The morning message in Gilford Free Presbyterian Church, Lord’s Day, June 15th 2025.
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates,” Deuteronomy 11:18-20.
These words are basically a repeat of the words of 6:6-9. That the Lord should repeat them should be noted! We here have a solemn introduction to the final instructions to Israelite parents, with regards the right ordering of their homes, before they enter the promised land, verse 1.
I. NOTE THAT THE LORD STATES THE BLESSING THAT OBEDIENCE OF HIS WORD WILL BRING.
1. Obeying the Word of God cannot be equated to ‘buying a pig in a poke’!
The Lord tells us most plainly what obedience to Him will bring to our lives! The gospel reveals in great detail what the obedient will receive throughout time and eternity. No other religion does that! It is all ‘IFS’, ‘BUTS’ and ‘MAYBES’! As the disciples said on one occasion - “Lo, now speakest thou plainly” - so it can truthfully be said about the Bible’s revelation of the eternity that awaits the child of God. Of course there are things not revealed, for we have not the capability to grasp and understand so much of what heaven will bring to us. See 1 Cor 2:9-10. We can but “Now . . . see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known,” 1 Cors 13:12.
2. It is the joy of the believer to meditate upon the Bible’s revelation of what is in store for us.
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night,” Psalm 1:2. Yes, we can ‘see’ though it is “Far off”!
“Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off,” Isaiah 33:17.
3. Such meditations keep us strong for the Lord.
“My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD,” Psalm 104:34. “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,” Psalm 39:3. What a need there is of that fire today!!
II. PLEASE CONSIDER THE SPECIFICS OF GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS.
1. Our homes are to be places of Biblical instructions for children.
“And ye shall teach them your children,” verse 19. That is the first element of God’s instructions! Is that considered with the earnestness as is here required? I think not. The iPad, the games console, the TV are what the child is allowed to concentrate upon!
2. Please note the word ‘diligently’ is employed by the Lord.
“And thou shalt teach them diligently,” 6:7. The phrase is one Hebrew word — shanan’. It is the word used of sharpening a scythe or sword, ‘whet’. “Who whet their tongue like a sword,” Psalm 64:3. When sharpening a scythe you must pay attention!
3. We are told exactly what ‘diligent’ teaching involves.
“speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates,” verses 19-20. 6:8 adds: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Not just the reading and explaining of the Bible but it is to be topic of conversation in the home and while we are engaged in every activity. The Word of God is to be EVER in our mouth and mind! It would have been as the disciple called by Lord to ‘follow’ Him? This is far from the common practice of the average Christian today?
III. HOW FAR REMOVED FROM WHAT THE LORD REQUIRES HERE IS THE WIDESPREAD PRACTICE OF MANY CHRISTIAN PARENTS WHEN THEY SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO A STATE SCHOOL WHERE THEY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO THE WORLD’S ADVOCACY OF EVERY PREVAILING PERVERSION OF TODAY?
1. Forty-six years ago, Kilskeery Independent Christian School was started.
The reasons for such an action were the teaching of ‘evolution’ as a ‘fact’ in the state schools and also because of the foul language and subjects dealt with in English Literature texts and also because of the decline in moral standards among school teachers.
It was realised that that it was not the Lord’s will for the children of believers to be handed over for some thirty plus hours per week to those who do not believe the Bible and into an institution with the atmosphere of the world and, furthermore, to a system of instruction that makes no secret of its ‘anti-God’ prejudices!
And yet within the Free Presbyterian Church, only a small remnant have taken any heed to what it is God requires of parents and have over nearly half a century sent their children to a state system that has become increasingly corrupt, keeping step with a society which has endorsed abortion, sodomy and the affiliated corruptions and the perversities of the those who label themselves ‘LGBTQ+’!
2. It must be acknowledged that over many years, the Free Presbyterian Church has been moving away from the position adopted when it was first called into existence by the Lord.
We were called to ‘Be for all that the Lord is for and against all that the Lord is against’. The Bible was to be our compass and charter.
That is not universally so today within the Free Presbyterian Church. Many Sessions tolerate members not wearing a head covering in public services. Immodest clothing is also tolerated. Young Free Presbyterians in particular are permitted to use and approve of modern translations of the Holy Scriptures. Worldly music is sadly permitted in some worship services and protests against such have been very much frowned upon, to the extent that Rev David DiCanio was disciplined for his producing a video which showed how widespread the use of such music is in our churches. Those who freely move amongst and fellowship with groups linked to the ecumenical movement are welcomed in some of our churches. Attempts to expose and combat these backsliding features are stymied by those who favour such departures!
3. There can be only one outcome of such developments.
A plain warning is stated in 8:11. “Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day.”
“Forget not the LORD thy God.” That is all it takes. The word means to ‘ignore’! That is happening today. Ministers, elders and members are ‘ignoring’ the teaching of the Bible for our children! Keeping ourselves, “separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing”.
Free Presbyterian ministers are permitted to conduct gospel missions with those who are so-called evangelicals but who stay in the apostasy, in total defiance of God’s Word and the Standards of the Free Presbyterian Church. Such ’sharing’ is a clear indication by any Free Presbyterian minister who engages in such unscriptural associations, that such conduct is permissible.
*How long before it is accepted that going to the church services of those who stay in the apostasy is also acceptable?
*How long before it is said that separation from ecumenism is not Scriptural?
*How long before the commencement of the Free Presbyterian Church is considered a mistake?
*How long until there is a drift back to the apostasy from which our fathers were delivered by the Lord in 1951?
*How long before the wrath of God falls upon those guilty of thus “forgetting the Lord”?
The Israelite was solemnly warned and it is a warning that is equally applicable to the Free Presbyterian Church today. “And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God,” Deuteronomy 8:19-20.
Oh Christian, this is a dreadful probability in the near future if we do not fear the Lord and obey His Word!