God Is Good All The Time

July 20, 2003

Morning Service

Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Subject: The Supremacy of God

Title: God is Good All the Time

I got to thinking the other day just how much we rely on our culture. We have become a media focused nation. We rely on the various types of media to entertain us. We plan our days according to what the weatherman says the weather will be. We converse with our friends by phone and by email. We allow ourselves to be influenced by a liberally biased news media on a regular basis. Without even considering alternatives we believe what the news stations are telling us about world events from their perspective. This president is bad, the other one was good … the government will help you with all your problems, but the church is not to be trusted. The problem is that most people accept that the news media just reports news. They do not take into consideration that it is not only the news that counts, but also the way it is presented. For instance, did you ever notice that in stories about abortion rights on TV that a baby in the womb is never called a baby? It is always a fetus. It is the media’s way of dehumanizing that child that is being killed. In the process the minds of those who hear are being desensitized. Recently, the liberal media has run stories about our president and how he is putting our soldiers in Iraq at risk because there are not enough support troops to keep them safe. I suppose that they have forgotten that the previous president is the one who cut defense spending and reduced the size of our military in his first few years in office. Just by changing a few words or counting on the short memory of most Americans, commentators can trick us into believing something that just isn’t true.

Here is an interesting story that I received via email recently. You all know how hard the media has campaigned to get our guns taken away from us! Here are some statistics that they don’t tell you on TV.

The number of guns owners in the US is 80,000,000.

The number of accidental gun deaths per year is 1,500.

The number of accidental gun deaths per owner is .0000188.

Now consider this.

The number of doctors in America is 700,000.

The number of accidental deaths cause by physicians each year is 120,000.

The number of accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.

Statistically, doctors are over 9000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

Not everyone has a gun, but almost everyone has at least one doctor.

The email went on to say – Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand. (As a public health measure, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear that the shock could cause people to seek medical attention).

This funny little story was just an example for you to see just how the media can distort statistics and stories in order to makes us see reality thorough their eyes. If you rely heavily on TV and radio or even the Internet to receive our information, eventually you will be deceived.

On the other hand, there is One who never deceives. He tells us about events that have happened without bias. I must admit, He desires to use those words that are written or spoken in order to change the way people think, but He never distorts the truth to do that. He is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is the source of truth because He is truth. Yet even though many will not accept the truth, God allows us to make our own decisions concerning what is true. He never forces His will upon anyone.

Our passage today follows Moses’ reading of the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. Those words are as true and relevant today as they were when they were written some 3500 years ago. The words contained in the Law reveal much to us about God’s awesome character. There are three things we want to uncover for you today. As we read and dissect this familiar passage I want you to begin to see these things.

One, the superiority of God; He is above all things.

Two, the transcendence of God; He is not just sitting on the throne, He lives among us.

Three, the consistency of God; He is faithful to all generations.

Today we want to discover in a new way that God is Supreme above all things.

I. The Superiority of God. (verse 4)

A. “Hear O Israel” … Verse 4 is referred to as the Jewish “Shema”. The Jews put so much emphasis on this verse and its assertion of God’s superiority that they made it a prayer, which they recited twice a day. “Shema” comes from the Hebrew word “shama” which means, according to Strong’s concordance, “to hear intelligently. It implies attention and obedience”. The Jews emphasized this verse because they thought that since they were God’s chosen people that God’s revelation of Himself to mankind was limited to Israel only. Moses’ call to the people was to hear intelligently with obedience in mind. In Isaiah 6:9-10 we read, “He said, ‘Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.” Jesus quoted this passage from Isaiah in condemning the Jews for not hearing with spiritual ears and seeing with spiritual eyes. The point is, Moses wanted to be sure that the people understood what he was about to say.