[0:00] So we continue in Deuteronomy 5. Before he came up here, he was looking at it. He said, this is just a great chapter. And it really is. You can say that about every chapter because it's written by God. So to say it's anything less than great wouldn't be right.
[0:11] But as they sung earlier, Professor Tracy and other ladies who were singing there, they sung, Oh, How He Loves Us. And you could play that in the background as you read any portion of the Bible.
[0:21] And Deuteronomy is no exception. Moses has been pleading with us in different ways, in very different ways to be obedient to God. Hardy obedience because we ought to love God and we should fear Him.
[0:34] How do we fear God? In such a way that it doesn't contradict the fact that we love God. There's no conflict there in the fact that we should love and have a reverential awe, a reverential fear for our God.
[0:45] And Moses keeps showing that time and time again. And we see that here in Deuteronomy chapter 5. The pastor said it over and over and so well that the Old Testament isn't a relationship based upon rules and that we have a relationship based upon grace.
[0:57] That's not the case at all. Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse number 1 says, Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and keep His charge, His statutes, and His judgments, and His commandments all the way.
[1:08] All the way through Deuteronomy saying, Love me, love me, love me. And he's showing himself and why he should be. And we're getting to the second sermon that Moses is going to preach. It starts at the end of chapter 4 where the pastor is going to pick up next time he preaches in Deuteronomy.
[1:22] It starts the second sermon which goes all the way through chapter number 28. It's a long one. Mine will be much shorter than I. No concerns there. But it goes from the end of 4 to the 26. So first of all, how many of you have the generation before you?
[1:36] Parents or grandparents love Jesus and they try to teach you to love the Bible. How many of you, that's your story in here? You know, it's about half the group in here, there.
[1:47] I want you to think about that as we look at the first point of verse number 3 here. We're going to see that we have personally heard from God. They're going to be reminded that they personally heard from God.
[1:58] Chapter number 4 and verse number 37 says in Deuteronomy, just one page over, if you'll look at it, maybe circle this verse and go to 5.3. It says, And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and He brought thee out of His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt.
[2:17] He said, I loved your fathers. But verse number 3 would be very exciting to them as they hear Moses speak, because verse number 3 says, The Lord made not His covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
[2:33] They personally heard from God. Not just their fathers, but also them. He loved their fathers, but Moses reiterates seven different expressions in verse number 3. If you mark in your Bible, you can mark, Not this covenant with our fathers.
[2:45] saying, Not just the generation past. The next one is, But with us. Not just them, but also with us. Even us. And then go on to us, which is to say, the people that I'm talking to, that are here, that are alive, and this day.
[3:00] In that small little verse, seven different ways, He's saying, Not just your fathers that I love, but I loved, and I'm still loving. I not only spoke to them, but I spoke to you. And that would be something they'd be excited about.
[3:11] That it wasn't just something from a generation ago that they're hearing about, but God still has a plan for them. That God, they heard the voice of the Lord, and it promised life, not death. Brother Ty read to us in verse number 25, and they said, We hear the voice of the Lord, our God.
[3:26] And who's heard the voice of the Lord? Are we going to die? Who is there of all flesh that's heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire? We have heard it. Are we going to live? And we know where they get that from.
[3:37] We know that they didn't believe they could see, you know, they would see God there. They thought they were going to die. And then, when God speaks to them, and gives the tablets, they say, Why don't we appoint Moses as a mediator, and we're going to go back into our tents?
[3:50] We're afraid of this. It came to us in power, and we're afraid of that power there. And they said, Is there going to be death? And Moses said, No, quite the opposite, actually. There's not going to be death brought from hearing the word, but he is promising life, and he's promising prosperity.
[4:05] He's promising long days here. So God not only loved them, but he's still loving them. He initiated this relationship, and he maintained it. The children of Israel are getting answers that the whole world is asking.
[4:17] Not just today, but it's always been this way. I found this poem that was written in the 7th century. It said, It was written in Nineveh, and I'll read part of it to you.
[4:29] It's called, A Prayer to Any God. May my Lord's angry heart be reconciled. May the God I do not know be reconciled. May the goddess I do not know be reconciled. May the God, whoever he is, be reconciled.
[4:41] May the goddess, whoever she is, be reconciled. May my personal gods be reconciled. May my goddess's hearts be reconciled. May my God and my goddesses be reconciled with me. May the God who has turned away from me in anger be reconciled.
[4:55] May my goddess who has been turned away from me be reconciled. I could not eat for myself the bread I found. I could not drink for myself the water I found. I have perpetrated unwittingly an abomination to my God.
[5:07] I have unwittingly violated a taboo of my goddess. Oh my Lord, many are my wrongs, great my sins. Oh my God, many are my wrongs, great my sins. No matter how many names they go by, what do they know?
[5:18] They do not know at all if they were doing good or evil. Oh my God, through my wrongs, be seven times seven, absolve my wrongs. Oh my goddess, through my wrongs, be seven times seven, absolve my wrongs.
[5:29] Absolve my wrongs, let my sound your praises. As if you were my real mother, let your heart be reconciled. As if you were my real mother, my real father. We don't typically read pagan poetry in church, and you probably don't read it for fun, but it's just unbelievable.
[5:43] And it's not said in the time, but it's the expression. What's going on in the heart of all unbelievers. It was saying, if it's God, would you resolve me my sin? If it's a goddess, would you resolve me my sins? My personal gods, would you resolve me my sins?
[5:55] I've made you angry. Please forgive me. And it's just the prayer of asking for reconciliation to an unknown God, and they're crying out for it. They cry out for it today around the world. They cried out for the time of Moses, during the time of this.
[6:08] And so the children of Israel are getting answers that the whole world is asking. The person that wrote this poem here, they got three things right, or they were sure of three things. That God is angry with them, their sin has caused anger, and we must do something to avoid God's wrath.
[6:24] The person that wrote that poem was certain of those three things. But their ignorance is also threefold. He does not know which God is angry, he does not know what the crime is that provoked the divine fury, and he does not know what it takes to get past the wrath of God.
[6:39] And so you've got a group of people that God has promised to bless called the children of Israel, and against all odds, he keeps them alive, and he speaks to them. He says, all the world wants to know the answers. All the world wants to know who the true God is.
[6:52] All the world wants to know how they can get over their sin, and their guilt, and find forgiveness. And I'm going to speak to you. And I'm going to give you your words. I not only loved your fathers, but I'm still loving you, and I'm still speaking to you here.
[7:06] And that God still talks to us. They have said, we have seen this day that God has talked with man, and he liveth. They said, God spoke to us, and we're still living. This is amazing.
[7:17] And they said, who gets to hear from God and speak? And all of us can answer in here, I do. Every one of you have got to hear from God, just like the children of Israel heard from God, and the fact that we have the word of God preserved for us today.
[7:30] We're hearing from God, and we live. And it doesn't bring death, but it brings life to us. And it tells us that in, it says, hearing and obeying God's word is going to bring life. In verse 33, you shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
[7:49] You hear from me, you can know me, I love you, and my word is going to make a difference in your life. So I just ask you, do you take for granted the fact that we have the word of God?
[7:59] How you picture the words that are given to you in the Bible is going to impact if you live it out in obedience. That's what we're going to end on in Hebrews in our conclusion, but the way you view it is going to decide if you are obedient to God.
[8:13] Chris Gardner taught, you know, Chris has been through a lot of things, and he taught on suffering at the orientation. And he said, the problem with Job was that he had the wrong view of suffering, is that he had the wrong view of God there.
[8:26] And through suffering, the thing that had to be fixed, first and foremost, is that he had to make sure that he had the right understanding of who God was. And how did God help him do with that? God spoke to him.
[8:37] God came into that heart of Job and spoke to him. Robert shared how there was a song and one of the lyrics said, Be still my heart. And he said, before Kelly got sick, he would sing that song and he thought that verse was kind of silly.
[8:49] He didn't understand why the song said, Be still my heart. But he said he finds himself sitting on the edge of the bed, singing that song and saying, Heart, be still.
[9:00] Be quiet. And the words of God do that. The word of God is powerful. Today, just as it was back then. He says, I'm speaking to you for your time and then. We are the people that have heard the word, not just our grandparents, but us.
[9:14] When you're only 32, you only have a handful of stories, so I tell them over and over. But my grandfather, he had dementia in the last years of his life, but he sat down at the kitchen table and flipped through ten chapters of the Bible. He wasn't reading them, but he knew every morning I'd get up and I'd go to the table and I'd do this motion with this Bible and it was in his mind that it was there.
[9:32] But the same God that spoke to my grandfather is speaking today. It didn't stop. It continues here. Those great stories that the missionaries hear about, we can pray for. Hannah Shreve, who grew up in this community, that her parents are in this church, that he's still working here and in our lives as well.
[9:47] He doesn't belong to any generation or to any group inside of the church. He belongs to all of us. We can hear from him. So in hearing, we're expected to obey. So first of all, I'm still speaking to you, not just the generation before, but I'm still speaking and I expect that you will obey.
[10:01] I've given you, and then we see here they've been given a mediator. They were frightened. In Exodus chapter number 20, which is the parallel passage, you saw that brother Ty, we skipped over the giving of the Ten Commandments. Pastor, we'll deal with that at another time.
[10:13] There's just so much there. And here in Exodus 20, when it came, in verses 18 through 21, it says, all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountains smoking when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off and they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die.
[10:31] And Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that you said not. And the people stood afar off and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
[10:43] It's that story of Exodus that's being retold here in Deuteronomy. And these people, they requested a mediator. They said, you go unto him and we will go into the tents. And then they said to him in verse number 27 of Deuteronomy 5, it says, go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and we will do it.
[11:06] He said, Moses, you're our mediator. You go find out what God wants and whatever he says to you, we are going to do it. And that was their promise because they understood that the word came with an expected response which was obedience.
[11:20] God's word is given here to guide us. The law was neither a way of salvation nor a burdensome obligation but it was a gracious gift, a guide for God's people so they might knowingly respond to his grace according to his will.
[11:33] These laws here are a gift from God, God communicating. You picture here that poem, all the other people, all the other pagans in the land, they want to know God, they want reconciliation, they want to know why God's angry with them but God speaks unto them and he says, I'm going to be gracious to you, I'm going to provide obligation, I've led you out of Egypt.
[11:52] It's been a handful of years ago but when the saddest funeral service I was at there was about a thousand teenagers there. A teenager had been shot by her boyfriend, she was a senior in high school and at the funeral the preacher chose to spend this whole time on convincing us why we should set up the Ten Commandments in our courthouses in our schools and that more kids are going to die unless we have the Ten Commandments being seen.
[12:16] But what he forgot is that there was a thousand young people that still hadn't been led out of Egypt. They didn't know the grace of God. They didn't understand why this was merciful and gracious. Why it wasn't a list of ten rules to follow but it was a God of Heaven saying, I want to know you and I want to tell you how to live life.
[12:32] I love you so much that I want you to avoid sin. I want to tell you how to live out your life here. There was no grace and it was horrific. The way that we received the word brought awe. When the Israelites feared God they were inclined to keep his commandments.
[12:45] Out of the midst of the fire God spoke to them. And so they were being taught here to obey. Chapter number 6 verse number 1 if you look there it says, Now these are the commandments of the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whether you go to possess it.
[13:03] So Moses said, I'm telling you what to do when you get into land these are the things that you're supposed to do and as you do it you will possess it. And we must not just hear it but we must obey it.
[13:13] Chapter 5 verse 1 Why don't you underline this? It says, I speak in your ears this day that you may learn them and keep them and do them. You've got to hear it you have to learn it you have to keep it you have to do it.
[13:26] That just me talking to you just you taking these ten commandments and putting it in an ark and taking it around with you is not going to do the job you're going to have to be obedient to his word.
[13:38] And so we must not just hear it but we must obey it. What's our New Testament parallel to that? That we're told why didn't James hear that we're not supposed to be doers of the word only but we're also supposed to not only be hearers but we're supposed to be doers of the word.
[13:51] And we're given the example of a person that goes and looks in the mirror and says yeah there's some things that should be fixed there but it's going to be okay. And they walk away from it and that's what happens when we hear the word of God. So first of all we get to hear from God.
[14:04] Not just this generation but the one we're in right now. We're reminded God's reminding the people there not just the generation before but I love you and I'm speaking to you and I want you to be obedient. And then he's going to show that there's benefits obeying the word.
[14:17] To them it was obey what I'm saying to you right now when you go into the land you'll possess it there's great benefits and today we're saying read this word keep this word obey this word and there's great benefits to you for doing it.
[14:29] There's prosperity. We're not against prosperity by obedience we just define prosperity differently. The Bible tells us what it's going to do this obedience we'll look at it. Obedience is going to bring you out of the desert verse 3 Hear therefore O Israel and observe the doer that you may be well with thee and that you may increase mightily as the Lord God of the fathers have promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
[14:49] There's a contrast here. That place isn't oozing with anything. It's dry it's a desert and it says you're about to go into a place that it just naturally produces. Not talking about having in Egypt having to work hard in the ground and produce this with your hands but just this land by itself with nobody messing with it produces it.
[15:09] You don't have Case in Blue making whatever he does with bees going on there. It just naturally is producing honey and flowing with milk here and it gives you this example here there that if you obey it there's going to be a great benefit.
[15:23] On a few occasions I rode with a police officer and he had on purpose there's some other times that wasn't my idea but this was my idea and he had on his laptop it said wine is a mocker and so is strong drink and time after time he was working with the drug enforcement that somebody would get in the back and they would be drunk and they would look at that laptop and say man I know that's right and they would say that over and over again and he would tell me when I'm not in the car you can say anything you want and so I would talk to him but what he was learning is that there's a Bible verse on that screen and if I would have been obedient to that Bible verse tonight there would have been a benefit in my life and it's just real simple to see that's one verse but every Bible verse has a benefit to it in our lives here and so if they stay the course they'll reach the threefold goal of life well being and length of days in the land they'll possess verse 32 you shall observe the do therefore as the Lord your God has commanded you and you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left to stay the course do what I told you to do don't go to the right or to the left and we listen to God and obey his blessings will overtake us
[16:24] Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 1-14 talks about that I'm going to read the first two to you but listen how it's said here Deuteronomy 28 1-2 and it shall come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently upon the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all his commandments which command thee this day that the Lord thy God will set thee on a high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God it says it's going to overtake you it isn't like I've got to be obedient and I've got to figure out how this obedience is going to work he says no you be obedient and it's going to overtake you in your life it's going to come in every direction it's going to bring benefits to you that you don't even yet recognize and he's telling them that be obedient to me I'm going to set you in a high place I'm going to take care of you I'm bringing you out of Egypt and the blessings will overtake us here are the few benefits of the word of God Psalms 119 verse 9 says that as a young man it cleanses our ways John chapter number 8 says that as a disciple the way that I get to abide with God is I abide with him in his word and that's a benefit it also tells us in John chapter number 8 that the truth sets us free when we are bound we're bound we're hostage to some sin we're overtaken in a fault that the Bible's truth is going to set us free the Bible tells us in John 18 that we will hear the voice of our shepherd because we are his sheep so what's the benefit of the word as sheep we get to hear from our shepherd when we hear it we're part of God's family and because of that we're taking we need his word in John 8 it protects our minds and it maintains our integrity
[17:59] Psalms 119 verse 23 Psalms 119 verse 49 it gives us hope in time of suffering Psalms 119 verse 49 remember your word to your servant for you have given me hope that's seven of 7,000 benefits that we receive in the word of God they knew they heard from God personally they knew they were going to obey they even knew the blessing that followed obedience but it is not in their hearts I left this five minutes here seems real simple right yes God speaks to us not just the generation before he speaks to us personally we have to hear it and we have to obey it and not only if we obey it there's benefits the children of Israel say hurrah we got it the people of the people of the church say hurrah we got it but what's the real truth of the matter in verse number 29 this is a powerful verse circle this maybe memorize this verse 29 it says oh that they were such and this is God speaking oh that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that they might be well with them and with the children forever with all this being said they're still not going to obey God's word they said Moses you go find out what God's word is we're going to obey it and right there in verse number 29
[19:08] God says oh that my children had a heart for me oh I wish they would obey his obedient to me just like a parent that sees their kid going down the wrong path and says I just wish they would listen to me they would save themselves so much heartache and God says it's not going to happen at the end of the chapter God is speaking to Moses in chapter number 31 in verse number 16 he says they will forsake me they will break my commandments which I have made of them in verse number 20 it says they will turn unto other gods and they will serve them and they will provoke me and break my covenants so this is what God tells Moses at the end of his ministry real encouraging right so how well have I done yeah they're not going to listen and then so Moses listen to what he says he goes to the Levites he gathers them up in verse number 27 he says for I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck behold while I'm yet alive with you this day you have been rebellious against the Lord and have much more after my death so Moses is a little ticked off here and he says God just told me that when I'm out of here you're not going to listen to anything that I said and he gathers them all up and he says you rebellious and stiff neck people when I was standing in front of you and when I was alive you didn't listen and when I die you're not going to listen isn't that rough there could you imagine could you imagine a pastor into every message with that and that was the teaching of God's word today but you're not going to listen to it alright let's leave you know that would be pretty rough but is it not true more often than not not just in a preaching service but in a morning Bible study we shut the Bible and it's so easy for us to walk away from it turn with me in closing here to Hebrews chapter number 12 and we're going to look at it we're in the new covenant here and Jesus is our mediator they had Moses as their mediator we have Jesus as our mediator and I know just as well as any of you that it's easy to tune out when somebody's reading the Bible but get to Hebrews chapter number 12 and follow along because what needed to be said to them back in Deuteronomy 5 when they said we know the blessings we know we're supposed to obey the Bible we're going to do it and God says no you're not this is what needs to be said to all of us right now
[21:04] Hebrews 12 24 and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel in Hebrews 12 so he speaks better than all of the Old Testament prophets see that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then shook the earth but now he has promised saying yet once more I have shaken not the earth only but also heaven and this word yet once more signify the removing of those things that are shaken as of the things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire so how do we get out of this system how do we get out of this yes we know we have the Bible yes we know we're supposed to obey it yes we know there's great blessings but we're still not going to do it we're told that we know of God because of Jesus our mediator but it says that we serve God acceptably with reverence and with godly fear for our God is a consuming fire so what happened there how well did they take the word of God and obey it only to the extent that they had a love and a reverence for God when he spoke out of that fire they thought he is somebody to be revered and to be honored but when they forgot that he was to be revered and to be loved they would get away from obeying his word and so it's the same here how much is this going to have part of your life it's not going to be decided on where it's at on your calendar it's not going to be decided yes I know it's good for me you got to know the God that put these words in the Bible that you got to know whose Bible this is when we say this is
[22:52] God's word you got to know who that God is who's his word and he's a loving God and he's a God that speaks to us and that should be feared and revered we have a mediator today in Jesus that is greater than Moses or Abel or any of us and through him he has communicated to us we have a reverential fear of his word he is a consuming fire before whom acceptable service will always rise out of deep reverence and awe recognize that he loves you and he's providing warning and blessing from his word obey there's life oozing with milk and honey for you so this is God's word not man's word about God but this is God's word and that's what we need to remember and that's what they need to see back in Deuteronomy chapter number 5 when they hear God's word and they're not going to obey it when they go and possess the land it's not they forgot where the word was at not they forgot that the word had benefit to them they just forgot that it was God's word after God's word they need to hear at all they want to turn to us and that the word will not go to us as how ile answeringė as who and that will not be in much which is can you by