This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, It Takes God to Make a Home.
Satan’s chief weapon is deception—he would rather you believe a wrong thing than do a wrong thing. Most people, even the majority of evangelicals, no longer believe in absolute truth.
But there is a God, and that God has given us Ten Commandments—“that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged” (Deuteronomy 6:2).
I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. (See also Exodus 20:3.)
The great revelation in Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:7, and 6:4 is that there is one Lord—and not simply the God of your choice.
The first commandment does not say, “You shall not be an atheist.” The Bible only gives half of one verse to argue against atheism—"The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).
We are not here to prove God. A man who denies facts is a fool, and a man who denies the supreme fact is the supreme fool. The Bible simply states, “In the beginning, God.” (See Genesis 1:1.)
“Laws of science” are the laws of God in Creation, which science has discovered.
But your children are taught in school that they evolved from primordial ooze, that time plus chance will bring life out of inorganic matter. They are taught that billions of years will turn frogs into princes. If you say that in the nursery school, it’s called a fairytale; tell it in the classroom, and it’s called science.
Everybody is a believer. The atheist is a believer—he believes, by faith, that there is no God.
We believe by faith that there is a God, but also with evidence—we have creation, and the witness of God to our hearts. God created you so that when your heart is right, you will respond to the fact of God like your eye responds to light. The matter is not in your head, but your heart. (See Psalm 14:1.)
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up….then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Emphasis added.)
We complain that the Ten Commandments are not posted in public places today. How many of us have them posted in our homes? Fathers, it is your responsibility to see that these commandments are handed down. It is not the responsibility of the school or the government.
What should be our response to the revelation that there is one God?
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Jesus spoke of people who “draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
Do you know what your children need to see in your home? A passionate, emotional sincerity when it comes to the things of God. It is largely the phoniness of parents that turns kids off to the things of God.
Your soul is your self. Your total self needs to be given over to God. There must be no area in your life that is off-limits to God. How are you going to teach your children that there is one Lord? They are to see in you that one, strong love. God is talking about whatever strength you have—physical, emotional, financial, intellectual.
Here is how to measure your home: look at your calendar and your bank account. Where are you putting your time and your money?
The Ten Commandments are not suggestions or voluntary initiatives. Your home is to be a law school, to teach the law of God. The professors are to be mom and dad, but the emphasis is on the father (Deuteronomy 6:2). The father is God’s chosen person to lend stability, character, and strength to the home.
Begin teaching your children early. (See Isaiah 28:9-10.)
“These words which I command you today shall be in your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6). If you don’t believe and practice it, you will never teach it. Don’t send your children to a Christian school and think you have done your duty.
It must be in your heart. You will teach it convincingly because you are convinced.
“You shall teach them diligently…when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Teach them with Bible reading, Bible stories, Bible games, Bible memorization, and Christian books.
Use some incentive—it is not a bribe, it is a reward. A bribe is an inducement to do evil, but a reward is recognition for doing good. God rewards; parents should reward.
Teach diligently. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Don’t think, “Well I told them that. What’s next?”
“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say…” (Deuteronomy 6:20). When the curiosity factor is high, answer. This doesn’t have to be dull.
“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8).
By “between your eyes”, God means that what you think must be controlled by the Word of God. “As a sign on your hand” shows that what you do must be controlled by the Word of God.
Then He said, “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9). Hang up the Ten Commandments in your office, in your living room, in your children’s bedrooms.
Above all, teach compellingly. Teach the Word of God in a way that your boys and girls know that you believe what you believe. Don’t say it won’t work if you have not tried it.
The Ten Commandments are God’s laws for living, and God’s laws are not for our punishment, but for our welfare. Every time God says, “Thou shalt,” He is saying, “Help yourself to happiness.” Every time He says, “Thou shalt not,” He Is saying, “Don’t harm yourself.”
Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:6-21, 6:1-12; Psalm 14:1; Genesis 1:1; Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 28:9-10
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…
