Deuteronomy 6:1-15
Moses tells the sons of Israel, if they keep the commandments of the Lord, which he is teaching them in this sermon, they will prosper in the land, the land which the Lord is giving them to possess. The Lord is your 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. Bind yourselves to the commandments and statutes of the Lord and fear only the Lord your God; worship him alone and do not follow other gods, the gods of the people who are in the land. The Lord is a jealous God, so do not test him and go after other gods, lest he destroy you, but diligently keep his commandments, always doing what is right in his sight, that it will go well with you, and the Lord will drive out your enemies before you. Teach your sons these commandments and write them on the doorpost of your house, so that when your sons asks the meaning of these testimonies, statutes and judgments, tell them how the Lord took you out of Egypt and gave you the land which he swore to the fathers; therefore, tell your sons to have loyal love, obedience, and trust the Lord their God.
“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.” (Dt 6:4-5) Jesus called this commandment, the great and formost commandment. (Mt 22:38) The people are to do three things in the land that they are about to go into to possess: First, they are to love the Lord their God with all of their heart and with all of their soul and with all of their might. The Lord is one! Therefore, they are to be loyal to the Lord alone and not go after other gods in the land that they are going into, to possess. Second, they are to have the commandments of the Lord before them all the time, that they may observe them and keep them and teach them to their children. Lastly, they are to trust the testimonies and statutes and judgments of the Lord. The Lord has promised to defeat their enemies. Not trusting the Word of the Lord, leads to going after other gods and doing so, will end in destruction, because the Lord is a jealous God. Loyal love for the Lord alone, obedience to the Lord’s commandments and trusting his Word is the only way that they will prosper in the land.
The Jews wanted to stone Jesus (Jn 10:31) because they understood, when he said, “I and the Father are one,” (Jn 10:30) that he was saying, “I am the Lord your God.” They understood that the Lord is one; therefore, to equate himself with the Father, as he did, they considered it blasphemy, because they understood that he, a man, was making himself out to be God. (Jn 10:33) However, Jesus said to them, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”
I believe that Jesus is the God Man, fully God and fully Man in one person. I do not believe that the Father descended and became the Son, nor the Son ascended and became the Father; yet the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one. The Lord is one! There are no other gods, only evil spirits and the creations of men. It is my duty, as a Christian, under the new covenant, to have loyal love for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is my duty, as a christian, to make disciples and teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded. It is my duty, as a christian, to trust the promises of God in Jesus Christ.
