showing the effect of the absentee father in America in juvenile delinquency, an absent father is the common denominator. Fatherlessness is the engine that is driving our social problems, said David Blankenhorn, NFI chairman and author of a book, Fatherless America. And I quote, the data shows beyond any doubt that fatherlessness is the crisis of our day. The number of children living with only their mother grew from 5.1 million in 1960 to 15.6 million in 1993. Folks, about 40% of children who live in fatherless homes see their fathers less than once a year. This book points out that adolescent girls reared without fathers are much more likely to be sexually active than girls reared in two-parent families. 80% of adolescents in psychiatric hospitals come from broken homes. You say, well, it's really just a problem of low income.

It is not a problem of low income. Children from low-income two-parent families outperform students from high-income single-parent homes. From 1982 to 1991, the arrest rates for juveniles increased 93% for murder. Hello?

Listen. From 1982 to 1991, the arrest rates for juveniles increased 93%, 72% for aggravated assault, 24% for forcible rape, and 97% for car theft. Of all adolescent murderers, 72% grew up without fathers.

Now, if you are from a broken home and if you are a precious, precious single woman trying to raise your children, I am not here to discourage you because in this series of messages, we are going to show you what you can do to make up for and to help and to undergird, but I'm telling you that something has to be done. There are powerful forces today that are trying to shape and mold the mentality of today's youth. Many of them come home, shut the door, go to the bedroom, and turn on a moral sewer called MTV. They watch it, and somebody says, well, what they see does not affect them. If you believe what they see doesn't affect them, you've got rooms to rent upstairs unfurnished.

Let me ask you a question. Why would any company pay $1 million for 30 seconds time at the Super Bowl if what people see doesn't affect them? They cannot sit there and watch that without it affecting them, and our children are being systematically seduced. I'm telling you that the professors in this law school are the dads.

The students are the children. Look, if you will, in verse 7. Thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children. And the children need to be enrolled early. Francis Xavier, Roman Catholic leader, said this, quote, give me the children until they're seven, and anyone can have them afterward.

Begin early. Isaiah 28, verses 9 and 10, whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.

Now, the professor is the father, the students, the children. The curriculum is God's Ten Commandments. Verse 6, and these words which I command thee this day. He's talking about the Ten Commandments. That is the curriculum in the school. Now, how do you teach the Ten Commandments?

Why are we having this series? To teach dads to teach the Ten Commandments, not that Adrian is going to do it from the pulpit. Oh, what to God that I can show you your responsibility. How do you teach the commandments in the home?

Number one, convincingly. Look, if you will, in verse 6. They shall be in thine heart. Folks, if you don't believe it, if you don't practice it, just hang it up, you'll never teach it. Don't send them down here to Sunday school. Don't send them to the public school. Don't send them to the Christian school and think you have done your duty.

It must be in your heart. You teach it convincingly because you're convinced. Teach it creatively. Verse 7 says, Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest."

By the way, we have four grown children. All of them love God. They're teaching their children to love God. How did Joyce teach these children? How did we teach them? How did I teach them?

Bible reading, Bible stories, Bible games, Bible memory, Christian books. Charlie Jones, a great motivator, had a boy who was 14, going to be 16 before long. He said, son, when you get to be 16, you're going to want a car, and I'm going to help you buy a car. And he said, there's some books that I want you to read and give me a report on. I'll select the books. You read the books. Write me a report, and for every book you read that I sign to you, you'll get $10 for your car fund.

And then he said, if you read like a bum, you'll drive like a bum. That's good. Put some incentive in this thing. You say, I don't believe in bribing kids. That's not a bribe. It's a reward. Do you know the difference between a bribe and a reward?

A bribe is an inducement to do evil. A reward is recognition for doing good. God rewards. Parents should reward.

Christian music, albums, and tapes. Out goes that filth. In comes the Word of God. It should be taught convincingly. It should be taught creatively. It should be taught consistently or diligently. Thou shall teach them diligently. Line upon line, precept upon precept, hear a little, there a little, over and over and over again.

Don't think, well, I told them that. Now what's next? It should be taught conversationally. Look, if you will, in verse 7. Thou shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lies down, and when thou risest up. Look in verse 20. And when thy son asketh thee from time to time, saying, What mean these testimonies and the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then shalt thou say.

Listen, when the curiosity factor is high, answer, it doesn't have to be dull. It's caught as well as taught. Not only should it be taught conversationally, but it needs to be taught conspicuously. Look, if you will, in verse 8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine head, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

What does that mean? Well, the Jews took this so literally that they built little boxes they call phalacrates and put the scripture in and would take a ribbon, a piece of leather, and with the scripture in that little box, they would tie it around their head. I was on the airplane, and I watched a Jewish Orthodox man. I was blessed watching him. It was time for him to have his quiet time with God. He got out his scripture, and he began to read and to bow his head, but before he had done that, he took out of his little box his phalacrity, put it around his head, and tied it on. Then he took the rest of the scripture and wrapped it around his forearm there on his right hand.

And then he, not caring what I thought or anybody else thought, and frankly, I was very blessed, as I watched that man, he didn't care what anybody thought. There was the Word of God. There was the Word of God. Did God mean to do it that way literally?

Perhaps he did. But what I think he meant was between your eyes to show that all that you think is controlled by the Word of God. On your right hand, to show all that you do is controlled by the Word of God. And then he said you take the scripture and you put it on the doorpost of your house.

They call that a mezuzah. And put that phalacrity there and that scripture there on the doorpost. What is he saying? Teach the Word of God not only conversationally, but teach it conspicuously. Friend, how are we to teach the Word of God? We're to teach the Word of God conspicuously. We're to teach the Word of God consistently. We're to teach the Word of God creatively. We're to teach the Word of God compellingly. We're to teach the Word of God so that our boys and girls will know that we believe what we believe.

Now, friend, don't say it won't work if you haven't tried it. These are God's laws for living. And God's laws are not for punishment, but for our welfare. He loves us. And every time God says, Thou shalt, he's saying, Help yourself to happiness.

And every time he says, Thou shalt not, he's saying, Don't harm yourself. Do you know the love of God that Adrian Rogers is talking about? Have you responded with a great love for God and a desire to teach his Word to your children? Maybe you have questions today about who Jesus is, about what he means to you, how to receive the love and forgiveness he's freely offering you today. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, lwf.org slash radio, and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, including part one and today's part two, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD to order It Takes God to Make a Home.

Now, this message is also part of the powerful series A Perfect Ten for Homes That Win. For the complete collection, all 10 insightful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or go to lwf.org slash radio to order, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying in God's Word with us today. As we begin teaching our children to follow God and his commandments, may we teach them convincingly, creatively, consistently, conversationally, and conspicuously. We hope you'll tune in next time for more profound truth Simply Stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

We are so encouraged by your messages to us at Love Worth Finding, how this program is making a difference in your life. Listen to this, a listener wrote, as I grew into an adult, I knew I needed to know God. I met a young witness who always spoke of God like she knew him and I had to know more. She shared Pastor Rogers' messages with me and I ended up getting saved in my friend's living room during a Bible study and left a new creation. Bless God. Well, we love hearing testimonies of hope and faith from listeners like you, and we hope by sharing them here on the air, you'll be inspired to share your hope in Jesus with others. This month, for a gift of any amount, we wanna send you our 2020 Christmas cards, featuring an original painting by local artist, Lacey Hancock. Request a pack when you call with your gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org slash radio.