A Call to Obedience

Good evening. It's good to see everybody. Man, Sanctuary is looking really good, I gotta admit. So, if you guys want to go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the day that you've given us, Lord. God, I want to take a moment, Lord, and just thank you for the cooler temperatures, Lord, we've had outside. God, I'm just really, really blessed by that. Thank you, Lord, and I pray that you bless this evening, Lord. Help us to lift a joyful noise to you this evening, God. Help us to worship you and

position our hearts rightly before you, God. I pray that as Pastor Ryan comes tonight, Lord, let's pray that your word go out with power, Lord, and just do a mighty work in our hearts. We love you, Lord. We praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. We worship the God who was. We worship the God who is. We worship the God who is. Evermore we'll be. When the prison doors, he parted the raging sea. My God, he holds the victory.

God, you'll pray. The God who heals. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the God who always makes a way. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. It's shining through, watching you. Nature, he turned before. The glorious day that's going to be, Lord, when we can stand in your presence, God, and just... We sing holy as the Lord. Father, tonight, God, I just pray that Pastor Ryan comes, Lord. I just pray that you, God,

would just work mightily in this place. Work mightily in our hearts, Lord. We love you, Lord. We praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name.

If you would, please open up in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy. Thank you, sir. Deuteronomy chapter 4. As we come to Deuteronomy 4, we really kind of close up the first sermon that Moses is giving to the nation of Israel before they enter the promised land, where he has rehearsed for them what God has done for them up to this point in time. And so as we come to chapter

4, after he's rehearsed what he's done, there's now a challenge to the nation of Israel, and the challenge is a call to obedience. Because in light of everything that God has done, in light of their successes at times, in light of their failures at times, and in light of God's hand of judgment that has had to be on them at times, as they move into this new land, obedience is going to be the key. And so that's what we'll look at tonight as we start in chapter 4. It starts off with this, chapter 4, verse 1.

Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it that you may, keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal Peor. For the men who followed Baal Peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every

one of you. See, I've taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you do thus in the land where you are entering to possess. So keep and do this, and you will be for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God, whenever we call on him? Or what

great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? Now, the first thing in these first set of verses that he's going to give to us is what I would call just an exhortation. Really, it's the segue into some warnings that he's going to give, but he gives this exhortation. The first portion of the exhortation that he gives is simply, listen. Now, I think it's

kind of interesting that that's the first thing that Moses says to them. He says, now, oh Israel, listen to the words that I'm about to say. You know why he starts off by telling them to listen? Because you know what the least natural thing for us to do as human beings is? It's to listen, right? You ever had to try to have a conversation with somebody that only wants to talk? And it's like, they ask you a question,

and as you're trying to answer the question, they won't stop continuing to ask you the exact same question. And at some point in time, you have to say, what I'd really like to do right now is answer your question, but I can't because you won't stop talking. Unfortunately, that's kind of who we are as human beings, right? It's like, Lord, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to live? And

God's like, well, you need to start with, no, no, Lord, tell me what you want me to do. Show me how you want me to live. And God's like, well, just listen. Sometimes I think one of the greatest things we can do is just take a time and just be quiet and see if you can't hear exactly what God wants to tell you. Because that's what Moses encourages the people to do. He starts off by saying,

you need to listen. And as he tells them to listen, he tells them what they need to listen to. He says, you need to listen to the statutes and the judgments, I'm teaching you to perform not only what he's taught them up to this point in time, but what he's about to be teaching them. Why? Because obeying those statutes and judgments will do two things for them. Number one, he says, obey them or listen to these, which I'm teaching

you so that you may live. I wonder sometimes if we take obedience to God that seriously, that the only way I can truly live is if I do so in obedience to the Lord. The only way I can truly have life is if I do so in obedience to the Lord. The only way I can truly have life is if I do so in obedience to the Lord. Because ultimately, that's the only place where there really is life.

The world wants to tell us that if you really want to explore life and live the fullest life that you possibly can, then you should do so by exploring all of the things of the world. And you know what God says? God says the exact opposite. If you really want to live, if you really want to live the fullest life, living the fullest life means living in obedience to me. Because that ultimately is the greatest life that you can ever have.

And not only so that they can live, but also so that they can go in and take possession of the land that the Lord is giving you. He says the only way that you can really take possession of that which God has given you is if you obey me and do everything that I tell you to do. That's the only place where there is success on the other side of the Jordan River. That's the only place where you will find rest for your souls. And so he goes on from there to say in this exhortation, he says,

I shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor shall you take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. He goes on from there to tell them two things that they should not do. Number one, don't add to the word of God. You know what we call adding to the word of God? We call that legalism. Because when we add to the word of God,

we try to say, Lord, what you have to say is really good. What you have to say is really important, but I think I can do better. Let me add something to that because I think I've got a little bit of a better idea of how I could do this. And you know that first of all, God has to sit there and go, because we've just overcomplicated something that God intended oftentimes to be very simple in our lives, right? We all know that one person, or sometimes we are that one person who can take

the most simple command ever and make it harder than it needs to be. And how often we do that with what God says. And God's like, but I really had a pretty simple idea here for you. And you just added a bunch of things to it that I never intended. And you just made it way harder than it had to be. Don't add to it. That's legalism. But then he says something

else. He says, don't take away from it. We call that licentiousness. Well, I like that part of the word, but this other part that deals with the sin that I really like, I'm just going to, I'm going to use my black highlighter on that one, right? My black Sharpie on that one, because I don't really like that section. So I'm just going to take that part away from it, right? It's interesting because if you look at the book of

revelation, you know, that he says, don't add to, or take away from any of the words of this particular book. Now that one applies specifically to the book of revelation. He says, because if you do, I will add these plagues to you. It's like, Ooh, that's pretty serious. And I think God kind of takes his word that seriously, because this won't be the last time in the scripture, nor is

revelation the only other time in scripture where God says, don't add to, or take away from the word. But what we're seeing in culture right now is there's a great deal of the taking away from God's word, because after all that doesn't really fit the cultural norms today, right? That was only for back then. It's not for today. That's not what we call good explanation of the

Bible. That's not good theology because God is pretty specific about the things that he does and does not want for us to do. He says, rather than adding to it or taking away from it, you should instead just obey it. He says that you, you may keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you. And as he tells them that he reminds them why it's important to obey God's commands, because they had seen an example

of what happens when they don't. Your eyes have seen verse three, what the Lord has done in the case of Baal Peor. For all the men who followed Baal Peor, the Lord, your God has destroyed them from among you. And we remember the incident with Balaam when Balaam couldn't, cursed them. And he said, I can't curse you, but they can kind of curse themselves. Let's send the women in and have them commit sin. And once they commit that sin,

God will have to judge them. And that's exactly what takes place. There was not only a plague among the people where many fell because of the plague, but also God had to send out those who were zealous for him to deal with the ones who wouldn't obey. He said, you saw what happened at Baal Peor. Why is it important that you obey the word of God? Why is it important?

Why is it important that you keep these commandments and statutes? Because if you don't, you'll have to suffer the consequences. But when we suffer the consequences of disobedience, the exact opposite of that is that there is great benefit for those who are obedient. Notice what it says in verse four, but you who held fast to the Lord, your God are alive today.

Every one of you. Now there's that same principle that was just given to us in verse one. Those who obeyed, they experienced life. Now this particular time, literally they were alive, but it means that they experienced the fullness of life. He says in verse five, see, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord, my God commanded me that you should do thus when you are entering into the land.

So keep and do them for that your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all the statutes and say, surely this great nation is, a wise and understanding people. Do you notice the next thing he says here about being obedient to God's commands as he's giving this exhortation to them? He says, that is your wisdom and your understanding. Everybody wants wisdom, right? People want to know, can I, can I have great wisdom in the things

that I do? I would tell you that the greatest wisdom that we can exercise as human beings is our wisdom that says, obey what God has to say, because there's great wisdom in that. And the rest of the world, whether they want to obey God or not, they want to obey God. They want to admit it or not. We'll look at that life, which is exactly what he says will happen

to the nations around them. They will look at the life that is obedient to the Lord. And they will say, look at the wisdom in the way that they live their life. Because even in the most vile of situations in Hollywood movies, do you know who they always hold up as one of the greatest heroes? The one who made the truly moral decision, the one who made the decision to be a man,

or a woman of character. And everybody looks and says, ah, now that's wisdom. And that's what the world around us says. They may not say it initially. They may not say it immediately. But once your life is proven out to be a life of obedience to the things of the Lord, in the long run, they will say, that's the wisest thing that individual could have done. And it will be your witness to the world that is around you. Because all of us are

known by our fruit. He says, it'll be a great witness to those who are around you. And then verse seven, for what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on him? Not only would obedience mean that there would be a great witness to the world that's around them, but their obedience would keep themselves in a position where they could continue to call on the name of the Lord.

I love that verse. And it really stuck out to me even before I started studying just the simple read through of the chapter, because I thought, isn't that just so true? First of all, of the nation of Israel, that God had chosen them to be a nation whom he would be near to whenever they call on him. But isn't that true of us as believers in Jesus Christ as well? That when we call on the

Lord, he is so near to us. When we call on him, he is so eager and ready to hear from us. And I know I've shared it before, but I think this has been truly one of the greatest things that I have learned about the Lord over the past couple of years, is that when we call on the name of the Lord, he stops, he turns towards us, and he bends down low to listen to us. Because there have been so many times over the past couple of years where all I've known to do is just simply cry out to the Lord. And I can bear witness with what Moses says here when he says, what an amazing thing that

God has done for us. And I know I've shared it before, but I think this has been truly one of the greatest things that God has done for us. And I think this has been truly one of the greatest things that God would be so near to us when we call on him. You see, obedience keeps me not only in a place of witness to the world around me, but obedience keeps me in a place where I am always near to the one who is ready to listen every time I call upon him. Well, he goes on from there

to say in verse eight, or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law? Which I am setting before you today. And now that he's given the exhortation towards obedience, he now begins to give them some warnings. There's actually three times he's going to tell them to do almost the exact same thing. We pick up in verse nine, and this is what it says.

Only give heed to yourself and keep yourself diligently so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart. All the days of your life, but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember the day that you stood before the Lord, your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, assemble the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, that they may teach their children. You came near, you stood at the foot of the mountain, the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heaven. You stood at the foot of the mountain,

the heavens, darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sounds of the words, but you saw no form, only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform. That is the 10 commandments. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments

that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess. The first warning that he gives to them is the warning to not forget what God has done. Do not forget what God has done. Take note of what he says. Give heed to yourselves and keep your soul diligently. That first portion of that verse could preach for quite some time. That phrase, give heed

to yourselves, literally means put a guard about yourself. The idea is to be very vigilant in the way that you do this. You should keep a guard about yourself. You should be diligent in the way that you keep a guard about yourself. It should be something that occupies a great deal of your mental energy to keep a guard about yourself. And what are we supposed to keep a guard about ourselves for? That we would not

forget what God has done. This won't be the last time that he says, be diligent, watch yourselves that you don't forget. You know why he has to tell us that? Because we are easily distractible as human beings. And we easily forget what God has done. I know for myself, I have to write everything down anymore. There was a time in my life when I could remember all of the events that I had coming up. I could keep them all straight in my mind and

I could keep everything kind of lined up together. And anymore, if I don't write it down, it is not going to get remembered. And even when I write it down, the potential is still there. I may not remember. Sometimes people talk to me right after church on Sunday. I love it. I love talking to people. And that's part of my problem. Sometimes why I forget stuff because I have a lot of people

have a conversation with you. I'm like, oh yeah, that's great. Let's, let's do that. Then I'll talk to somebody else. Like, oh yeah, that's great. Let's, let's do that. By the time I've done that four times, I'll go, hmm, I wonder what it was I was supposed to remember to do. So now this is what I tell people. If you say, hey, I'd like to talk to you later in the week. Perfect. Let's do it

Thursday. I'll say, would you text me and remind me? Even if it's just later today, I just need that to be on there because I'm a forgetful person. And it's one thing when I do that in the events of life, but it's a whole other thing when I do that in the events of life. I do that with the things of God. When I forget what God has done for me and what God has shown

me, he says, you need to give heed to yourself, put a guard about yourself and keep your soul diligently so that you do not forget what your eyes have seen, that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life. And you know, one of the first ways he says that we should do that or the first ways he says that we could do that is by teaching them. To our sons and our grandsons. I don't remember which commentator it was that I was listening to, but he said, your kids are your disciples. Your grandkids are your disciples. I've shared this

before, but I just did it again yesterday. But the entire time I've ever worked with kids that I've ever worked with young people, I would tell them all to do the exact same thing. I would say, you need to go find somebody that has walked with God for a really long, time. And you need to ask them to tell you their stories. Tell, ask them to tell you how God has

been faithful in their lives, how God has blessed their lives, the things God has brought them through in their lives. The one specifically yesterday is I was talking about how in the book of Matthew, we see that the gospel redeems broken people. So you should find somebody that's walked with the Lord for a really long time and say, how has God redeemed brokenness in your life? I said, bear in mind, they may not give you details.

But I guarantee if they've walked with the Lord for any given amount of time, there's a brokenness in their life that God has healed them from. They'd probably be happy to share it with you because that's a part of who they are today. Of course, one young lady raised her hand and said, how long is a long time? I said, let's say five, 10 years. Let's start there.

And if you find somebody that's walked with Jesus longer than that, talk to them. It's the first time anybody's ever asked me to put a parameter on what's a long time. But now as I teach adults, I tell you, you should look for those young people. Some of you have kids that you need to be teaching. Those are your disciples. You need to continue to teach them, disciple them, make them your disciple,

make it your mission to continue to teach them what God's word has to say. I, even as a pastor, have to continually be reminded of this, especially now that I've got one moving into those teen years who doesn't always want to hear what I have to say. She's like, is this another teachable moment? I'm like, you're darn straight. It's another teachable moment. And I got to remember that,

that that's okay. She's going to roll her eyes about it, but that's all right. I got to keep making her my disciple because one of these days, I don't know when she's going to say thanks for all of those teachable moments. I'm just waiting for that day. Probably want to say 30, maybe, I don't know. But some of you, your kids are grown and gone, but you have grandkids. And now it's time

because he says it right here, teach your grandsons. Now it's time for you to pour into the grandkids and all of those lessons that you taught your kids all those years, your grandkids will actually listen to you, right? Because you're not mom and dad. But for some of you, you don't have kids or grandkids and that's okay. You should look for young people in this church.

You should look for those young people in this church and think, how can I pour into their life? Oh, Ryan, they don't want to hear what I have to say. That may be what you think, but it's not true. I will guarantee you, if you pulled a young person aside as an older individual, no matter how old you are, and you said, can I take you to lunch? Ninety-eight percent of the time, you're going to

say, okay. They may look at you a little bit funny, but they'll say, okay, because you're going to take them to lunch, right? And at that point in time, you start telling them the things that God has been doing in your life. I just wanted to take you to lunch because I want to share with you some of the things that I've been through in life. You seem like a good young kid. You seem like somebody

who cares about the things of the Lord. I see you show up on Wednesday nights and on Sunday mornings. Man, I just want to pour into your life. You would be amazed at how many of these young kids would absolutely eat your food. You would be amazed at how many of these young kids would eat your food. You would eat that up because maybe mom and dad aren't around. Maybe grandma and grandpa aren't

around, and they need somebody that can pour into them. They need somebody that will show them what it looks like to be a man or woman of God. He says, teach these things to the next generation. And he goes, hey, remember that time, verse 10, remember the day that you stood before the Lord, your God, at Horeb? Now, bear in mind, all of the folks he's talking to right now were under the age

of 20 when they stood at Horeb. And so as he tells them, he says, hey, remember that time when you stood at Horeb? And the Lord said to me, assemble the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children. By the way, there it is again. You came near, stood at the foot of the mountain, and the

mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens. And then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. This has been something that I've really gleaned over the last few years of studying scripture. I don't think I'd ever put together that when God gave the Ten Commandments, it was not just to Moses up on top of the mountain. The first thing that he did is he spoke it to all of them. And

they all could hear the voice of the Lord. They all could hear that voice as they watched the fire on the mountain, and they saw the clouds and the thick darkness, and they could hear this voice of the Lord booming from heaven. And they all could hear that voice as they watched the fire on the mountain. And they all could hear that voice as they watched the fire on the mountain. And they all

could hear that voice as they watched the fire on the mountain. And they all could hear that voice as it was declaring the righteous standard of God. He said, do you remember that? Why is he saying, do you remember that? Because he doesn't want them to forget. Some of them weren't alive when that happened. And he wants them to remember this God who is near to you when you call on him is the

same God who spoke those Ten Commandments. And he wants you to remember that. He says, the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire, and you heard the sound of the words, but you saw no form, only a voice. Why didn't they see a form? Because they wouldn't see a form of who God is until Jesus showed up in Bethlehem. So he says, he declared you his covenant, which he commanded you to

perform. That's the Ten Commandments. He wrote them on tablets of stones, and then the Lord commanded me to teach them to you so that you would know what you're supposed to do when you go over to possess the land that God is giving to you. His first exhort or his first warning to them, do not forget. Instead, continue to teach just like I did with you. Second warning,

beware of idolatry. Notice what he says in verse 15. So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any form. So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of a male or a female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish

that is in the water below the earth. And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars and all the hosts of heaven and be drawn away and worship them, those who are in the sky. So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt to be a people for his own possession as today. He says, I want you to be really careful about something. He says, watch yourselves.

Watch yourselves, since you didn't see any form. Remember, they only heard the voice from heaven. You didn't see any form. He says, There's actually going to be three things he tells them to avoid as far as idolatry. The first one is a graven image. Now, I think when he speaks of a graven image, he's actually speaking of an image of God, because that would be their tendency, is we saw no voice. Let's picture what God looks like,

and then let's make a graven image of who that is. Wait, they did that once. They called it a golden calf. He says, don't make a graven image. It's going to be in your temptation. You're going to be tempted to make something that looks like me so that you can attach a picture to it. The only problem is you're going to make it in the form of yourself, or you're going to make it in the

form of the things of the earth. They don't make any graven images. Remember that story in the book of Numbers where they were in the wilderness, and they started complaining again, and as they were complaining, God sent out vipers, fiery serpents, and they started biting the people, and they were dying from the fiery serpents. And Moses is like, what are we going to do? God, please help. And God's like, hey, make for yourself

a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. You know what they ended up doing with that bronze serpent that they put up on the pole? They ended up turning it into a God. They ended up turning it into a graven image that they were worshiping. Isn't that terrible? That's what we do. That's what we have a tendency to do. So God's like, listen, don't make any graven images that look

like me. I won't go into all that. I was going to say something, I'll probably get myself in trouble, so I won't. He says, also, don't make for yourselves any form or any figure in the likeness of a male or a female. In other words, don't make for yourselves idols that look like people. We might call this hero worship. We might even go so far, I will step in on this one. We may go so far as to call this saint worship. In other words,

we probably shouldn't make pictures of all of the saints and start praying to them. Kind of feels like what he's saying not to do right here. When he says, don't make pictures, don't make images of men and women and worship them. Why? Because it's called idolatry. He goes on from there to say, don't make yourself any figures in the likeness of an animal or a winged bird or anything that creeps on the ground

or any of those kinds of things. It's interesting when you look into the history and look at some of the pictures of the idols that used to be worshiped that were half man, half animal. Some of them were half man, half fish. Some of them were half man, half frog. All of these different kinds of things in a grotesque looking images. There's the one, is it Medusa that had all

the snakes coming out of her head? Oh, that one would creep me out. They're all really weird looking. He says, don't make any of those. And he tells them not to do that because that's what all the people of the land were going to do. And then he tells them one last thing, don't you look up at the stars and the sun and the moon. And begin to worship that. Because God's given that to everyone. And that's not something that

you worship. He goes on about this for a specific purpose, for a specific reason. And it's because we have a tendency to like to worship idols. We have a tendency to build something up to be this most amazing thing. And that's what we put all of our trust in, or that's where we find all of our joy in life. Matter of fact, that's how I define an idol. It's either something that you put your trust in or something that you find your joy in that's not

God. Those are the two main things that I can think of that would be idolatry. And we as human beings have to be careful about that. And we as 21st century Christians still have to be careful about that. He goes on in verse 20 to say, the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt to be a people for his own possession today. This is the other

reason why he says this is because he says, God set you apart unto himself. I love the way he describes them being delivered from Egypt. He says, the Lord delivered you out of the iron furnace, that thing which was suppressing you and destroying you. I can't think of any better way to put it of how God delivered me from sin, that he delivered me out of the iron furnace.

But why did he deliver me out of the iron furnace? So that I would be screaming? I would be screaming. I would be screaming. I would be screaming. I would be separated unto himself, so that I would be separated unto him. I was delivered from sin so that I can belong to God. Therefore, I can't go back to sin. I can't go back to those idols that he's delivered me from. Well, Moses then recounts the fact that God was angry with him

on their behalf. He may still have a little bit of an issue with that. Verse 21, now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and I swore that I would not cross the Jordan, that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for I will die in this land. I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land.

He says that because it segues into his next warning. So watch yourselves. This time he's going to warn them to not forget the covenant. He says, so watch yourselves that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. For the Lord your God is a consuming

fire, a jealous God. As we come to this last warning, it's like, didn't he just say that? Yeah, he did. And yet he warns them again. Why? Because we don't listen very well, and we're a little forgetful. He warns them again. He says, don't forget the covenant that you've made with God. What was the covenant that they'd made with God? That they would follow him wholeheartedly, that they would obey all of his commands. He says,

don't forget that covenant. Watch yourselves that you don't forget that covenant, because that commitment that you've made to God is what you need to continue to keep. Therefore, don't make any graven images.

Sorry, gang, the cough won't go away, and the smell of the glue working on me pretty good right now with the cough. So, my bad. He says, you made a covenant, now maintain that covenant. Don't forget it. Don't make any graven images. And then he goes on to say, because the Lord your God is two things. Number one, a consuming fire. Number two, a jealous God. Let's take those in reverse. God is a jealous God.

What does that mean? Does that mean that God's checking all of our text messages? Is he like, who's on their Snapchat today? No. It means God wants all of you, or he wants none of you. Because God will not share you with anyone. That's why he told the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation, I wish you were either hot or cold, but you're neither one. Therefore, I have to spew you out of

my mouth. Because he is a jealous God. He wants all of your attention, and he wants all of your affection, and he won't share it with an idol. As a matter of fact, if you want to go choose an idol, he's going to say in just a moment, you go have your fill of it until you're sick of it. But I won't share you. I won't have you follow me in a half-hearted sort

of way. Why? Because God is a consuming fire. What does that mean? It means that as he takes his hold on our lives, he won't be content until the entire thing is completely burned up with a desire to follow him. You know, when you first start walking with the Lord, usually it's, you're broken in some sort of way, and God's offering you some sort of healing, so you come to the

Lord for healing. What you don't realize is, is that you didn't just make a decision to be healed, you made a lifelong commitment to a Savior, in which he will gradually, slowly, but surely, overtake every aspect of your life. But listen, it's the most life-giving thing that you can do. Remember what we said about obedience? That if you want to live real life, you'll live in obedience

to God. And as you live in obedience to God, he will continue to require more and more and more of you. Not because he wants to see your life destroyed, but because he wants to see your life full. That you would have the fullness of joy. Therefore, he is a consuming fire. Interestingly enough, this same verse, quoted in the book of Hebrews, by the writer of the Hebrews, when he

says, because our God, is a consuming fire. Well, as he gives this warning, he now begins to move into an area where he's going to talk to them about repentance. Verse 25. When you become the father of children, and children's children, and have remained in the land, remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Now, before we get to the happy ending, let's deal with the sad beginning.

He says, when you come into the land, and you have children, and then grandchildren, notice he doesn't say if you begin to make idols for yourself, he says, what? When? Why do you suppose he used that language there? I've kind of labored over this a little bit this week. Is this a prophetic word? Or is this a warning word? Well, I personally think that it's a prophetic word that Moses sort of

speaks over the people. He says, when you go into the land, when you have children and grandchildren, in other words, as time goes on and you're not fighting battles any longer, because after all, the most dangerous place that we can be in is the place of success. He says, when you're not fighting those battles any longer, and you begin to make idols for yourselves, you're not going to live very long in the land, because the Lord your God will scatter you. And when he scatters you, you will go into a land where you can worship idols. In other words, he

says, you can go and you can have your fill of all of the idols that you want. And I love the way that he describes the idols. He says, idols that neither see nor hear nor taste nor smell. In other words, they're lifeless. May I say, brothers and sisters, that we become like that which we serve. And if we serve something that is lifeless, we too will become

lifeless. He says, that's what's going to happen to you. And the unfortunate truth of the history of the nation of Israel is that that is exactly what happens to them. When we get past Joshua, we'll move into the book of Judges and we'll see the six cycle carousel that they're on of going through sin, judgment, repentance, deliverance, and they get caught in the washing machine cycle of all of that. And then as

the kings come into the land, we see that they really don't get out of that cycle. They continue to go into that cycle. I'm in the book of 2 Kings right now. And it's fascinating to see, oh, this guy was good. This guy was bad. This guy was good. This guy was good. This guy was bad. This guy was really bad. This guy was even worse than bad, right? Because that was the cycle that they were caught in.

And you know what God eventually had to do? He had to scatter them from the land. Ultimately, through that captivity in Babylon. Brothers and sisters, we have to know something. If we're going to live a life that pursues sin as believers in Jesus Christ, eventually God has to scatter us from the land. In other words, He'll eventually say, if that's the direction you want to go,

then that's the direction you're going to go. And I'm going to let you have as much of it as you want until you decide you just don't want it anymore. Because notice the happy ending. It says in verse 29, but from there, you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you search for Him with all of your heart and with all of your soul. And when you're in distress

and all these things have come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God. Listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He will not fail you. Nor destroy you. Nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He has sworn to them. That verse 29 really sticks out to me because He says, from there, the place where you're

chasing after other gods and you have your fill of all of that idolatry, from that point, you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you search for Him with all of your heart. I love that because it's almost verbatim. You know, what God tells Jeremiah to tell the nation of Israel as they're in Babylon. You see, when the nation of Israel did exactly what He said and they were taken into captivity in Babylon, they were false prophets who were like, this time in Babylon, it's going to be really short-lived.

God's going to bring you out any time now. I can see it. God said, Jeremiah, here's the thing. Nobody likes you already. Send them a letter. This is what you're going to tell them. While you're in Babylon, build a house, get a job, start a family, support your community, because you're going to be there for 70 years. And that's when the famous verse from Jeremiah comes out.

For I know the thoughts I think towards you, declares the Lord, thoughts for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then he goes on from there to say, and you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart and I will be found of you, declares the Lord. Almost word for word, what Moses says here. It's almost like the same author was writing the whole Bible. It's almost like the

same God was at work in the entire thing. Because that's what happens. And brothers and sisters, as a believer in Jesus Christ who spent some time in the mud, who spent some time with the pigs, I know exactly what that means. Because I had my fill of all of that. And as I had my fill of all of that, I'll never forget the night when I said, I don't know what else

to do, God, except seek after you. I don't know what else to do. And slowly but surely I began to seek after him with all of my heart. And you know what he proved? He was found of me. I found him. Not because he was hiding, but because I finally had my fill of all of the idolatry of the world. And I love it because he goes on to say, for the Lord your God is a compassionate

God. You know, one of the things I preach in a lot of funerals when I don't know where the person was in their walk, but the Lord is always, the one word of comfort that I give to people is this. We can rest in the fact that God is a God of mercy. Mercy is God's default setting. I don't go so far as to say this, but I believe that if there is any chance before someone dies for them

to repent and turn to him, then I believe God opens up every opportunity possible. Because mercy is his default setting. And judgment is his strange work. We're told that in scripture. Judgment's the last thing that he wants. He says, the Lord your God is compassionate. He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers. That, of course, is specifically speaking to the nation of

Israel. Interestingly enough, verse 30, when you are in distress, I believe in the old King James, it says when you are in tribulation, and all these things have come upon you in the latter days, then you will return to the Lord your God and listen to his voice. Many commentators read into that, that that potentially could be even stretching into the tribulation period. That in those latter days, when the nation of Israel is scattered because of the judgment of God, that they will return to God as a nation. Whether

that's true or not, I've not done enough studying, but many read that into it. He says, I'll remember the covenant, or I will not forget the covenant with your fathers, which he swore to them, because God is a God who honors repentance. And then the last section is, him reminding the people that the Lord alone is God. Verse 32, Indeed, ask now concerning the former days, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquired from one end of the heavens to the other, has anything been done like this great thing?

Or has anything been heard like it? Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard it, and survived? Or has a God tried to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, he is God, and there is no other besides him. I love this. He goes, I want you

to think back. All of the history, since the beginning of creation, has there ever been a relationship between God and a nation as unique as the relationship between God and the nation of Israel? Has God ever spoken to any other nation through the fire in the way that he did to you, and then they survived? Or has any other nation ever been pulled out of the midst of another nation in the way that he did with you through all of the signs and the wonders and all of the amazing things that he did?

Has God ever done that before? Of course the answer is no. Because the nation of Israel was uniquely God's people. He said, knowing that, knowing that God has never done this before, I want you to remember to you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, he is God. There is no other besides him. This is one of the greatest ways that you can know that God is who he says he is.

Is because of his unique relationship with the nation of Israel. And may I say, in these days that we live in today, I think we can say the exact same thing. I think we can say the fact that the nation of Israel has come back together as a nation, as they have, is one of the greatest ways that we can look and say he is exactly who he says he is. He is the one true God.

Because who else could pull the nation of Israel together from every corner of the world, from every end of the earth, as they've come back together as a nation. Has anyone ever heard of a nation having no national identity for as many years as the nation of Israel and then being pulled back together again under some of the great distress in which God has brought them back together again? He's done this to show that there is no other God like him. There is no other God other than the God of Israel.

He goes on to say, out of the heavens, verse 36, he lets you hear his voice to discipline you. And on earth, he lets you see his great fire and you heard his words from the midst of the fire. Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their descendants after them. And he personally brought you up from Egypt by his great power. Driving out from before you nations greater

and mightier than you. To bring you in. To give you their land for an inheritance as it is today. Know therefore today and take it to your heart that the Lord, he is God in heaven above and on the earth below there is no other. So you shall keep his statutes and his commandments which I am giving you today. That it may go well with you and your children after you

and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time. He says but because he loved your father. He hasn't done this with anybody else. Because he loved your fathers. He chose you. And I think my favorite part of this last section is this when he says, and he personally brought you out of the land of Egypt. I love it because we forget sometimes how personally

God works with each and every one of us. And I think that each of us that's come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, I think we each could say the same thing. He personally brought me out of the pit that I was in. He personally brought me out of the nation of Egypt. Of the land of Egypt. And he's made me his own special possession. He said he personally brought you out. Know therefore

and take it to heart that he's the only God in heaven and there's no other on earth besides him. Therefore, that knowledge of who God is leads us to obedience. It really all comes back to the same thing, doesn't it? How do I become the man that God wants for me to be? How do I become a man of obedience? Well, basically in the book of 1 Peter, it says the exact

same thing. His divine power has given to us everything that we need for life and godliness. How? Through the knowledge of him who called us. How do I end up becoming a man of obedience? I do it as I respond to my knowledge of who God is. I do it as I respond to the knowledge of what he has done in my life. And I do it as I respond to the knowledge of what he is able to do in my life

when I commit it to him. He says, knowing who God is, therefore, obey him that you may live long in the land. The last handful of verses here, verses 41 through 43 are the reminder about the cities of refuge. Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east that a manslayer might flee. Who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him. In time

passed, and by fleeing to one of these cities, he might live. Bazaar in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites. Ramoth and Gilead for the Gadites. And Golan and Bashan for the Manassites. And then in verse 44 begins the next sermon of Moses. But that's where we're going to end for tonight. An exhortation, a warning, and reminder of the importance of

repentance and knowing God. In our lives. What a great book. I love the book of Deuteronomy. So many amazing sections and so much applies to the New Testament. I'm excited to get into this next section as he will begin to teach us what God now expects of the nation of Israel. Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you and thank you for the time that we've had in your

word tonight. And Lord, it is so easy for us to fall into the idolatry of the world. Lord, it's so easy for us to forget who you are, what you've done. And Lord, it's so easy to stop up our ears and not really listen to what you have to say. And so Lord, slow us down. Slow down our thoughts. Slow down our lives. And give us ears that can hear. Father, keep our minds constantly aware of

who you are. Keep our hearts constantly on guard from idolatry. And Lord, give us a desire to know you. To not be content with yesterday's knowledge. To not be content with what you did in our life two weeks ago, five years ago, ten years ago. But Lord, desire to move on in a newness or knowledge of you. Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed.