Deuteronomy 4:1-40 (Click scripture reference for audio access)
"Remember When..." • 9.27.12 •
Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship
Intro.
We are nearing
the end of Moses' first sermon in the book of Deuteronomy, where he calls this
new generation to look back and consider their ways.
- They had
lived through a great judgment upon their people because of their parent's
unbelief. They now have the chance to believe.
- In their
past, they have been given the treasure of God's Word to them and Moses is
reminding them of the health that is their's when they choose to obey the Word.
- Today, we
have an even greater privilege, having both the witness of the Living Word and
the lasting authority of the written word!
- What was to
be their response? What is our response to the Word? Let's look and learn.
Text
• Deuteronomy
4:1-6 : "Now, O Israel, listen to
the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live,
and go in and possess the land which the Lord
God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the
word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments
of the Lord
your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what
the Lord
did at Baal Peor; for the Lord
your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But
you who held fast to the Lord
your God are alive today, every one of you. Surely I have taught you statutes
and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in
the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this 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.’" : Moses called Israel together to
listen to the statutes and judgments. There are many words that the Bible uses
to describe His own authoritative word.
- Statutes, judgments, commands, ordinances,
precepts all refer to specific instruction that God had given His people
regarding their lives.
- The word "statutes" refers to a
boundary limit or a prescribed portion. Judgments refer to designated right
actions. Commands are direct and clearly defined orders.
- For you and I, the codified Bible that we
hold in our hands is the collection of God's precepts, statutes and judgments.
God's people are to listen to them.
- The word refers to a leaning in, with the
intent to obey, not listening passively, but actively, seeking how it was that
God would direct them personally!
- Is that a picture of you? Are you leaning in,
anxious to hear what God is speaking to you?
- They were to observe these commands, so that
they would live in the land that God was giving them. Military conquest was not
going to be enough.
- They needed an objective internal spiritual
compass to guide them and keep them. When you are taking in God's Word, you are
taking in His protection for your life, His truth combating error!
- Moses furnishes them with the example of Baal
Peor, where God's people joined themselves to cult prostitutes from Moab.
- On that day, a failure to obey God's revealed
word led to the death of thousands of Israelis. They who were listening and
alive on this day were so because they had obeyed on that day!
- Moses had taught them and they had observed!
He is telling them to keep observing. Be careful to observe what has been said.
- Don't add to the Word what is not written and
nor subtract from what God has said!
- God's Word working out through them that
would make other people look at them and consider them wise and understanding.
- That is what God's Word accomplishes in your
life. He gives you a wise and understanding heart that cannot be gained in any
other way.
•
Deuteronomy 4:7-14 : "For what
great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever
reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and
righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, and
diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and
lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to
your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to
Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the
days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ Then you came near and stood at the
foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven,
with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And
the Lord spoke
to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw
no form; you only heard a voice. So He
declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten
Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and
judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to
possess." : God's presence with the people and
His law were tremendous gifts. It was a great privilege that no other nation
could boast of. Israel has a truly blessed heritage.
-
However, they could not simply rest in these facts. They had to take heed and
diligently keep themselves. Literally, they were to guard themselves and keep
watch over their own soul!
-
You need to ask yourself, "Am I walking in the Word?" "Is my
life in line with what He has spoken?" "Are my attitudes consistent
with what scripture says?"
-
We're to be diligent about this! We're to be hard working with regard to this
area of our lives!
-
He told them to guard and watch over themselves, lest they forget and lest they
depart!
-
It's very easy to stray. The farther we get from a negative situation, the
easier it is to forget.
-
Before we know it, we are way off the path, wondering how it is that we got
there!
-
They were to guard and keep watch over their souls, as well as instruct their
children. Teach them about what they had seen as little children themselves!
-
There is nothing better to reinforce our faith than taking the responsibility
to teach the flock that God has given us!
-
When God spoke to the nation of Israel, this generation were all younger than
20. They stood there and heard God's voice! The oldest at this point would have
been 59 years old.
-
This generation was to be taught and reminded of what happened at Mt. Horeb.
•
Deuteronomy 4:15-20 : "Take
careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the
midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in
the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is
on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that
creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath
the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your
eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host
of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the
peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out
of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are
this day." : It's interesting that Moses
reminds them of the reality of their encounter with God. These people heard God
speak to them out of the fire. He was very present with them, to the point of
fear!
-
He was there in the midst of the fire that consumed the mountain top of Sinai.
God's presence overtook the mountain top! It was a very scary image that these
people vividly remembered!
-
He wants them to remember this because it will provide a deep contrast to what
they were about to encounter in Canaan. The Canaanites worshipped images,
representatives of their gods.
-
They were carved in every possible configuration, from human likeness to animal
likeness. When that was not enough the Canaanites worshipped the sun, moon and
stars.
-
God had demolished the gods of Egypt and taken them to be a people for Himself,
an inheritance.
-
The nation of Egypt behind them, destroyed. Canaan in front of them, marked for
destruction. They would live because they submitted to and obeyed the God of
heaven.
•
Deuteronomy 4:21-24 : "Furthermore
the Lord was angry with me for your sakes,
and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter
the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. But I must die in this land, I must
not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land.
Take heed
to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you,
and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a
jealous God." : The people of Israel needed
to be diligent in their heeding the Word and their own souls for two reasons.
First,
because Moses wasn't going in with them! They could no longer lean upon Him for
guidance. They had God's word, but would not have Moses' example.
-
The second reason that he tells them this is that there will be no exceptions.
If one of them broke covenant, they would be punished!
-
God, for Moses' act of disobedience, was not allowing him to go into the land.
That was their example. Every day was a new day to remain close to the Lord and
close to His Word!
-
Moses tells them that God is a consuming fire, a jealous God! God is zealous
for you. Moses uses this phrase as an anthropomorphic equivalent.
-
God looks at you and has what can only be described as a jealousy for you, a
zeal for your best! As a consuming fire, He burns out every impurity in your
life.
•
Deuteronomy 4:25-31 : "When you
beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act
corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the
sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness
against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you
cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but
will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in
number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and
stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if
you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all
these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He
will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers
which He swore to them." : Moses prophecies here
regarding the third generation of Israelites, who indeed would give into the
cultural worship of idols, lead by none other than David's son Solomon.
-
It's very likely that Solomon saw it as a political necessity, but God saw it
as evil!
-
When you read the accounts of the Kings of Israel and Judah, you can readily
see for yourself that there was King afer King who provoked God's wrath by
their actions.
-
Judgment would follow their actions. They would worship stone and wood and then
serve them! That is the way it goes!
-
You begin to put your value in something of this earth and before long, you go
from loving it to serving it!
-
But what a gracious promise. Wherever they went, if they would simply call upon
the Lord, he would respond to them! If they turned to Him and obeyed, He would
turn back to them!
•
Deuteronomy 4:32-40 : "For ask
now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day
that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other,
whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been
heard. Did any
people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you
have heard, and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the
midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt
before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none
other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct
you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the
midst of the fire. And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their
descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with
His mighty power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than
you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this
day. Therefore
know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and
on the earth beneath; there is no other. You shall therefore keep His
statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well
with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days
in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.'" : Israel was birthed by the Lord's promise, protected through
slavery, provided for through the desert and promised a land that was theirs
for the taking!
-
He had shown himself to them. They had heard His voice! It was this God who had
given them His commandments and because of His reality, follow His commands!
-
Keep them and prolong your days that God is giving to Israel eternally!
Remember these words, especially as politicians seek to weasel their way out of
a commitment to our allies!
-
Israel belongs to the people of Israel, according to God's decree!
Conclusion
No comments:
Post a Comment