"Hear, 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. And 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 liest 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 posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9
There is a culture war going on in America, and it is the battle for the soul of America. The battle ground is the home, and the issue is truth. 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, and he 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. So Satan is a pusher of lies because it is the thought that is the father of the deed. If he can get a nation to move away from its truth, if the foundation is destroyed, then what can the righteous do?
Now we live in a generation that has lost its fixed standards, its compass, and its anchor. It is not an issue of left or right; it is an issue of right or wrong. James Madison, who is called the father of the American Constitution, said, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of our politics upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." That's not a Baptist preacher who said that; that's the father of the constitution.
God's commands are what our nation was founded on, what James Madison was referring to, and what we need to return to. After Deuteronomy chapter five lists the Ten Commandments, chapter six instructs us concerning them. Verse four reminds us this is Jehovah God. Scripture declares Him; creation displays Him; and faith discovers Him. There is one God Who is One Lord, and our response to Him should be one love.
• Love Him with a sincere love — with all of your heart. Your children 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 it is the phoniness of parents, by and large, that turn kids off to things of God.
• Love Him with a selfless love — with all your soul. Your soul is yourself. The whole self needs to be given over to God. There needs to be no area in your life that’s off limits to God.
• Love Him with a strong love — with all your might. You are to love God with every inch, every ounce, every nerve, every sinew. He's not just talking here about physical strength. He's talking about whatever strength you have — emotional strength, financial strength, intellectual strength.
Finally, because there is one Lord and one love, we have a great responsibility — one law. Your home is to be a law school; the professors in that home are to be Mom and Dad; and the curriculum is to be God's Ten Commandments. These are not ten suggestions or voluntary initiatives.
We complain that the Ten Commandments are not posted in public places today, but the question is how many of us have the Ten Commandments posted in our homes. Fathers, it is your responsibility, not the school's or the government's, to teach these commandments to your children and to see that they are handed down. God says that the home is to be so super charged with spiritual truth and godliness, that His commands will pass from one generation to another. If we want our homes and our nation to last, then we must take these commandments and hand them down.
