Overview of Deuteronomy, Adult Discipleship Class

It wasn’t as godly of a man as we all might think he is. Ezra and Nehemiah, we see that his decree to let the Jews to go back to their land, but it turns out what he said about the God of Israel is very similar to what he said about other gods as well. So obviously those servant songs are not about Cyrus.

Such a great and encouraging message. Thank you, Pastor Ron.

It’s likely many of us in here have a favorite, maybe not a favorite, but many sermons that have impacted you greatly. Maybe you can think back in your memory of someone faithfully expositing God’s word and it just cuts you to the heart. Maybe it’s a YouTube sermon.

I remember one time in specific back when I was in Los Angeles at my church, one of the pastors was preaching. He wasn’t our main pastor. It was a Sunday evening service. And he was preaching on Jesus walking on water. And it was an amazing text. I think it was from Mark’s gospel. And he specifically was pointing out about the phrase that Jesus wanted to pass before them and how that tied back to the Old Testament of God wanting to pass before people and Jesus as God the Son. was demonstrating his own self-sufficiency or his own sovereignty, that he’s God the Son. And I remember in that moment, it was amazing. The doctrine of the aseity of God, that he’s completely independent, self-sufficient, he’s proactive and sovereign, that it just clicked. And in that moment, it felt like all fear went away. I confess that I, of course, have feared since then. But it’s amazing what an amazing sermon can do.

And biblically speaking, we have multiple amazing sermons. We think of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, right? Beginning with the Beatitudes and ending with the amazing evangelistic call to build one’s life on the solid rock foundation of believing Christ in his word and also doing the things that he commands. being like the wise man who built his house on the rock.

We think of the book of Hebrews, which in many ways can seem like a sermon. And just the amazing exhortations and the theology in the book of Hebrews, even as Barry had mentioned earlier today. But there also are other great sermons apart from even the book of Acts and Paul and Peter. And one of the greatest sermons I think ever preached, if you will, of all time, it’s found in the book of Deuteronomy, where we are at today in our study of the Old Testament.

So if you will turn there, we’ll take a look at the book of Deuteronomy. The stakes couldn’t be higher. We’ve talked about the history of Israel up to this point. And this is a defining point in Israel’s history. a reaffirmation of the covenant with God, the Mosaic covenant. Moses is not going to enter into the promised land. And he is speaking to Israel. giving his last words as Israel’s leader from the exodus through the wilderness and right before they enter the promised land. The book of Deuteronomy essentially is one major sermon given to the people of Israel by Moses. And because of that, I’ll try to teach it like a sermon to some degree, even though this is a Sunday school class.

So we see the book of Deuteronomy. Now, if we were to think of a theme of this book, we’ve talked earlier about our studies of other books, about how we have a very God-centered perspective, or the proper reading and understanding of the Old Testament begins with who God is and what the text speaks about his character, because he is the main character of every account in the Old Testament. And as a result, then we figure out what it also means in application to ourselves. So if we were to think of a theme for this one, the theme would be the God who renews the covenant. Once again, I’m not making up these themes by myself. Other men more wise than me have synthesized the themes of Deuteronomy into that, and I think that’s faithful.

The author of Deuteronomy, for the most part, is Moses. Towards the end, we see the account of Moses’ death. So, I mean, obviously Moses didn’t write that. And legend, and I think faithful accounts have talked about how Joshua finished the book of Deuteronomy, and it would make sense as Moses’ successor. And this is right after the 40 years in the wilderness, right at the end, I should say, of the 40 years in the wilderness, which if we date the Exodus to 1446 BC, this should be around 1406 or 1405 BC.

So if we take a look at Deuteronomy, we’ll take a look at verse one. These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan and the wilderness, in the Ereba opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. So, these are the words is actually the title of the Hebrew book. Once again, tying this to the other books that came before it. Like in the Hebrew Bible, it’s literally these are the words.

Now, the reason why we get the word Deuteronomy or the title Deuteronomy comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint later. meaning second law, literally, which was drawn from Deuteronomy 17 as, or could be drawn from Deuteronomy 17 as a copy of this law. It’s a reaffirmation of what they affirmed in the book of Exodus, the people of Israel. And right now what God is going to do, or Moses speaking rather, is going to recount of what God has already done in the history of the nation of Israel. How the God that they serve is not like the gods of the nations. He’s the God who created everything. The heavens and the earth, right? We study that in the book of Genesis. Genesis 1 through 11. The foundation for everything of not only the history of Israel, which is its immediate context, but also of the world. That God created everything that we see. That he had no problem in creating it. There was no conflict or competition with other gods. That there is one true and living God. And this is the God that has revealed himself in the accounts of Genesis through Deuteronomy.

And he created everything. culminating in the creation of man, right? He created everything, heavens and earth, universe, created the animals, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the walking animals on the earth, the land and the sea, everything. And yet the pinnacle of creation was his creation of humanity and his image. In other words, humanity represented his dominion over everything. That is, humanity was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. It would be a visible demonstration that the Lord is the true God, the one who reigns. I mentioned last week about how ancient kings in this sort of context would set up boulders or statues in lands they had conquered. And that’s essentially what humans were for God in His rule. We were of His image, representing His sovereignty over all the earth.

But as we know from Genesis chapter 3, even though God created everything and it was very good, man sinned. And when humanity sinned, both sin and death entered into the world. And in the midst of the curses that were brought upon the earth through this sin, we do still find hope. God promised that one of the descendants of the woman would come to crush the head of the serpent, that one of Eve’s descendants would rule in rain, destroying Satan forever and reversing the effects of the curse that were enacted in Genesis 3 following man’s sin.

But as we see through Genesis 1 through 11, even though time progresses, and humanity begins to excel in technology, and forging bronze, and creating instruments, and working livestock, and all of these different things, the sin continues to spiral out of control. Immediately after Adam and Eve, their son Cain kills their other son Abel. Murder is introduced into the world. And shortly after that we see all sorts of other things, more murder, polygamy. We see it got so bad in Genesis chapter 6 that God looked on the earth and he said that the intentions of man’s heart was only evil continually. That’s when God sent a flood.

But God was faithful Even in the midst of everything crazy going on, when things were spiraling out of control, even the text says, then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Not because of these effects of the sin, but in spite of it, God had worked graciously and he had kept for himself a remnant, which we found in Noah. God preserved Noah from the global judgment by flood through the ark. Many of us know that account from even Sunday school class. And after that, though, God establishes his covenant with Noah that he would never judge the earth by flood again. Noah, just like Adam and Eve, is commissioned with his family to go, be fruitful, multiply, build the earth.

Noah is a sinner and is not the seed of the woman coming to crush the head of the serpent. And once again, humanity spirals out of control, culminating in the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, right? There, I had mentioned, I don’t know if I actually mentioned this last week, the text itself says that the peoples of the earth, since they had the same language, settled and created this Tower of Babel. They settled, they were working together rather than what God told them to do, to go fill the earth. They stayed in one spot. And so God, not only in his judgment, but also in his grace and mercy, confused their languages so that the spiraling out of control would slow down. It wouldn’t be just as crazy.

That’s the foundation of everything that Moses has revealed to Israel through the book of Genesis that we have as well to know where purpose comes from in life, who the true God is, and how that impacts, why we see evil in the world, where that came from, and where we can find hope. that is in the seed of the woman who’d come to crush the head of the serpent.

Moses recounts God’s faithfulness to Israel, and Israel’s history could be traced to their patriarch, Abraham, found in Genesis chapter 12, where God called Abram out of where he was at to be the patriarch of Israel, the one who would have many children. God gave him the Abrahamic covenant, which included three promises. Anyone remember the three? Yes, seed, land, blessing. Yes, great work, all of you. Seed, land, blessing.

God promised him that they would have a land, that he would have become a great nation one day, which involves land. That he would have many descendants, as numerous as the stars of the sky and grains of sand on the seashore, and that he would be blessed, that his descendants would be blessed, that his descendants, as they became the nation of Israel, we find out, would be blessed for obedience as a nation, In them, all the families of the earth would be blessed, which was fulfilled in Christ. And those who blessed them would be blessed.

And so the whole Old Testament becomes a question of, is God faithful to his promises? Starting with Abraham. Is he faithful to this Abrahamic covenant to the nation of Israel? And we see his faithfulness continue through Abraham. Those promises reaffirmed with Isaac and also those reaffirmed with Abraham’s grandson, Isaac’s son, Jacob, whose name then changes to Israel. We see God’s faithfulness even to Jacob or Israel’s son, Joseph, who goes through many trials in his life. But in the midst of his trials, he realizes, as he recounts to his brothers, what you meant for evil, God meant for good, right? You didn’t send me here, God did. Even though they sold him into slavery, he recognized that God worked through his life to make him the second most powerful man in Egypt, to save many from the famine, including Jacob and his sons.

God is faithful to the Abrahamic covenant. And so the end of the book of Genesis, we’re forced to reckon with the evil we see in the world. But even in the midst of this evil, the same God who made everything good and very good, also is still working things out for good, even in the midst of evil. And so then you get to the book of Exodus, right? The book of Exodus. And once again, the question is, is God faithful to the Abrahamic covenant? Because Israel had moved in his family, had moved to Egypt, right? And they were in slavery. But even in the midst of the trial of slavery, like we mentioned last week, God supernaturally was blowing up their population once again, showing it wasn’t a natural growth, a supernatural growth instead, to point to his faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant.

God is faithful in hearing the cries of Israel and raises up a deliverer, Moses, right, to deliver the nation of Israel from their bondage in Egypt and works through amazing plagues that he brings about on Egypt and preserves his people, the Hebrews, the nation of Israel. Eventually, they leave Egypt and they arrive at Sinai, where God in Exodus 19 gives them two primary roles that they will be to the rest of the nations. Anyone remember those two? There to be a what? Kingdom of? Priests. Good. And a holy? In other words, as they would worship the true and holy God, the one that set apart and pure, totally different than the idols of the nations, they themselves were to live holy lives, to live differently. They were to worship Him and be different from the rest of the nations. And in being different, they would be like priests, bringing people to God. The other nations would see the way that God had blessed them and want to worship the true God, because Israel was a holy nation.

God shortly after gives them the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20. And at the very beginning of the Ten Commandments, as it’s even reaffirmed in Deuteronomy, God reminds them of what He did for them. Before God gives them what He requires of them, what He commands them, He reminds them that He has redeemed them. That He brought them from slavery in Egypt to the mountains so they would worship Him. And that in light of that, in love with Him, they should obey Him. Not for His love, but because He loves them. But as we learn after that, very shortly after, was Israel a perfect holy nation? No, right? No, we have the golden calf incident. that Moses was up for 40 days and for 40 nights and Israel already disobeyed. God pointed out that they were a stiff-necked people and God worked through Moses’ intercession and pleading for Israel to still spare Israel, even though God would still be faithful if he were to judge all of Israel and make a new nation, bless you, out of Moses himself.

And so at the end of the book of Exodus, with all of the elaborate details of the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, our question in our mind should be, well, how can a holy God dwell in the midst of a sinful people? And the answer to that question is found in the book of Leviticus, right? There isn’t too much narrative going on. It’s primarily stipulations for how they are supposed to live, commands on how to live differently as a holy nation. We see in Exodus, God is the God who redeems. In Leviticus, we learn God is the God who is holy, who’s other, who’s different, who’s pure, and who commands his people because he is holy to be holy. He’s different. Therefore, Israel is supposed to be different.

It’s easy, as I mentioned, when we’re reading Leviticus on our own to get so confused at all the different rules and laws, but they all have a specific purpose. Israel is supposed to be different from the rest of the nations. And as they go into the promised land, as they go into the nation, the land itself that God has blessed them with to become this holy nation, they must live holy. And so the corrupting influences of idolatry from Egypt, where they left, and Canaan, where they were going, wouldn’t creep in. And so the book of Leviticus reveals that the way to God is through appropriate worship, through sacrifice. And the walk with God is through obedience. And so they aren’t without purpose. All of these commands point to how Israel is supposed to live differently.

But at the end of the book of Leviticus, in Leviticus 26, we see that God promises them, as Israel, at Sinai, blessings for obedience and curses for what? disobedience. That’s a good guess. Yes, curses for disobedience, which we will see a very similar promise of blessing and cursing at the end of Deuteronomy as a reaffirmation of the Mosaic Covenant or God’s treaty he made with Israel at Sinai. And in Leviticus 26, which section is longer, the blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience? Curses, right? The curses is much longer implying that Israel will not be faithful in the future. But even in the midst of that, because God’s promises are based upon His character and not on Israel themselves, God is faithful and His promises remain true. He doesn’t change, His promises don’t change.

Last week, it felt almost like a crash course on numbers. It’s very difficult, especially with these big books, to try and summarize them, but I should still be able to do it. About Israel’s history after Sinai, and the wanderings in the wilderness, and how they complained, how they didn’t believe in God. And because of that, God said that the second generation would be the ones to enter into the Promised Land. The first generation would not be allowed to. The primary thing I wanted everyone to remember from the book of Numbers was Balaam’s oracle and prophecy that he made. That even though this false prophet was hired by one of the pagan kings to curse Israel, he couldn’t because God was blessing them. And God worked through Balaam in his promise, in his prophecy. And what he did in his prophecy is he linked the Genesis 3.15 promise of the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent with God’s promise working through Jacob’s blessing to Judah in Genesis 49.10, that the scepter would not depart from Judah, pointing that both of these promises belong to the same person, which we learned when we were studying the servant song today.

This is the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, that would fulfill those things. Or I was even thinking too about Barry’s comments in our psalm today. And it’s interesting how God said that his reign would be forever if he obeyed. And even though God obviously had decreed that Christ would be the king, right? Christ is God, the Son already reigns. And according to his human nature, assuming humanity, being the rightful human king of Israel as well, Christ also never sinned. And so his reign is forever. It’s unlike all the rest of the leaders we will read about in the Old Testament.

And so the book of Numbers itself leaves, and I didn’t read this last time. Let me see here. It’s towards the end of the book of Numbers. God warns them about going into the promised land. If they don’t obey him and they don’t drive out the peoples, that they will become a snare. If you turn to, actually, sorry, to Numbers 33. We’ll see it verse 55. It’s in the section about possessing the land. God commands them to drive out all the peoples, not only as an act of judgment on the peoples themselves, but for Israel’s own good, so they wouldn’t be corrupted by their idolatry. Because again, religion and culture were so inseparable that having these foreign peoples in the nation, in their practices, would usher in idolatry, which would be tempting towards the Israelites. They wouldn’t be acting as a holy nation if they worship these false gods.

But if we look at verse 55, God says, but if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes, as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land which you live. And as I plan to do to them, driving them out and judging them, so I will do to you. Moses isn’t faithful in his disobedience to God and striking the rock rather than speaking to it. And God says that not only will the first generation of Israel not inherit the promised land, but neither will their leader, Moses. Think about it, Israel in their history post-Egypt has only known Moses as their leader. All these amazing things God has worked through Moses and through their time together. And now Moses as their leader that they’ve known and that they’ve trusted, even though we can argue and talk about how they weren’t maybe the best at trusting him, they’re hearing their final address from their great leader.

And so the first section of Deuteronomy, if you turn to Deuteronomy, back to Deuteronomy chapter one, chapters one through four is about what God has done. Before Moses even talks about what God requires, he reminds them of what God has done. Us as believers should always remember what Christ has done before we focus on the commands that Christ gives as well. Because in seeing what Christ has done, God, through his grace, opens our eyes to see him for who he really is. And our love grows for him. And then our obedience is based out of love. Not for God’s love, but because of his love. Right?

And there’s a similar pattern here in the book of Deuteronomy. He recounts their history, and once again, God has been faithful, even though the people haven’t been faithful.

If you go to chapter 2, verse 25, God promises that He will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples, which in the next book, the book of Joshua, we will see is fulfilled in what Rahab admits about the people of Jericho. God has been faithful to Israel.

So if you go to chapter four, verse five, sorry, we’re going through this quick. We see in verse five, see, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, Moses is speaking, right? That you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do them 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.

Once again, pointing to kingdom of priests and holy nation. They live differently. They worship a different God. They worship the true God. They live with these different laws. And they exercise a different wisdom because it’s true wisdom. And that in God blessing them, they will have to admit that the God they worship is the true God.

We see that culminated in the account of the Queen of Sheba with Solomon.

In verse 25 of chapter 4, Moses not only talks about if in his final call, but he also talks about when. He says, when you become father of children and children’s children, and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, it’s not if you act corruptly now, now it’s when you 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 go, or where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long in 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 man’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 search for him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

For why? It’s not based ultimately on Israel themselves, it’s based upon who God is.

Verse 31, 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 swore to them. God is faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is faithful to Israel. God’s promises to Abraham have not been annulled, and they never will be.

When God eventually changes their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, that will be revealed even further.

So the first four chapters talk about what God has already done. What has God already done? God has demonstrated that He is a faithful God. Faithful to Israel, faithful to the Abrahamic covenant, faithful in all His promises. And then the second section is chapters 5 through 26. So we started with what God has done, how he’s faithful, and now we transition to what God requires, what he commands, what he expects. Chapters 5 through 26.

Once again, if we look at chapter 5 verse 6, God says, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He’s about to reaffirm or reacknowledge the 10 commandments found in Exodus 20. Moses doesn’t leave this part out. that before God even commands them to obey the Ten Commandments, He reminds them of what He’s done. Once again, it’s in light of what God has done that they obey, it should be grounded in love.

So when you’re reading this and you say, hey, that kind of looks like the Ten Commandments, you’re not seeing double. This is a reaffirmation of the covenant before they enter the promised land. What’s interesting too is in verse 29, we see here, the Lord says, oh, that they had such a heart in them. that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever.” We see a desire pointing to the future when people would be without sin. When the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent and the fall would be reversed, which we see fulfilled especially in the book of Revelation.

So continually God tells them certain things that they are supposed to do and what they aren’t supposed to do. Deuteronomy 6.4 is one of the most famous verses in the Jewish faith, known as the Shema or the Here. Deuteronomy 6.4, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. There’s one God, not like the rest of the pagan nations where there’s all these other gods. There’s one God. This is the foundation for everything we believe. God is one.

Verse 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This isn’t just a service level devotion. This isn’t a works righteousness faith. This is a wholehearted devotion for the God who redeemed them from Egypt and had set them apart to be a holy nation. They were commanded to flee idolatry throughout the rest of this chapter.

And in chapter seven, we begin some warnings. And I’ll read verses one through eight. When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering, once again, faithful to Abrahamic covenant of land, to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hibbites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them, not leave them in the land, Utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, no treaty with them, and show no favor to them.

We’ll see in the book of Joshua, and especially the consequences of that in the book of Judges, that Israel was not faithful to these commands. Verse 3, furthermore, You shall not intermarry with them. You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For why? They will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will quickly destroy you.

But thus you shall do to them. You shall tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cue down their Asherim and burn their graven images with fire. For why? You are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

And lest Israel think, oh, look at us. We really deserve this. We’re really better than everybody else. This is what God says. Verse seven, the Lord did not, or Moses speaking, the Lord did not set his love on you. nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples. God didn’t need you on his team for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord, what you loved you and kept the oath, which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

And then after that, They’re commanded to know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and his loving kindness to a thousandth generation, a limitless amount of generations, and those who love him and who keep his commandments. Once again, they’re called to clear out the land so they themselves would not worship the same gods that the nations had been worshiping.

Moses, again, in chapter eight, recounts God’s gracious dealings with Israel. Verse eight, he talks about the wilderness. And he says that in their time in the wilderness, he humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know. That’s the reason why he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

We go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. What was the problem? People didn’t obey. They didn’t live according to what God had commanded. That’s how simple it is, and Moses recounts this, even though it’s a massive message, a massive final speech. They’re called to obey the true God because he loves them. It’s an amazing thing. He continues to talk about not pursuing idolatry, and in verse 20, just like what we read in Numbers, he says, like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, So you too shall perish if you don’t obey God and worship Him as the true and the holy God and worship the gods of the nations because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

Once again in chapter 9, You could think Israel thinks, well, maybe we weren’t, you know, the biggest, but hey, you know, we’re the best. Our hearts are the best of all the nations, naturally, and that’s why God chose us. Verse 4, Moses says, Do not say in your heart, when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But it is because the wickedness of these nations, of the wickedness, that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess the land. And it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” You’re like, okay, God, we get it, right? It’s not a righteousness.

He says, or Moses, he says it again, verse seven. Verse 6, No then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. Remember, stiff-necked. After the golden calf, they had become like what they worshipped. A stiff-necked calf. Disobedient.

And yet, God is saying, the reason why you’re going into the land is one, because I have loved you. Not because of what you have done, but because I am faithful to my promises. I made a promise to Abraham, and also because I’m executing my judgment on those who have rejected me and serve false gods. And if you worship those false gods as well, since I am a just and a holy God, you also will be punished.

You know, Moses in chapter 9 verse 24, Says, you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you. Come on, Moses, tell us how you really feel, right? Israel has a history of unfaithfulness to God, and so the implication is that they won’t be faithful in this. But yet, even though they won’t be faithful, since God doesn’t change, and he’s a faithful God, he still will fulfill the promises he made to Abraham.

All right, I’m gonna read chapter 10, verses 12 through 21, because this is also important. Once again, amazing sermon Moses is preaching, our final speech. He says, now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, right? The way to God through sacrifice, loving him in light of what he has done for them, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and his statutes, which I am commanding you today for your good.

Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. In other words, he didn’t need you, he already owned everything. Yet on your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you, above all peoples, as it is this day.” God has been faithful. He has already blessed them. He has already grown their descendants and population. God has been faithful. You see this. And you see how He’s faithful to His word that the first generation has died out and you’re about to go into the land. God has been faithful. What are you going to be, Israel? What are you going to be?

Verse 16, so circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow and shows his love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien. For you are aliens in the land of Egypt.

You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and cling to him and you shall swear by his name. He is your praise and he is your God who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. Who God is? He’s just, he’s merciful, he’s patient, he’s faithful. What God has done. He’s delivered you from the Egyptians and made you to be a holy nation. Therefore, obey. Therefore, obey. Now, there is so much that we could talk about more in the book of Deuteronomy.

We could go to chapter 12, verse 8. where it says, you shall not do at all what we are doing here today. Every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes and how they’re supposed to worship a specific way that God commands. It points to the book of Judges when people did what was right in their own eyes.

Chapter 13, we see that a false prophet is either a prophet who tries to get Israel to obey a different God, a false God, or one, what we’ll see later, is one whose prophecies don’t come true. And the false prophet is supposed to be put to death. You’d wonder what the televangelists would think if they lived back then. They’d probably be sweating quite a bit.

We see again, Allah’s in chapter 14 for clean and unclean animals. Once again, it’s not random. It’s because of the nations of the earth, right? They eat these things and they live these lifestyles. They drink the blood. They do all these things. Don’t be like them so you won’t be tempted to follow their gods. Even though there also is some understanding of clean and unclean, even in Noah’s time, which is really interesting and something I want to look into more myself.

Chapter 15 talks about the sabbatic year. They’re supposed to remember what God has done. And in light of that, rest.

Chapter 16, the feasts of Passover, of weeks, and of booths. I mentioned before in Leviticus, there were several feasts and things that I didn’t go into explicit detail, all pointing to God’s faithfulness and his character. They’re commanded to remember again and again and again because the implication is they will what? Forget. Remember, remember, remember.

Just because God is a just God, chapter 17, they are supposed to administer justice. Remember how he said that when you follow me, your wisdom will be known to the nations, right? Their wisdom will be seen in their justice in their courts as well.

And so we see in chapter 18, the portions of the land, when they go into the land, they’re supposed to have a section for the Levites. There’s a whole bunch of sins that are forbidden, like witchcraft and the rest of chapter 18. Talks about the cities of refuge, the laws of landmark and testimony, laws of warfare.

And what I wanted to skip to because of our time is Deuteronomy chapter 28. If you’ll turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 28, Once again, since this is a reaffirmation of the covenant, after their disobedience, the first generation’s disobedience in the book of Numbers, after the golden calf, they are reaffirming their covenant, their treaty with God, that they are supposed to obey Him.

And in chapter 27, it talks about, right before 28, it talks about, cursed are these people who disobey and don’t seek God and don’t live holy, and the people say amen. In other words, so be it. We agree to this covenant.

And in chapter 28, we read in verse 1, Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Okay? And what we see here is how many verses are in this blessing section? Excuse me. 14, right? Exactly. Then you go to verse 15. It says, But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes with which I charge you today, in which they agreed, right? They just agreed to. That all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

And okay, which section’s bigger? Blessings or curses? What’s the implication? They’re going to what? Disobey, right? Exactly. And so when we read the rest of the Old Testament, we’re supposed to read it through this lens. Has Israel as a nation been faithful to God, worshiping the true and the holy God and lived holy? And if not, we’ll see these very promises of these curses come into their nation.

But God is faithful once again, chapter 30. Verse one, so it shall be when all these things have come upon you, all these curses, when, not if, remember, when, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you, exile, and you return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart. and your soul according to all that I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord has scattered you.

Verse 6, Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live. When Israel left Egypt and the slavery to the Egyptians, physical slavery, the text shows that they hadn’t left spiritual slavery yet. And God promises that one day the Lord would circumcise the hearts of all Israel. Their hearts would be changed, would be regenerated, born again, so that they would obey Him.

This fourth section of the book of Deuteronomy is chapters 31 through 34, which recount the death of Moses. And Moses, in front of the rest of the people, commissions Joshua in chapter 31, verse 23 through 30. Moses gives a song in chapter 32, talking about many things, blessings and curses, future restoration, that God is holy, continues through a blessing in chapter 33. What is the leader of Israel that’s been with them thus far say? And then chapter 34 talks about the death of Moses. And the end of it, verse nine says, And in Deuteronomy, Moses did promise that a prophet would come similar to him in that way, but greater. which we know is fulfilled in Christ.

For all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land. And for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of Israel. We end the book of Deuteronomy. Moses is done. He’s not going to enter the promised land. Now Joshua is in charge. The question now will be, will Israel obey? Will they clear out the land? Will they worship the true and the holy God and live holy lives? And that remains to be seen in our study in the book of Joshua.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Lord, as mentioned even earlier, Lord, it’s such a comfort to us. Lord, knowing that these things, even in old times, were written for our own instruction, that they are inspired, Lord, and that knowing that even though Israel at times seems to act in such a foolish way, that apart from your grace, Lord, we would be no better. Apart from your grace, Lord, we would worship the idols of the nations or the idols of our culture. We would worship ourselves. We would worship things that cannot see and cannot hear. And as a result, Lord, we wouldn’t have eyes to see or ears to hear your truth. But Lord, when you worked in our hearts, when you moved first and changed our hearts so that we did see those things, all of a sudden we saw Christ for who you were. And we saw our own sin, and we saw the forgiveness that you gave. And Lord, in light of that, we desire to obey you.

And I pray, Lord, that in this time, in this Christmas season, that when we look especially at the disobedience of Israel, and we think about how you came, Lord, and how even Israel disobeyed and rejected you, that, Lord, apart from your grace, we would be no better than those who mocked you. We would be among them.

We ourselves, every single time we sin, Lord, it’s as if we’re driving nails into your hands. It’s as if we’re whipping you because, Lord, our sin demonstrates that we don’t love you in that moment. And so we pray, Lord, that you would grow our love for you. That, Lord, that we would better obey you and that we would be more holy.

And that, Lord, that perhaps even the peoples of our culture that do not know you would see how you had worked in our lives and desire the same thing. We pray that you would bless this upcoming Christmas Eve service. that people would come to know you that perhaps never knew you before, and that your people would be encouraged, reminded of how you, Lord, are the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent, the one who’s come to reign forever, the true king of Israel.

It’s in your name we pray these things. Amen.