Deut 22:12, "You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself. 
This morning, in the midst of this chapter which deals with many of those elements of civil living in the Promised Land, is this simple, yet oh so powerful command. To us, today, there seems very little about this that make it significant or of value. 
The idea of returning found property, or taking care of animals and the like still holds some value to us. Also the entire specifications of the dealings of men and women and treating one other with respect and not putting one or the other in peril through selfish and lustful dealings rings ever more dearly true in our hearts. We find this to be needed this encouragement with all the falsehood that our modern society puts forth. This age is so lacking in many elements of moral compasses that would serve to make one look out for others rather than just doing what is deemed necessary to meet human needs. There is not much, other than the Word of God to steer us into the proper relationships which honor God and honor others. The severe Biblical penalties no longer hold practice with us, but the heart of the matter and the respect that we are to show to God and to one another do matter tremendously, at least to those who love the Lord.
However, this simple statement of the tassels is just something that we can read over and then disregard as merely a fashion statement of that day. That is, at least, until we take the time to investigate it a little more thoroughly before the Lord. There is actually a vital reality tied up with the whole aspect of these tassels tied to the daily clothing of the people. What we will consider should trigger our thoughts and our hearts and our minds before the awesome splendor of Our Lord God Almighty.
Before we go any further, I am not at all advocating that we need to start tying tassels to our garments. But there is a tremendous facet at the heart of this practice that we should take before the Lord to have Him deal with us and with our consideration of Him each and every day of our walk on this earth. That was the point of the tassels after all. 
Each morning, as the members of the Children of Israel prepared for the day, they would dress themselves with those clothes to which these tassels were tied. Most were crudely simple ornamentation worn day after day after day. Others would have special tassels for those times of great festivals and celebrations and for those times of coming together for worship and the sacrifices and all the other times of religious importance. 
However, whether it was for the special days of celebration or for the every day wearing in the fields and in dealing with the necessary work of life, they were supposed to wear these tassels to remind them to honor the Lord and all of His commandments. They were to be the constant memorial that would keep their hearts and their minds focused on the Lord and His holiness and His power and His grace and His mercy and His sanctity in their hearts.
We find that this was specifically detailed for us earlier in our reading of the book of Numbers Chapter 15, verses 38-41. Please turn back to it and read along with me. 
Num 15:38-41, "Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, in order that you may remember to do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God." 
Notice that the point of the tassels was to keep their hearts focused on the Lord because their eyes would see these tassels and their minds would make the appropriate association with the Laws of God. The Lord was very serious that they should have some visible means of bringing to mind to Whom they belonged. They had so often forgotten Who He was and who they were in the whole place of His plan and His purpose. They had allowed themselves, so frequently, to be distracted from following the Lord. They had set their eyes and their hearts and their minds on all the diversions that were polluting the nations surrounding them. 
As a direct result, the Lord made a provision, as He so often is kind enough and generous enough and willing to do for His people. If they would keep the tassels on their garments, they would have that physical representation upon which to focus their eyes in order to not be distracted from the holiness of their Lord and Savior. 
The tassels were to be the commemorative objects by which the people would be reminded to hold true to the Lord. They could never use the excuse that they did not know that the Law of the Lord was to be held within their hearts. The proof that they knew was hanging on their clothes each and every day of their lives. They only had to see the tassels to know that they were to honor God and His righteous Law with all their heart and mind and being. …And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, in order that you may remember to do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. 
The heart of the matter was that the Children of Israel, as are we, tended to easily forget their relationship with the Lord when all was going well for them. That is why the Lord was so very specific in His warning as to the purpose of these tassels. His Chosen people had frequently turned away from the Lord and sought after the lusts of their eyes in view of what the other nations had that they did not. They were even to the point of the utter defilement of the Holy place of God with the whole incident of Baal Peor. Please recall the absolute sacrilege that led to the plague of the last deaths of that first generation. 
With these bits and pieces tied to their garments, they would be face to face with the truth of God each time they put on or took off their clothing. That would be a vital article of judgment against them if they proceeded with any act of unholiness, ungodliness, or impurity. 
	Not only were the tassels on their own articles of clothing, but they were attached to the ornate clothing of the priests in their regular ministry before the Lord and the people. They were on full display in the most official manner possible as a witness for the Lord whenever the people gathered together in the fellowship of His name. 
Please turn to Ex 39:22-26, to see how the Lord made it very, very evident that the people could see with their own eyes, and understand with their minds and their souls the fact that He was going before them always. Accordingly, they were to be in constant obedience and reverence to His Law and His Holiness. 
Ex 39:22-26, Then he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue; and the opening of the robe was at the top in the center, as the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding all around its opening, that it might not be torn. And they made pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material and twisted linen on the hem of the robe. They also made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates all around on the hem of the robe, alternating a bell and a pomegranate all around on the hem of the robe, for the service, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
The tassels of the priestly garments were much more ornate and defined as the shape of pomegranates. However, they along with the bells, still represented the truth that the nation, as a whole, and all the individuals within the nation, were under the direct Hand of God in all their activities and demeanor. These ornate tassels and bells were constant reminders that the people’s eyes and ears were to be focused on the way in which their behavior would honor and satisfy the Lord and not their own lusts and cravings.
The Lord made this so very specific in spelling out how this would serve to honor Him in Deut 6:1-12. Please turn to that passage. As we read it together, I am so thankful to the Lord and to you that the details about teaching the children is of profound and earnest concern and practice within this fellowship as evidenced in the Biblical responses of our youth year in and year out. 
Deut 6:1-12, "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. "Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied, then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 
	Notice that the Lord once more made a provision for the people to have a very visual means of holding true to Him. He knew their wandering minds and hearts would steal away His glory and His relationship with His people. Therefore, He told them to write down the fact that …The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 
They were to sear this reality into their minds and into their hearts and live this truth as the central core focus of their homes and households. They were to teach their children, generation to generation to generation all that the Lord had done for them. He was to the be the focus of their everything. 
The children would undoubtedly ask about the tassels on their garments and the frontals and the writing on the doorposts. There would be that curiosity to know what it was all about. This would be the tremendous opportunity for the parents and the grandparents to talk about the goodness and the grace and the mercy and the provision and the love of the Lord which had seen His people through. They could recount the miraculous release from their slavery in Egypt, their salvation at the parting of the Red Sea, as well as the 40 years of God’s provision and care in the wilderness with all the Manna and the quail and the water from the rocks. 
This would be the opportunity to declare how the Lord had gone before them into battle and conquered peoples greater and mightier than themselves. They could declare how they were now in the Promised Land of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They could give praise to God for the cities they did not build, the lands flowing with milk and honey, the vineyards, and the orchards and the wells flowing with all the goodness of the Lord. All of this could be brought before the children as they explained the tassels and the frontals and the writing at the front of the house and gates declaring the fact that …The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
	However, as is so often true with mankind, the people forgot the point behind the tassels they were wearing. Rather than concentrating on the fact that the Holiness of God and obedience to His Law was at the heart of why they were being worn, the tassels and the frontal themselves became the focus. The tassels were made more ornate and longer and more elegant as the means of showing the religious status of the wearer. The longer and showier meant the more spiritually religious that person was to be considered. The tassels and the frontals became a means of the measurement of spirituality in a most worldly sense, rather than the emblem of the greatness and the holiness and the splendor and majesty of the Lord.
	Christ spoke to this whole human perversion of that which the Lord had so graciously given as the means of being honoring and pleasing to Him. This is recorded in Matt 23:1-8. Please turn to it as we conclude this morning. 
	Matt 23:1-8, Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. "And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. "And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 
The whole core of what Jesus taught was the truth that …The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. He had no interest in the length of the tassels or the decorativeness of the articles. It was the heart of the relationship which was His focus. He directs our attention to the whole reason that the Lord made such a gracious and merciful command to wear these items. Keeping our eyes on Christ, each day, each moment of each day is now our means of holding our eyes and our hearts and our minds on what is of truest importance. We will be completely attentive and honoring to the holiness and the glory of The Lord God Almighty. We will be fully focused and attentive and careful to be in complete and utter obedience unto the Lord. So be it!
"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Rev 7:16+17. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes." Amen.