Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hello everyone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is Pastor Benjamin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Now please stand for uh the reading of God's Word.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Before we get there, we're going to do a prayer of illumination.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Pray with me.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Give us understanding that we may keep your law and observe it with our whole hearts.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Lead us in the path of your commandments, for we delight in it.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Turn our eyes from looking at worthless things, and give us life in your ways through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Amen.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Remain standing for the reading of God's word from Deuteronomy chapter five, verses one through twenty two.
Pastor Jason Dunn: And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall learn them and be careful to do them.
Pastor Jason Dunn: The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
Pastor Jason Dunn: The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain and out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord.
Pastor Jason Dunn: For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.
Pastor Jason Dunn: He said, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall have no other gods before me.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
Pastor Jason Dunn: For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to those, to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God.
Pastor Jason Dunn: On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Pastor Jason Dunn: Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God has given you.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
Pastor Jason Dunn: These words of the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the and the thick darkness, with a loud voice, and he added no more.
Pastor Jason Dunn: And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
Pastor Jason Dunn: This is God's word.
Pastor Jason Dunn: You may be seated.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This is Lammy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Lammy is precious to my daughter Charlie.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Charlie is precious to me, and therefore Lammy is precious to me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Lammy is Charlie's oldest and dearest stuffed animal.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Lammy is Charlie's ride or die.
Pastor Justin Grimm: A couple of years ago I gave Charlie a rule because Lammy is so precious that Charlie is not allowed to take Lammy outside of the house.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So a couple years ago on a Sunday morning, Charlie disobeyed me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, one second and zoom in before we get into the whole story.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why did I give my child this rule?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Was it because I'm mean or arbitrary, or somehow I didn't want what was best for her?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, of course not.
Pastor Justin Grimm: To all of those, I gave Charlie this rule because I loved her and I wanted to protect her.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So a couple of Sundays uh ago, Charlie disobeyed my rule and she brought Lammy to church.
Pastor Justin Grimm: While in Sunday school with the other kiddos, it's as if I could have predicted this, Charlie lost Lammy while she was out on the playground.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And because this is always when parents are informed of these types of news, it wasn't until we were done packing up and getting ready to walk out the door that Charlie had realized Lammy was lost.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So it was with tears flowing down her face, knowing that she had directly disobeyed, but also knowing that she needed my help, Charlie came up to me and she shared that she brought Lammy to church, and now Lammy was lost.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, in that exact and very specific uh moment, was I upset that Charlie had disobeyed my direct command?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, church, I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a little angry, if there was no anger at all.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Some anger was a part of my emotional cocktail in that moment, but the vast driving emotion that I felt on behalf of Charlie in that moment was heartache.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And behind that heartache was love.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Remember, Lammy, she is precious to me because she is precious to Charlie.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And it was in that moment that I knew I was gonna do whatever it took to make sure we got Lammy back.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, if you guys would, can you imagine what uh this rule must have felt like for Charlie for just a moment?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Before Lammy was lost, when she is told Lammy, her nearest and dearest stuff animal, you cannot take Lammy out of the house, what must that have actually felt like for her?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, why can't I bring Lammy?
Pastor Justin Grimm: I love Lammy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I want Lammy with me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is the big deal?
Pastor Justin Grimm: My daughter was able to experience the restriction of my rule without understanding the love that produced it.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And I wonder if we do exactly that with God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, the text this morning, we're going over the ten commandments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And I wonder if we too can experience God's commands as restrictive, outdated, arbitrary, or burdensome.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And if we do, I wonder if it's because we can evaluate God's commands apart from the heart of the lawgiver.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, in the story of the Old Testament, it really is this idea, evaluating God's commands apart from the law, uh, the heart of the lawgiver that leads to Israel's two great sins.
Pastor Justin Grimm: One looks like rebellion.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I don't trust what God commands is actually good for me, and the other looks like legalism.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I don't trust that God already loves me, so I will use obedience to earn God's favor.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, when it comes to our hearts and when it comes to God's law, I believe this.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I believe our hearts resist God's law because we miss the heart of the lawgiver.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So this morning we're in the book of Deuteronomy, we're in Deuteronomy chapter five, and I do want to take kind of a 50,000-foot view over both the Ten Commandments and Deuteronomy as a whole.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, the entire book of Deuteronomy, we might break it down and say, what is the theme?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is the purpose?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is this book of the Bible ultimately about?
Pastor Justin Grimm: It's about fresh covenant fidelity to a new generation, not just the one that Moses is speaking to, but to us as well.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So, new city this morning.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Here is what I believe God would have us learn from Deuteronomy 5.
Pastor Justin Grimm: God's law shows the heart of the God who loves us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: One more time.
Pastor Justin Grimm: God's law shows the heart of the God who loves us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And we're gonna unpack that this morning by looking really at verse one.
Pastor Justin Grimm: There's three imperatives Moses gives us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Let me read verse one for us one more time.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So we will look through this idea that God's law shows us the heart of God's law by hear, learn, and do.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Let's go ahead and jump into the text.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The first imperative that Moses gives to Israel here is the word hear, one word, Shema.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We've heard this a number of different times uh so far as we've already looked here at Deuteronomy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why have we heard it so many times already?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because this word is a really, really big deal to Moses.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Over 90 times this imperative will be repeated throughout the book.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because the book of Deuteronomy is ultimately about fresh covenant fidelity to the Lord, then we learn something here.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Covenant fidelity begins by doing what?
Pastor Justin Grimm: By listening, by hearing from God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But we see here in the text there's actually a problem with that.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Hearing for Israel, hearing from a holy God at least, is somewhat easier said than done.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Look back at verses four and five with me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord.
Pastor Justin Grimm: For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Did you did you catch that?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What was the obstacle of Israel actually hearing from God?
Pastor Justin Grimm: It was their fear.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And why were they afraid?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, this is something that we see over and over again in the story of Scripture.
Pastor Justin Grimm: When a sinful people interact with a holy God, they are rightfully so afraid.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And so what is God's solution?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, it's also provided here uh in the text.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You couldn't basically hear from God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So what did God do?
Pastor Justin Grimm: He provided a mediator that you might be able to hear my word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, this is how God speaks.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This is how we're able to listen and to hear from God even today.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He speaks through a mediator, in this case, Moses, and he speaks through his word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now much can be said on both of these, but here was what I would want to draw our attention to.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you see the heart of God here?
Pastor Justin Grimm: He wants to be understood.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Even when we mistakenly are fearful, or not mistakenly, because he is a holy God, he will go to great lengths, including speaking to us through a mediator that we might hear him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This will be the rest of the story of the Old Testament.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He will continue to speak through prophets, to speak through judges, through kings and through poets, but ultimately one day he will speak his final word through his son.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This is what Hebrews chapter one has to tell us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Our God speaks to us in a way that we can hear him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The question that Deuteronomy will ask over and over again is, will we?
Pastor Justin Grimm: So first we see that God speaks to us through his word, but we also see, excuse me, through a mediator, but we also see that God speaks to us through his word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: One more time, look back at me at two different verses that we read.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Verse three and verse twenty two.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Verse three reads, Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today?
Pastor Justin Grimm: And then the very end of verse 22.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Uh, and he wrote them down on two tablets of stone, and he gave them to me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you see how this works?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Remember, chapter verse three.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Ben talked about this a couple weeks ago.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is Moses doing using contemporary language saying it wasn't to our fathers that God spoke, but it was to us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Is that factually true?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, no, most of this generation, it wasn't alive at the time.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But I do believe what is Moses getting at here is this idea.
Pastor Justin Grimm: God continues to address his covenant people through his covenant word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Let me say that slightly different.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is this that we are handling when we open what we say is the word of God?
Pastor Justin Grimm: It is not merely God once said, the word of God to each and every new generation is God says.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Verse 22, we are told that it is the Lord Himself who writes down his words, he preserves his words.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What do we learn from this?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, God's word, it's not written directly to you, but God's word, it is written for you.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Remember, verse 3, Moses can use contemporary language about the speech acts of God, because God can and does and still is speaking to us through his word as if we are there.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So what does it look like?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What does it look like when we actually start to hear from God?
Pastor Justin Grimm: When we actually start to listen to his word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: His name is Brian Guan.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You guys can look him up either on Instagram or Facebook if you have such things.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I don't, but Amy a couple weeks ago said, hey, you need to check these videos out.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Brian said that his friends had been trying to minister to him for a while.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They've been trying to share the truth claims of Jesus and the gospel with him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But he said, Well, you know, I'm not totally against Jesus, but Christianity and the supernatural religion?
Pastor Justin Grimm: No way.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Here's how he starts out his video dialogue.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He says this I would call myself a faithless Christian, meaning you don't have to believe in the supernatural existence of God and Jesus without admitting that Jesus is a cool person to frame our lives around.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I do not believe that he died, that he was resurrected, that he was the Son of God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I do not believe in heaven and hell.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But you know what?
Pastor Justin Grimm: I'll give this idea of listening to God a shot.
Pastor Justin Grimm: From there goes the rest of this 30-day uh video diary that he pledged to.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He said, you know what?
Pastor Justin Grimm: I'm going to pretend as if God's real.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I'm going to go to church.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I'm going to read my Bible.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I am going to pray, and I'm going to see what this experiment does internally within my head, heart, and my lives.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, about day 20, he has a different type of video log.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He has a different kind of confession.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He said he went to church, he prayed, he read the Bible, he listened to God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And by day 20, he said this.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus is the Son of God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He died for my sins.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He resurrected and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
Pastor Justin Grimm: By his spirit, I have been resurrected and I have new life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I now walk with him every day.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Addictions, they are lessened.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I have hope.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I have purpose.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I have Jesus as my Lord.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What does it look like when we start to listen to God?
Pastor Justin Grimm: That is the question here in Deuteronomy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: That is the command that Moses has near and dear to his heart.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Hear, O Israel.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why does God speak?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, I think we see here in the book of Deuteronomy and in Deuteronomy 5, he speaks because he wants to be known.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And let it be uh let it be said with certainty, one day he will be known by all.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why does God preserve his speech?
Pastor Justin Grimm: God preserves his speech because he wants every generation of his people to know him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The first imperative that Moses gives here in Deuteronomy 5 calls then this question.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Will you listen to him?
Pastor Justin Grimm: But having God's word isn't exactly the same thing as knowing God's word.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Remember, that's the whole theme of Deuteronomy, fresh covenant fidelity to a new generation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, every generation must not only just simply have God's word, they must be taught to learn the heart of God, of the God who speaks.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And so that's the second commandment that we see, uh, the imperative that Moses gives here in Deuteronomy 5.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Learn.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But before we zoom in and before we talk about that, we have to maybe perhaps question some of our assumptions.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, learning here in the Old Testament and learning here and now here at New City, learning is so much more than information transfer.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Learning is about heart transformation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: One more time, learning is more than mere information.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Learning is heart transformation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So what are we looking at here?
Pastor Justin Grimm: This morning we went through the entirety of the Ten Commandments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And if by now you haven't caught on, we're not gonna zoom in on every single one of the Ten Commandments, although I hope we certainly do that here at New City one day.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I think that would be good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But but I do want to focus in on one of them.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I want to look briefly at the fourth commandment and see if we learn a little bit of what it's like to learn God's law.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So for uh the observer who noticed, there's actually a little bit of a difference in the fourth commandment here in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and in Exodus chapter 20.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, what am I talking about?
Pastor Justin Grimm: The fourth commandment is still the fourth commandment.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You shall honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But if we were to go back in time and we were to read Exodus chapter 20, we'll see that in the fourth commandment there, the reason that Israel is called to Sabbath is different than the reason Israel is called to Sabbath here in Deuteronomy chapter, uh Deuteronomy chapter 5.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So what is going on?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, I would say there's one theological word for this.
Pastor Justin Grimm: It's contextualization.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But let me say this not theologically, let me say it practically.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Moses is teaching the faith graciously to this next generation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Let's zoom in on it.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Remember, the commandment, it remains the same, but it's applied to a new context.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This generation is no longer contending with the creative claims of the gods of Egypt and their claim of authority over God's people.
Pastor Justin Grimm: It's been the last 40 years that they have been walking with the God of creation, and they have been honoring the Sabbath, and they have been resting as they follow the Lord.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Where are they at right now in the story?
Pastor Justin Grimm: In Deuteronomy, they're getting ready to enter into the promised land.
Pastor Justin Grimm: God is getting ready to fulfill these promises that He has been giving to their fathers and to them for generations upon generations.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And as they're getting ready to enter into the promised land, God makes clear they know their identity.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They will not enter and work the promised land as slaves, they will enter and work the promised land as liberated sons and daughters.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What is Moses doing here?
Pastor Justin Grimm: He's giving the man the command to a new generation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And now to this new generation, he doesn't ground the reason for Sabbath in creation, he grounds it in redemption.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Look at verse 15 with me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath holy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Israel, in other words, they know what it is to be a slave who isn't allowed to rest.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, as they enter into the land and start living the way that God has called them to live, they will learn to love their neighbor.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The command remains the same, but it's applied to a new context.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The God who gives you rest cares about not only your rest, but the rest of your servant, the rest of immigrants, the rest of animals, the rest of your neighbors.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see what happens, New City, when we look at just one of the Ten Commandments with a microscope?
Pastor Justin Grimm: We see that the law God gives is not arbitrary or cruel or mean.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The law that God gives is intentional, and it's intentionally good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And I think there's something for us to learn here in what Moses is doing with this idea of contextualization.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see this Sunday, it's a family worship Sunday.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We have parents in the room and grandparents in the room and children in the room.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And for just a moment, I want to speak to the parents in the room.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you see Moses' technique?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you see what he's doing here?
Pastor Justin Grimm: We're not called to merely repeat Christian information when we hand down the faith to our children.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We're called to help our children understand the unchanging truth of God in the world that they are actually living in.
Pastor Justin Grimm: That is what contextualization, the truth doesn't change, the commandments of God do not change, but we work hard to help a new generation see why all of them are true, beautiful, and good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, if you don't know this about me, I can be quite stubborn and I can make quite outlandish points.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I think a direct quote when I was 16 years old was Blink 182 is better than the Beatles.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Stray Light Run, they have more catchy keys than Elton John.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And Jack White, well, he could probably teach Jimmy Page a thing or two about guitar.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The absurdity of my comments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Needless to say, this particular uh debate, it left neither my father nor I persuaded, but rather both of us more stubbornly assured of our own point from our own context.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But imagine for just a second, if the conversation had been slightly more uh generous and gracious from both of us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Rather than us trying to prove the superiority of both of our generation's music, what if we cooperated?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if I listened to my dad and I realized the music that I loved in my own upbringing?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, it didn't come from nowhere.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because here's the truth.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Mark Hoppas from Blink182 actually probably learned a thing about being both a frontman and a bass player from who?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Paul McCartney, who came before him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The piano-driven rock music that I love from Stray Light Run owed something to Elton John, and Jack White is only Jack White from the White Stripes today because Jimmy Page came before him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, maybe instead of defending my generation against his, I could have begun to appreciate the inheritance that had been handed down to me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, for sake of full disclosure, uh, the Lord has been kind to me and he has given me wisdom in my age.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And my father was just correct.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Uh, I had much to learn on that.
Pastor Justin Grimm: May the Lord give me grace when it is my turn for these conversations.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But you see, this is part of what it means to teach the faith graciously.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Parents, we're not trying to make our children experience faith exactly the same way we experienced it.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We're trying to help them see the beauty and goodness of the same God in the world that they are growing up in.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We teach the faith graciously, praying that by God's grace, our children will own the faith personally.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And that is really what we see here in the text.
Pastor Justin Grimm: One more time, would you look at verses two and three to with me?
Pastor Justin Grimm: The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So here we are one more time with this apparent problem.
Pastor Justin Grimm: How does this actually work?
Pastor Justin Grimm: How can Moses use this contemporary language to a generation that most of them hadn't even been born yet?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Old Testament scholar Eugene Merrill, comment commenting on these uh two verses, says this it was the responsibility of every Israelite in every age to identify himself with his ancestors and to participate in memory and in faith and in their experience of God's deliverance.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Said in other words.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, their parents' faith in one sense, it genuinely is their faith.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This is covenantal language.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, this generation they've been born into the covenant community.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They've inherited its promises, its word, its story.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They've been wandering their entire lives, being led by the God of their parents.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But inherited faith calls for personal fidelity.
Pastor Justin Grimm: While we have parents and teachers and educators and grandparents here in the room, we also have kiddos here in the room.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And so, kiddos, I want to address you here for one moment.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You are here this morning because your mom and your dad brought you.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You're here this morning because your parents believe in Jesus.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They pray for you, they read the Bible with you, they bring you to church, and what an incredible gift this is.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But your mom and dad cannot know and love Jesus for you.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, here's what your parents can do.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They can teach you about Jesus, they can show you about Jesus, they can pray that you will know Jesus, but there will come a time and a day where you have to ask, do I believe this?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do I love this God?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Will I follow Jesus?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because one day you won't be sitting next to mom and dad when you have to make a hard decision.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They won't always be there when someone challenges what you believe.
Pastor Justin Grimm: They won't always be there every time that you're afraid, you're tempted, or when you are wondering if God is good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So, what does Moses call this generation and what does Moses call you to this morning?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, you need to know that your parents' God is your God.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You need to know that Jesus is your savior.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You yourselves need to learn to trust him, to love him, and to follow him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Your parents, they can give you an incredible inheritance of faith, but at some point you must love the God that they love.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Looking simply here at the fourth commandment, looking simply here at the way Moses can address a new generation with ancient yet contemporary language, what do we learn?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Parents, if if our children are going to learn who the God of the law truly is, well, when we teach the faith, we must teach it to them graciously in the world that they are living and growing up in.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But children, you yourselves, your parents' faith is not merely enough for you.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You must own this faith yourself.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But we see here in Deuteronomy, eventually faith, it has to move beyond what we've heard and even what we've learned.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, in Deuteronomy, covenant fidelity ultimately it takes shape in an actual life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: It's about what we actually do.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And that's the third and last imperative that Moses gives us here in verse one.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Be careful to do them.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why do we need to do God's laws or practice or obey God's laws?
Pastor Justin Grimm: One sentence.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because obedience leads to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Obedience leads to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Now, if you have been at New City for any amount of time, or in fact, if you have belonged to a Christian church for any amount of time, you might be saying, hey, this feels incongruous with what I think I hear every single week.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Obedience leads to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: What do you actually mean by that?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because isn't it the message of the gospel that we're not obedient, but Jesus is?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Yes.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So let's see if we can unpack what I mean by that.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And we need to know these two things.
Pastor Justin Grimm: First, life is a prerequisite for obedience, but obedience is a response to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Life is a prerequisite for obedience, but obedience is a response to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: After Moses gives his preamble, before he begins with the first of the Ten Commandments, verse 7, you shall have no other gods before me.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Moses does what?
Pastor Justin Grimm: He gives Israel an imperative.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And it's not Moses, it is the Lord.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Verse 6 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, this is how a relationship with God works.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Key word there being relationship.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Both for Israel in the Old Testament and for us here and now, we are not called to obey that God may love us and give us a relationship with Him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We obey because God goes first.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Here in the text, it's the indicative and it's right before our eyes.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I am the Lord your God, I am Yahweh, and what do I as Yahweh do for you?
Pastor Justin Grimm: I rescued you, I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Pastor Justin Grimm: I am your redeemer.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Relationship first, then response to this relationship is obedience.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We see this all throughout the scriptures.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Before the commandments were given the indicative who God is and what he has done for us, then the call for obedience.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because life is a prerequisite for obedience.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But what we learn here in Deuteronomy, and really the whole entire story of the scriptures for that matter, but not ours.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Life is a prerequisite for obedience, but not ours.
Pastor Justin Grimm: See, earlier I told you the story about my daughter breaking the rule and Lamy becoming lost.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Here's the truth when we look hard at the Ten Commandments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We break God's rule and we become lost.
Pastor Justin Grimm: That Sunday so many years ago, for Amy and I to find Lamy, well, it cost us a few hours on a Sunday afternoon when we're already tired and ready to go home and rest.
Pastor Justin Grimm: For us to be found, cost the Father, his son.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, here's the thing: the Ten Commandments, it's the way of life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But here's the truth.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We are the ones who would not hear.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We are the ones who would not learn.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We are the ones who would not do and obey.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But the good news this morning, both for God's ancient people and for us now, is Jesus, he is the faithful Son.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Where we refuse to hear the Father, Jesus perfectly listens to him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Where we misunderstand and distrust the Father's heart, Jesus perfectly knows him and loves him.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Where we fail to obey, Jesus perfectly does the Father's will.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus gives the Father the covenant fidelity that Israel was never able to give, and that you and I simply won't.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But do you see?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus doesn't come merely to show covenant breakers how to obey better.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The faithful son takes the place of faithless sons and daughters.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The one who perfectly kept God's law bore the judgment of those who broke it.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus on the cross, the Lord of life, lays down his own life that sinners enslaved to death may be set free and walk in his new life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus doesn't simply forgive us and send us back out to try harder.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Jesus then goes on, as we read in our call to worship this morning, he gives us a new spirit.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He gives us new hearts.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He begins to write God's law on our hearts so that increasingly we want what God wants.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Because of the work of the Son, we are able to begin to hear.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We are able to begin to learn his heart.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We are able to begin to do his will.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And lest we go back into that legalistic temptation, which many of us are so tempted by, myself included, be reminded, not so that God will love us, but because in Christ He already does.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And because we know the heart of the lawgiver, then obedience stops looking like something like God is keeping us from life, we begin to see and discover that his commands, they're actually showing us the way of life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, that's really the heart, that's what's behind all of the Ten Commandments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Obedience is a response to life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And even here in the Old Testament, why does God say He gives us these commands?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Well, it wasn't part of our scripture reading, but if we jump ahead to the very last verse of chapter 5, verse 33, we read this you shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you hear?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Do you see the heart of the lawgiver?
Pastor Justin Grimm: He gives the law for your good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: He gives the law for your life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So when he calls for us to hear, learn and to do, it's not out of legalism, it's not because he's looking to punish, it's not because he doesn't want our thriving, but he wants our thriving.
Pastor Justin Grimm: And can you imagine that for one moment, New City?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Can you imagine if our in our own city here in Orlando, if we actually took this to heart, if every man, woman, and child knew the heart of the lawgiver and therefore loved his law, what would Orlando look like?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Imagine with me for one moment, what would Orlando look like if we worshiped God more than we did career, money, politics, or success?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if God's name was treasured above all names?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if exhausted people received rest and gave rest to others?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if children honored parents and parents lived lives worthy of honor?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if we actively protected and preserved our neighbors' life?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if we protected and strengthened one another's marriages?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if we actually sought our neighbors' prosperity instead of taking from them?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if we protected our neighbor's reputation instead of tearing it down?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What if someone else's blessing actually gave us joy and made us happy?
Pastor Justin Grimm: All of these what ifs?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Does that sound restrictive?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Does that sound like death?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Or does that sound like life?
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, all of a sudden, we're back last week into Deuteronomy chapter 4.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Why do we have the law?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Deuteronomy 4, verses 6 and 7.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
Pastor Justin Grimm: For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us?
Pastor Justin Grimm: The laws of God are meant to not only cause you to flourish and to walk in life, but to cause your neighbors to flourish and to walk in life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: This is the way that it has always been.
Pastor Justin Grimm: But as we close, there's a great temptation.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You see, there literally is an evil voice, an evil messenger who would have you believe this.
Pastor Justin Grimm: God's command is keeping you from life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: The first time this lie was told is in Genesis chapter 3.
Pastor Justin Grimm: In humanity, we've been believing it ever since.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Look at Deuteronomy, but look beyond Deuteronomy.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Look to the cross of Jesus Christ and see that the law shows us the heart of the lawgiver, that the law shows us the way of life.
Pastor Justin Grimm: So may we hear, learn, and do God's commandments.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Would you pray with me?
Pastor Justin Grimm: So, Father, what law do other nations have like your law?
Pastor Justin Grimm: What God do other nations have like you?
Pastor Justin Grimm: Indeed, you are you are the God of gods, the king of kings, and the Lord of Lords, and you are good.
Pastor Justin Grimm: You are good to us.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Forgive us for the ways that we have treated and handled your law at times arbitrary or as if it's something that we can manipulate to earn your love.
Pastor Justin Grimm: We know those things aren't true.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Thank you for the work of your son Jesus Christ, who is obedient on our behalf.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Thank you for the gift of your spirit, who is working and growing faith and obedience in our hearts and our lives right now.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Prepare our hearts to come to your table that we might be strengthened and grown in the grace we need to love your law and more importantly, to love you.
Pastor Justin Grimm: It is in the name of Jesus we pray and ask all these things.
Pastor Justin Grimm: Amen.