Revering the Word
Deuteronomy 29 God’s desire for our pursuit of holiness.
Good morning everyone. This morning we are in Deuteronomy 29 and we are getting very near the end of the book of Deuteronomy and where Moses is going to pass on and pass the torch to Joshua and Israel indeed then is going to enter the promised land and in this chapter we begin to see a renewal of the covenant. I would even say a slight modification to the covenant typically when a covenant was made in the Bible there would be a sacrifice to usher in the covenant and indeed at Mount Sinai which is also called Mount Horab which happened four years earlier you know Moses made a sacrifice in order to usher in the covenant and in this case here now the next generation is with Moses because the first generation of people that came out of Egypt has died out and God is renewing the covenant and we don't see a sacrifice made so I see this as more of like a renewal of the covenant with maybe an amendment or some additions or clarifications to the covenant but the primary purpose here is that what he's trying to do is remind Israel of what's important to God when they enter the promised land. What you'll see here is that there's a ceremonial aspect to this you can see this is these remaining chapters here in the book of Deuteronomy are very significant their solemn all of Israel is being gathered together in these chapters to hear what God has to say and let's go ahead and take it in these are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab decides the covenant which he made with them at Horab which is another word from Mount Sinai. In Moses summoned all Israel and said to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land the great trials which your eyes have seen those great signs and wonders yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear that's a very interesting comment so this is largely the children of the people who came out of Egypt with their parents their parents again have died out but he's saying hey you've seen it you remember all that God has done yet for whatever reason Israel in this stage of history and indeed throughout much of their history just had a hard in hearts and had a hard time really being devoted to following God and honoring him and you know it's almost as though God it says here you could interpret it as like well God did not give them eyes to see but it's more so I would interpret it as they didn't truly fall in love with the Lord and wanting to obey his commands and you know what when you when you do that he'll he'll let you you know even today you know you can know Jesus or you can really devote your life to him as your Savior and Lord but if you want to casually know him and have your heart be hardened and just go a whole hum through Christianity just kind of do the minimum he'll let you he'll let you kind of live that way we we have a choice to really truly worship our Lord and want to follow him and obey him and live for him or we can kind of be casual and that kind of causality if you want to call it that in our walk though it didn't turn out real well for Israel because when temptation came when false gods came into the mix when they were in foreign lands they quickly began to worship other things and I don't think that's a good place for us to remain is in a casual whole hum faith because when life's circumstances happen we were more easily detoured in our journey of faith and can kind of grab on to whatever's bright and shiny around us the world around us versus really remaining true instead fast to the Lord you know that's why it's important I think to not only be in the word and praise God those who are listening you're doing that hallelujah but I think it's important to be in church I think it's important to be around really good solid other believers in Bible study I think that's really important because this world is tempting sin is can be it's destructive but it can be attractively destructive and it can pull you your children us away from God and we need these discontinue nourishment from God and the people of God and the church of God to remain strong in our faith and to live fruit for lives you know we have a lot of advantages today tremendous amount of advantages than what these people had in this day now they had some great advantages in the fact that they saw the glory of God they saw the miracles of God in an incredible way but they didn't have Jesus they didn't have the new covenant they didn't have the deposit of the Holy Spirit that we have now although they were getting the law here it's not like everybody had a copy of it you know they didn't have a printing press so they didn't even all have their own copy they couldn't just read it on their own all the time they had to wait till they came together and someone read it for them they didn't have podcasts they didn't have the Bible on their phone nowadays you we have so much available to us to remain strong in the Lord and it's up to us to take advantage of that to continue to remind ourselves of God and to stay strong so Moses says now I had verse 5 I have led you 40 years in the wilderness your clothes have not worn out on you and your sandal has not worn out on your foot and you know amazingly God provided for these people living in a desert intense and God provided you have not eaten bread nor have you drunk wine or strong drink in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God and it appears that was not available in the desert when you reached this place Sihan the king of Heshban and Og the king of Beshan came out to meet us for battle but we defeated them and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the ruminites the gaddites and the half tribe of the manasites these are the ones that we're gonna stay on this side of the Jordan and God allowed them to stay there but they were gonna have to first come over and fight to take the promised land and then they could go back to this side of the Jordan River and they were gonna have their land there but what God's doing here is he's reminding them of hey you guys had people come out to fight you but you saw that I provided for you even then and as a result in verse 9 he says so keep the words of this covenant to do them and you know it's it's important that we do what we believe you know he didn't just say know the words or even just believe the words but that you keep the words and do them and I really think that you know the sign of true faith is that you want to act out on what you believe you want to live in accordance with what you've come to know and believe and I do believe there's a question when we don't want to do and when we don't want to act in a way that's honorable to our Lord but we say we believe you know even the demons believe in trouble and at times I think we make it too easy and we make it not enough about obedience Jesus said you know baptized them and Father Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything I've commanded you God is still desiring by the way he doesn't want us just to believe and then discredit our obedience our obedience is a measure of our faith and he says that when you do that when you keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do and I believe that God's ways indeed give us blessing and favor and they do protect our lives from the consequences of sin and I do believe that all of us are blessed when we follow God's ways you stand today all of you before the Lord your God your chiefs your tribes your elders and your officers even all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and the alien who is within your camps from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God and to his oath which the Lord your God is making with you today so there is a a renewal of this covenant today as we talked about in order that he may establish you today as his people and then he may be your God just as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today he's saying you know what this is for generations to come this is something for you to pass on to your children after you this is something that's gonna last this covenant for a long time for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed moreover you have seen their abominations and their idols of woodstone silver and gold which they had with them he's saying to them you're the ones who saw what God had did to Egypt and I'm making this covenant with you but I want you to pass it on to your children because and you're the ones who saw what God did so this is your responsibility to because of all you've seen and witnessed to pass this on that's what he's saying here so that there will not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and warm wood and he's like don't listen we're about to go into this promise land you've seen what's happened when you guys worship false things do you remember the golden calf don't do it you know pass this true faith on to to those who come after you and you know don't fall into the curse is what he's about to say don't don't turn back don't turn away it shall be when he hears the words of this curse and remember we talked significantly about that in the last two chapters the the blessings and curses of God and if we turned away from God and from his law if the people did they were gonna be under the curse and he makes things clear and lets them know listen if you turn away you're gonna be cursed if you want to be blessed and have you know the fruit of your room best and the crops blessed follow me so anyways he's saying in verse 19 it shall be when he hears the words of this curse that he will both saying I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with dry the Lord shall never be willing to forgive him but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will burn against that man in every curse which is written in this book will rest on him and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven wow what a word he's saying listen if you turn away and if you act in pride and be like now we can do it our way and turn away from God you know what all the curses of this book and even your name will be blotted out of that I have heaven then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law and that's why God has spoken in he's told us what to do to be blessed what to do to be cursed he's made it abundantly clear so that we will know and adhere to what God has said so that we can be blessed but man has a tendency to not honor the Lord and then experience the curse and praise God Jesus Christ has now come as we learn in the last chapter I encourage you to listen to the teaching on Deuteronomy 28 all the way to the end because Jesus Christ Hallelujah took our curse up on that cross now the generation to come your sons who rise up after you this is what he's thinking about is the future generations in the foreigner who comes in from a distant land when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases which the Lord has afflicted it will say all its land is brimstone and salt a burning waste unsown and unproductive and no grass grows in it like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah Adma and Zeboyam which the Lord overthrew and his anger and in his wrath all the nations will say why has the Lord done this to the land why this great outburst of anger he's saying in the future when people come in and they because unfortunately Israel is going to experience the curse they are going to turn away from God they are going to be punished and he's saying when that happens and people see that nothing's being productive they ought to know why the then men will say because they forsook the covenant of the Lord the God of their fathers which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt they went and served other gods and worship them gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them therefore the anger of the Lord burned against that land to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath and cast them into another land as it is this day wow so he's letting them know you know you guys ought to know when things aren't blessed why it is it's going to be because you chose not to obey and you know that's ultimately what's going to happen with those who reject Jesus those who reject Jesus are going to be these people one day they're going to receive the curse they're going to receive the wrath of God because they did not honor Jesus they did not obey him and they're going to be under the curse for that reason and they're going to experience the wrath of God but dear church beloved bride whom he died for and forgave and whom he took the curse for I don't believe you are going to experience the wrath of God because you have had faith in Jesus who took your curse this is another reason why I believe that the church is going to be raptured before the tribulation because it's a special family of God the church the bride because Jesus took the penalty for our disobedience when we had faith in him and it's a new season of history for the church who believe in him and who have the spirit deposited in him but those who reject Jesus are still going to be under the curse and that's why they're going to face the tribulation verse 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law yes what a great word you know I really love this book because one of the things that I feel like we've gotten away from today is we have this easy believe-ism and we have these words that go out that I think sometimes are over over taught or over emphasized that you know believe on the Lord Jesus as though then your obedience doesn't matter as though then that you can just say you believe but not really be serious about it but be casual about it and I just don't see that in the when you read the entire Bible the whole thing that God is desiring is for us just to have a casual belief and as though that's enough I believe God wants us to believe and that the evidence really of our belief is going to be the fruit is going to be the obedience that although we don't perfectly obey and although we do need the grace of God and it is there for us when you truly believe it's going to be reflected in the way you live your life that you know sometimes we're arguing and I'm going to move forward for a moment to second Peter and it's something that's been coming up lately at our church that I've been teaching on and when you go to second Peter you know and you know we think about all the things that take place in our world today all the sexual immorality the homosexuality all kinds of things of this nature in our in our world today and people act like it's okay and in and listen to this second Peter chapter one verse two it says grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our of Jesus our Lord seeing that his divine power and I think about this his divine power through his Holy Spirit has granted to us everything for pertaining to life and godliness listen in this season of history we're now through faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit has come to reside inside of us he's giving us divine power and has granted it up to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him was called us by his own glory and excellence for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them we may become partakers of the divine nature listen through the power of the Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of sins we have become partakers of the divine nature we have the ability now through the Holy Spirit with God's help to live in a holy way be holy as I am holy having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust verse five now for this very reason it says applying all diligence see we're supposed to apply all diligence to lead this live this Christian life in your faith supply moral excellence now listen to that we have these half haphazard standards today in living for God and yet what the apostle Peter is saying in your faith supply moral excellence meaning we should strive to live morally excellent lives and in your moral excellent knowledge and in your knowledge self-control and in your self-control perseverance and in your perseverance godliness we're supposed to try to imitate or become a greater reflection of the the image and likeness of God godliness and in your godliness brotherly kindness and in your brotherly kindness love and isn't that interesting that we're supposed to be kind and loving but in the same passage that it's asking us to be kind and loving he's asked also asking us to to apply all diligence to the divine nature and to live morally excellent lives and a lot of times people of the world today they use love as an excuse that we don't even have to try to live morally excellent or we don't have to try to go by God's book we can just make up our own rules and define love in any way that we want and here in in in God's word he's saying no I want you now that you're born again and now that the Holy Spirit lives in you I want you to be holy as I am holy I want you to live out this divine nature I want you to apply all diligence now praise God we do have his grace and forgiveness because we fall short and yes we don't live perfectly honorably to our God but that's not an excuse to just continue in that fashion it's rather a way to say God thank you for the grace you've given me but now let me get back on your bus of following you and honoring you in the way that I live your life because this is what he says listen to this verse 8 then I'll close here for if these qualities everything we talked about godliness brotherly kindness love moral excellence taking on the divine nature listen for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and kind of like Israel they could know who God is but if their hearts not right they could end up becoming unfruitful in the true knowledge of him and that's not what God wanted right this is kind of the same thing he was talking about with Israel your hearts have been far from me I wish you guys were really in love with me and he's saying if these qualities are yours and increasing so we should be seeking to grow in our godliness then we will be fruitful and useful but if we aren't increasing if we just kind of settle for a whole home faith we'll be more useless and unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord well actually no God but become useless and unfruitful because we're not growing now listen to this this is a hard word but you know what we just got done with a hard word he was warning them about the curse that they were going to fall away from God so listen to what Peter says here for he who lacks these qualities all the qualities that we've talked about for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted having forgotten his purification from his former sins therefore brethren be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble hallelujah for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you hallelujah it is going to be abundantly supplied to us those who are of faith in Jesus but we're supposed to be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing by practicing the things that he just taught practicing godliness practicing becoming more of the divine nature and thank God Jesus Christ did die to give us grace to take our curse for our shortcomings and living to the standard of God and he did die to give us that grace hallelujah but man now we have both that grace and his Holy Spirit and we're supposed to celebrate that grace by living a life that's honoring pleasing to him that's what God's been about from the beginning when he said I created you in my image and likeness be fruitful and multiply he wants us to be a reflection of who that is he is and multiply him in ourselves and in people to be more priced like in our lives in this day hallelujah that's our call that's our our challenge our inspiration and praise God even when we fall short we do have God's grace hallelujah I hope this teaching challenged and inspired you to live for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords God bless you all