you again in this new 2017.
Since Sunday fell on New Year's Day, some of you probably weren't here last week, so
we're going to do New Year all over again.
No, I'm not kidding, but we're going to, but this morning I do want to talk a little bit
about thinking about the New Year and coming up.
I don't know what you think about New Year's resolutions.
Anyone a fan?
You don't have to raise your hand.
The Guilty can, I'm not a big fan of them, to be honest with you.
It feels like they're mostly more wishful aspirations than actual commitments, and I think they often
can lure us with false hopes of instant change when it doesn't really happen.
But having said all that, I do think that New Year and the change of the season gives us
an opportunity to reflect, to reflect on where we've been in the past year and to reflect
on where we are going in the future.
So I want to begin this morning by asking you a few questions.
What have the last 12 months held for you?
What trials have you faced?
What hard things as part of life in a fallen world have you walked through?
Where have you seen your own failures and your sin rear its ugly head in your life?
What joys have you had?
Where have there been things to celebrate, to rejoice in, to throw a party for?
What successes and victories have you seen in your life?
Where have you seen God's faithful love for you expressed in this past year?
And when have you felt like you've walked alone in the darkness?
Reflecting back is part of what we do in New Year's.
The other part is looking ahead.
Where are we going?
What does the future hold?
So let me ask you this.
What do you worry about as you look ahead to the year?
Where do you find fear creeping in and gripping your heart with its iron fist?
What are you hoping for?
What do you anticipate seeing good things in parts of your life?
What parts of your life are you despairing that change will never happen?
And where do you see, with eager anticipation, hope that you might grow and change and explore something new this coming year?
I don't know if you've thought about those questions.
I don't know if you've taken time to do that.
I don't always.
Sometimes it's just another week, another day in the long span of life.
But I've actually set aside some time this coming week to think about these things and reflect upon them.
So I don't come to you with all, having all of my answers full out.
But I hope that you might consider joining me in doing that.
As we think about these things, as we think about these questions, as we reflect back on the last year and as we look ahead to the new year.
I was meditating on this and wanted to reflect a little bit this morning to you about what God might have to say to us in the midst of this process.
So we're going to look for a few minutes at Deuteronomy chapter 8.
It's page 152 in your pew Bibles.
If you want to turn there, we'll be reading it in a few minutes.
But as you turn there, let me just give a little bit of context.
If you've forgotten where we're at in Deuteronomy 8, which of course is not a part of a series, which we're usually doing.
So maybe you have.
Deuteronomy 8 is where Moses is now speaking again to the people of God.
They have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
And he is speaking now to a new generation because the old generation of Israelites,
most of them have died off in the wilderness as a part of God's judgment on their unbelief 40 years ago
when they would not enter the land in faith because of their fear.
And they're now standing on the plains of Moab.
And Moses is recounting to them what God has done and reminding them of who God has been for them
as they're about to cross the Jordan River and enter into the promised land.
And in the book of Deuteronomy, he's restating what God has already done for them and said to them
to prepare them to be his covenant people as they enter into the land that he has prepared for them to live in.
So that's the context of Deuteronomy 8.
Let's go ahead and look at it together and we'll read it and pray before we continue.
So Deuteronomy chapter 8.
The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply
and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.
And you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness
that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart,
whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know,
nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone,
but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these 40 years.
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him,
for the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,
a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and the hills,
a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity,
in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper,
and you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Take care.
Lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes,
which I command you today.
Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,
and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,
then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions
and thirsty ground where there is no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock,
who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know,
that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end.
Beware lest you say in your heart,
my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.
You shall remember the Lord your God,
for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,
that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day.
And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them,
I solemnly warn you today that you will surely perish like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you,
so shall you perish because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Let's pray together.
Lord, as we look at your word this morning, I pray.
I pray for your spirit to be at work in us.
Lord, to make us soft-hearted and eager to listen to your voice.
Lord, I pray that you would enlighten our eyes and our minds and our hearts this morning
with the truth of your word.
Encourage us.
Strengthen us.
Lord, prepare us for the year ahead
with this word.
Lord, I pray for your help this morning.
Lord, I pray that my words would be pleasing to you.
And Lord, would be useful
to encourage all of us
as you speak to us.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
What Moses is telling to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 8
is what I believe he's telling us today similarly.
That as they prepare to go into the promised land,
as we prepare to go into our new year,
we'll get to whether that's going to look like the promised land or not,
as we enter in.
The most important thing,
the greatest thing for us to do
is to remember the Lord.
Now, that's a really simple sentence, isn't it?
Remember the Lord.
It seems almost empty of real significance.
It seems like maybe it's too simple.
Maybe it's not very productive or practical
to be encouraged to remember the Lord.
But what I want to do is that
as we look at this chapter,
I think we'll see that actually remembering the Lord
is a very rich concept
that Moses is encouraging them.
And with lots of nuances and dynamics for us to consider
as we think about it.
And as we face the realities of our lives,
both good and hard,
and as we face the contours of our own character,
both faithful and unfaithful,
we will see that remembering the Lord
will bear great fruit in our life
and will do us great good.
And so, we're going to look at this chapter this morning.
We're going to think about two things.
First of all,
how we are to remember the Lord
as we face various circumstances.
And secondly, we're going to think about
how remembering the Lord
shapes our character and our lives.
So first of all, let's think about how,
as Moses talked to the people of Israel,
how he speaks to us about how remembering the Lord
is important as we face various circumstances.
And obviously, this chapter's laid out.
There are two things.
These people are coming out of the desert
and they are going into the promised land.
So let's look at what he says about both of those things.
First of all, he says,
remember the Lord in his faithfulness to you in the desert.
Look with me again.
I want you to have your text open
so you can look with me this morning
because the words are rich.
Look with me in verses two through four.
Remember the way he led you.
Remember the particular ways
that he provided for you
and showed his faithfulness in the middle of it.
Remember the story of the exodus
and remember the story of the wandering in the wilderness.
God had raised up a great people
and then he removed them from Egypt.
He delivered them from oppression,
from slavery.
He took them out from under the thumb
of a brutal and oppressive regime.
And he led them into the wilderness
promising to take them to a promised land,
a place where they would be fully provided for
and free to be God's people and worship them.
Moses reminds them,
in the middle though,
you had to walk through a desert.
Maybe up to a million people
walking through a desert.
If you were a logistics expert,
you might ask,
how is that possible?
Where will these people
get the things that they need
simply to live?
Water?
Food?
Food.
Moses reminds them,
God provided for you.
God provided for you supernaturally.
God provided for you
in ways where there was no human hope of provision,
where there was no fallback plan.
There was no,
well, I hope God comes through,
but if he doesn't come through,
I could probably still make it
because my 401k is good,
my pantry is stocked,
or whatever it is.
There is no fallback plan
in these circumstances.
And God came through.
He brought water out of a rock.
He gave to them manna,
which was food
that was supernatural food.
There's no other way to explain it.
God simply provided for them
every day
the food
just for that day.
And he did it to them
while they grumbled
and complained
all the way.
Why did you lead us out here?
God, the desert is so hard.
Oh, we would have been better
as slaves in Egypt.
At least we had food.
Grumbling and complaining
and questioning God's ability
to care for them
over and over again.
And they were to remember.
They were to remember
the way that God
had cared for them.
Even their clothes
did not wear out.
Have you thought about that?
Does anyone have
a 40-year-old
piece of clothing
that they still wear?
And that's in the modern age.
You're not wearing it
every day
walking through a desert.
God provided for them
in remarkable ways.
He showed his goodness
to them
and his faithfulness
to them.
He said,
I remember you.
I have not forsaken you.
I am with you.
Friends,
I wondered this morning
if you can look back
on your last year
and think about
God's goodness.
If you could think
about God's faithfulness.
If you could sit down
and start jotting down,
this is the way
God has provided for me.
Some of you will find
that very easy.
Some of you may find
it more difficult
because the thing facing you
is the lack
and not the abundance.
But I'll bet
if you stop and think,
you could fill
not just a column
but page
after page
of how God
has cared for you
in the last year.
It's not easy for me
to do this.
I feel like I've
been led into
my own personal wilderness
for the last couple
of years.
I still walk
missing my wife
who passed away
two years ago.
Every day.
I wish my circumstances
were different.
I wish I wasn't
in the desert.
But when I stop
and I begin to think,
I think about
how my children
seem to be thriving.
I think of the
financial provision
where I have a home.
God has taken care
of my every physical need.
I think of the love
of this church
and the community
that has surrounded me
and supported me.
I think of
my own family
and my wife's family
and the way
that they have
stood by me
and given
sacrificially to me.
I think of the way
that God has
encouraged me
at just the times
I needed it.
Friends who have
reached out
at just the right
times,
who have been there
for the long haul.
I could go on
and on and on
but I think that
God has been
so good
to me
in the midst
of the desert
that I've been
walking through.
And for some of you,
you may listen to me
and think,
your desert
sounds like
a promised land
compared to what
I've walked through
this year.
Which is the funny
thing, isn't it?
We all have
our own deserts
and our own
promised lands,
don't we?
And yet,
and yet,
God has shown
his faithfulness
to you.
He is the one
who gives life
and breath
in all things.
So Moses
calls us
to remember
that.
As we've
walked through
the desert,
God has been
faithful.
Moses goes on,
he says more
to us.
He says that
not only are you
to remember God
when you're walking
in the desert,
to remember how
he has cared for you
in the midst of that,
but then he turns
and he says,
maybe your life
isn't a desert.
In fact,
you're about to go
into the promised
land.
And he describes
this promised land.
Look with me again,
verse 7 and following.
And picture if you've
been walking in a
desert for 40 years.
I'm not a desert
person.
I didn't grow up
in the desert.
I've barely ever
been to a desert.
Some of you have
seen a real desert
and can imagine
this.
The closest thing
I can think of it
is I've been
watching Star Wars
with my kids
and if you've seen
The Force Awakens,
one of the main
characters,
Rey,
she grows up
on a planet
where there is
only sand.
It is a whole
desert planet.
And do you remember
the line when
she gets into
a spaceship
and she ends up
in another planet
that has lakes
and mountains
and greenery?
She says,
I never knew
there was so much
green in the
whole galaxy.
this is what
Moses is saying
to the people
of God
as they're standing
on the brink
of the Jordan
River.
Look across.
Do you see
what's there?
It has water,
brooks,
streams,
pools,
rivers.
It has
growing things,
wheat and barley,
food to eat.
You're able to
grow plants
to feed yourself.
And he goes on
and he talks about
all these different
things of abundance.
In fact,
it feels like
he almost runs out.
He's trying to
sort of say
everything you have,
everything you
would ever want,
everything you
would ever need,
olive trees
and honey
and bread
without eating.
And when he gets
to verse 9,
he says,
and you will
lack nothing.
In verse 10,
and you will
eat and you
will be full.
You who have
walked in the
desert for 40
years,
God is about
to take you
into this place
of incredible
abundance
where every
desire
and every
need
will be
filled.
But interestingly,
he doesn't say,
well then,
it'll be easy,
right?
Then it'll be
easy to thank
God.
He actually
says the opposite,
doesn't he?
He says,
when you go
in,
be careful.
Be careful
that you
don't fail
to remember
God.
Be careful
that you
don't forget
God
when things
are really
good.
Have you
seen this
in your own
life?
Have you
seen this
in your own
life?
Have you
ever noticed
that when
things get
really bad?
When life
is really
hard?
When a
situation
you care
about
just gets
completely
out of
your
control?
How easy
it is to
pray?
How easy
it is to
say,
God,
help me!
Because we
don't have a
choice.
We don't
have anything
else.
But when
life is
good,
when everything
seems to be
going well,
the bank
account is
healthy,
the family
is getting
along,
work seems
to be a
general
success,
you have
friends,
you enjoy,
how easy
it can be
to forget,
to remember
the Lord.
How easy
it can be
to slip
into the
thinking that
Moses exposes
in this,
when we lift
up our hearts
and we think,
look what we
have done,
I have built
a good life,
I have done
these great
things,
look what my
hands have
built,
look what my
hands have
provided.
How easy
it can be
to think
that the good
things come
because we
deserve this,
we've worked
hard,
we should get
these things.
And we
forget,
as he says
in verse
16,
or verse
18,
that it
is the
Lord,
it is the
Lord who
gives us
the power
to gain
these things,
that everything
we have
comes from
him.
Everything.
So friends,
I wonder
as we think
about it,
I don't
know what
your next
year is going
to look
like.
I don't
know whether
it's going
to feel
more like
a desert
or more
like a
promised land.
It might
feel like a
little bit
of both,
that's often
true I
think.
In some
parts of
our life
it feels
like a
desert,
other parts
of our
life it
feels like
a promised
land.
But what
Moses wants
us to see
is to
remember that
every,
in every
circumstance
we are to
remember the
Lord because
he will be
faithful,
because he
will be
good,
because
everything
that we
have,
the good
things that
we have,
and the
hard things
that we
have,
are all
from his
hand.
When things
are hard,
he will
provide for
us.
And when
things are
good,
he has
provided
for us.
And everything
that is
ours there
comes from
him.
how are
we to
do this?
Well,
you know,
it's funny,
the basic
spiritual
disciplines of
the Christian
life are
an awfully
good way
to think
about it.
When you
stop and
eat a meal,
do you
stop and
give thanks?
Do you
recognize this
food has
come from
God's hand
to feed you
in this
moment and
in this
day?
That would
be a great
thing for
you to
spend some
time cultivating
that practice
and then
cultivating that
prayer to
get beyond
a rote,
thank you
for this
meal,
amen,
to actually
allowing it
to be a
time of
thanksgiving
for you,
for your
family,
for your
friends as
you pray.
Gosh,
God has
been so
good to
us today.
Let's be
thankful
about those
things.
remembering
the Lord.
Things like
fasting.
Fasting is
setting aside
something that's
good that God
has given us
so that we'll
remember that it
comes from him
and so that we'll
remember that our
hearts, as much as
we love the things
that he gives us,
we want the Lord
more than that
and that's why we
sometimes fast from
things,
just to train our
heart and to
remember.
I read on a
blog last week
about someone
who's spent
their year with
a book at their
dinner table and
they write down
every day an
account of God's
blessing, an
account of God's
faithfulness to
them.
Maybe you'd
consider doing
that.
If you don't
have a family,
maybe it
wouldn't be the
dinner table,
but maybe in
your personal
devotions or
prayers before
bed.
Simple
Christian
devotion can
go a long
way to
cultivate this
remembering the
Lord and his
goodness and his
faithfulness to
us.
God
Let me also
just apply this
briefly to us
as a church.
I want to
think about it
because in the
next 12 months
it's very
possible that
there will be
cranes and
earth movers and
pile drivers and
all sorts of
things right in
our backyard as
the construction
happens.
It might feel
like a desert
for us.
It might feel
like a hard
season for us
as a church.
Are we prepared
to look for and
to trust in God's
faithfulness to
carry us through?
Do we see that in
fact it might be God
leading us into a
promised land where
God will bring a
whole community of
people right into
our backyard to
love and to serve?
I don't know what
it's going to look
like.
Who knows?
The city might
just not give
approvals and
nothing might be
nothing for the
next year.
But are we
prepared?
Are we prepared to
remember that the
Lord is sovereign and
good in all of it?
And to face that as
well.
So remembering the
Lord in all of our
circumstances good and
hard is the first
part of what Moses
wants us to think
about.
But the second
thing is that he
wants us to
recognize that in
the process of all
of these things in
remembering the
Lord there are ways
in which it shapes
our character and
our lives in
profound ways.
Look with me at
verses 2 and 3
again.
Do you see the
purpose clause at
the end of verse 2?
You shall remember
the way the Lord
your God
led you these 48
years in the
wilderness that
so that for the
purpose that he
might humble you
testing you to know
what was in your
heart whether you
would keep his
commandments or not.
And then
interestingly if you
go back if you look
again in verses 14
through 17 you see
again this theme of
how God led you into
the wilderness to
humble you.
Part of remembering
the Lord is
recognizing that
he is God and we
are not.
Part of what
remembering the Lord
is meant to do in
our lives one of the
dynamics of remembering
the Lord is that it
deepens our humility.
humility.
Because the converse of
course is what he
warns of in the second
half of this chapter
right?
That we lift our
hearts up and we
think of ourselves as
proudly self-sufficient.
As arrogantly
self-sourced.
I'm able to take care of
my own life.
I am able to provide for
myself.
I am the source of all
good things in my life.
When we lose sight of
the Lord we exalt
ourselves into his
position as the
ultimate provider.
The ultimate source of
life.
And so a part of what
Moses is helping us
see is that remembering
the Lord isn't just a
simple thing but it's
one of the ways in
which God wants us to
have our hearts shaped.
Because when we
remember him we are
humbled before him.
When we see his
provision we don't
think oh I did that.
We think wow this is
what God has given to
me.
What a wonderful thing
it is.
It helps us to be
humble when we have
times of great abundance.
When God gives us the
greatest gifts.
When you enter into the
most wonderful things
that you can imagine.
Success at work.
Your relationship with
a spouse.
Your children's growing
up and having great
growing up to be great
kids.
When you have these
things that you most
hope for.
When you remember the
Lord you say what a
great blessing.
What a great thing that
God has done for me.
And in every trial the
sting of it is softened
by the remembrance of
his provision.
When I couldn't provide
God was with me and he
provided for me.
Why would he love me
that way?
But he did.
And it humbles us.
And tied to humbling
is dependence.
We recognize that what
we have comes from him
and this is of course the
lesson of the manna.
Did you notice that twice
in this chapter Moses
riffs on the idea of
manna?
He doesn't just say oh
yeah and he provided food
and he provided water.
He says oh yeah and you
were hungry and what did
he do?
He provided this thing.
This supernatural thing
for you.
And he provided it in a
way.
Do you remember the
rules of manna?
Manna shows up every
morning.
You go out and you
collect it.
You can't keep it.
If you try to keep it
it rots.
If you try to go out
and collect for two
days you can't do it.
Except for on the
Sabbath because you go
out on Friday you
collect for two days
and then you have it
for Friday.
And oh yeah it
supernaturally sticks
around for Saturday and
then you can eat without
working to gather it.
And then it's gone.
He says God gave you
manna.
This incredible
supernatural provision
of very basic proteins
and nutrients that you
need to live.
And he provided this in a
supernatural way so that
you would remember that
man does not live by bread
alone but by every word
that proceeds from the
mouth of the Lord.
God.
Friends this is how
profound dependence really
is.
Do you think that by your
great work and by your
great hand you have
achieved the successes in
your career that you have?
Do you think that it's
because of your brilliant
personality and great love
that you have achieved the
marriage that you find
yourself in?
Do you think
do you think as a kid
that because you've been
so wonderful that you
deserve all the great
things that your parents
do for you every day?
No.
It's because the Lord loves
you that he gives you good
gifts.
All that you have has come
from him.
And at times he takes you out
in the desert and strips you
of all those illusions so that
you can see that you have
nothing.
And that what you get from him
and what you get is from him.
And there are times when he
takes you into the promised
land where you have
everything.
And he says remember me in
this.
It is I who have given you the
power to gain these things.
this of course is what Satan
tried to tempt Jesus with in
the wilderness when Jesus
quotes this passage.
He says you want the kingdom?
Provide for yourself.
Don't depend on God.
You can do it.
You're the son of God.
You can make bread out of a
stone.
Go ahead.
Jesus replies no.
No because I have come to walk
with these people to be a
human and to be dependent on
the Lord.
And I will not I will not usurp
that dependence for my own
pleasure.
Dependence is recognizing that we
cannot manufacture, we cannot
capture, we cannot store, we
cannot reproduce God's goodness in
our lives.
It comes from him and from him
alone.
Thirdly in our character remembering
the Lord produces praise.
Look with me at verse 10.
Again this is a remembering of
them as they've entered into the
promised land and the goodness of
it.
And he says you shall eat and be
full and you shall bless the Lord
for all the good land that he has
given you.
Remembering is not only just
understanding that everything we
have comes from God and seeing
God's faithful hand of provision
but it's also responding to it
where we actively acknowledge what
I have comes from God, has come
from God.
It means we praise God for him, for
these things.
It means that we verbally bless him
and acknowledge that he has been
good.
We announce to our own hearts, to
those around us and to the world,
that this is the God who has provided
for us.
Let me ask you this.
Take stock this morning, today.
The fruit of your lips.
How often do you thank God?
And really do it.
Not in the sort of offhanded, you
know, almost non-theistic way that
sometimes we do in our modern
culture.
Oh, thank God.
But really, wow.
I have a car to drive to work in.
I have an office to work in.
I have a, I have co-workers who I get
to work with and I get to serve.
I have peanut butter and jelly for
lunch.
Thank God for all these things.
Thank God for the ability to wake up
in the morning and walk to work or
walk to class.
Thank God for the ability to think,
to study.
Thank God for the ability to love the
people around you for life and breath.
I wonder, have you stopped thanking God?
Have you stopped praising him?
Have you stopped talking about him?
Maybe you've grown weary.
Maybe your life in the desert has been
so long that it feels hard to find
those things to remember.
Maybe you've allowed grumbling to
conquer your heart.
And so the only thing on your lips is
complaint rather than praise.
But maybe you've lived in the promised
land so long that you've lost sight of
the source.
And you're enjoying the goodness
without acknowledging the giver.
In our age today, in our world today,
maybe you've stopped giving thanks
because it feels awkward.
Because you wonder how the people
around you will respond when you
actually thank God for the goodness
in your life.
When you acknowledge it that way.
And look, we can be weird about that.
Let's not be weird about it.
Can we just acknowledge that?
We can be weird about it.
Like, oh, I have to insert that into
every conversation.
Oh, thank God for that.
But if we have honest hearts of
thanksgiving, it will come out.
It will be the fruit of our lips as we
remember God and see that he is at work
in our lives.
And maybe, as Moses warns us,
you have fallen into the trap of thinking
that the good things you do have
is because you've earned it
and because you deserve it.
But friends, Moses reminds us that
as we remember God,
one of the things that it produces
in our lives is blessing to him.
And blessing here means a verbal
proclamation.
That's why I'm talking about thanking God.
Because blessing God is verbally saying to God,
God, I bless you because these things
have come from you.
And finally,
maybe some of you have been waiting for me
to get here the whole time,
is obedience.
Because if you look through this passage
in verse 1, in verse 2,
verse 6, in verse 11,
and in verse 20,
Moses is saying,
what I'm calling you today to do
is to fear God
and obey his commands.
To do the things that I,
that God has instructed you to do
as his people.
Remember, in the book of Deuteronomy,
God has been,
God is,
Moses is retelling the story of Sinai
as a part of it.
He's saying,
this is how God has given you the law
to instruct you as to
what it means to live as God's people
in the world.
And so part of what he's saying
in chapter 8,
in fact, in some ways,
the greatest rubric is,
if you're going to be my covenant people,
I've given you instructions
that you need to obey
in order to live out this covenant with me.
But what I want you to see
is the brilliance of what Moses does here
and what God does
in helping us see our hearts.
Because it's so easy for us,
isn't it,
for obedience to become drudgery,
for obedience to become
assent with our lips,
or simply going through the motions
of doing what we have been told is right.
And yet, of course,
this has never been obedience
in a biblical sense.
Instead,
what God does is he tells us
that when we remember God,
when we see how good he is,
when we recognize that it is him
who has done all the good things for us
and not ourselves,
when we see in the desert
how he is provided,
when we see in the promised land
his abundant provision,
when he sees the good
that has overflowed into our lives,
and when we praise him
for all of those things,
our hearts then
have the soil
from which obedience
will flow quickly.
Why would I not obey a God
who has been so good to me,
who has been so faithful to me?
And conversely,
when I lift up my heart
in arrogant pride
and I say,
I have done these things,
I have provided for myself,
I have cared for myself,
and in the wilderness,
God had forsaken me
and only led me into trial and hardship.
when I have allowed my heart
to go there,
then,
when God says,
this is how you ought to live,
my first response
in my pride will be,
well says who?
Or,
I will only do that
if it makes sense to me.
I will only do that
if I agree with it.
I will only do that
if it meets my criteria
for goodness.
And so,
in the context
of this exhortation
to keep the commandments
in order to be
covenantally faithful,
part of what God is saying
is,
remember the Lord
because as you remember the Lord,
your heart will be fertile soil
for obedience.
It will flow
out of a heart
that remembers the Lord.
when we forget God's goodness,
when we no longer
not trust Him,
and our loyalty
is attached to ourselves
or something else
that we trust in more than Him,
that is when
we fail to obey.
So, friends,
remember the Lord
and His goodness to you.
And you know,
one of the amazing things is
this is to the Old Testament
believers, right?
Who had remembered
the deliverance from Egypt.
Friends,
we now stand
as the church of God
looking back
on an even greater deliverance.
We can look back
and see how God
has been good to us
by delivering us
from the greatest oppression
ever of our sin
and the curse of sin
which is death
in our lives.
God has sent
His own Son,
Jesus Christ,
to be our rescuer
and our liberator
and our provider.
And so,
we look at it
and we think,
how much more
do we have to remember?
How much more
do we have
to be thankful for?
How much more
can we say,
I have nothing
to commend myself
to God for,
but God has given me
all that I need
in Christ.
I have no righteousness
but Christ has given me
all the righteousness
I need
to be God's son
and daughter.
And that would be
a good thing
for us to remember.
But friends,
the gospel
is even greater news
than that.
Because that would be
a commitment.
If that were true,
then the whole point
of my sermon
would be go home
and remember more
and do better at it.
Please be better
at remembering God.
But friends,
we have a Lord
who loves us so much
and knows our frailty
and knows our weakness.
And friends,
the really good news
of the gospel
is that God
has remembered us
first.
That God
is the one
who initiated
this work.
And in fact,
God sent one
in our place
who came
and remembered
God perfectly.
That's what Jesus is.
Jesus walked
through the wilderness
of life
in a fallen world
having left
the promised land
of life in heaven.
He came
and walked
through those things
and lived
dependently
and humbly
and with praise
on his lips
to God.
In every moment,
he was the one
who fulfilled
the command
to remember
the Lord
perfectly.
And in that,
God has remembered us
and provided for us
a substitute
to do what we
could not do.
And so,
he extends
to us then
grace.
Goodness undeserved,
a Savior
who loves us
this much.
And so,
friends,
yes,
we are to
try to remember
the Lord
better.
That would be
a good thing.
That's a good effort.
But recognize
that the fruit
from that
will be
going to a God
who has already
remembered you,
who has already
provided for you
in every way,
who has already
given you a Savior,
who has been
the perfect
rememberer for you,
the one who
allows you to be
in covenant
with him,
with God,
not because
you obey the laws
and the commands
well,
but because you
recognize that
you can't do that
and you simply
put your trust
and faith
in this one
who has,
in Jesus Christ.
So as we face
the next year,
whether it will be
one of desert
or whether it will be
one of plenty,
let us think of him.
Let us think of this
Jesus.
Let us meditate
upon him.
Let us fix
our hearts on him.
Let us remind
one another
about him
because in doing so,
all of the richness
of a life
of remembering God
and his goodness
to us
will be ours.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank you
for your faithfulness
to us.
Thank you for Jesus
who is all
that we need.
Lord, we pray,
Lord, that
we might
by your grace
remember him
more and more.
And Lord,
as we remember him
that our hearts
would be filled
with humility,
that we would
recognize our dependence
and we would praise you
that we would be moved
to obedience.
Lord,
we know that
this is a work
that you alone
can do in our hearts
and we ask you
to do it
for your glory
and for our good.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.