Deuteronomy 6
McGeeCHAPTER 6THEME: Love and obeyAs we have noted before, in the Book of Deuteronomy there has been an emphasis on two words: love and obediencenot law and obedience, as we may have supposed. God’s love is actually expressed in law. The great principle of law is love. Therefore the principle of the gospel itself is expressed in Deuteronomy. “…God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son …” (Joh_3:16). You and I express our love for God in our obedience. The Lord Jesus put it like this: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (Joh_14:15). This is still the acid test today. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Salvation is a love affair. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1Jn_4:19). The Lord Jesus cited this as the greatest commandment of all: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deu_6:5). Our obedience is the manifestation of our love. Obedience is the important thing all the way throughit is “if they keep these commandments.” Now you may wonder what is new about love in the New Testament if love is in the Old Testament. The difference is that in the New Testament the love of God has been translated into history by the incarnation and death of Christ. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom_5:8). He died for us! You see, it is one thing to express love by bringing Israel out of Egypt; it is another thing to die for them. It is one thing to say something from the top of Mount Sinai; it is another thing to come down and take our frail humanity upon Himself, to be made in the likeness of man, and to die on a cross for our sins. I repeat, salvation is a love affair. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jn_4:10). We are still in the second oration of Moses. In chapters 5-7, he is giving a repetition and interpretation of the Ten Commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:1
THE GREAT COMMANDMENTThe emphasis is on obedience. There are actually only two classes of people in the world: those who love God and those who hate God. The heart attitude of people is evidenced by their obedience or disobedience. Listen to Deu_5:29: “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” Through the prophet Isaiah, God had this to say: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” (Isa_29:13). Do you remember how the prophet Samuel rebuked King Saul? “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1Sa_15:22). When the Lord Jesus gave His commission to Simon Peter, He asked only one question, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” (Joh_21:16). The most wonderful thing in heaven will be to see the Lord Jesus and realize fully that He loves me and that He gave Himself for me. But the next best thing in heaven is going to be that I will love everybody, and everybody is going to love me. Now that, my friend, is going to make heaven a very wonderful place!
Deuteronomy 6:3
They had promised to keep all the commandments of the Lord, and yet they fell so shortas we still do today. Now we come to a statement which is considered by many theologians to be the greatest doctrinal statement in the entire Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6:4
That is a tremendous statement. “The LORD” is the Hebrew tetragram transliterated YHWH or JHVH, translated in English as Jehovah. “God” is the translation for Elohim. Elohim is a plural word. Since there is no number given with it, one can assume the number is three. In the Hebrew language a noun is singular, dual, or plural. When it is plural, but no number is given, one can assume it to be three. This is, therefore, a reference to the Trinity. It could be translated, “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah, our Trinity is one Jehovah.” Israel lived in a world of idolatry. The nations were polytheists who worshiped many gods. The message that the nation Israel was to give to the world was the message of the unity of the Godhead, the oneness of the Godhead. Jehovah, our Elohim, is one Jehovah. That is the message for a world given over to idolatry. Today we live in a world, not so much of idolatry and polytheism, but of atheism. In our age we also are to give the message of the Trinity. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are talking about the same Jehovah. He is our Elohim, our Trinity. But He is one Jehovah.
Deuteronomy 6:5
Our Lord Jesus quotes this as being the greatest commandment of all. “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The LORD our God is one LORD: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mar_12:28-31). How do you measure up to this? Many of us would have to confess that we do not measure up to this. We do not love Him with all our mind and heart and soul. I must confess that I do not measure up to this; I wish I could, but I must say with Paul, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php_3:13-14). I do want to say that I love Him. I wish I loved Him more than I do, but He is the object of my affection today.
I can truly say that I love Him. That is what He asked Simon Peter. “Do you love Me?” I think He would ask you and me that same question today. To learn to love Him, we must sit at His feet and come to know Him. He is the chiefest among ten thousand. He is the One altogether lovely. He is our God.
Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (Joh_6:68-69). He is our Savior. He is our Lord. He is our God. I worship Him.
I want to know Him better. What does He mean to you? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Then the Lord Jesus reached into Lev_19:18, and lifted out, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” He said the second is like unto the first. Friend, there is no such thing as loving God and hating His people. Remember that when Saul was persecuting the Christians, the Lord Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Act_9:4). He may be saying the same thing to some Christians today. Although they profess to know and to love the Lord, He asks, “Why are you persecuting Me?” They would protest, “I’m not persecuting You, Lord; I love You!” Then the Lord would answer, “Then why do you criticize Mr. So-and-So so severely? Why are you so opposed to those who are giving out the Word of God today? Why is it that you have become a hindrance instead of a helper?” May I say to you, we must be careful about saying we love Him and then showing our hatred to other believers. It is impossible to talk about loving the Lord while you spend your time trying to destroy the ministry of someone else. That is just blatant, bald, bold hypocrisy.
Deuteronomy 6:6
You remember that David said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psa_119:11). That is the place where you and I should have the Word of God today, my friend. It should be in our hearts.
Deuteronomy 6:7
Paul says the same thing in Eph_6:4: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” God holds parents responsible to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. All through the Scriptures there is a great deal said concerning the responsibility of parents. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Pro_22:6). That does not mean to train him the way you want him to go. It means that God has a way for him to go, and you are to cooperate with God. That means, parent, that you need to stay close to Him! These words were to be kept before them at all times. We see advertising on billboards and in signs and in neon lights. It is no wonder that America today is turning to liquor and to cigarettes and to drugs. This is what is held before our eyes. It is on the television screen, on the radio, in all the advertising. Young people turn to these things because this is what greets them on every hand. God wants His Word to be taught to His people just like that. It should greet them at every turn. Why? Because the human heart is prone to forget God and His ways. Then God warns His people that they should not forget Him after they get into the land and experience His blessings. It is a strange thing that when people are blessed, they tend to forget the One who blesses them.
Deuteronomy 6:13
Our Lord Jesus used this verse when He was tempted by Satan, as recorded in Mat_4:10 and in Luk_4:8.
Deuteronomy 6:16
This is another verse which our Lord used when He withstood the temptation of Satan, which is quoted in Mat_4:7 and in Luk_4:12. No wonder that Satan hates the Book of Deuteronomy and levels his attacks against it! Again God admonishes His people to diligently do His commandments that they might keep the land He is giving to them, and to explain this to their children, also.
Deuteronomy 6:23
God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. His purpose is to bring them into the Promised Land. It is just so with our salvation. God has saved us out of death and sin and judgment. He brings us into the body of Christ, into the place of blessing, into fellowship with Himself, and finally, into heaven itself. However, our salvation is still not complete. He was “delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification” (Rom_4:25). He is our righteousness so that we might stand complete before Him. He has brought us out; He intends to bring us in. Because of this we can say today: I have been saved. We already have eternal life. We already stand before God in all the righteousness and merit of our Savior. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1Jn_5:11-12). I am being saved. God is working in my life, shaping, guiding, molding me to conform me more and more to His own dear Son. “…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php_2:12-13). This is not working for salvation, but the working out of salvation in our lives. I shall be saved. Don’t be discouraged with me, because God is not through with me yet. And I won’t be discouraged with you, because God is not through with you either. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn_3:2). A dear little lady got up in a testimony meeting and said that every Christian should have printed on his back a sign that reads: “This is not the best that the grace of God can do.” How true that is! God is not through with any one of us. But “when he shall appear, we shall be like him.”