124. You Will Observe
Deuteronomy 11:31, 32 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord you God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
The “Thou Shalt” of the Ten Commandments is both an imperative command and a future tense promise. As a promise it is expected that we on our part will observe and obey the Law of God, the list of stipulations written in the Covenant. We will do these things in response to what the Lord has done for us. We cannot keep these Commands perfectly by the mere Law of God. But we will be given the power to be able to keep them better and better as we are being sanctified slowly after we have been justified wholly by faith. After the forgiveness comes the thankful response of living rightly.
In this verse there is a command to do connected with the promise that you will do. You will pass over Jordan. You will possess the land. You will dwell in it. And you will observe to do the Law of God. How can God promise weak, failing sinful human beings that they will observe and do? They cannot and they will not. They will fail over and over. They will impede and obstruct God’s working in their hearts to observe and do. In spite of our best intentions and well-meaning promises we will fail to do. Yet God promises that we will do. How can that be? We do not promise; well, we do promise but it is not believed. God promises for us. How can God promise that we will do?
The Lord will use the power of the Gospel to change hearts and lives by the Spirit to will and do His good pleasure. The Law has no power to do anything, except to convict of sin, accuse of guilt, and condemn to death. Only the Gospel has the power to make us keep the Law commands, to change the heart to do them willingly, and to implant the desire to actually observe and do the statutes and judgments God gives. Therefore, it is a promise. God will do it by grace.
Repentance admits our failure; it does not vow to do better. Repentance receives forgiveness; it does not earn it. Repentance trusts God’s promise to make me a better person; it does not resolve and vow and swear and promise to change. God knows that would be empty. But we need to know that when God makes a promise it is not empty, but it is full of hope and a good life. The Spirit gives the faith to believe the impossible: “You will observe to do….”