Month: April 2023

Deuteronomy 31:20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

It doesn’t seem like it should be this way, but it is: humans are more likely to turn to the Lord in times of poverty and adversity, but in times of prosperity and ease, when they “have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat,“ they are more likely to turn to other gods, serve them, provoke the Lord, and break His covenant. How easy it to forget God when we are comfortable.

For this reason, Moses warns ahead of time to beware of prosperity, for when we are smug and secure we have time to turn away from God and turn to the gods of this world to enhance our security in money, seek physical pleasures, and to brush up our reputation. When the Lord has blessed us with prosperity we need to see it as a temptation to forget. So the better response is to turn to the Lord in thanks, praise, and appreciation in all circumstances. Thankfulness is the regular attitude that pervades the daily life of the Christian. It turns us to the Lord, and prays without ceasing.

Deuteronomy-31:16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; this people will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

After Moses’ death the Lord prophesied that the people would break the First Commandment of the Covenant. They would respond to God’s Salvation by whoring after other gods, the gods of the world. The unfaithful marriage metaphor is used to graphically describe our covenant relationship with the Lord God. The faithful and pure wife becomes a whore. Whoring happens when we do not fear, love, and trust in God above things. We seek after Profit, Pleasure, and Prestige (or, Gold, Girls, and Glory), the gods that the world offers us.

We will forsake the Lord when we look to the world of sin for good feelings, for being comfortable, for significance, and for security. We do not seek first the kingdom of God. By seeking good from the world we break the covenant bond between us and God. Unfaithfulness is our sinful response. It is hard to believe we could be so foolish and evil. But we are.

But Jesus loves prostitutes and idolaters, and eats with them. He was faithful and true, even unto death. He was innocent and holy. He took our place under the Covenant, and made a new one between us and God. In Christ, and only in Him, we are faithful, as a bride without blemish.

Deuteronomy 31:12-13 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and the stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law. And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Gathering all the people together to hear the Word, learn it, fear (believe) the Lord, and then do the words of the law is a necessary response for people who have been miraculously saved and given the Kingdom. The OT people responded by gathering every Saturday to repeat the Torah and the Prophets. NT Christians follow this command and promise every Sunday to hear, learn, believe, and observe to do the Word of God.

This gathering response was particularly necessary for the Jewish children who did not witness the Exodus Deliverance. Teaching the Word is considered equivalent to personally experiencing it. NT Christian families gather together daily to hear the Word and teach the children. All of us today were not physically present to witness the Salvation Event of the death and resurrection of Christ. But in gathering together we hear, learn, believe, and are moved to do. Since we were not eyewitnesses we gather together to hear the witness of Moses, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Evangelists. And we make sure that the children are taught.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Moses is preparing Israel to embark on a dangerous mission: to engage in spiritual warfare against the enemies that would prevent God’s people from taking over the Promised Kingdom. In order to accomplish this violent task they will need to be strong, bold, and courageous, for the enemy will not give up easily. Jesus says, “The violent take it by force.” The violence is in the cross and the tomb, for there we see the greatest force in the universe, love.

The reason we can be fearless and bold is because the Lord is with us in the battles and Jesus will not fail. We actually go through life with the strength and courage to overcome Sin with forgiveness, defeat Death with the gift of eternal life, and resist the Devil so that he flees. We can respond to the problems of living day to day by putting on the armor of faith, truth, gospel, righteousness, salvation, and the Word of God. Therefore, we do not fear the lies and temptations because Jesus is by our side with us, fighting and winning. We apply the truth and love of the Gospel and we win.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 I call heaven to record this day against you, that I have ser before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life.

It has been said that our life is a series of choices. Some choices present themselves in crisis situations, others are habitual, formed by repetition to make a lifestyle. The teaching here is that every matter and every decision is a life or death matter. Everything we do, say, or decide will tend toward enhancing life or causing death. That truth gives us pause whenever we make a choice, whether large or small. What I choose is no small matter. Every choice has a consequence.

Think it through before deciding, but don’t get paralyzed. We don’t consciously think about every little choice we make, for we usually act and react out of what we are at heart. So the key is: change the heart. And that is not something we can do, but it is a work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. He changes the heart by giving a New Life through faith in Christ. Therefore, choose life. When presented with the choice between life or death, blessing or curse, of course we will choose life. Who wouldn’t? But the issue is recognizing which choice is life and which is death. Jesus is Life. We choose Him always. Once we believe in The Life we are guided in our choices by knowing the Word of God, particularly the summary of the Law in the Ten Commandments. Thus we choose life by believing and obeying. And lo and behold, life is better!

Deuteronomy 30:1-2 And it shall come to pass, when all these are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee. And thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

This prophecy came true in the history of Israel. After God allowed them to be scattered away from the Land and driven into Exile, then and there they would remember the Lord and the blessings and curses of His Covenant. And they would return to the Lord, and to the Land, and obey (believe) the Word of God. As sinful and rebellious human beings they would remember the Law and the Gospel of their Lord, repent, return, and believe.

The same thing happens to us every day. We sin against God, experience exile from the Kingdom, call to mind the love of God and the work of Jesus, repent of our sin and failure, return to God with heart and soul, believe in Jesus, and with a renewed heart desire to obey. This entire experience is recounted graphically in Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son. This is the experience and response of Israel, the response of the Prodigal, and a description of our life. Only with us, it happens every day. We stray, we repent, we return, we believe the Gospel, and we live the New Life. We need to hear this story daily, believe it heartily, and return to the Lord every day. He is waiting with open arms all the time.

Deuteronomy 29:26 For they went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them.

Idolatry is a big deal to the Lord, so big that He disciplines His children by allowing the curses to come into effect. The wages of sin are terrible; that’s what makes life so difficult. God loves with a jealous love, and He cannot tolerate us paying attention to anything else as a god. The reason is that it is not beneficial for us to fear, love, and trust anything other than the One God and Lord alone. Everything and everyone besides or alongside God is harmful to life in this world and in the spiritual realm.

We will always be tempted to trust in and serve other gods along with our love of Jesus. But when Jesus was tempted, He responded, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” We also are tempted to “worship the devil” so that we might receive the things of the world. However, we don’t recognize the devil because he comes disguised as our own Self. Self-service is the most dangerous idol demon that would turn us away from God and His Life. So the Bible warns: “Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary prowls…”

Then we also respond by recognizing that we serve God by serving people as Jesus says, “Ye have done it unto me.” The helpful secret to serving is seeing others as God and self-centeredness as the devil.

Deuteronomy 29:9, 25-26 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that you do….Then men shall say,, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them.

The response of people to God’s great salvation, miraculous provision, abundant victory, and wonderful promise is to keep the words of the covenant. Specifically, man’s part of God’s Covenant is the Ten Commandments. The Lord did His part: He saved us from our enemies (destructive sin, eternal death, and the evil devil) and by grace gave us the Kingdom (eternal life). Now we respond and do our part of the covenant: keep the words.

But man failed to keep his part: he has forsaken the covenant and served other gods, namely, himself. Therefore, the deadly curses come into effect and he lost the land (the kingdom of God). It is easy to see how this covenant relates to our lives and our destiny. We have failed to keep the words, forgotten God, and broken the covenant by our sin. Therefore, curses abound and we lose the Kingdom.

But the Lord God our Father has the last word. He responded by sending His Son who kept the covenant for us. Because of Christ, God is obligated to keep His promise and fulfill the covenant in our lives: eternal life is ours, never to be lost again. We believe the words of the Lord’s Supper: this is my blood of the covenant. We are forgiven and restored to grace, forever.

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart; for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies….

The curses will come upon the people when they do not serve the Lord with gladness. If we do not serve the Lord we will serve our enemies. There is no middle ground; it is one or the other; you can’t have it both ways. Either the Lord God tells us what to do and we do it, or sin, death, and the devil tells us what to do and we do that. Regardless how much we do not want to believe it, we are not own own boss. Self is also an enemy.

Serving the Lord is worshipping, believing, loving, and trusting God alone, not just mostly, but exclusively. But God does need our service; other people do. Serving people is the practical, everyday way in which we love God. And we love because He first loved us. The way we love one another is the way we love God.

Our response to the Gospel is serving the Lord with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. We do not serve under compulsion, as a burden, for pay, or out of duty, but willingly as a joyful response to God. “The love of Christ compels us.” The Christian is always happy because he is given many opportunities to be kind and gracious in word and deed. Serving is good!

Deuteronomy 28:15, 45 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee….Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and pursue thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee.

Chapter 28 is full of detailed curses that will overtake the people (and the individual) who does not hearken to the Word of God. And this turned to be a prophecy of what actually did happen to God’s people in the Bible. And it is a loving warning to us about the reality of the curse of sin on our own life. Sin brings death and all its pain. Not hearkening brings the curses to our experience.

God is describing the way it is, not the way He, or I, want it to be. The cause of sin’s effect is not listening to do. The opposite effect, blessing, comes to those who hear the Word of God and believe it. The Lord is not listing the curses in order to scare us or coerce us into obedience; instead, He wants to show us what life is like when lived outside of God, when we refuse to stay in a relationship with God, who is the source of all blessings. He is reminding us of what life apart from a loving God is like. God’s love is the source of all good; separating from it has consequences.

Therefore, believers respond by using every opportunity they can to listen to the Word of Law and Gospel, then to repent and believe the Gospel.