Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/sjv/sermons/47199/fresh-look-at-deuteronomy-with-rev-harry-robinson-pt-9/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Okay, now we've each day we've read a kind of review of, you know, we've been studying the sermons of Moses on the plains of Ammon across the Jordan. [0:25] And this is what the book of Deuteronomy is, it's the sermon. And so what I would like you to do, now that you've got Deuteronomy and the proclamation of these sermons and the blessings and the cursings and the nature and character of the promised land and the way that you survive in the wilderness and the way that God will honor his promise in bringing you into the promised land. [1:04] I want you thinking of the form and structure and manner of Deuteronomy to turn to Matthew chapter 5. [1:19] And see, you know, the scholars tend to say that this Matthew being the first book in the New Bible, has some parallels to the Torah and the Old Covenant. [1:47] So that there are parallels between the sermon that Moses gives to the children of Israel before they enter the promised land and the sermon that Jesus gives in anticipation of the fulfillment of the promise of the kingdom. [2:12] So that you see them parallel to one another. I thought it would be a good thing for us to read as we have read before. And you watch for the parallels. [2:23] And if you have a Bible with footnotes in it, you can see that there is an abundance of, there's quite a significant number at least, of references back to Deuteronomy from this chapter. [2:37] So we'll read it responsibly to the end of verse 12. [2:51] And then Phil, we'll get you to start and read the paragraphs. And we'll read the paragraphs from there to the end of chapter 5. [3:03] Do you follow me? This is Matthew, right? Yeah, Matthew. We read responsibly to verse 12 and then by paragraphs from 13. [3:16] And just go in rotation. For thinking of Moses standing before the children of Israel, we have Jesus. [3:31] Chapter 5. Standing, seized the crowd, went up on a mountainside, sat down. And his disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [3:49] Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall come to death. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be scourged by. [4:06] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall seek God. [4:18] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4:33] Blessed are the pure in spirit. Blessed are the people who are persecuted for righteousness, for they shall be forsaken from the brethren. For they shall be persecuted for the prophets who were before you. Blessed are you, when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say, all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad. For it is the great is the Lord in heaven, in the same way they persevere the prophets who were before you. [4:57] comes, I mean, just read this, remembering the blessing and cursing kind of thing that Moses did. And now, read this. [5:10] You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and thrown underfoot by men. [5:25] You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hid, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [5:50] Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. [6:14] Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [6:31] For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. [6:43] You have heard that it was said to those of all of you shall not murder, and whosoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment. [7:00] And whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says you who shall be in danger of the fire. [7:12] Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and they'll remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go away. [7:25] First, be reconciled to each other, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you are on the way with him. That's your adversary. [7:36] They deliver you to the judge. The judge hand you over to the officer and you'll be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will be by no means scared out of there till you have paid the last payment. [7:54] You have heard that they were told do not commit adultery. But what I tell you is this, if a man looks at a woman with a loss of a lie, he has already committed an adultery with her in his heart. [8:06] If your right eye causes your downfall, tear it out and bring it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole of it to be thrown into hell. [8:17] It is being said, anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. [8:35] But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for marital unfaithfulness causes her to become an adulteress. And anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. [8:49] Again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep the oath you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by earth, for it is this footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. [9:12] And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your yes be yes, and your no, no. [9:23] Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. You have heard that it was said, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. [9:37] If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him, the other, also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. [9:48] If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. [10:00] You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. [10:14] He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward would you get? [10:25] Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. [10:38] Thank you. Thank you. So I just thought we would read that as the kind of, you know, it's part of, it's the sort of parallel of what Moses is doing in Deuteronomy. [10:59] You have Jesus doing on the sort of, you know, in the wilderness of this world, entering into the promised land and preparing a people for that and telling them what the circumstances is that going to be. [11:20] Now, I, I would really like to go through if we can. [11:36] Wendy, could you do third chapter? Well, I wonder if we should just follow the sequence of things and get Judith to do 13. Sure. chapter 13 of Deuteronomy and, uh, this is a pretty violent chapter. [12:11] It's, uh, divided into two parts, um, all of them talking about what happens if somebody pulls you, uh, away from God. [12:22] Uh, the first part, verse 1 to 6 is a warning about false prophets, particularly prophets, those false prophets whose forecasts do come true, um, indicating that sometimes they'll be able to say the right thing but that's not, uh, necessarily of God. [12:41] Um, but if these prophets then encourage people to follow other gods, um, that this is a very bad thing and actually that it is a test that God is giving you sort of made me think about Job and I think this whole idea is kind of a, not a very popular one to contemporary thinking either and I don't, you know, anyway, I just throw that one up, this idea of God really testing you. [13:09] Um, verses 1 to 6 stresses that you must follow and revere the Lord, keep his commands and obey them, serve him and hold fast to him and put to death the prophets that tried to lead you astray, purge the evil is the message. [13:24] Verses 6 to 12 talks about if a close friend or relative and the phrases that they use in my translation, um, like in verse 6, if your very own brother or your son and daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend, so they're really stressing that people close to you, if they try to entice you away from God, have no mercy, um, um, stone them and you throw the first stone, which I thought was an interesting emphasis and, and in a sense, kind of an above board kind of thing, you know, it keeps you away from, um, there's no gossip or conjecture about who did what to who or, um, uh, you know, one of the, books that I read about guards you from, um, vicious or malicious accusations, uh, but it seems very, pretty final, very final, pretty definite, um, it said, show him, uh, show him no pity, don't spare him or shield him, which made me think a little bit about, [14:40] I kind of, maybe I'm talking too much about what it made me think, just stop me from going on too long here, but a little bit about, like, we have such an emphasis on dysfunctional families these days and dysfunction, and often I think maybe because we are sparing or shielding those who are sinning amongst us instead of being able to confront, um, one another with truth, and so this idea of showing no pity, because pity isn't really a very helpful thing too sometimes, don't spare him or shield him. [15:13] Anyway, that sort of made me think in that direction. One of the reference books suggests this idea about stoning, suggested, did Moses really mean this, did it really happen, or was it a warning indicating how serious an offense it is, um, to entice people away from God, but I wonder if that's maybe us watering it down too, because we don't like to believe, or, you know, we're not comfortable with the idea that it's such a serious, uh, that people would actually stone one another, so I just put that up too. [15:47] Um, and then verse 11 says, you do all this, because then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again, which is another idea, maybe almost like our reason for having capital punishment or something, the idea is that no one will do it yet, I don't know, that's what it made me think about. [16:15] Um, in Luke 14, 26, Jesus says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his mother and his father and mother, his wife and children, his brother and sister, yes, even his own wife cannot be my disciple, made me think of that too. [16:28] Then verses 12 to 18 goes, talks about, if one of the towns the Lord is giving you to live in, has wicked men who have led the people astray, encouraging them to worship other gods, two, three things, inquire, probe, and investigate it thoroughly. [16:45] Number two, if it's true, destroy the town completely, it must be that Holocaust word again, people and livestock. Number three, gather all the plunder in the middle of the square and burn the town and all its plunders of burnt offering to God. [17:01] God. And I guess because then people should take none of the condemned things. And, you know, that seems like probably above board again. [17:14] You know, you don't keep any of the stuff that, it's not for your gain. You're doing it as an offering to God. And then the Lord will turn from the fierce anger to show you compassion. [17:37] And this idea at the very end, I think it is, 17b, you know, it says, and increase your numbers, and we talked about this earlier, as promised, how increasing your numbers was such a blessing and how that is just not considered a blessing now. [17:53] Except, in a small town where we live, when we moved to the town I was expecting Rachel, the older ladies were all saying, may you have twins. I thought, you've got to be kidding, I don't want twins. [18:05] But it was their biggest blessing that they could give you, you know, which is really scripture, in a way. that's, any other comment on that chapter? [18:27] It's a tough chapter. It's violent, or it's certainly violent. Um, yeah. [18:40] What do you think about that idea that these things didn't really happen? Well, I don't know. [18:55] I, I think it, huh? I mean, I, I think that you can find people saying historically this, this doesn't happen, you know. [19:14] Um, but it, it brings me back to, and I, I, I, I don't know how to deal with this, but I, you know, the shock of realized that, uh, as one of, one of the men said, two, uh, what's, what's the big Dutch airline? [19:43] KLM. KLM. Hostesses, you know, on a plane, took some drugs into Singapore and nobody heard from them again. [19:57] You know, that, that, that terrible zeal for, for, uh, drug-free society where they're prepared to, to be very much Deuteronomy 13-ish about the whole thing, you know, that, that that's it. [20:14] And, and, and that, that seems totally shocking to us. It certainly shocks me to the core even to think about. Uh, on the other hand, uh, who does pay the price? [20:32] You know, uh, you know, I, I, I, uh, who pays the price in terms of the impact of drugs on, on a city like, uh, like Vancouver in terms of human waste. [20:51] You know, I mean, it's, uh, people in government have to do some very hard things, uh, to take responsibility for issues. [21:02] and, uh, and so I, I, I tend to think that this is written for our learning and I, I think to make the issues very clear, what the issues are. [21:19] but you, you do think that this actually happened then because the Bible says that it actually happened. Did what actually did? That they did actually. Well, it's telling them to do it, it's not saying, I mean, Moses told them to do a lot of things that they didn't do, and historically they certainly didn't do it on a whole scale because it said, then Israel, all Israel will hear and be afraid and no one among you will ever do such an evil thing again. [21:47] Well, historically, you know, it kept going on, so it certainly wasn't carried out to the extent that it stopped it. Yeah, and, yeah. [21:58] But different times when they went into a place they might say some of the really good stuff and, yeah, and then make excuses why they kept it, and that was disobeying God, so there they were sort of partially following God, but not fully because they're greedy and then the I mean, the reality of our world is you live by faith or by fear, you know, and if you're not living by faith, the only way you can hold a society together is by fear. [22:41] I mean, that's how dictatorships work, they say we don't care whether you have faith in us or not, as long as you're afraid of us. And, uh, I think that's, fairly, however, I, I, I think at this point, let me, let me just say that I, I think that the purpose of, of, of doing it this way in Deuteronomy is to leave us with the tension we're feeling with right now. [23:19] I think that's the place we're to come to, you know, neither be cavalier and ignore the whole thing on the one hand, nor on the other hand to become, uh, you know, meticulous in going around shooting people, you know, uh, on sight, you know, that, that, that kind of absolutist thing that, that sometimes that goes back to, for us now, he who was without sin for a stone. [23:50] Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, isn't it, that, that that comes from, that has roots in this chapter, yeah. and the, and the, uh, how Christ says that, you know, the contradiction in that is that the people throwing the stone. [24:11] Would you not, um, advocate delving into the history of the people at that time too? [24:22] I mean, I think it has to be looked at not only from all point of view, but from the point of the context that this comes from, I mean, God was forming his people, raising up his people in a very hostile society and, endeavoring to keep them separate so that they would become a blessing to the world. [24:51] and I think when you're at the starting point of that, you have to be very black and white. [25:03] What do you think? yeah, I, I, in the light of what you're saying, I, I, uh, you get stories of First World War soldiers, you know, and, uh, where a soldier now would, would break up on the battlefield and send him to the psychiatric unit for extended treatment. [25:26] but if he failed in the First World War, he'd be shot, you know, because, uh, because, the thing, under the, under the, sort of, their justification was that under the terrible stress of, of the battlefield, they, uh, they couldn't afford to have anybody back down. [25:54] And, uh, so, anybody who did was, was, uh, was shot. And, you know, that, that was the way people, uh, who are your parents and grandparents were taught to behave under, under stress situations. [26:17] And, and, of course, the other side of it is, uh, you know, what happens in, the great United States of America that, that doesn't want to, that doesn't want to, uh, demand this kind of rigor. [26:40] And, uh, and yet they're stuck with masses and masses of people in jail that they can't handle. [26:50] you know, that, so that there's, there's, uh, so there's the tension of it, I think. And I, I, isn't, isn't another part of the tension in what you're saying, uh, we can, uh, in a way dismiss, um, some of the, uh, authority in scripture by saying, well, it was historical, it was, it was to do with the times in which they were living. [27:20] Yeah. So it can be a cough-out for us to say, it doesn't apply to me, uh, because it was, it's, it's historical applies to men in their historical setting. [27:32] I mean, that could be another part of the tension, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It could be, you know, I could, it can be a cough-out for us to dismiss it and say, it doesn't apply to me. [27:44] I mean, that could be just part of this dilemma. But on the other hand, if you go around shooting people, as is advocated here, you'd be up to murder. [28:05] You know, so you have to, you have to deal with it in a certain way, to a certain extent, I should say. You have to deal with this. [28:16] There is an element of historical relevance here. Because if you went around burning towns at this point, I mean, literally, burning towns and killing people, people, I think you'd be in trouble. [28:42] The parallel, the wrong parallel, because in previous sessions we were talking about the parallel between the nation of Israel with the church, rather than the secular nation of the 20th century, looking at this chapter, if the essence of that nation of the Israelites was that covenant, was that constitution, what seems to be saying in this chapter is if it's an individual that's close to you, or a leadership person, like in a false prophet, or an entire town who was rebelling, who was undermining the very constitution of that nation, then that should be eliminated. [29:45] So the parallel is more like if the parallel is drawn between that, burning towns and shooting people, but the parallel is strong with the church as in the people of God, then the parallel could be that they, if it's somebody close to you, who is trying to draw you away from the teaching of Christ, which is the new covenant, then perhaps whether it's be friendship or relationship should be severed. [30:22] without any pity, without any shielding, and if there is a leader within this new nationhood that draws you away from this covenant, maybe that too should be severed. [30:43] so that's physical attack that's described in Deuteronomy should be maybe paralleled in a different way, not the shooting and burning of towns and battles. [31:00] that's what I was getting at, that I think the recognition that there is a parallel, but nevertheless that we should hesitate to take this literally, I think that should be recognized. [31:22] so that's I think it was literal in a certain sense that I remember a lot of those recorded stoning and stoning it was still accustomed to Jesus' stoning people that were viewed as blasphemers and they brought the adulterous woman to him with the suggestion that she was stoning and I don't think it was a rhetorical question. [31:51] except that in both those two cases the Christian view is that Jesus said that St. Christopher stoning and stoning of Stephen is not condoned it's not thought to be correct. [32:08] Yeah. Understandably but I think that we can't escape the reality that it was practiced. You know that it is within the human capacity to do that and was considered accustomed and was actually carried out so to try to sanitize deuteronomy and say that it was only a suggestion that was never followed would we mislead ourselves. [32:40] Now it wasn't followed fully obviously because of the outcomes but it was still intermittently practiced. [32:51] At least that would be my interpretation. And as good Anglicans you may recall the name of Thomas Cranmer and recognized that he was taken out into the street and burnt to death because of his view of the of transubstantiation history you know that his views were wrong and they saw that as a very corrupting influence. [33:32] We you know we see AIDS as a very corrupting influence in our society because we analyzed it and know more or less what's happening from a biological point of view but they saw the scourge of unbelief as being deserving of death because they saw the implications of what would happen if this view was to be conveyed to the people and that seems to be a kind of biblical perspective doesn't it that if you get breakdown in families or breakdown in society that you will pay an enormous price for that as a society and and it would be interesting anyway we're never going to get to where we're going if we just let's [34:38] I don't think we can resolve that I think you have to live with the tension that's built in there and I don't think it's an accident that it's built in there I mean I think that it's it's important that you you don't just say oh that's the way they did it back in the barbarous times of old but that there was them people that you see there is us good now I'm lost who's next in the in the chapter 14 yeah okay sure that's a much gentler chapter mostly not the significance um [35:53] Deuteronomy 14 um I the themes that run through it actually are the honors the honor in being the people of God and the responsibilities that come with that and it starts uh just in verse one by seeing all these wonderful things uh uh you know we've just gone through all the some of the downers but that the people of God are called one to be children of the Lord God um and uh therefore uh they are not to mutilate or shave the front of their heads for the dead now I'm afraid you're saying well that's sort of an odd thing but if you think it was obviously some sort of um uh a pagan ritual shaving the head a type of ancestor worship for the dead and if you think about it if we are called children of [36:53] God then the true parent we are to worship is God and so to be children of God is to focus our worship chosen out of all the people of the earth and they are God's treasured possessions incredibly holy chosen and a treasured possession these words of love okay these are these honors therefore there are responsibilities they are not to eat detestable things and we get into now I guess it's the second section of the chapter which is kosher non-kosher what foods are allowed and what foods are not allowed there's a list of allowable animals and it's given and it breaks down to animals that have a split hoof and which chew the cut if they have both those characteristics they're okay that's verses 4-6 and in verses 7-8 there's a description of the forbidden animals the animals that are unclean which basically are animals that don't have the other two characteristics verse 9 we look at water creatures those that are clean basically it's those who have fins and scales so your rainbow trout is okay your escargot is a no-no and verse 10 the water creatures that are unclean verse 11 birds are listed that are clean 12-18 there's a long list of unclean birds basically seems to be birds that pray and birds which each eat carrion verse 19 flying insects that swarm are unclean verse 20 any clean winged creature is allowable okay this is long 21 do not eat anything that is already dead carrion however it gets practical you may give it to an alien in your town or sell it to a foreigner what's not good enough for you well you know it's interesting because at first struck me this is sort of mercenary and the thing that struck me with that though is that it talks there's no waste the alien by the way is a person who is settled living within your community who is not part of the community a foreigner or someone visiting and you can give it interesting you can't sell it to an alien you can give it to them so the alien in your land so the food is not wasted if they want it you can give it to them but you're not allowed to sell it to them but you can sell it to a foreigner going through and because and as a recap you are to be a people holy to the [40:09] Lord your God and there's a little PS in this it says also do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk and and I I think it struck me there is and I was thinking of the commandments you know when we often forget that in the Sabbath command even the animals sort of have that rest the livestock are given this dignity of God's creatures that you know don't work your horses till they drop but there's a dignity there I don't know somehow there's something you know some of the commenters say well maybe this was a pagan ritual but there's something about the dignity the indignity of a kid being bored of a mess but there's no there seems to be this sense of all learning those that have been created by God so now then we go and see I guess undergirding the whole 30 is the fact that [41:21] God is just craving our dependence on him and chapter 30 is divided into two parts after people have been in exile and basically the first part is the prosperity after turning back to the Lord and it hits us today in our every life that God is craving us all the time but we have the choice and the big thing is that we have the choice to either fall him to life or our own way to destruction God God is saying in the first half that we have to take his blessings and his curses to heart and return to the [42:35] God with all your heart make a total commitment and then the Lord will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you from all the distant places which is so comforting after the hostility and the anger and the force of the law that we've been reading so far and it just blows my mind that this is in Deuteronomy and there's so much of the love of Christ in this and compassion and not only will he bring you back but he will circumcise your hearts he will curve he will mold you like an earthen vessel he will cast off those hurts that are keeping you from him which is a tremendous blessing and all you have to do is make a commitment and obey the [43:47] Lord God his commands and his decrees I'm sure I've forgotten half of what I was saying first 11 is lovely and this law which I laid out is neither obscure nor beyond your reach is what I'm saying it's all possible yeah thanks Claire there's 11 there's that's not too difficult oh yes and it is not up in heaven it's not it's not off it's not it's right here right here inside you there's a song that somebody says the holy spirit lives everywhere but unless you see it in the mirror you've got a long way to go find some new beginnings and this speaks to that too and offer life after death we don't have to search for the word it is in our mind and it is in our heart and [45:04] God will shape it so that it is also in our will chapter 15 set before 15 verse 15 oh sorry verse 15 I'm sorry I set before you today life prosperity death and destruction love the Lord your God walk in his ways keep his command choose that way fast to 14 it is in your mouth and in your heart to a bed it is there to a bed just grasp it choose life love the Lord your God back in his ways keep his commands fast to him listen to his voice we say we're thirsty for [46:13] God but I don't think we know the thirst but we can't imagine the thirst that he has for us and you choose life and God will give you eyes to see and ears to hear so it's just a nervous reaffirmation again of what God how much God wants us to give him to hear so can I can I I told you about my neighbor and this is the book he gave me to try and it's called one of the oldest most important and most carefully preserved of all ancient [47:26] Kabbalah texts Marks can you tell us what Kabbalah texts are you happen to know I don't know I think there's sort of commentaries on the scriptures but in the references this is he makes reference to the last two verses that you just cited Nancy I thought you might be interested in reading what it says life is the Torah as it is written and that's a see if you take that statement and you go to the New Testament and where Jesus says I am the life I am the way the truth and the life and you go back to [48:28] Deuteronomy and you see the Jewish wisdom and the Jewish rabbis saying the Torah is life and then Jesus coming along and saying I am the Torah and that's in that sense and you shall choose life and the commentary this is the commentary it is furthermore written for it is your life and your length of days if one wants to be worthy of it he should reject physical pleasure accept the yoke of the commandments if he is afflicted with suffering he should accept it with love he should not ask since I am fulfilling the will of my maker and studying the Torah each day why am I afflicted with suffering rather he should accept it with love then he will be completely worthy of the way of life for who knows the ways of the blessed holy one regarding all things one must therefore say righteous are you oh [49:42] God your judgment is fair all that is done from heaven is for the good so you see that's that should be a tremendous encouragement to you that the ancient people of the Jews without the benefit of the gospel say blessing is found in submission to the commandment you know that that's that's the way it is and of course it's fascinating that from this same chapter that that we've just looked at you get you get Romans chapter 10 verses 6 to 8 I mean if you look at it because this is this is one of them one of the quite key verses in Romans really is chapter 10 verse 6 to 8 when Rabbi [50:50] Paul picks it up and says the righteousness that is by faith says do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down or who will ascend into the deep that is to bring Christ up from the dead but what does it say the word is near you it is in your mouth and in your heart this is the word of faith we are proclaiming that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved as the scripture says everyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame for there is no difference between [52:03] Jew and Gentile the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call upon him everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved Deuteronomy 30 13 so there's a wonderful weaving together of Deuteronomy 30 and Romans 10 those two things so you can see a kind of bridging taking place there what the nature of faith is and you get the if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth you know that really well that struck me for a lot of reasons but it struck me because of [53:06] Postman's criticism the anti-social function of reading you know and that he says that that's that we have this but you know in Bible reading where it is corporate reading and corporate response which you see in Christian worship it is believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth that clenched the deal so to speak and that is so important so that's a key point in chapter 30 anything any other sort of comments on that chapter I just want to say when you were reading so that the [54:08] Jewish book there that it struck me that how much more freedom we have in Jesus Christ he says that if you are suffering or you're going through a really tough time that's God God is still God and hanging us we know that we have someone walking through that with us in Jesus God God God that I don't know that Jewish people have that well that's what I mean that's that's the tension we have to create what Jewish people want us to say because you see when in the passage that we read this morning if you recall I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it so that what they have in the law or the [55:14] Torah is what we Jesus hasn't come to end that he's come to give it a fulfillment which they look forward to in faith and which we receive we experience in Christ anyway go ahead friend I was just going to say it was very interesting in Jewish worshiping Jewish Christians Jews who are steeped in the law and yet who have moved into the New Testament in our people engage the totality of the very rich people you know you got to bring it all to a resounding climax if you don't know that was a long man at least 32 is that don't see anything well I love 32 [56:44] I think they seem like to go forward in Moses was given his blessing to Israel before his death after 40 years of living in the wilderness and tents they now going to encounter cities with walls and fortresses and he tells them that God guarantees they will have invincible spiritual fortification which we think is a wonderful expression for us to do a lot of things the eternal God was the refuge and the shield and helper he reminds them of their father Jacob and his blessings he tells them again God is watching over them all the time and how he gave them the law it's a reaffirmation again of a lot of the chapters and he gives a blessing to each one of the sons regardless of what they have done in their lives [57:53] Reuben Judah Levi Benjamin the beloved Joseph gets the gates of land and earth Zebulun Gad Dan Naphori Asher and Issaacar now Simeon is not mentioned in verse 3 that I can see and yet he is the twelfth one and that's something I have to I know what happened but he's called gesture I don't know after the blessings comes from one of I think the most quoted phrases from Deuteronomy the eternal God is your growing place and underneath are the everlasting arms I've always loved that expression Amen which person person himself you said all men before you told us what person was himself oh there it is yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes but it is a relief after making the other things after what it's a relief after the violence and things and everything else if I steady notes [59:18] Jezharan is Israel oh well we've got we've got uh the mystery of where Simeon has disappeared to does anybody know where Simeon disappeared to that everlasting arms reminds me of the end of life after God where he's he's talking about the hands you know the waterfalls sounds like hands clapping hands that hold hands anyway he goes on to all his hands and there's the everlasting arms that he wants he sees that things yeah that that coming that [60:21] Jewish commentary is quite good on that too but I can't nail it are you okay any questions or things that arise out of that chapter I mean we're very brief but please don't we have not only that you have understood it in your minds had your wills inspired by it but I hope you are infected by Phil's affection for it those three things will come together in your reading okioke whatever am I going to do [61:28] I I want you to go back now to 31 and verse 19 Beth I want you to explain something to me I mean to all of us would you do that the question is why do Africans sing all the time I don't know why but they just love it and they have a gorgeous harmony that just comes in church in church they don't use musical instruments but everybody just sings and it's all in harmony it's just choruses they sing with their body yeah and they sing in parts too they you know you don't get trained that way but in the way we would be trained but everybody just sings in parts it's gorgeous and what do they sing about well all sorts of things [62:46] I would guess not knowing do that well I don't know always but but they sing you know in many contexts as they're walking along the road you know they'll be singing together and and different it's it's just gorgeous I always have felt on Christmas morning the nurses at the hospital where my parents were missionaries would come at 5 30 and sing for us outside our house and you'd wake up to this beautiful singing and I always felt that it was sort of like heaven you know you just wake into this just gorgeous gorgeous this was the staff of the hospital the staff of the hospital we'd come and sing at 5 30 and they'd wake us up yeah when they're singing wow we had a similar experience in Africa on Easter morning my wife and I didn't know what was going to happen break it off and singing all around the countryside in Harvard [63:51] I don't know who led it they weren't visible to each other we were told by an African who was here at Regent College that the reason they sing is because men and women are illiterate and it's a way the men and women and it's the way they teach just to sing because that wouldn't remember anybody else give us some experience of this yes in the Solomon Islands yeah the natives will sing that way in Pujimian really it's a little different tone than what we do but it's beautiful singing and they just start singing they'll sing they'll sing hymns that they have learned but they'll also sing some of their own things that they don't know at early in the morning well when Fran and I were in [65:08] I guess we were in Kenya and and we were staying at at a hotel on the seafront there and one night it was because it was Holy Week I think it was I think it was Maundy Thursday evening the local choir came in to sing the chorus you know and they they came in I mean supper maybe started at 6.30 they came about 5 o'clock and because we were close to the equator you know the sun goes down and it's dark and fairly early there and here they were standing in the total dark singing for about an hour an hour and a half to get ready for coming in to sing in the dining room at the hotel where we were staying and they they sang and sang and sang and then they came in and sang again for a couple of hours just on and on and on without a note in front of them [66:30] I mean a written note in front of them the whole thing was done you know in our our our singing tradition is is very limited when you when you think of it but start now look at chapter 31 verse 19 and you see Moses write down for yourself this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it so that it may be a witness against them now that's that's what happens when we stand up on Sunday and sing hymns we are witnessing against ourselves because you know because the content of the hymns and the pattern of our lives are a million miles apart you know praise my soul the king of heaven when my soul doesn't have any inclination to do that or any desire or any understanding of what's involved but we sing that in a sense to our own condemnation almost as a witness against us and that this passage here from the end of Deuteronomy tells them that what you need what these people need to do is they need a song and this this song needs to be appended to all that [68:22] Moses has said I mean it's a great a great thing if if having preached your way through chapters 1 to 30 of Deuteronomy part of of their inheritance they sing this song and the song of witnesses against because I don't think in a negative sense but it just it just is the reminder to them there's a great deal more there than we have yet appropriated that we've yet experienced you know that we we sing way beyond the limits of our experience yeah we've learned to sing amazing grace far you know long before we have really explored the extent of how amazing it in fact is but you learn the words and those those words are there as part of your life and telling you that there's there's a great deal more here for you if only if only you look at it so that's that's what seems what [69:39] Moses seems to be tacking on here is a song they have to sing and they have to learn to sing it and in verse 20 when I brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey the land I promised an oath to their forefathers and when they eat their fill thrive and will turn to other gods and worship them rejecting me and breaking my covenant and with many disasters and difficulties come upon them this song will testify against them because it will not be forgotten by their descendants I know what they are disposed to do even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath Moses wrote down this song that they and taught it to the Israelites so this you know to a illiterate people [70:42] Moses wrote down the song and taught it to them so that that would continue to be it and so it reminds it reminds me of one of one of the things when when Marxism broke down in Russia you know that some wise people pointed out and you can you can comment on this whether you agree or disagree but pointed out that that all through the period militant Marxism in Russia the great Russian novels were still being read as a witness against what was happening in Russia you know the you know the great the great novels of Russia which which renowned and the great novelists and in their novels was a continuing witness which which sustained the people [71:58] I think during during all those years and so churches almost always seem better than they are if you know what I mean you know you know Psalm 157 in the song of the Exiles and this had a reputation because it really really kept to be part of the the Bible which says that the jailers asked us to sing them a song and have to make Mary sing us one of the songs of Zion and so much yeah how can we sing the song God on alien soil but they wonder if they have a reputation somehow well it's I think it's a wonderful thing and I and I [73:00] I don't I don't know what happens in South Africa but that musical tradition among Africans must be spiritually a tremendously sustaining force for that you know that today we have learned to all through the political and you know you don't see them getting together and shouting in discord one to another you see them coming together and singing singing and singing and singing and on it goes so there's some wisdom to this that we in our sophisticated western society have turned over to uh to uh what do they call them gallblasters and we continue in our distillation and things so that um there there they are so history in verse 24 after [74:27] Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end he gave his command to the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant take this book of the law place it to the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God there it will remain as a witness against you for I know how rebellious and spirit make you work if you have been all rebellious against the Lord I am still alive with you how much more will you rebel after I die assemble before me all the others of your tribes all your officials so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven to testify against them for I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt this is the leader who dies without illusions and he has no wonder for years he knows or he couldn't myself can however he can halt after [76:05] Thank you.